Or, in my formative years I balked at the idea of eating raw fish in the form of sushi. Never would I participate in such a disgusting food trend. Well, until I actually did try it and now want to eat it on a weekly basis.
Then there's the fact that I professed I would never wear leggings. They were a fad; I hate fads. Then, I bought a pair, wore them, and actually liked them.
The list could go on, but in the past 2 years I have been living the hard reality of this truth. In my younger years (up till about age 10) I loved camping. So much in fact that we would pitch a tent in my backyard and sleep out there for weeks on end. (I now understand what geniuses my parents were on this plan...kick the kids to the backyard and have a night of absolute peace and quiet.) Then somewhere around the pubescent stage of life I began to hate the idea of spending a night in the great outdoors. This detest for camping stayed with me for years...through high school and even on to college. In the later years of college I began to reconcile this and even began to enjoy the outdoor activities (that did not involve sleeping in a tent), but in my stubborn way would not admit this to my parents.
When I moved to Salt Lake I realized what a myriad of adventuring there was to do in and around the state and decided I wanted to become an avid outdoors woman. This declaration did not come without some teasing from my parents, but when they saw I was serious about it I think they were quite joyous about my re-found love.
So, over the last couple of years, I worked to add to my collection of gear (it kind of takes a lot of stuff) and sought out occasions to adventure in the wilderness. Then, for Christmas last year Santa delivered a most desired present...a backpack! And not just your everyday, haul around your books sort of bag. This was a woman's isoform outdoor pack designed to mold to my body and carry all the essential items I may need for a week (or more) in the wilderness.
To put this good backpack and gear into use, last week, after quite a bit of preparation, my parents and I took off on my very first overnight backpacking trip. Here's how the week played out.
Monday night I drove to Burley, arriving around 1030 pm, to find my parents divvying up food and still packing. After hours of adjusting, re-adjusting, packing, and re-packing we headed for bed around 2 am.
Tuesday morning was an early start considering our late bedtime and after enjoying a warm shower--my last for 4 days--we loaded up the jeep and headed on our way. We decided to take the "scenic route" through Sun Valley (where we saw our first wildlife--a fox attempting to hunt and kill a badger, beaver, or river otter...we're not sure what his prey was...until we almost hit both of them with our jeep. Luckily they escaped, although not sure the eventual fate of the fox's prey.), over Galena Summit, down to Stanley and along the Salmon River to Challis. According to my dad, this is some of the most beautiful scenery Idaho has to offer.
Four and half hours later we arrived in Challis, ID (population around 900). After a stop for some grub and to hear stories of mom playing b-ball and getting her rodeo on in Challis back in "the good ole days" it was back on the road. We hit a dirt road 8 miles outside Challis and 2 hours and 50 miles later we reached the trailhead at an altitude of 8,450 feet.
Our last decent photos as we exam the map of trails.
Dad and Mom geared up and ready to hit the trail!
Our first day's hike was to take us 4.5 miles into Cathedral Lake. We estimated with breaks and all it would take us between 2 and 2.5 hours to arrive at our destination. So, about 4:30 we took off. We hiked and hiked and hiked some more. After about 2.5 hours of hiking I was wiped out and not feeling like we were getting close to any lake sitings. My initial thought, We are so much slower than I thought we would be! Eventually we hit a cutoff we assumed to be to the lake. Another .5 a mile and we came to a sign: Harbour Lake 1 mile, Terrace Lakes 1.5 miles, Mirror Lake 1.5 miles. No Cathedral Lake. We pulled out our maps and, much to our chagrin we had passed the cutoff to Cathedral Lake 2 miles back! Luckily the split in trails was right near a babbling little stream so we decided to make camp there and make a new route for the next day.
Campsite numero unoDay 2 of our trip consisted of a short 2 mile round trip day hike to Heart Lake where my dad decided to test his fishing skills (he did catch lots of fish, they just weren't anything to be excited over) and Mom and I read our books and tried not to be attacked by the plethora of mosquitoes infesting the area. When we arrived back to camp we loaded up and headed uphill to our next site for camping. It was a steep climb of just over a mile with a 700 foot elevation gain. But, it was worth it to see the beautiful falls at the outlet of Wilson Lake and to camp in between 2 gorgeous lakes (Wilson and Harbour Lakes) where our fire pit was already made and there was even a log to sit on! (The things you cherish when in the wilderness.)
Day 3 was a rest day...at least for me. After 2 nights of not sleeping well I took only a short hike and spent most of the day reading, sleeping, and enjoying the sunshine. We all took a little time to clean up though, doing some laundry in the lake and even going for a bitterly cold swim (50 degree water my friends is cold) in attempt to wash away the build up of dust, sweat, suncreen, and deet on our skin. We also met some of the savvy, hardcore trail crew members working on clearing some trails in the area who came from Minnesota, Florida, and Vermont to spend there summer working for the SCA (Student Conservation Association). Nice people. The highlight of the day though, was showing off my newly acquired McGyver skills to my dad by starting, tending, and keeping a fire going. Impressive, I know.
Wilson and Harbour Lakes from above. We camped in between the 2 lakes. Great spot!
Friday, Day 4, was our last day in the Bighorn Crags and while I'd had a great time I was glad to be going home. We woke up early, took down camp and loaded up our packs (which were lots lighter considering all our food was gone). Our hike was just under 7 miles to get back to our jeep and after what seemed to be never ending ascents and descents we finally arrived at the trail head 3.5 hours later.
So relieved to be back at the "You are here" part of the map.
Final Stats:
Total Miles Hiked: 18
Highest Elevation Reached: just over 9100 feet
Hours Driven: 17
Total Mosquito Bites: too many to count
