I'm Alive!

Sorry, just haven't felt like sitting down and writing about my life lately. Its been pretty boring, so that doesn't help either, lol.

So anyway, I guess I should tell how the backpacking trip went. It was fun, it was hard, hot, LONG, disappointing, unexpected, HEAVY, and well, still fun. Warning, this is gonna get long!!

So we got up that morning and I was really excited, been looking forward to it for a month almost! And when you plan something a long ways ahead you just get really worked up about it! We had packed most of what we had the night before, and that didn't go real well. Lees bag I got him off ebay was just not big enough. So he tried and tried to stuff it all in, but it was so uncomfortable when he got it on that it started cutting off the circulation in his arms! SOO, I felt really bad that I bought him such a crappy backpack, and that didn't put me in a good mood, and Lee kept saying it wasn't my fault butttt....so then he pulled out the old boy scout pack of my brothers and packed it. It was much better. So after that we just decided to go to bed because we were both getting annoyed, etc.

So we got up the next morning, got the rest packed, and were in much better moods, lol. Then we drove over to the brothers and we all started talking about how heavy our bags were, etc, haha, and getting the scale out to weigh them. Mine and Jamies were about 30 lbs, the boys 40. UGH! And we felt every bit of those pounds later that day, lol. What a bunch of goobers!! --->

Anyway we loaded up and got outta there. We stopped at a wal mart on the way to get a few things we forgot, then got to the place about 11? It was a very pretty day, you could tell it was going to get hot pretty quick though.

We unloaded and got our packs on and struck a trail! We were planning on hiking maybe 3 miles and then making camp that afternoon sometime. That was the PLAN. ;)

To begin with I was miserable, I think most all of us were. Just all that weight on our backs was ridiculously hard to get used to. I was dragging, I could barely keep up with who was in front of me. It was HARD. And the trail was not flat either, lol. So we would walk a bit, stop and rest, walk, rest, lol, all the while laughing at our selves and thinking, how are we going to get anywhere like this! lol

So a few hours later we decided to stop and rest at this clearing, and the boys went up over a hill to see if they could find the water. That was supposed to be all over the trail we were on. So much so that I was almost going to bring water shoes with me.

Well Jamie and I sat there just happy to have those devil spawned packs off, trying to keep bugs and TICKS off of us. Yes, the woods were INFESTED with them, it was so weird. They were itty bitty, but ugh, so grossss, besides that they carry diseases. I never really found any on me, but Jamie and the rest brushed a ton off. And my bro got a few in him, and Lee and Jamie too. I never found one embedded until the next day when we got to my parents house and took a shower late that day.

So the boys came back, didn't find any water, and we decided to eat lunch there. A few people had walked by on the trail while we were sitting there, also looking for water. One guy was speed walking it with 3 large dogs, really needing to find water for them. After lunch we met up with them again, tho not the guy with the dogs, he had gone on a head. They all said they were going down a certain trail, where there was supposed to be water about 3 more miles on. Well my bro decided after looking at the map, to go on a diff trail. Well Lee and I were both thinking, I think we should follow the others, not go on some unknown trail to who knows where. Well, we didn't. -_- And ended up walking another 4 hours. Yeah, you heard me right. With 30+ lbs on our backs. My shoulders felt WOUNDED and raw, and my calves were burning and I was covered in sweat, but I was still trucking along, and I wasn't complaining, I was just trying to get to the WATER. A few hours later we stopped again to look at the map, and then the boy decided to drop their packs and head off by themselves to look for water again. They were gone FOREVER. I was seriously getting worried, thinking of all the bad things that could have happened. I couldn't get any response from the phone Lee had, and neither could Jamie, no service.

But finally they came back, and they said the words we were SO not wanting to hear. They had found NO WATER. Now you might be wondering why we wanted to find it so bad. Well we didn't have much drinking water left from what we had brought originally, and its hard to cook without it, etc. PLUS we were so hot and icky we just wanted to bathe in it, lol.

So the boys sat down and we were so depressed. We were were either going to have to just go off into the woods and find a camp and stay (it was going to be dark in a few more hours) or keep walking, or go back. Well we sure as HECK didn't want to walk all the way back, and I didn't think we should just tramp off into the woods and just camp. So I heard them say something about a bridge up ahead that was at a trail head. I said well we might as well head for that, there has to be water around a bridge, right?? So we all got ourselves up and on up the trail again. A few hours before this I had found my stride and was doing some good time. I had figured out if I walked with a longer quicker stride everything was easier, although my toes and feet were hurting and my shoulders were sooo sore and raw and my HIPS where a lot of my weight from my pack was sitting, were like UGH. They were bruised for a few days, I couldn't tighten my belt all the way.

