OK, So We're A Little Dorky
I don't have to prove my manhood...
I've summitted Mount Hood.
I've backpacked 60 miles in 5 days thru Central Oregon on the Pacific Crest Trail.
I've hiked from the rim to the Colorado River in the inner gorge of the Grand Canyon and back up, in the 120-degree heat of August.
I've climbed multi-pitch 5.9s at Smith Rock.
I've survived overnight training in SE Alaska, with the contents of a quart-size ziploc bag.
Been there, done that. I am secure in my masculine environmental testosterone...
When the rain temporarily lifted on the Sunday of the Labor Day weekend, Julie and I looked at each other at 5pm and decided we did in fact want to camp before the end of the summer. Because of the rain, on Friday we had pretty much given up on the idea. No plans, no campsite reservations, no camp food waiting to go. We sneaked in a quick (?) seven mile hill hike/climb to the top of the Salmon Creek Dam between showers on Saturday, but we'll not expand on this part of the story (since it involved shameful survival-of-the-fittest behavior, including the abandonment of weaker expedition members on a hillside to be eaten by bears). But Sunday, oh Sunday, a brief respite from precipitation...
We do live out the road, no other houses in direct line of sight, no traffic, so the solution was obvious: camp in the front yard.
Consider, gentle reader, the most critical elements of camping: meat cooked on fire, tall flames for marshmallows and atmosphere, sleeping in a bag on a therma-rest pad in a tent on grass. Technically, the front yard meets these criteria. Granted, there's no view, but there we were within a crawl distance of the back of the car.
Ah, fire good. So what if it's contained in the bottom of an old scavenged garbage can? We dug out the propane lantern when it finally got dark, and the rain actually started to mist again, and played backgammon and polished off a bottle of wine.
We actually discovered that both of our pads now leak, where they were fine before the move. Another project to take on...
All in all, a good weekend. Shoot, we even watched a DVD on the laptop in the tent before nighty-night...
I've summitted Mount Hood.
I've backpacked 60 miles in 5 days thru Central Oregon on the Pacific Crest Trail.
I've hiked from the rim to the Colorado River in the inner gorge of the Grand Canyon and back up, in the 120-degree heat of August.
I've climbed multi-pitch 5.9s at Smith Rock.
I've survived overnight training in SE Alaska, with the contents of a quart-size ziploc bag.
Been there, done that. I am secure in my masculine environmental testosterone...
When the rain temporarily lifted on the Sunday of the Labor Day weekend, Julie and I looked at each other at 5pm and decided we did in fact want to camp before the end of the summer. Because of the rain, on Friday we had pretty much given up on the idea. No plans, no campsite reservations, no camp food waiting to go. We sneaked in a quick (?) seven mile hill hike/climb to the top of the Salmon Creek Dam between showers on Saturday, but we'll not expand on this part of the story (since it involved shameful survival-of-the-fittest behavior, including the abandonment of weaker expedition members on a hillside to be eaten by bears). But Sunday, oh Sunday, a brief respite from precipitation...
We do live out the road, no other houses in direct line of sight, no traffic, so the solution was obvious: camp in the front yard.
Consider, gentle reader, the most critical elements of camping: meat cooked on fire, tall flames for marshmallows and atmosphere, sleeping in a bag on a therma-rest pad in a tent on grass. Technically, the front yard meets these criteria. Granted, there's no view, but there we were within a crawl distance of the back of the car.
Ah, fire good. So what if it's contained in the bottom of an old scavenged garbage can? We dug out the propane lantern when it finally got dark, and the rain actually started to mist again, and played backgammon and polished off a bottle of wine.
We actually discovered that both of our pads now leak, where they were fine before the move. Another project to take on...
All in all, a good weekend. Shoot, we even watched a DVD on the laptop in the tent before nighty-night...
posted by Ken at 4:45 PM
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