into the wild (or, "how the youth staff tried to get justin to love the outdoors")

this past thursday i had a chance to do something that i haven't done in quite a while: load up a pack with 30 pounds of stuff and march into the wilderness with my fellow youth staffers. i'll be honest, 3 weeks ago when someone threw out the idea of a youth staff backpacking trip, i put the odds of it actually happening at about 5 to 1 (does that mean i didn't think it would happen? i don't really understand odds). but it did!

our original plan was 3 days on the cumberland trail and around prentice cooper state forest. day one changed the plan a little bit. why? well, after getting started later than we wanted, finding out what we thought was 5 miles would really be 7, and then adding on 3 miles by taking some unintended detours, we were starting to hurt pretty bad. oh, and did i mention that for the last 4 miles we were racing against SUNSET?! i realized my shoes were a little small, that my knee did not appreciate a lot of down and uphill, and that my lower back does, in fact, realize that i am approaching the ripe old age of 27. sweet mercy, i haven't been in that much pain for a while. my greatest comfort was (and is) that most of my team felt the same way.  we ended up making it to the campsite just in time. we had enough light to gather some wood, filter water and set up tents but that was IT. but who cares when you have a roaring fire? or cup o'noodles? or you're in the prettiest campsite ever right next to a rushing river? someone else on the team said "i have never wanted to quit something so bad in my entire life, but i knew that i couldn't do it. there was no option besides getting to the campsite". in my opinion, that is the best and worst thing about backpacking. you sometimes have to push yourself because there is simply no other option. 

after the standard night of very little sleep - followed in the morning by a thunderstorm moving through, we re-evaluated our plan. aching bodies and a 70% chance of more storms the next night made us decide to cut the trip to one night. our second day was spent hiking 6 miles out through some of the most beautiful forest ever. stunning overlooks, waterfalls, and what seemed like half the trail turned into creeks (it was wet, people) made me almost wish we could do it again the next day then my feet reminded me that they hate me. i will now give you my top 5 highlights:

5. our campsite by the river

4. the sound of thunderstorms rolling in in the morning

3. actually making it to our campsite

2. front row seat to sara's great fall (after which she got up and acted like nothing happened, leaving behind two nalgenes IN a creek. i was already laughing so hard i couldn't tell her to come back. i mean, she acted like it JUST DIDN'T HAPPEN. that made it so much funnier)

1. my husband saying he would do it again (now, you need to know, i love backpacking. justin - not so much. he's tough, he's in shape, but he loves his indoor sports and not going 2 days without a shower. this was a very big deal.)

and hopefully there will be pictures to come. and hopefully, in those pictures, i will look awesome.