Mike's current love is hiking/camping. He tends to get on what I like to call "kicks" where he focuses all of his attention on one thing, one activity, one idea and it could take months or years before he moves on to the next "kick". We have visited The Mast General Store, Academy Sports, Bass Pro, Gander Mountain, etc more times than I can count over the last several months and each time he comes home with some new gadget or tool to use on his next adventure.
His current obsession is to get his hiking backpack weight down as close to 15-20lbs as possible. Its currently at 30+ pounds, depending on whether or not I come along on camping trips. Most professional hikers have packs less than 10lbs and some closer to 7 lbs. Although I require very little compared to the norm, there is no such thing as packing light when I come along...lol.
What I've discovered from all of this is that the smaller it is the more it costs. They have everything from light weight hammocks and self inflating sleeping pads to gadgets such as watches, compasses and cooking utensils weighing mere ounces.
My mother actually had a previous co-worker who spent nearly a year hiking the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine. He currently works at The Mast General Store and Mike and I enjoying hearing his stories/experiences and gaining some of the knowledge he learned along the way. Sadly, we have agreed that neither of us would ever be up for doing that...Heck I'm exhausted after hiking a couple of miles much less 20 miles or more in a day.
Anyways, all of that just to tell you about our weekend. I took a day off work on Friday and we planned a small relaxing camping trip...just the two of us. Since our weather took a sudden turn for Fall, (which I might add only began a little over a week ago) Mike has talked non stop about taking a hiking/camping trip again. His last trip with a good friend had been nearly 3 months ago and a trip was long over due.
So I actually mentioned the trip and agreed to go as I thought it would be a good way to get away and take a break from it all. I never imagined how exhausting and stressful fundraising could be. It has been more like a second job rather than something to do here and there and although I am extremely grateful by the wonderful response we've had thus far I am plum tuckered out. A long weekend was just want I needed to rejuvenate and jump back on the fundraising bandwagon.
Below are just a few pics from our adventure and what an adventure it was. Mike slept in his hammock, but I opted for a small pop up tent and what a mishap it was. Not being a huge mother nature lover I opted to sleep as close to Mike as possible for protection of course in the event that strange creatures wondered out of the woods. However, sleeping as close to Mike as possible meant I had to slept on an incline as he needed to be at the edge of the woods in order to hang up his hammock.
This incline did not provide for a comfortable sleeping arrangement nor did the oh so rock hard ground...ugh! I had a sleeping bag and ended up stealing Mikes sleeping pad half way through the night, yet still ended up with bruises on my hips. I also woke up every hour on the hour. All of the noises began to freak me out and once I get a creepy thought in my mind I can't seem to get rid of it. I would wake Mike up constantly asking "what was that noise." He was not amused to say the least, but was a trooper and ended up getting in the tent with me so that I could finally fall asleep.
This is when the real fun began. I woke up about an hour after he joined me. The tent was collapsing on us and was wet...leaking water through the top mesh. I unsuccessfully tried to wake Mike up to help me fix the tent and ultimately just fell back to sleep. This continued off and on until 5am when Mike finally fully woke up only to realize our tent was collapsed so much that we could no longer sit upright. Once the door was located (very difficult to do when you are laying on top of it) and unzipped we realized we had slid within our tent nearly 10 feet down the hill and rested nearly under his hammock. At that point we decided enough was enough and got up, got packed and hiked back. Hiking in the dark is very difficult and creepy might I add, but so much fun. I laughed the whole way out while clinging to Mike's arm.
We had a blast, mishaps and all. And although I'm not planning another camping trip anytime soon I enjoyed our time together and would love to plan a long weekend again soon...maybe next time we'll choose a bed and breakfast.
