Our friends often call us crazy for the things we do and the predicaments we get ourselves into. I never really thought that was true....until yesterday. Now I am sure that our family, collectively, has a screw loose!
Yesterday we set out for our first backpacking trip. We had new gear and it was a spur of the moment trip, but those who know us know that we always do careful planning - especially if we are going to be out in the outback.
So we pack up five back packs with enough gear for an overnite trip into the Emmigrant Wilderness, just outside of Yosemite. It was a hot day we had packed what we thought was enough water and food to get us in 5 miles and back out the next morning. Food is the tough part because the kids eat a lot just sitting around the house - when they are excercising, it is crazy!
So off we go.... Daisy Mae was wearing her own pack filled with her food and 4 bottles of water for herself. In the first 2 miles, she drank two bottles and we had at least 8 more miles to go! That should have been our first clue that water would be an issue. But not to worry, we had water purification tablets and were heading towards a lake.
We walk about 6 miles in and still have not reached a water source and we had 4 bottles of water left! We had drank about 12 bottles already! So we stop and send Jim without a pack up the trail about 15 minutes to see if he can find the lake. The kids and I kick back and rest. Jim comes back about 30 minutes later and reports that the lake is a 15 minute hike away straight uphill and that it is stagnant. Ick!
So we all stop and rest and have a bite to eat: peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, fruit, tuna, trail mix.... And we develop a plan. With only 4 bottles of water left and no water source on the trail, we need to head back down toward the trail head. Keep in mind we just hiked 6 miles uphill from 6000 to 7000 feet with between 8 (Grace) and 35 (Jim) pound packs on our backs. Mine was 25 pounds and Drew's was 20 pounds. We decide the best plan was to hike back out the same day when the weather cooled so as not to get to hot and thirsty. So we rest up until 5:30pm and then start the trek back down. It took us about 2 hours to hike the 6 miles back out -- We used up the last bottle of water with 1.3 miles more to go! It took us 4 hours to hike in because that direction was all uphill.
We managed to get back to the truck with very tired legs and pretty darn thirsty! But it is nice to know that we can back pack 12 miles in one day with a 1000 foot elevation starting at 6000 foot elevation.
It was a great test run and we have a list for other gear we want/need. And we realize the dog drinks A LOT of water.
If it is not crazy enough that we did a two day trip in one day, we ended the day with a stop to swim and fish at Cherry Lake. We did not leave the lake until after dark and made it back to the cabin by 10:30pm.
It was a long and crazy day - but nice to know we can push ourselves and are all in pretty good shape.
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