take a hike

well, we had quite the adventure labor day weekend! we had a fun filled trip planned to hike and sleep on the trail and hike out the next day. sounds like a blast right?... being outside all weekend with BEAUTIFUL weather and nothing to do but relax. little did i know that jon, being the backpacking junkie that he is, selected a trail scoring 4 out of 5 on the difficulty scale. oh boy, were we in for it.

i must say it was fun but we were really, really sore. after hiking straight up hill or straight down hill (i think up is better or my toes like it better anyway) for 7 miles into the trail shelter, we were drained. we found ourselves deep in the woods on the laurel ridge trail. there were adarondak style shelters scattered through the camp area, but they were far enough apart that you did not know the others were even there. first thing, we set up the tent. the second it was done, we were in it for a nap!

we woke up and decided it would be nice to eat dinner by a fire since it gets a little cool at sun set. each shelter had its own fireplace. so jon was in charge of keeping the flame going... blowing on it and using a whole book of matches was his strategy. meanwhile, i am running around camp like a crazy lady looking for stuff to catch on fire. i was good at finding very flammable items! we had a little trouble starting the fire because the chimney looked like it had not been clean since it was built. anyway... with our efforts combined we did it! next, was cooking our mre's. those things are delicious, and you just never know what kind of goodies you will find in there. if you ever have a chance to eat one, you should not pass up the opportunity. cooking them is like a magic trick. i just love everything about them!!!

after all that fun, it was easy to fall asleep. however, we were not excited about doing it all over again the next day because we were already hurting from the first 7 miles! to our surprise we felt really good the next morning. a lovely poptart breakfast, a quick pack, and we were off again. it was better the second day, until we got to the last mile of the trail. we had forgotten that we hiked straight down hill on the way for a whole mile, so the return trip was up and up and up! it was not fun to climb and see no end to the upward journey. we were very excited and proud to see the trail head once again!

here are some of the pics...







this was a really cool view point about 2 miles into the trail. jon's shirt is glowing, haha!












this red bug is pretty













this is my favorite!








yay for 6 miles!















the shelter








lots more pics. stay tuned.


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