Awakening to a New Day

I woke up the next day thinking Mike had gone on his daily walk somewhere. For a moment my fears overwhelmed me until I realized it was almost daylight. I had made it through the night and I was still alive. I felt a sense of accomplishment and proud of myself. I did not know how it happened, but here I was, still in the cold of the early morning, staring at a tall tree telling myself to just be happy to be alive.

Joy overcame me and as I turned around I realized Mike was still asleep. I imagined he was tired, he had done most of the work on our adventure, carrying the weight of the pack while I merely pretended to have a backpack.

No matter, it was a new day and there were trails to hike, nature to enjoy and new experiences to expect. I had no idea what Mike had in mind for our new day but I completely trusted it would be amazing.

He suggested we leave everything as it was and take a hike on the continuing trail. He gave me yet another down jacket to keep me warm outside of the sleeping bag. I'm completely sold on down feathered attires now. My desire to protect animals from being killed for my benefit wanes steadily. I watched the sunrise just feet away from our campsite.

He took the camera and I walked ahead, soon it got warm so my hat came off, then my gloves and then I opened my jacket. We arrived at the Little Jimmy Campground only to find the bathrooms were filthy. Due to the remoteness of the location service trucks cannot be brought in to clean the vault toilets. Mike said they just close the campgrounds for 6 months and let mother nature clean them.

The next surprise was to walk to Windy Gap where the view of the mountains was stunning. Below us the fog enfolded the city and the few hills stood like islands amongst the clouds. Everything looked a million shades of blue until the sun appeared and changed the colors to many more million. I thanked God for such beauty.

Cold night on the Pacific Crest Trail

As we walked on the old road leading to the Little Jimmy campgrounds he talked about his adventures. I remained quiet and tried to imagine his experiences sleeping in the snow, skiing in the back country, facing unknown dangers yet feeling a tremendous respect and awe of this man who is not afraid of anything.

He found a flat spot on the road, yes, right in the middle of the road. No cars would come, there were no tracks he pointed. We were far away from the nearest campground where he was sure a million boy scouts were swapping campfire stories. I looked up and saw the big dipper staring at me. I would close my eyes that night with that picture in my head. We didn't need a tent and we would be plenty warm in his special down feather sleeping bag.

He helped me get into it and showed me how to close it around my face. Mind you, I know how to do that, but Mike seemed intent on teaching me anyway. I let him. Soon I was warm and very impressed at this awesome sleeping bag.

He said he would sleep right next to me so I wouldn't be afraid. Somehow I still was, but I didn't let it get the best of me. I prayed the bears would stay away from our open camp just this one night. I looked up once again and the magic of the night overwhelmed my senses. I fell asleep without knowing.

Backpacking adventures.

It was Friday night, Memorial Day Weekend. My friend Mike and I headed to the Los Angeles National Forest at 1PM. I had a very busy day getting ready for the four day adventure trip.

That morning I had to borrow my neighbor's washer to finish my laundry for the trip. I had no idea that if I have a large load but the machine is set to small, the motor overheats and automatically shuts off. Thinking I had ruined my washer I knocked on my neighbor's door to finish it. Later, on a whim, the machine started again. Lucky! it had cooled down and it was now working, Phew!

After a long drive to the mountains and a quick stop to the market for supplies, Mike drove his large, self contained van toward the mountains. These are his stomping grounds, he knows the area like the back of his hand.

He's also a very persuasive person. Without noticing much, he managed to take me on a backpacking trip to the Pacific Crest Trail that runs from Mexico to Canada. Granted, we only did less than 3 miles but it was my first, and we camped outdoors without a tent no less. It was definitely an adventure. Once, when both our headlights crossed I thought I saw the shadow of a bear walking toward me. I screamed and hid behind Mike who was looking for the horrible animal to fight him off me. I explained it was only a play in the shadows and we both laughed nervously.

We walked through the forest littered with pine cones, dead wood, fragrant bushes, distant lights of some city and scary shadows. Mike even dared me to turn my headlight off and experience the darkness of the woods and its million shadows before everything looked like threatening animals. I quickly turned it back on.

We walked what seemed a long time, eons! and I looked twice at every shadow and kept my light pointed at Mike's shoes, I didn't want to miss one of his steps. My feet went exactly where his stepped and the tension in my shoulders grew.

Occasionally he would turn around and ask me how I was doing. I did my best not to show my fear but in seldom precious moments I noticed the beauty of the mountains, the serene setting of rocks and the absolute silence. It was magical.