Most kids today can swipe before they can walk a trail. They know how to scroll, but not how to read clouds. They recognize app icons better than animal tracks. Something’s gone missing, and it’s not in a lost-and-found box. It’s out there. In the mud. In the woods. In the questions that come when there’s nothing else competing for your attention. This is why we go outside. And why we keep going back.

It was the most wildlife-rich campsite of our trek—everywhere we turned, something was moving, grazing, or watching us from a distance.

Life has a way of complicating even the best-laid plans.