Go backpacking

“I’ve since learned that you pack your fears. Obviously, I was afraid of starving, running out of water, and freezing! I had overpacked for a short three-day hiking trip. Therefore, advising and helping pack food for my Shade Lizard was also overdone. Our packs were way heavier than they needed to be! (For context, my pack was close to 40 pounds with food and water!) Not knowing all of that at this point, I just thought a heavy pack was part of the backpacking experience. So, we just kept trekking along! During the day I fell a couple of times. Because of the weight of my pack, as I was falling, I would somehow spin around and land on my butt! At that point, I was like a turtle who couldn’t get back up! Shade Lizard was always there to help me back up!”

“Up until this point, I hadn’t thought too much about bears. No sooner than finishing dinner, I was ready to practice a “bear hang” and get to bed. It was still light outside, but I figured I’d fall asleep with ease and be fresh for tomorrow. This may be a great logic after multiple days of hiking, but I was wide awake and just laid there for HOURS hearing every little noise KNOWING it was a bear outside my tent. Did I drop any crumbs from my dinner? Was it able to smell the sunscreen on my skin? My mind was RACING, and I couldn’t quiet it down!! Finally, I fell asleep!”

“We parked at the Echo Lake Lodge, which rests at about 10,000 feet in elevation, and began to lace up our boots and shoulder our packs—two overstuffed 50-plus liter bags, a bulky Army Surplus sleeping pad strapped to the bottom of mine with a bungee cord. It was crisp and cool out, and the mostly blue sky was covered in clouds, including an ominous gray one that we didn’t notice. It was also already 4 p.m. Leaving too late was only our first mistake. As we started walking, the weight of our packs rubbed against our hips and hindered our balance. (Backpacking was supposed to feel uncomfortable, right?) It was slow going up the trail, which ascends about 600 feet every mile.”