Several weeks ago, Jen, singer of earthShine and buddy 'o mine, told me that she and some co-workers of hers were going to go camping over Memorial Day weekend and asked if I'd like to come. I hadn't had the opportunity to go camping in many years, not since before I moved to California, so I enthusiastically said yes. Since I hadn't been camping in so long, I was unprepared for such. But, I managed to borrow a tent from my roommate, and I already had a good sleeping bag. As the details emerged, I found that we'd be hiking in for "several miles" on Sunday, camping overnight, then hiking out on Monday. Sounds like a piece of cake, but I'll need a pack; something I can attach the tent and sleeping bag to, and carry all my stuff to our campsite. The day before, Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, I finally got around to going out in search of a pack. I didn't expect to find it easily, since it was a big camping holiday, and Jen had needed to resort to renting one, but I went to the local outdoorsy store any way. I shuffled around all the packs, the cheapest of which I could find was $120, and was beginning to decide that renting might not be a bad idea. Then, by sheer random luck, I happened upon the clearance Isle. There, all alone, the last of it's kind, was exactly the pack I needed, for a mere $35. I grabbed it and shot threatening glances at all the other customers who were standing around, just in case they had any designs on it themselves. I read the tag a few hundred more times to make sure I was seeing it correctly, then I proudly trotted my find up to the cash register, in and out in no time.
I spent part of the rest of the evening packing my shiny new pack for the next day's journey. I added a change of clothes, my heavy jacket (It was possible for it to get down to the 30's where we were going), some beef jerky, my handy swiss army knife knock-off, compass, a roll of toilet paper, and the recommended 4 liters of water (in 8 half-liter bottles). I attached the tent and sleeping bag and I was good to go. So I decided to try the pack on. I grabbed the shoulder strap and heaved, and my arm was yanked right out of it's socket. After recovering and some maneuvering, I managed to get the pack onto my back, and fasten the waist strap. By now I was a bit worried. I was straining to walk around my apartment with this monstrosity on my back. But I figured, I'm a tough guy, I can take it for 2 or 3 miles to our camping spot.
Next morning we meet up at Jen's apartment. Greg arrives and mentions that he had become winded carrying his pack to his car. Jen mentioned something similar, and I felt comfortable in the knowledge that I wasn't alone in my struggles, and was confident that if they could do this, I could to. We had a 2 hour drive north to Idyllwild, a lovely little town, reminds me a little of Boone, but more of Blowing Rock. We had lunch at a nice little place, then went up the hill to park and begin our trek.
(First view as we got out of the car. Eventually, we'd all be MUCH higher than this peak...)
So we got our packs on and headed up the hill. And I do mean UP. Greg, who'd been here before, assured us that the first bit was the worst bit. This was good because I became tired very quickly, due to a combination of my out of shapeness, and the oxygen thin high altitude air. It became clear very soon that this was going to be a very difficult hike for me, even though it was only 2.3 miles. But, It was straight up, and I had more than 50 pounds strapped to my back. We took more than 3 hours to hike those 2.3 miles, mostly due to my constant need for rest breaks. I was pitiful enough that Greg and Scott, the two strongest hikers in the group, started taking some of the weight out of my pack and adding it to theirs. I was not proud of that, but I was thankful. Thanks again, guys. There were several times in those first few hours when I began to think that I might not make it at all. It was tough. Mana lagged behind with me and claimed that she was having as much trouble as I was, but I think she was just trying to make me feel better. She's a nice girl like that. Among the things I inevitably forgot to pack was a hat, and with the sun beating down on my head I had no choice but to tie one of my handkerchiefs to my head like a bandana. Yes, it was a clean one. When the wind blew, the corner of the hanky stood straight up to give my new headwear the appearance of, as the others put it, a KKK hood.
So they asked for a salute...
After an agonizing few hours, we finally reached our campsite, set up camp, and had some food that was really too good to be expected while camping, thanks to Scott, The Uber-Prepared Camping Guy.
Our little campsite, and Scott, The Uber-Prepared Camping Guy.
Pine cones, anyone?
A room with a View:
After dinner, we found a westward perch to enjoy a spectacular sunset.
Mountain in the Mist (Smog, really)
Scott, Mana, Jen, Greg, a tree, sunset
So it got dark, and when you're camping, and not allowed to build a campfire, there's not much left to do but go to bed. We played a few hands of the card game "Asswhole", and Scott, the Uber-good at the Card Game Asswhole, managed to beat us in every hand. Then we went to bed. Sometime before bed, someone, probably Jen, asked if I snored. I said, "Sometimes". This is an honest answer. The truth is, I snore often when I'm in an unfamiliar place, but I'm a very light sleeper, so I typically wake myself up before it gets loud. But, being as absolutely exhausted as I was, I was knocked out. I was awakened in the middle of the night by footsteps crunching on pine cones in our campsite, and I wondered if we were being attacked, or if the not-so-shy doe that had hung out with us during dinner had returned to raid our food store. I shrugged it off and went back to sleep. When I woke up the next morning, I peeked out the tent window to see if anyone was up and about yet, and Jen's tent was gone. I was momentarily frightened, wondering if she'd been kidnapped, tent and all, during the night, and I had just shrugged it off. But a little further looking showed that her tent was now located on the opposite side of the campsite, a good 30 feet away from where it had originally been. I immediately realized that she must have been kept awake by my dead-to-the-world snoring, and had gotten up and moved her entire tent in a desperate attempt to get some sleep. This proved to be exactly the case, as Greg later complained that her tent had been the buffer protecting his tent from the brunt of the noise. I felt bad. We joked about it endlessly, but I still feel a little bad about causing the others to have less sleep than they otherwise may have.
Day 2 continued HERE
