First Backbacking Trip

Karis and I went on her first backpacking trip this weekend. We had a great time even though the trip did not go as I had planned. I also did not have a camera to take pictures, but I hope to get a few pictures to post from a friend who went with us.

We went up the Half Moon trail toward Mount of the Holy Cross (a 14er), which is the same place I took Corban on his first backpacking trip. Once again, as with Corban, I took my crashpad hoping to do some bouldering in a grassy alpine meadow. However, as with Corban, I never reached the grassy alpine meadow.

On this trip, there was unexpected snow covering the trail. We successfully made it to the top of the ridge, but on the hike down to the area we hoped to camp, the snow on the trail was much worse. I was trying to carry Karis across snow fields but kept sinking up to my hip as I punched through the snow. Karis' feet eventually got wet and cold from the snow and she could no longer feel her toes (she said :). So, we turned around and headed back to the ridge to camp. The ridge was a beautiful location and we enjoyed just hanging out together.

Because we were going with a couple other people, we only brought one stove and one water pump. The decided to take the stove and we took the water pump. Without the stove, we could not make our supper, oatmeal for breakfast, or my stovetop espresso coffee (Karis was glad I did not have coffee because "it is bad for you", she said.). At least we had enough other stuff to keep us satisfied. The other two expected they could boil water, but ran out of fuel boiling the second pot (even though they had a full fuel bottle to start with). So, they were unable to have their hot breakfast and coffee in the morning either (Karis was happy for Jeremy because, "coffee is bad for you", she says.).

We took it pretty slow the next morning because we had to wait until the other two went to the summit before returning back to the truck. While hanging out, we watched some marmots, fed a chipmunk, looked at flowers, picked up these stunningly white crystal rocks, and waited for my socks to dry. I neglected to mention I fell in a creek while carrying Karis across it on the way back to the ridge (I was actually standing on a rotten log, trying to cross the creek to avoid the snow when half of the log gave way, thereby plunging my foot into the creek). We ended up leaving our camp site around 10:45, and got back to the TR around 12:30. We had to wait until 3 for the rest of the group to return. During that time, we spent most of it throwing pine cones into the stream. Karis had a lot of fun doing that.

Karis apparently was having a little trouble with altitude sickness. Several times while on the ridge, she complained about her tummy hurting and needing to throw up. She even used a bowl and dry heaved into it a few times. Since returning to the TR, she has not complained about her tummy hurting.

For me, this is now two failed attempts to go bouldering at Mount of the Holy Cross. I don't think I will temp fate and ever try bouldering there again. It was a good first backpacking trip for both of us though.