happychemist (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
happychemist) wrote2005-09-14 10:23 am
happychemist) wrote2005-09-14 10:23 am
Entry tags:
Civilization!
Back from the camping trip, and my muscles are S.O.R.E. I could barely roll out of (soft!) bed this morning and my legs cramp up every few seconds.
I love it.
The trip was amazing. We drove up to around Mammoth Lakes/Yosemite and car-camped at Cold Water Creek for the first night. The next day we started our hike at Agnew Meadows and climbed up to Clarice Lake, where we set up camp. The day after, a small group of us hiked up to Garnet Lake, while the (more ambitious) set out for locations farther out. We hiked back down the day after.
It was my second time backpacking, and like the first time, J and I went with his lab group. They're crazy hiking nuts, all of them, and his 50-year-old boss leads the pack! I got my own backpack for this trip, which was an extremely wise investment, considering that the rental was going to be ~$50 anyhow, and how comfortable my Kelty Coyote 4750 is.
Like last year, I asked myself multiple times why I don't go out hiking more. It was exhausting at some points, and J can laughingly recall the moment, when, on the way up, I melodramatically gasped: "You're going to have to leave me here, I don't think I'm going to make it." (In my "defense", I hadn't gotten enough of a lunch break...) But really, it's just so wonderful to be out and in the middle of it all. I am perpetually stunned at how great a time I have, considering I can be quite a soft-ass priss in civilization. But it really is so incredible out there.
Lest any of you worry that I become a hiking nut and only post re: my hikes, etc., keep in mind that I'm still the happy lazy lump that you have gotten yourselves accustomed to. And I'm not ready to go off the deep end yet.
Part of the reason why I don't go hiking all that much is because I really don't have the equipment for it. I just got my backpack for this trip, and I still borrow the truly awesome sleeping bag and pad. It is costly to get all the items and I'm too much of an impulse buyer and book addict to actually lump together a nice nest egg for this stuff. But I hope that next year I can get myself a good sleeping bag, some thermals (WOW was it cold up there!) and a pad. And I can go camping some more.
The other reason why I don't go hiking all that much is because while I'm there, I'm very much aware of my ineptitude and incompetence. Not only in not being able to set up the stove and set up camp (I actually did my share of work this year! Yaaay!) but also in my inability to go up without feeling like my heart's going to explode out of my head. Those are the moments when I go "I ought to train more and go hiking". However, when the weekends roll around here, despite having the San Gabriels literally up the road, it just doesn't occur to me to go up there. Even with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kilroi's and my friend Courtney's repeated invitations. SAD.
I'd write something inspirational about how I won't allow myself to laze away, etc. but we all know I'd be lying. So instead, I'll say that I hope that J and I can make it out to a few more hikes next year.
I have pictures. Will put them up once I hook up the camera to my computer. In the meantime, I shall deal with blisters and dry skin.
I love it.
The trip was amazing. We drove up to around Mammoth Lakes/Yosemite and car-camped at Cold Water Creek for the first night. The next day we started our hike at Agnew Meadows and climbed up to Clarice Lake, where we set up camp. The day after, a small group of us hiked up to Garnet Lake, while the (more ambitious) set out for locations farther out. We hiked back down the day after.
It was my second time backpacking, and like the first time, J and I went with his lab group. They're crazy hiking nuts, all of them, and his 50-year-old boss leads the pack! I got my own backpack for this trip, which was an extremely wise investment, considering that the rental was going to be ~$50 anyhow, and how comfortable my Kelty Coyote 4750 is.
Like last year, I asked myself multiple times why I don't go out hiking more. It was exhausting at some points, and J can laughingly recall the moment, when, on the way up, I melodramatically gasped: "You're going to have to leave me here, I don't think I'm going to make it." (In my "defense", I hadn't gotten enough of a lunch break...) But really, it's just so wonderful to be out and in the middle of it all. I am perpetually stunned at how great a time I have, considering I can be quite a soft-ass priss in civilization. But it really is so incredible out there.
Lest any of you worry that I become a hiking nut and only post re: my hikes, etc., keep in mind that I'm still the happy lazy lump that you have gotten yourselves accustomed to. And I'm not ready to go off the deep end yet.
Part of the reason why I don't go hiking all that much is because I really don't have the equipment for it. I just got my backpack for this trip, and I still borrow the truly awesome sleeping bag and pad. It is costly to get all the items and I'm too much of an impulse buyer and book addict to actually lump together a nice nest egg for this stuff. But I hope that next year I can get myself a good sleeping bag, some thermals (WOW was it cold up there!) and a pad. And I can go camping some more.
The other reason why I don't go hiking all that much is because while I'm there, I'm very much aware of my ineptitude and incompetence. Not only in not being able to set up the stove and set up camp (I actually did my share of work this year! Yaaay!) but also in my inability to go up without feeling like my heart's going to explode out of my head. Those are the moments when I go "I ought to train more and go hiking". However, when the weekends roll around here, despite having the San Gabriels literally up the road, it just doesn't occur to me to go up there. Even with
kilroi's and my friend Courtney's repeated invitations. SAD.I'd write something inspirational about how I won't allow myself to laze away, etc. but we all know I'd be lying. So instead, I'll say that I hope that J and I can make it out to a few more hikes next year.
I have pictures. Will put them up once I hook up the camera to my computer. In the meantime, I shall deal with blisters and dry skin.
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(Anonymous) 2005-09-15 01:30 am (UTC)(link)no subject
no subject
But go you!
*raises hand*
That would be me!
Glad you had such a fun time camping! But even more glad that you're back. So I can pester you online. Hee.