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发帖数: 363 | 1 OK, so this fabulous backpacking trip. hmm. i found it harder and harder
nowadays to sit down and write a blog , a decent length blog. there are so
many distractions going on, all these forums tabs i have opened on Chrome.
my chat window, Pandora playing at background and my lovely dedicated
constantly flying-me-around nags from my indoor flowers.
But. my trip. more importantly, backpacking trip.
now, to make my backpacking story complete, i need to start from a trip
about 2 years ago, on a really cold, windy, moonless dark night (no, this is
not a horror tale. and yes, it is appropriate to read after 9 pm).
My first backpacking trip was about 2 years ago at Greenleaf state park in
OK. it was in early Dec weekend (Dec 3rd?). we (GCOC-green country outdoor
club) did trail maintenance on Sat and we (my backpacking buddy then T and
me) camped out for the night.
i didnot have a proper one person tent, so i brought my super heavy 3 person
tent. I can imagine T was a little dumbfounded at the weight and size of my
tent. but he was nice enough to share the tent and load with me. The night
was cold and windy. we found a nice and spacious campsite, pitched our tent
and ready for dinner. then a group of teenage boys (a football team?) with
coach came over, they were about 16 of them. The coach negotiated about this
spacious campsite. T was super nice like i said, so we agreed to move to
another spot. we walked uphill. it was not level. had a slight angle. and at
a higher elevation, the wind was much stronger. no shield at all.
The night was long. my synthetic sleepbag didnot help much with the coldness
. my feet all went numb over night and i kept moving my toes just to keep
them alive. I kept sliding down on my sleeping pad too. Struggling to move
up and battling with the cold, i lay there wide awake. Listening to the wind
rustling around the tent, i was trying to remember if my tent was a 3
season tent or summer tent. it definitely felt like a summer tent. Hanging
there till morning, almost had no sleep, i sat up to check if i still got 10
toes intact. and luckily, they were still there and movable.
T made breakfast with his stove and pot, and, no, i didnot have any of those
stuff. we had oatmeal, it was the best oatmeal i had ever had after that
long cold night. I could not see how T would agree to go on a backpacking
with someone so not prepared. but i guess, for every sport, everyone needs
a mentor. and he was mine.
all i was carrying was water , sleep bag, pad and half of my tent. Does not
look much, right? but when T helped to put my backpack on, i almost fell
backwards on my back. man, it was heavy and felt so different, taking each
step with such a "tremendous' weight on.
we started hiking out on Sunday, and got back to the car around 1 pm. so it
was a half day backpacking to be precise. i got a blister of course. He
pulled out a firstaid kit, then i learned, oh, how essential that is. he
carefully cut off the skin from my blister wound, and put on a patch. felt
much better. it was then, i was told, i should have worn two-layer socks, a
base layer and a pair of wool socks. wow. i tried my best to keep up with
him at pace about an hour 2 miles.
i learned how to set up the rainfly from him. From then on, i know i love
backpacking. and always wanted to do it again. |
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