The Beauty of Backpacking

I am not coordinated. I am not competitive. I am not sporty. I am no athlete.

I am an outdoor enthusiast. I am a nature lover. I can pick one foot up and put it in front of the other. I am a hiker.

This is the beauty of backpacking. It takes little skill, it takes minimal basic coordination and can hardly be considered any more competitive than bird watching.

It does take a small amount of equipment, some outdoor skills and some common sense. Now, you can make a big deal out if backpacking like any hobby. They market a million specialized pieces of equipment that make you feel elite or really prepared.

The beauty of backpacking, though, is that you don't need all those elite gadgets. You just need something to strap your stuff to your back, a place to sleep, food to eat and a set of clothes. You also need water, but that can be done easily too.

We have a few fun gadgets but mostly just try to be minimalists. The less you carry or the lighter your pack, the easier it is. We packed our packs carefully, cutting out any unnecessary items. I obviously don't bring extra outfits, accessories or makeup like I'd pack on vacation.

The beauty of backpacking is the simplicity. Your goal is to reach a destination that few people can find and those that do have to walk their way out there like you did. The best part is waking up in the morning smelling the purest air you can smell, seeing a landscape that few people have seen and being unplugged from anything that requires a plug.

As I packed my Kelty (a gift from my 16th birthday), I thought about the things I needed for this trip, the things I needed for emergencies and the things I wanted for convenience. My convenience items are a collapsible coffee cone, a UV light water purifier and a Therm-a-rest self inflating sleeping pad. The latter two were recent additions from last Christmas. This was my first trip with those items and I was excited to use them.

My trusty Kelty all packed and ready to go.
This pack was only 35 lbs! That's the
lightest full pack I've ever had!

We picked our trail the night before we left and changed our minds again that morning before we left. This is also the beauty of backpacking. There is only so much information out there on any given trail, so you do what research you can and hope for the best. In essence, it's good to have a clear trail, plan and goal but it's also good to be able to improvise.

We set out for Bird Creek Meadows in the Mt. Adams Wilderness area. Bird Creek was a fairly short hike that gave us the option of going to Bird Lake, Mirror Lake or Bluff Lake to set up camp. It seemed like the perfect start-of-the-season hike.

As we drove up to our trail head I looked up at the looming clouds that threatened rain and out at the dozens of flowers that were sprinkled through the meadows. I was excited to try out the aperture settings on my 'new' camera, a Christmas gift that I'm just getting around to understanding.

We displayed our parking pass, laced up our boots, strapped on our packs and took the traditional trail head picture. We were off. We were free to roam and move at our own pace, mine slower than Blake's. We had the beautiful snow covered Mt. Adams in front of us and subalpine forest all around us.

The official trail head was further up, but the road was
closed at this point, so this is where we started.
It added some miles to our hike, but we needed the exercise.

The cloud shrouded Mt. Adams.

Here are some flowers that I saw along the first part of our hike. I couldn't wait to get to the real trail, which promised many meadows and hopefully those flowers we drove past, and more.

Not sure what this flower is called, but it was everywhere.

There was a fire some time ago, and this flower is spread
throughout the scarred forest, bringing life to it.

Okay, who am I kidding. I don't know
what any of these flowers are called.
Pretty though!

These were my favorite.

So after hiking about half a mile, maybe three-quarters of a mile, we see a white truck coming toward us. Oh, did I forget to mention that this part of the Mt. Adams Wilderness area was part of the Yakima Indian Reservation? Well, the white truck belonged to a member of said Indian Nation and they had control over who uses their land and when. We knew that they would charge a five dollar fee per day for use of the land, but everything we read said that it was open July-October. Apparently just not this July.

We were told to turn around and go home, and that is what we did.

Not how you expected this story to end huh? Ya, us either. Flexibility, improvising and unexpected changes.

Oh the beauty of backpacking.

Alternate titles for this post: Wilderness: CLOSED or Backpacking FAIL.