Wilderness man

As we came towards the last leg of our hike back to the parking lot, I felt a sense of accomplishment, and a little sense of pride. We did it! Our first backcountry camping experience! The first thought that went through my head was, "Whew! We did it! Bears don't matter now!" In fact, we luckily did not even encounter any (either due to luck or to the effectiveness of my many bear bells and our relentless singing along the way). 

I had been secretly (well not so secretly) nervous about this whole trip. I had always wanted to try backcountry camping (where you hike in with your stuff to your site, as opposed to car camping which I often did with my family). But the thought of just the three of us (Queenie, Anna, and I) got me a little anxious. What if we ran into bears? Is our group too small to scare them off? Although I crave more wilderness experience, I've always been a little chicken when it comes to hiking into the forests. Plus I've heard that this year is a big bear year, and that our prolonged winter had left them just a little hungrier. The thought of wandering into a hungry, and thus grumpy bear kinda left me keyed up all trip long. Prophylactically, I armed myself with numerous bear bells (wanted to ensure that they know we were coming), and a bear-spray on my hip. Queenie thought I was nuts, but I did not want the chance to prove her wrong. 

But backcountry camping is quite a rewarding experience. The idea of being self-sufficient and hiking in with all our gears felt adventurous, even though it was only an one-night experience. Added to the thrill was that this was probably too early to camp, as the snows hadn't all melted along the way and thus few campers would care to show up at this time of year. Although I dearly hoped that we would arrive at our campsite with people already there (thus proving that none of them were being eaten the night before), it slowly became evident that we would be the only ones there. In the end, we did arrive at an empty campsite after 4 hours of hiking, although later on in the evening a couple did show up to share the site (as well as proceeded to steal the majority of the available firewood). 

All in all it was a pretty successful trip. All our gears worked out perfectly, our packs didn't break our backs, and none of us had to fight off any wild animals. We actually had a blast the entire way, and once our camp was well established we managed a very leisurely evening with our dehydrated prepared meals and muchos alcohol. The only regret was that the campsite was not lake-front, as I had been looking forward to waking up by the lake all hike long. That only intensified my interest in camping at the Garibaldi Lake sometime this year or the next. That would be a much longer hike, though, and we would probably have to work harder in trying to lighten our packs even more. 

In the end, sore muscles and all, we returned safe and sound back into the city. I once again remembered how much I enjoy the easiness of city life, but the odd wilderness experience from time to time makes me feel more prepared for the wilderness and I appreciate that. For the time being, though, I'll pamper myself in my lovely bed tonight, as well as our fresh-smelling, sparkling clean flush toilets. Kudos to civilization!

For more pictures of our hiking trip go to:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=258742&id=757765105&ref=mf