Episode 55: In Which Jessica Gains 20 Pounds and Loses Three Overnight

Well, I'm back. We got off the mountain about an hour or so ago and now we're just relaxing at home. Andrew is playing Metroid Prime and I'm blogging! We were gonna take a shower buuuuuuut...the landlord came over and he has to shut the water off for about 2 hours to fix someone's AC. So much for that idea.

SO! Backpacking! It was splendid! I can't tell you how much fun I had but I shall try. And PS. Something I didn't mention in my post yesterday because I didn't realize it until about 10:30 at night...Yesterday (July 1st) was the day Andrew proposed to me last year! :)

My favorite picture of andrew yet. :)

Ok back to camping.

Andrew and I got kind of a late start, I think we started up the mountain at about 8ish. We got to the top of the Y at about 9, just in time to sit and watch the sunset, then we headed back into the canyon. We still had about half an hour of decent light after the sun went down and then we pulled out our new headlamps. (We figured we'd better buy some since we'd inevitably be hiking in the dark. It wasn't too much of a problem since the trail is well established.

So yeah...I know this isn't a sunset picture. oh well. =P

We got to our destination just before 10 at night. We hiked to a meadow in the canyon back behind the Y. Setting up camp in the dark isn't the MOST fun thing ever, but our tent goes together in a snap (like literally, I think it takes 2 minutes). The hardest part was finding a level surface...which we mostly succeeded in. Andrew got the lumpier side of the tent but my side was ok. We were on a slight slope though so I think most of my energy last night was spent shimmying back up to the top of the tent. =P

We pulled out the sandwich that andrew had bought before we left and ate dinner in our sleeping bags in the tent. We had fruit gummies as dessert but when I was looking, andrew ate mine. WHY DOES HE ALWAYS EAT MY FOOD WHEN I'M LOOKING?! And more importantly, WHY DON'T I NOTICE!? He did this with my otter pop too. *sigh*

Tired morning faces

My new sleeping bag performed admirably well. I'd say it was anywhere between 35 and 45 degrees up there and my sleeping bag kept me so warm that I poked my arms out halfway through the night and slept with the top of the sleeping bag around my chest. I retreated inside again later as the temperature dropped, but that wasn't until about 5am.

I woke up and my shirt was still completely wet from sweating the day before and now it was freezing because it had been sitting outside all night so I opted for the change of clothes that I was now thankful that andrew had suggested I bring. In dry clothes, I was quite a bit warmer. (and no, I didn't sleep in the wet clothes, I had pajamas)

Our campsite

We snacked on breakfast (peachies and welch's fruit snacks =P) and left base camp for a short romp in the forest. We hiked in about 1/4 of a mile, found a "spring" (it was a pipe with water coming out of it), and turned around to pack up camp. Taking down camp is my least favorite part of camping but it didn't take long at all. Longer than set up, but not too long still. After eating some granola bars, brushing our teeth, and putting on sunscreen we were on our way.

What took us about 2ish hours to do the night before, took about an hour and a half coming out, maybe just an hour. We made it down the trail from the Y in less than half an hour, andrew was timing us. Thanks to my new hiking boots, I didn't worry about running down the trail because I had more traction than I do in my tennis shoes.

We got off the mountain at about 11:15.

Just a few of the wildflowers we saw

I saw lots of fun stuff while we were out. We saw a snake (I think it was a garder snake but we didn't touch it just in case) and there was a mayfly that spent the night in the tent with us. We didn't know until the morning. There were some deer on the edge of the forest in the meadow this morning, or I think they were. I didn't have glasses on and it was only semi light out, but that's all I can guess they were.

Sego Lily

Hiking out in the day, we saw all the things we didn't see coming in...namely wildflowers. I took pictures of all of them but I only saw one wild rose and didn't get a picture of that one. I did see a sego lily though!

All in all I had a blast! And I'm super proud of myself. It was my first time backpacking and I think I did really well. My pack was probably about 20 pounds so it wasn't THAT heavy, but I think I did well with it. I got really tired the first night about 50 feet before the meadow. I told Andrew "I don't remember the meadow being this far" (We hiked there on our first date) and then almost immediately after, walked into the meadow. =P

This morning, even though my pack had lost about 3 pounds due to water consumption...just so you all know, Andrew just ate all my peachies in front of me...and I didn't notice til just now. Anyhow, even though my pack was probably a bit lighter, it was hard to get on because of the bruises on my hips from the day before. The first half mile of the hike was just killing my hips, but then they got used to the pain and I was fine after that.
I'm definitely looking forward to when I get my backpack, because it is specifically built for women, so hopefully the comfort around the hips will be a little better. I'll probably still get bruised, but I'm still hoping its better.

Coming out of the canyon. What fun!

Bruised hips, sore shoulders, tired legs, hot feet (yes, hiking in wool socks and hiking boots makes your feet hot). Was it worth it? Of course it was! :) I just went camping on fourth of july weekend and didn't have to fight the crowds! Besides one other tent, we were the only ones in the meadow! And even when you have neighbors when you're backpacking...they like to be outdoors and so they're nice. Not like in campgrounds where you have stupid people that stay up all night being loud and playing catch phrase or something.

I highly reccomend it. :)

and just so you can be proud of me mom and dad, I packed out all my trash AND any trash that I found along the way. :) I'm a good camper :) And also I actually helped take down camp =P

If you want to see more pictures, you can look at my backpacking set on Flickr.