So Lee and I were leaving the bro and Jamie behind, but I didn't care, I was just focused on finding the WATER. We stopped a bit every once and a while to let them catch up and then on we went again. Lee kept saying how proud he was of me, and how he was just so happy about how well I was doing and just so PROUD, lol. That helped a lot, he was so sweet.

And then, we HEARD IT. WATERRRR!!! It was like a waterfall or something off the trail somewhere, and we all got so excited! And relieved. So we started going downhill pretty good and then we started seeing a creek through the woods and then FINALLY. We got to the bottom, and saw the bridge, and the trail head, and WATER! There was a big creek and a pool, and it was beautiful. So the boys went over to the other bank to look for a camp spot, and we got our evil bags off and waited, they said they found a good one, so we handed the packs to them and they took them to the campsite. That water was COLD too. Like the cold that HURTS when you get out. But it was so nice to see it! Lol, so we got over there and started to set up camp. I went and washed my face and neck and arms, etc, as soon as I could. Thank God I had brought a wash cloth, lol. There was a younger guy and two girls there, that were swimming in the pool of water right behind our camp. At first I was like, greattt, but then we got a good idea. Maybe we should ask him if he could drive us back to our truck so we don't have to hike back tomorrow. Well the bro did just that and thank God he said he would. They were gone SO long though, they both didn't really know where they were going, so that didn't help. But he finally got back. During that time we got camp set up, a fire going, and Lee had cooked us all our canned soup dinners. Jamie and I just layed in mine and Lees tent on the blow up mattresses and rested. I about fell asleep three times, lol. We were planning on playing Uno that night but we were so tired we just went to bed, lol.

Well that night was interesting! The frogs in the creek were SO LOUD but that didn't really bother me, they were like that at my moms and dads, but there was owls (so eerie!!) and then some other strange, LOUD animal, and it was cold too. My sleeping bag was supposed to be for 30 degree weather. YEAH RIGHT! Lee had only a fleece one, poor guy, so I finally rolled into the crack between the two mattresses and tried to cover him up with my bag and get close to him, that was much better.

So needless to say we didn't get a lot of sleep, the bro and sis in law even less since they didn't have blow up mattresses, hehe. So Lee got up pretty early and went looking for firewood and I got up and got dressed soon after. Of course going to the bathroom first! So much fun in the middle of nowhere, ugh. But I had less of a prob with it then Jamie she went like TWICE the whole trip, shes crazy. I was like, just GO, its not THAT big of a deal. Geesh.

So we had boiled some water the night before to fill our bottles with again, and it was COLD by that morning. I filled up about 3 with it, then went and got some more water for hot chocolate. I got that on to boil and went to try some fishing. No luck! By then the water was ready and I made some hot choco for me and Lee and then FINALLY the sleepy heads got up and I made some for them too. Then it was time to get breakfast going! We got the instant pancake stuff where you just add water and shake it for a few mins and whala! So I got the mess kit and Jamie would spray it with cook spray each time and pour the batter, and I would cook it over the little propane stove. Went pretty fast. After that we packed up camp and went back to the truck. The bro and sis in law were ready to GO, I wasn't really, I wanted to find some waterfalls, and I think Lee did too but his feet were SO blistered up, he was done. So we stayed at the camp to take a picture together. Then on up to the truck. We got back into town and decided we needed to go to the steakhouse. That was the BEST STEAK EVER. Then we decided to head back to mom and dads to see if we could take the boat out. At that time the bro decided he wanted to ride Cisco too, so we did that, and then I convinced daddy (they were in AZ at the time) to let us take the boat out. That was FUN. We fished a bit, again not catching anything, and then went on to the movie store and picked up some papa johns and back to mom and dads again. Took some showers and then ate and watched Bolt on dads HUGE projection screen movie theater in the basement.


So, in all it was a good weekend, although we hiked EIGHT miles instead of three, lol. Would I do it again? Oh yeah, but I think I'd like giong with just Lee and I a bit better :) Thats what we are planning on for our next outing. I've got to LIGHTEN MY LOAD though, that was miserable. I want to enjoy myself a bit more, lol. And we will DEF not be going on that sme trail, geesh. We all kept saying, next time we are finding the water first and following it! lol

So I'll shut up now, this is def long enough! Ta ta...