Introduction to Backpacking

Looking east down the valley

How often do you dream about doing something – and then actually attempt to do it?

For reasons that are meaningless to my feet right now, I got it into my head last winter that I wanted to go backpacking.  Strap 30 t0 40 pounds on my pack and take off into the back country.  I even talked my husband into joining me in this adventure and I planned and plotted for about four months before we could actually go. 

And so we went. 

Good news: I had a lot of fun and actually managed to not only carry that pack up and over a mountain but walk around afterwards. 

Bad news:  Coming down is actually harder than going up.  I would actually feel pretty good right now ( a day later) if I hadn’t  stubbed my little toe on the bathtub last night.  It might be broken. 

Anyway, Ingalls Lake in the Alpine Wilderness is some of the most beautiful backcountry I’ve seen.  The campsite was beautiful and came with its own wildlife.  The goats were cute.  The mosquitos were not.

There are just some creatures in this world that don’t even look at me if my husband is nearby.  Mosquitos are such beings and while I stayed fairly unaffected by the swarms, he couldn’t move without his own personal cloud of followers.

We came home a day early.

There was an undeniable beauty and sense of peace camping far from any road.  Sitting on a wide table of glacier smooth rock overlooking a valley of lush green meadows of wildflowers is really the perfect place to eat a bowl of oatmeal.  The Stuart Mountain range rivals any saw-tooth, chiseled rock mountains that reach up to the sky.  Nature’s cathedrals.  And what better place to have a sip of wine (yes, I brought up a small flask!) then near a small campfire, listening to the breeze whisper through the pines above.

I’m already plotting and planning for next time.  It makes those 6am workouts really worth it.