...three ready adults...
...and an amazingly beautiful trail?
The first annual Young Women's High Adventure Backpacking Hike, of course!
Last week Mark and I joined up with our comrade Geoff to escort 8 brave girls into the wilderness. We hiked the Eagle Creek trail to Wahtum Lake, and then we returned to the Columbia Gorge via the Herman Creek trail.
They crossed streams.
They filtered every drop of their drinking water.
They hiked over 7 miles a day, every day, for four days.
They entered an official wilderness area of Oregon.
They hiked narrow rocky trails.
And they kept smiling all the way!
Sometimes the trails were so narrow and the drop-offs so steep that the girls gripped the "iron rod" alongside the trail.
They cooked food on backpacking stoves in the dirt.
They learned to hang their food in trees every night (to protect it from the critters...mostly chipmunks...no bear would want to come into a camp with that many girls!).
My handsome hunk, playing "Reveille" on the harmonica. Hmmm...can you guess why the girls nicknamed him "Monica"? Get it? Harmonica.
Every morning the girls took advantage of the Log of Beauty.
Because even on the trail, you can't have too much beauty!
Still pumping water...oh, the girls came to appreciate the ease of indoor plumbing back home! After four days of pumping every drop for drinking, cooking, and washing, they gained a great respect for being able to simply turn on a faucet.
I completely lost count of how many times we applied bandaids, mole skin, and athletic tape to feet. There were 22 feet in the group, and almost every foot had something done to it almost every day.
I love to have adventures with Mark! This photo was taken on day 2, when we had hiked a total of about 10 miles.
By the way...are you wondering what that huge black thing is on the back of his pack? He was so sweet to the girls. He insisted on packing in a 5-gallon bucket, minus the bottom. It was basically a cylinder. He attached a little toilet seat to the top and set it up as a potty for the girls each night in camp. The girls loved him for it. Along with his nickname "Monica," he was also "Porter"...as in porta-potty porter. By the end of the hike he said he was a pooped porta-potty porter. He never complained about the awkward bundle on the back of his pack, not once. (By the way, it wasn't smelly or anything. All of the waste was buried back in the hole beneath the bottomless bucket. It wasn't heavy either, just awkward.)
Ah, yes...the porta-potty set up.
Along the trail to our second campsite, we could see this pointy mountain in the distance. We checked our bearings and confirmed that it was Chinidere Mountain. We had a side trip (sans packs) planned to the top of Chinidere for the hike on day three. When we pointed out the mountain and told the girls they'd be on top of it the next day, they were incredulous. It seemed so far away and so high. But we did it!
This was our second campsite, at Wahtum Lake. By the time we reached this point, we had hiked 15 miles total.
By now the girls had the hang of preparing foods in ziplock bags and eating directly from the bags. They had learned to save on washing dishes (and pumping more water to wash the dishes) that way! Here they are enjoying a bag of pudding, one spoonful at a time. They passed the pudding bag around the group and never did have to wash out a bowl.
Campfire at Wahtum Lake.
Morning view at Wahtum Lake. That's Chinidere Mountain poking up in the center of the photo. We'll be there later today!
Enjoying the morning view...
They also liked my trick of eating their morning oatmeal right out of the little paper bag it comes in. You can add water to the bag and stir it up, and that's one more dish you don't have to wash. The backpacking stove & pot are in the foreground.
Before we left Wahtum Lake, I asked each of the girls to pose for a backpacking portrait. Throughout the hike they gave each other trail names, so that's what I'll be using with their photos.
Sassaprass
Yes, it's really spelled that way. Because she's a sassy gal.
Pudding
Because she made sure the pudding bites came out even.
Rapunzel
She has her hair braided, so you don't get the full effect here. Believe me, it's an appropriate name.
Clove
Because she throws a box of baby wipes like it's dangerous knives. Just like in The Hunger Games.
Tie-Dye
Not only because of the great clothes...she also had a "tie-dye" colored bruise after falling on the rocks during one of the creek crossings.
Birk
Because she wished she had brought her Birkenstocks for camp shoes...
Assassin
Look out if she's setting up a tent near you! She has a wicked aim with the tent poles.
And the chipmunks ran for their lives when she had a rock in her hand.
Mulan
Truly a Warrior Princess
Monica Porter
You already know the story...
The Old Cow's Tail..."OCT" for short
Yes, it's true...I'm 58 years old, and I was generally the last in line.
Hey, I was just glad to be out there at all!
Cabbage...or Chewbaca...or The Blister Whisperer
Mark and I called him "our hero"! Geoff was great with the youth, an experienced hiker & backpacker, younger than us, tall, and strong! He tells great stories and corny jokes...always an asset along the trail. Last but not least, he really was good at helping with foot care, too.
If a tree falls in the forest and someone IS near...it DOES make a sound! A loud sound!
We witnessed this tree falling, only about 200 feet away from where we were sitting and eating lunch.
To say that we were a little spooked is an understatement. "What if, what if, what if..."
Another good shot of my honey...and his honey bucket. He really likes to use the hiking staves. He used to have a lot of problems with sore knees, but since he's been strengthening his leg muscles and hiking with the staves, he has very few knee problems on hikes.
Speaking of fallen trees...we came across a HUGE tree across the path. It was a long way around either end, with lots of prickly bushes. I opted to just remove my pack and crawl beneath.
See? It's a huge tree, alright. I can see why the trail crews haven't removed it yet.
Our third camp, at Cedar Swamp campsite on the Herman Creek trail. There were lots of beautiful old-growth cedars, but it wasn't really swampy at all. A nice little stream ran through for easy water access. We were concerned that it would be a mosquito haven, but between the evening breeze, a couple of resident bats, and the lack of stagnant water, we didn't have any problems with bugs. By now we've hiked about 23 miles.
Heading out on the morning of the 4th day. These girls are footsore, but SO proud of themselves. They expressed mixed feelings about returning to civilization, and said they definitely want to do this again.
Another water crossing...
And finally, the end of the trail! Thirty miles in four days. These are strong and confident girls. They did so well working together as a group along the way. By this time they're all using "adventure sticks" to make the hike more enjoyable. We had such an amazing time together, and I am so grateful that we were able to take this hike with the girls.
Will we do it again? You bet!