I was at Paula's house in Portland when my friend Dan invited me to go backpacking with him and a few friends that weekend. I immediately declined.
Dan asked why, and I mentioned that I had been cold the other time I went backpacking. He pointed out that that would not be a problem during this heat wave and did his best to convince me to join them. I couldn't argue without sounding completely crazy, so I reluctantly said yes. But I was freaking out.
What if it's too hot?
What if it's too cold?
What if I can't sleep?
What if there are mosquitos?
What if a bear comes up to my tent during the night?
What if the hike is too hard and everyone is mad at me because I'm slow?
What if I hate it and want to go home early?
What kind of alcohol should I bring? I don't really care about drinking, but I don't want to be the goody two shoes with no liquor, but beer adds too much weight to my pack, and bourbon makes me talk too much, and those are really my only options because I shouldn't be spending money on alcohol...
Sometimes my brain needs to just SLOW DOWN.
On top of it was the feeling that I had to hide my crazy because I don't know these people very well. So if something *was* wrong, I had to act like I was fine.
Luckily, everything went great! I am a slow hiker, and I will always be a slow hiker, and I was even slower since I'm not used to carrying a heavy pack. But no one seemed to mind; everyone was SO nice. I really liked Dan's friends.
We hiked to the beautiful Lake Harriette in the Mountain Lakes Wilderness in the southern Cascades.
Crater Lake, to the north, was formed when Mount Mazama erupted. The lake filled in the caldera. Our hike was also on a volcano, but when that one blew, it formed several smaller lakes. Lake Harriette is the biggest and prettiest of these lakes.
Gorgeous, isn't it? Dan showed me how to filter water, and that water was delicious!
The loop was about 13 miles, and we did over half of it the first day. We hung out at our campsite, where Dan and Jo discovered another fun use for their sleeping pads.
The next day, everyone else took off to climb those mountains in the background of that photo. I happily stayed back at camp and read a book. The rest day felt good!
We hiked out the next morning, and it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be! I was feeling pretty good about life when we finished. I mean, I did have a mini breakdown the first night out when I got in Dan's one-person tent I was borrowing and felt all claustrophobic (it was so tiny!!) and my feet were cold and I wanted my fuzzy knee socks but all I had were my dirty nasty hiking socks so I texted a few of my girlfriends and said I was never going backpacking again because I couldn't have my fuzzy socks. (I may be a little bit dramatic sometimes. Just a little.)
But the second night was a little better, and overall I really enjoyed the experience. The temperature was just right, the hike wasn't too hard, the scenery was idyllic, and I couldn't have asked for better company.
I can't wait to go backpacking again!!
*Photos courtesy of Dan*
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