i haven’t posted anything in livejournal for WEEKS!!!!!!!! talk about major withdrawal!!! and this isn’t even going to be a real post–it’s just an email i wrote to my family about my maiden backpacking voyage!
We went to a place in
the mountains near Tahoe (an hour drive from Ryan’s house) with a
bunch of lakes. The main lake is called Island Lake, and there were lots
and lots of people camped there. That’s only a 1 mile hike in though, so
we went on ahead and looked for some other trail that goes at least 4
miles in. We wandered around for a while, followed these dubious rock
piles that we thought were marking the trail, and ended up on the top of
this mountain in the midst of a granite field. (Granite is really cool! We saw
a bunch of places where the granite was like peeling and stuff. Oh, and
when we were driving back, we went through this valley and the sheer wall
of granite on the other side was awe-inspiring. hehe) So yeah, the trail
was really hard to follow because 1) it was very faint 2) the rock piles,
while obviously made by humans, were kinda few and far between, not to
mention the fact that we didn’t know if they marked the trail we wanted to
be on, and 3) there were a few large patches of snow that covered the
trail. Yeah, snow. In June. hehe. So there were lots of little creeks
because of the snow runoff. And there was lots of mud. It was really cool.
I’m really glad I got these boots. I also really like my backpack–i think
it’s
great! We saw a few families going to Island Lake for a day hike, and one
of the moms asked me about my backpack because she wants to get the
same one. My hipbones are a bit sore, but I suppose that is unavoidable
when you hike around carrying stuff. So yeah. After wandering around that
granite field for a while and getting really tired, we went back to where we
knew where we were (was that phrase overcomplicated? hehe) and
camped next to Round Lake. It was really nice there–the campsite was
right on the lake, and there was a little rock pile in which to make a
campfire, and stuff. The MSR stove that dad showed me how to use
worked really well, and our freeze-dried food was way better than either of
us expected (we had “pasta primavera” … hehe). Yeah! It was fun. I’ve
never had to dig my own latrine before, so that was an experience.
hahaha. Oh! and Ryan picked up a frog hopping along by our tent–it was
so tiny! After we put it back down, we could hear it and its friend croaking
really close to us, and we shined our flashlight on it… it’s hard to believe
that such a big noise could come from such a tiny, tiny animal. It was
seriously as long as my thumb. You could see this gigantic bubble (its
throat sack, apparently?) hanging out of its mouth and on the water, and
you could see its sides moving in and out. That was neat. We think we
saw bats too. Anyway, I had a really good time and I’m looking forward to
going backpacking with Raymond and Annie. Right ray and annie? =)
i spent many hours at REI recently. this resulted in a newpack and water bottle (in raspberry red. hi susan, i’m a trend slut!) and these really great boots and a pillow… my brother and dad used to go camping a lot so they have a lot of camping stuff, so i salvaged a tiny little msr stove (msr stands for MULDER-SCULLY ROMANCE!… ok shut up judy) and this like pan and a tarp and a sleeping pad from this outdoor plastic storage shed in our backyard. salvaged is the operative word. anyway as you can tell i have been thinking “acquire backpacking gear and go backpacking” nonstop for the past week and a half or so.
relay for life was yesterday; i went but didn’t stay overnight. this band played and the lead singer looked familiar–turns out we were in this random production of godspell one summer. today i played some more zelda and ate some more sushi with my family. my mom gave me many oranges, many cherries, and a citrus juicer. summer school starts tomorrow.