The Joys of Backpacking

Finding a hobby that two people as different at my husband & I can enjoy together is not easy! With backpacking, we've finally found it! We both love getting out into nature, the peace & quiet- aaahhhh, so nice. So I planned us a trip, uh-huh. None of these puny trips; I went with the longest one I could find. 12.8 miles, "difficult" We were so ready.

On Friday, Daniel took off work and we headed toward the Sipsey Wilderness. (They don't call it "wilderness" for nothin'...) It had been raining, but had stopped by the time we got to the trailhead. Packs on, we headed into the woods.

After about 1/2 mile, we came to a river that we had to cross. (To simulate this experience, tie a large load of laundry on your back, then untie some hiking boots, walk through a wading pool, then put your shoes back on without sitting down.) Yeah, it's great.

Pretty soon we heard a loud, humming noise. Hornets (roughly the size of my thumb) were busy making a nest...right by the trail. (Lovin' nature right now, really lovin' it...)

Soon we saw a beautiful waterfall crashing over a ledge. We knew we had to keep moving so that we could set up our camp before dark, so on we went. We soon found out why the trail was marked "difficult"!

Each time a tributary flowed into the river, we had to scramble up & down (muddy) banks at roughly 70 degree angles. (Yup, I was at my graceful-best, absolutely!)

The guidebook that I read when choosing this path mentioned that "the trail likes to 'feel' you." He lied. The trail liked to grab, smack & soak us! The path was extremely narrow, with branches hitting us almost constantly. These close branches were convenient for spiders to make their webs- hundreds of them! We took turns walking in front, getting "webbed." So far, definitely the wonderful "couple-time" that I had in mind. It doesn't get much more romantic than this, especially when your hubby is arachnaphobic!

At 4.5 miles, after wrenching my knee, being brush-beaten, crawling over/under/around countless fallen trees, wiping off hundreds of spider webs, "glistening" a fair amount & running out of daylight, we decided to stop. (Best choice of this whole expedition!)

Daniel set everything up, while I watched. (Just being honest here.) It was too damp for a fire, so we turned in at about 7:45! (Maybe 8:00) While lying in the tent talking, I felt it: something was crawling across my face. I bravely threw it onto Daniel (the arachnaphobe). What followed is hard to describe. Let's just say you can move around in a tiny tent when you have to.

The next morning we decided not to finish the hike, but to just get back to civilization. We headed back down the trail, renewed by our granola bars & filtered water. We were making good progress until the snakes. See, I think I handled the first snake remarkably well. Despite almost stepping on her, I didn't scream, just slowly backed away. (Didn't I do well?) With a pounding heart & a little bit of shakiness, I bravely continued on the trail another way. That's when I saw the 2nd snake, this one larger than the first. That's when I fell apart. I started praying loudly (Daniel said it sounded like I was cursing up a blue streak, but I meant it very sincerely), with intermittent sobs. I backed away from snake #2, all trails now fully block by venomous reptiles. Oh, goody. (Ask me how I feel about the "great outdoors" now!) We decided to crawl up into the woods to go around the snakes, hoping that there wasn't a nest we were about to stumble into. After that, every branch & every root looked like a snake! It was slow going for a while. We finally managed to tromp back out, through the spiderwebs, up & down the gullies, past the hornets nest, back to nice, paved, civilization. Can't wait for our next trip!