A Nice Calm Weekend

I am not an outdoorsman by any stretch of the imagination.  My standard version of camping includes a travel trailer, steak, and a good book.  But I do enjoy a good hike with my family.  In the case of this latest weekend, it was just myself and my beautiful wife.
We have hiked some strenuous trails in the Rocky Mountains, a couple of not-so-strenuous trails in the Smoky Mountains, and this last weekend, a somewhat tame trail in Southeast Oklahoma.  With every hike, my mind drifts back to a time when European explorers first made their way across North America.
My adventure this weekend was literally a stroll through the woods.  I had the backpack loaded with bottled water, rain poncho's, beef jerky, a compass, a crude map, and several other implements of manufactured comfort.  Most importantly, the trail ahead was clear, even with an occasional orange dot spray painted onto a tree to show me that I hadn't lost my way.
I look at this photograph and have to think about how uncomfortable a night's sleep was in this wilderness.  You can't take two steps without finding a stone the size of your head.  I don't care how many blankets you carried, those stones would drive into your back, making that next day uncomfortable.
How far could you travel each day without a well-worn trail to guide you?  With an eye on the compass and an eye on the direction of travel, it had to be slow going.  Fortunately for the early traveler, the undergrowth in these woods are sparse.  Unfortunately, there are bluffs and other inconvenient formations that could cause a detour and delay the forward progress.  The few miles I traveled through the forest on a chilly Saturday afternoon could very well have taken more than a day for the early explorer.
So, that somewhat tame hike I enjoyed this weekend wouldn't have been tame a couple of hundred years ago.