Off The Grid:
How I Discovered Less is More on the Trail

Designer and creative Micah McDermott shares how hiking and recharging in nature with his uncle inspired growth and self-care.

Our flight leaves in four hours and I’m cramming random junk into a hiking backpack that was loaned to me. I didn’t know what I was doing. I’ve never been on a long hike before — much less camping for five nights. Our destination was a remote area 11 miles from the trailhead in Kaua‘i — only accessible by boat, helicopter, or in our case, by foot. I’m beginning to second guess taking up my uncle’s offer of hiking to a place he’s been visiting for decades.

My wife and I went straight to his place after we land. My uncle kindly unpacks and repacks our backpacks — an old pro. I don’t know what to expect, but it’s too late to turn back now. The next morning we drive straight there. I lost cell reception 45 minutes before we reach the trailhead. If there’s an emergency, there’s no turning back and no way to call for help. Thankfully, we’re in very capable hands.

About a mile in, my uncle stops and points to the farthest ridge I can see. “See that ridge over there? We’re gonna hike about two miles past that.” It was inconceivable. Our goal was to be there by sunset, but that’s easily a week’s journey in my mind.

Eleven hours later we reached our destination. My uncle, now 70, probably could’ve done it in closer to five hours without us slowing him down.

I expected hardship. I expected to want a warm meal, a warm shower, and cell reception. I could not have been more wrong.

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Spending a week in the valley, with no contact from the outside world, did something to my soul that I hope to experience as much as possible. I’ve never considered myself an anxious person, but after three days, I felt my mind get quiet. Racing thoughts that I didn’t even know I had, all began to slow. There was something really transformative about getting away from my usual comforts.

I believe it forced me to slow down and be present in each moment. Without access to well, anything really, I had no choice but to let go of my momentary desires (snacks! phone!) and engage with the mountains and the streams I was surrounded with. To attempt to do otherwise would be pointless in my view. All of my cares and worries from just a few days prior were fleeting quickly. It might have been the first time I’ve ever felt still. I would easily take this experience over any resort or spa. It’s no wonder why this is uncle’s favourite place.

Meet my uncle, Mundo Saldana. He’s a newly retired M.D. who currently spends most of his time working on his garden, hiking, working on his book, drawing, painting, “guerilla gardening,” or playing with his many grandchildren. He’s living out his 70s with much joy. It’s something I aspire to have one day.

As a doctor, he wanted to put his energy and education towards impactful efforts on the ground. He got involved with a “Care-A-Van” on the island of Kaua’i that provided medical attention to disenfranchised neighborhoods free of cost. When Hurricane Iniki hit Kaua‘i in 1992 — a Category Four storm and most powerful hurricane to hit the state in modern history — he found his work with the care-a-van to be some of the most challenging, but also the most meaningful.

I consider him equal parts saint and superhuman. By all accounts he has thousands of miles of hiking under his belt — his longest was two months without any contact from “the modern world.” It seemed worthwhile for me to attempt to understand what’s under the hood.

WHAT DO YOU GET OUT OF HIKING?

MUNDO SALDANA: It’s partially the movement, but mainly it’s spending prolonged time in nature. Nature feeds me on so many levels. Mentally, it cultivates contentment and fulfillment. Without the distraction of modern life, it can give me the freedom to just be. That lack of distraction creates a strong sense of contentment and gratitude and it’s really a rewarding state to be in.

Of course, the physical act corresponds to the mental state. The aerobic use of muscle, blood flow, and breath brings life into a body that’s so often sedentary in modern living. Things like sunlight, fresh oxygen, and the act of moving and intentional breathing feed us in a way that we don’t get to experience in our busy modern lives. Just moving and breathing fresh air can become a form of meditation.

YOU’VE ALWAYS STRUCK ME AS SOMEONE WHO IS DEEPLY CONCERNED WITH THE WELLBEING OF OTHERS. YOU GET EXCITED TALKING ABOUT HELPING PEOPLE. WHAT’S THE IMPORTANCE OF CARING FOR YOUR COMMUNITY?

MUNDO SALDANA: It is in us, as humans, to care for each other. Cooperation is hard wired in us. “Survival of the fittest” — that stuff is out the window. Cooperation exists in ecosystems so that all the species can survive. All of our ancestors knew it somewhere down the line.

These days, modern life has us so removed from our natural mode of being. I liberate myself from this selfish mindset by integrating a little serviceability in my daily life. I can say with certainty that the most rewarding moments of my career are when I knew that I made a difference in someone’s life.

WHAT’S AN EXAMPLE OF A REWARDING MOMENT IN YOUR CAREER?

MUNDO SALDANA: There’s a few and the common thread between all of them is that they all had little to do with any sort of act or surgery performed. It was all to do with education and sharing insight — helping them gain understanding of the factors involved. Finding the past traumas and bringing it to the surface to enact lasting change.

If I could pick one moment, it’s something that did good for the most amount of people. The aftermath of Hurricane Iniki left the majority of the island in serious ruin. Thousands of regular folks were suddenly sleeping under a tarp. Many had serious injuries from flying debris like glass, wood, and nails. One thing we kept running into were infections from these wounds, and it was getting hard to keep up. It dawned on me that flies were the main cause of the infections and had become a vector for disease.

It became clear that the best thing to do was to educate people. Because we grew up with things like refrigeration, refuse, and other forms of waste management, we as humans in a first world country haven’t needed to consider how to keep flies and other diseases away. These are often considerations for third world countries, but during Iniki, it was that kind of situation.

We went all over the island simply educating people on better ways to deal with waste and how to practice hygiene during these times, and that the goal was to keep the flies away. Like clockwork, the infections started going down very fast.

WHAT’S THE BIGGEST LESSON YOU’VE LEARNED FROM SPENDING EXTENDED TIME IN NATURE? WHAT ARE SOME OBSERVATIONS ABOUT MODERN LIFE?

MUNDO SALDANA: The way I see it, nature is an integrating process, whereas our modern way of life is a process of disintegration.

Getting away has only further confirmed, for me, that there are so many things about modern living that are unnatural to our natural beings. Our nervous systems are ancient structures and even living relatively privileged lives can make us incredibly tense.

There are so many lessons and observations that I’ve picked up from being out into nature. Being out there at length really forces growth at an expedited rate. All kinds of observations — both outward and inward — start to come to me unsolicitedly. It’s really amazing what kinds of insights start percolating up from within us when we’re free of distraction and short term gratification.

I would say the biggest take away is understanding that I need to seek out true self-care. I need to reset from busy day-to-day life that is filled with distraction. It’s not easy to do, but intentionally seeking out stillness and peace as much as I can really helps the body and the soul heal and recharge. For me, getting into nature for as long as possible is the most impactful way to get that recharge.

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