I went Wilderness Camping

We drove the Forest Service Road until we found the 4×4 trail he’d been scouting. The truck made it up 6km and then we hiked in another 2.5km.

Epic sunset, careful deer-watching, speedy star-gazing (brrr!), and a mountaintop sunrise crammed into 17 hours of spontaneous backpacking.

Aside from the possessed, abundant, and not-so-little mosquitos, it really was as blissful as it sounds.

 After five years in British Columbia, I finally own a backpacking tent.  If you’d told me five years ago that I would willingly go camping, I would’ve laughed in your face. If you’d told me five years ago that I would willingly carry my tent up a mountain, I would’ve rolled my eyes and walked away.  If you told me five years ago that I would suggest hiking up a mountain to go camping, I would have checked myself into some sort of mental health lab for serious testing.  But I’ve learned something over these past five years of hiking and exploring my beautiful British Columbia: I’m willing to do just about anything for a mountaintop sunset.  For a sunRISE?! The joy overrides any presumed inconvenience. Ohmyword, so worth it!   

And when the sunset is as epic as this one?! I’m counting down the days until my next backpacking adventures (eight, in case you’re wondering.)

Funny story about that red backpack you see.  We tried backpacking two years ago and the experience was miserable: we set up a tent in a thunderstorm, I dropped my camera down a waterfall, and the hill was an intense incline with no real view at the top.  I borrowed a backpack (THAT backpack!) and did not realize I forgot to return it until we were rummaging through the closet to find my sleeping bag. Ummm, Sarah, it’s coming to you now. I promise.

I guess the moral of the story is don’t let Jennifer borrow anything.  (But I’m REALLY glad you did, Sarah, because I keep putting off my backpack shopping trip!)

(I can handle swarming mosquitoes, bear tracks, and sleeping on the ground.  But I CANNOT HANDLE walking through mud.  #wimplife)

Sobering view: the wildfire smoke cloud on the not-so-distance horizon.  

P.S. Camera nerds: after the waterfall demise of my first professional camera, I bought a Sony A6000 mirrorless camera especially for adventuring.  All photos here were taken with the Sony.