Driving more than five minutes without seeing another vehicle is quite rare. Even when you think you’ve made it far enough outside city limits, you’re bound to run into a fellow fugitive of the flurry.

But every so often, when you’re feeling especially brave or particularly fed up, you hazard a little further. Past the weather-worn road signs, onto the seemingly-unpassable gravel, through the overgrown brush. And then you find it--singular solace.

An unthinkable place where text messages and time don’t matter. Where the sound of wind through trees is louder than your thoughts. Where a sun-bleached deer vertebrate is uniquely beautiful. Where nature is the only governing body and you can make your own rules.

You may only visit this place occasionally--on a long holiday weekend or an all-too-infrequent summer vacation--but when you find it you know, it’s the original freedom.

Words by Angie Pascale