My First Backpacking Trip

Wynoochee Lake- East side     10 miles     moderate hike

   While my friend and I had been planning this for a few months, we never did some very critical research. To start things off we knew since this was our first heavy pack hike that we wanted to keep it semi easy, and potentially near civilization (so if something did happen we hopefully weren't gonna die). I thought we were on our game, we have the trail picked and began collecting what gear we thought we needed. Most of our gear worked out swimmingly, I would have to say my biggest fail item was my sleeping bag. While it was very warm and fit perfect, IT WAS HUGE!! It took up so much room in my pack, I couldn't strap it to my pack because of how huge it was (and there was a chance of rain so I didn't want to end up with a wet sleeping bag). 

   The week before out trekking date we went grocery shopping and had a, what we thought, perfect meal ideas. They all worked out well for the most part, I do have to say the bacon and oatmeal for breakfast worked perfect because we had enough bacon for lunch time bacon, cheese wraps. I brought hot cocoa and my friend brought coffee, which she was excited about but ended up tasting terrible, hahaha. I will cover more about food, snacking, and hydration in a later post.

   So we began packing our packs and arranging them the way we had watched so many others in blogs and videos, for the most part I kept mine like so many others advice. (More information in another post) After getting my pack synched down I threw, ok more like struggled to get my pack on. It weighted about 38lbs without my water bladder. So all in all my pack ended up weighing 42lbs and my friends ended up weighing about 44lbs..... so if you have done any research on backpacking weight vs your weight the most you should carry is 20-25%. Well I weigh 120lbs so the range for me should have been between 24lb and 30lb, which would have made the 10 mile trek far easier but I do think I can carry 35lbs fairly well. My friend was using a very old pack that was not fitted well for her at all, so both of us were having a rough go at our first backpacking trip.

   So we parked and began our 10 mile trek to the place we planned on camping. We got a bit nervous about available camping spots so we made the horrible decision to try to take minimal breaks to try and get there soon to secure a spot. We walk through so many others campsites along the trail we kept our fingers crossed we would be able to get a spot. So minimal breaks was such a terrible idea, we barely snacked either... ugh I know, I know. We even had a couple good scares in the that really got that hear pumping, dang grouse and tree bears (woodpecker). The trail got very over grown, and we hadn't brought a machete, that we had to walk the road nearby for just under a mile to the camp site. By the time we got to the camp site we were wiped! We setup camp and began making dinner, we were hungry but not that hungry, we snacked, drank a beer and turned in early. 

   The next morning when we woke up we were ready to get going, mainly because we didn't want to heft those packs around anymore. So we forced ourselves to eat a good breakfast, once I began eating I realized I has hungry. We decided before began our trek back to take plenty of breaks, and we had picked spots but agreed if we needed more just say so. 

   After getting every loaded up and ready we hit the trail. Our feet still hurt and our bodies were so exhausted our main focus was to get to each break spot because that meant we were that much closer to the car and home. I mean don't get me wrong I long being outdoors but I felt under prepared, but I had learned so much. Most of the trek went pretty well until I began to get a blister in a very odd spot, odd all together because my feet have never gotten blisters, I drain it and bandaged it up nice a tight. THEN I ran out of water and we still had 5ish miles left, lucky of me I had a lifestraw. Then we both were out of water and we had about 2 miles left and made the risky decision to fill our bladders in a creek and keep our finger crossed we didn't get beaver fever, of which we did not, thank god. 

When we got to the car I was so very thankful I have left a bag (soon to be named the fuck yeah bag) with some amazing items in it. I had left a little protein snack tray, so sweets, a gatorade, and some comfy clothes. We were so very excited about the contents of this bag when we got back that I have taken a "Fuck Yeah Bag" on just about every trekking adventure since. 

Overall the first trip went pretty well, I learned a good amount. For starters I need a new backpacking sleeping bag, while mine was very warm, it weighed way too much and took up way too much room in my pack. Also break!! they are very important so you don't get too fatigued. Also pay attention to your packs weight. One thing I would highly recommend if you want to start backpacking so go on test runs before attempting a multi-day trek. 

Happy trails! Be safe out there!