Backpacking trip

 

A few weeks ago I was able to get out with some of my guy friends and enjoy the wilderness. This is the first planned trip away from my family in the last 5 and a half years...

I began to believe that I needed time away from the busy of life, I needed to get rough with nature and enjoy something beyond this world.   I came up with a plan to invite some good guy friends and have a guys weekend backpacking trip to the Indian Heaven Wilderness in Washington. I had been there once before but not for the type of epic trip I was planning (little did I know it would be far more epic then I could even imagine). The plan was to do 16-20 miles of hiking over 3 days/2 nights. We were going to start from the Cultis Creek Campground and planned on seeing about 20 different lakes.  Sean, Jake, Tyrone, Paul and myself hit the trail head about 11am.  My pack was probably about 70 lbs, I suspect everyone else had similar weights on their backs...  The first .75 mile was brutal- 1500 feet accent. It felt straight up.

 The effort to get up there was well worth it- above is the picture from the first view point.  From there we followed the trail across some meadows and passed several lakes. We stopped about 7 miles in at Blue lake for our first night of camping.

 

We were able to snag a secluded site tucked behind the lake. We enjoyed the lake for a few hours (it was very cold!) and then settled in to make a fire and enjoy some dinner. My family had already been gluten free for nearly two weeks so I continued the trend while backpacking. Dinner was rice noodles, beef jerky and seasonings. It was delicious and the first cooked meal I had had all day (lunch was trail mix and jerky).  We stayed up fairly late enjoying moonshine and whiskey.  The next morning we anticipated hiking about 8 miles so no one was too worried about getting an early start of it.

Breakfast was GF oatmeal with nuts and Chi seeds and coffee.  We then got our stuff together and headed out. Our plan was to go down to the Indian race track and over to Thomas lake. We soon realized as we began hiking that the trail to Indian race track was difficult- a lot of ascending. We found our selves at the top of a beautiful ridge, able to see 4 mountains.

It was really, really beautiful. And, as I realized that night it was exactly what I needed.  As we continued on we realized that the trail ended- there was no trail to Thomas Lake- we could take a gravel road or bush wack. Or turn back. We decided to take the gravel road. It felt like the road went on forever.  At this point the GPS read we were about 9 miles in. Finally we reached Thomas lake and stopped for lunch. We were all very tired and we voted to keep on, trying to get to Placid lake so we wouldn't have to hike for 10 miles the next day. Well, turns out there wasn't a trail to Placid lake either (the trail lines on the map were actually boundary lines, but I didn't catch that).  Luckily there was a cut through trail back to Blue lake. And so the 5 of us sauntered, sometimes just barely making it one more foot all the way back to Blue lake. We actually camped at Blue lake #2 because all the other spots were taken...

So, we spent our final night here. My feet were BADLY blistered (It has been two weeks and I still can't wear regular shoes), we were all tired and I was out of moonshine. But we all slept and then mustered the energy back to our car. Day 3 felt a little crazy- we ran some of the trail, just to create excitement and get home a little faster. Eventually we did make it back to the car and to our families.

Overall I think it was exactly what I needed. I pushed myself to keep going, even when there seemed to be no other options, or at least the options that were available weren't what I had planned. It was a little reminder of the real life but I was able to take in the beauty and remember that all the things happening back home- with work, family, etc- still happen in this beautiful, amazing world which is such a gift.

This coming weekend the kids are going to grandma's house so Jessica and I can get out of town. I have convinced her to come backpacking. We have also invited Tyrone and by best friend Lauren. Our goal is to take the 5 or so mile hike from Thomas lake to Blue Lake. My hope is to soak in the time with my wife and let my heart be open.