Maisy and I recently went on a 6 day,
20 mile backpacking trip on the Superior Hiking Trail in Northern
Minnesota with our friends Laura and Piper. It was my first time
doing this; while I adore hiking and have been camping, I’ve never
combined the two before. Here’s what I learned from my experience.
There’s no sense in worrying about
things you can’t change.
Leading up to the trip, I worried about
a lot of things. I worried about the trail conditions; reports were
that there was still snow on sections of it. I worried about whether
it would rain. I worried that it would be hot, or too cold. Well,
there was a tiny bit of snow on the ground, and it definitely rained,
and I was cold one night. But all my worrying did nothing to change
this, and I had a great time anyway.
 |
| Photo by Laura |
Hiking in the rain sucks. Camping in
the rain sucks more.
We had rainstorms two days on our
hiking trip. As much as carrying 50 pounds uphill in the rain really
sucks, huddling in a tent in the rain was even worse. At least I was
warm while I was moving. Also, I’m pretty sure there’s a metaphor
in there about life; I'm just not sure what it is yet.
Don’t pack cotton. Just don’t.
Once it gets wet, it’s wet. And wet
stuff is heavy. Pack things that will dry fast.
 |
| If you pack cotton, you'll have to take an entire day in camp to dry stuff out. |
Appreciate the small things in life.
Roughing it really puts things in
perspective. At various points during the week, I was cold, I was
wet, I was muddy, I was smelly, I was tired, and I was in pain. But
as long as my feet and undies were dry, I could really deal with all
that. It doesn't take much to be happy... we just think it does.
 | |
| I'm happy the girls played together! Photo by Laura. |
When things are miserable, sometimes
all you can do is to keep putting one foot in front of another.
There was one day where it was raining
pretty hard and everything I owned or was wearing (including my socks
and undies) were wet. I discovered that I’m pretty out of shape, so
I needed to take frequent breaks, but as soon as I stopped moving, I
was freezing cold. In short, I was miserable. There was nothing I
could do but keep going.
 |
| If you suffer through the hard days, you are rewarded with days like this. |
When you don’t know how far you’ve
come- or how far you have left to go- you can either endure it or
enjoy it.
Hiking on backwoods trails is different
than hiking in the city. The trails do not have regular signage. I
had a map, but it was pretty hard to tell where we were on it. Most
days, I didn’t know how far we had hiked, nor how long (we didn’t
bring watches). On those miserably wet days, there was no way to know
how much longer we had to go. Certainly, those days were about
enduring hard times. But all the same, there were moments I couldn’t
help but marvel at the beauty of the woods.
Laura can make fire out of water.
Well, water-soaked wood. Which is
pretty much the same thing.
 |
| Photo- and fire!- by Laura |
Less is more.
When you’re carrying fifty pounds on
your back for miles every day, every ounce counts. It’s hard enough
to carry the necessities, so don’t pack more than you need. And you
need less than you think. Let go. Another metaphor for life- you got
that, right?
 |
| Photo by Laura |
Even well-maintained trails will
have obstacles, but there’s always a way around them.
The Superior Hiking Trail has a great
group of volunteers that go out and clear fallen trees off the trail
pretty regularly. Still, they are volunteers, so there were places
they hadn’t gotten to yet. Some of the obstacles were small and
easy to step over. Others… well, they took more creativity. But
there was always a way to carry on.
 |
| This was an easy section. |
The best views come after the
hardest climbs. Enjoy them.
‘Nuf said.
The best dog is the one you’ve
already got.
I didn’t know what Maisy would think
about backpacking. She doesn’t like to get wet. She gets overheated
easily. She is probably just as out of shape as I am, so I thought
she’d get tired and I’d have to carry her at times. Her routine
was disrupted, and we shared a small tent with a boxer and an adult
human. And, predictably, she had moments of snarkiness, but overall, we both had a great time. I'm so proud of us both!
 |
| Photo by Laura |
