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August 20, 2002
Not Just a Walk in the Park
I have evidently survived my second backpacking trip with my Uncle and his friends, and it was quite an experience, indeed. We tackled the seven hour drive though the scenic-deprived landscapes of Central Valley on Wednesday and stayed at a Motel 6 that night. By around nine the next morning, we had arrived at Sequoia National Park, finished packing our packs, and we were ready to hit the trail leading 6.2 miles up the mountain to Pear Lake.

Let me start this next section by saying I had an incredible time camping up at the lake. The surroundings were simply breathtaking - from the unbelievably huge Giant Sequoia trees at the base of our hike to the massive slabs of granite surrounding our campsite. Our day-hikes were some of the most fun hikes I've been on, ranging from trail hiking to boulder hopping. And most importantly, everyone in our group was a lot of fun to be around. In fact, it was almost worth the trip just to see my Uncle David and his friend-since-high-school, Dexter, arguing with each other. The two of them are seriously like a stand-up comedy routine when they're together - constantly throwing quips at each other and never agreeing on anything. Being with them is like watching a perpetual match of Monkey Island's Insult Swordfighting. It was great entertainment.

With that said, however, I feel obligated to mention the absolutely horrible experience associated with the hike up. For a good 8 hours, as I first hiked up the mountain and later lay at the top hoping either to die or recover, I was fully planning on titling this post "Never Again." I don't remember last year's hike being nearly as difficult, but it very well could have been, considering this year's hike is being auto-erased from my memory as I type this. After sitting in front of my computer for 360 days, I was really in no shape to be hiking six miles up a mountain hauling a forty pound pack. To make things worse, the altitude really hit me this year. About three-quarters through the hike, I was getting lightheaded and queasy. About a quarter mile from our destination, I had a full-fledged headache and could barely walk ten yards without stopping to catch my breath. I mentioned to the others (after finally arriving at the top) that I would never again pursue another backpacking trip, and at the time, I whole-heartedly meant it. The reality of the situation, however, is that by next year, I will have forgotten the painful hike up in favor of remembering the awesome experiences at the lake. Perhaps re-reading this passage will give me pause in my decision to join them, but I feel I will inevitably find myself hiking through whatever remote landscape my uncle can find next year.

I have alluded to the fact (and perhaps you have picked up on it) that I had a whole lot of fun after the initial hike up. It is my uncle's policy always to pack a few "toys" up the mountain. This year, Dexter brought some inner tubes, and my uncle carried up a couple golf clubs and some balls. The tubes were incredible. You could float in one for hours without even realizing that your butt had gone completely numb from the cold. They worked out so well that I can't imagine ever backpacking again without bringing some tubes. The golf stuff also provided an unbelievable amount of entertainment. The large flat rocks and beds of soft dirt our campsite made for a perfect miniature golf course. "Wilderness Golf," if you will. We had places where you needed to bank shots off a rock to get the ball to land in our make-shift holes made of stacked rocks. Other places you'd need to be careful not to hit too hard or you'd end up shooting from the bottom of the hill. It was perfect. We had some good times putting golf balls around the campsite, although the ranger did give us some odd looks after witnessing the ordeal.

The whole camping experience is not an easy one to relate to others. Much of the stuff that was wildly entertaining throughout the trip would sound stupid if put into words here. The rest is probably best left on the mountain. As Randy (another one of our group) said, "What happens on the mountain stays on the mountain." At the time, he was joking about an incident for which that is, undoubtably, the best course of action. But there is a great deal of logic supporting such a thought. The fun of the trip was in the interaction with such an incredible group of people and feeling a tight friendship grow between us. Trying to share those experiences would be futile (and quite frankly, it would just make us look weird).

That's all I have on camping right now. In other news, I'm leaving for college tomorrow! (Yikes!) Classes don't actually start until the 26th, but I need to go get established in the dorms. I've been going through my stuff and shopping for new stuff and doing stuff for the last day and a half, and I still have no idea what stuff I need. That shouldn't be too much of a problem since I'll only be about two hours away; I'll be able to come home to get anything I've forgotten. In fact I will need to come home the first weekend, because my computer won't arrive here until about a week into school. That means that for almost two weeks from tomorrow, I will be computerless! So, eh, don't expect too much in the way of updates for a while.

For now, I need to continue packing my aforementioned "stuff" and figure out what I'm going to to do for two weeks without a computer.