I finally went on my first backpacking trip... Woohoo!! It was awesome! The trip was exactly on my three-day weekend, Oct. 7 - 9, and I have to thank my friend, Tony, for making it happen.
Not that I'm trying to make any excuses for posting this late, but I just bought a new USB cable for my camera. Stupid me forgot it back home (like way back in Thailand). And it would be kind of dumb if I make my mom ship something like that over. So then I realized I didn't have the cable after I took pictures of the spoils from my shopping spree. Sucks, eh?
Plus, I didn't want to just write about what I bought. That's totally boring.
Anyhow, let's first start with what I bought. Clothing wise, I bought a mid-layer, thermal underwear, and a pair of gloves. Funny thing to note: I bought my clothes from the kid's section. :) Yes, I'm small enough. Plus, it's totally cheaper. Tony was jealous. Hahaha!
Here is my mid-layer. I was thinking of getting this bright pink color, but blue is totally the way to go. I ended up not using this the second night just because I was sweating the first night with it on. My sleeping bag did too good of a job I guess. :p The fabric feels nice though. It's soft and all.. mmmm.... By the way, it's an extra large kid's size. Hehehe.
Then came along this pair of gloves. It has a nice fit and feels nice, too. Sadly, I didn't get a chance to use it during the trip. Don't get me wrong. It was cold as hell when the sun went down (hah! oxymoron!). But we were playing a card game (Phase 10: a really fun and addicting game actually), and I knew better than to put gloves on my hand.
There was a funny incident the first night. Tony gave Joel a hand warming packet, and he had mistaken it for a glove packet. I was merrily playing the card game when I heard this ripping noise beside me. I looked over and Joel was tearing the packet open.
"What are you doing? You're not supposed to do that!"
"Wait... There's no glove in here?"
LOL!
Here's the thermal underwear. REI brand. Kid's size. It did its job out there. I never have liked the feel of tight clothing anyway. It wasn't bad, and it kept me warm, but I'm just saying I'd rather wear loose clothing. I know I'll freeze and die or something if I do, so I'm not complaining (okay, maybe a little). Especially because I have no natural insulation.
Moving on to food.....
I bought four Mountain House dehydrated meals: Beef Stew, Chicken Teriyaki with Rice, Beef Stroganoff with Noodles, and Lasagna with Meat Sauce. Oddly, I ended up only eating one of these meals for the whole three days (well, more like two and half days) there. We left a little late on Friday (around noon). Tony, Joel, and I got Subway before going in, so we basically saved half of the sandwich for dinner that day.
Saturday morning I had oatmeal and half of a lunar bar. Then for lunch, since we were still on the trail, we basically ate more bars. I had the Beef Stew for dinner. It was good! :) And we tried each other's food. Sunday morning I had dessert for breakfast: Mocha Mousse Pie. We hiked out right about lunch time.
My snacks! I ate the Luna LemonZest and the Clif White Chocolate Macadamia Nut on the trail. I ate the Luna Chocolate Peppermint Stick and Clif Cool Mint Chocolate on my way to class in the mornings after the trip, mainly because I woke up too late to make myself breakfast. These bars are way good! No joke!
I bought two Neopolitan Ice Cream, ate one before the trip and decided not to take the other on the trip. It tasted okay. Then there's the Mocha Mousse Pie. By the time I finished eating it for breakfast, I didn't want another bite of anything. And the spork was awesome! I'll probably get a bigger one because this one barely reach into the food pouches.
My water supply! I mean, what more can I say? It's pretty easy to open and use. Actually, I do have a complaint. This bladder didn't exactly come with an instruction manual, so I didn't know that the yellow thing by the mouth piece is a stopper. If Alex didn't tell me, I still wouldn't have known. And here I thought it was weird how the yellow part was kinda wobbly. Maybe it could move to block the flow of water, right? :s
My not so light mug and tubes for sunscreen and toothpaste. Yes, that's my Lotso bear and Louise croc (from "The Princess and the Frog") in the background. Hey, I love Disney, okay?
The trail map! Which I didn't end up using because I kept overlooking at Tony's.
I bought this Socks Monkey from Puzzle Zoo just because I need change for the bus. Hahaha! Cute little thing though. No, I didn't bring it with me on the trip.
* * * * * * * * *
Now, onto the trip itself! So exciting!! Thinking about it all over again makes me so happy. :D
My bag all packed and ready! It definitely gives off a charming aura when it's stuffed and full. :) I love my backpack.
And here I thought my pack was already pretty heavy, Tony proved me wrong. He carried in 5 gallons of water. And we ended up going in to find that there are water faucets around the trails. His load was pretty heavy. I'd probably crumble under that much weight. And he even walked faster than me (plus, he forgot his insoles, too). Not just Tony, but Alex and Mark also were way ahead. I'm grateful Joel stuck by while I was walking. My short legs couldn't keep up. :( Lucky them with their long strides and legs. I'd probably need to go with a group of dwarf next time I go backpacking or something. Hahaha!
The sweet start! There's me, Joel, Mark, Alex, and Tony. [Photo credit to Tony]
We picked a pretty awesome campsite as well. There were lots of different lots around to sneak in and do our business. Hehehe. Plus, there was a porta potty nearby. I used it only once. It smelled (duh!), and I find nature much more appealing for my appetite to go.
That's our three-person tent. Me and Joel set it up! Pretty cool.
It was definitely nice and cozy in there for three people. We were literally shoulder to shoulder. I shared it with Joel and Tony. Of course, I slept in the middle. Don't want no inappropriate sparks flying around between two guys. ;p
Our little picnic table at the campsite. And Joel eating his last piece of the Subway sandwich.
By the time we got to the campsite, the back of my backpack was wet. I thought my bladder broke or something. Apparently, it was just sweat. I even tasted it (just to make sure, or I'm just weird that way). Yep, salty.
After settling down at the campsite, we set out to peak Pt. Mugu.
See what I mean when I say the guys were way ahead of me? Yep, those two little men in the distance there are Alex and Tony. And that orange dude in front is Joel. And no, I didn't intentionally stay behind to take this pic. I was that far behind. And I didn't even have a fanny pack on me. Pathetic I know. :'(
That's a good pic of us on our way. [Alex, me, Joel] Love those grasses!! We were on the fire road, I think.
I struggled getting up the slopes to the peak. Well, let's not use the word "struggled." More like I slowly crawled up that steep trail. Definitely breathing hard at that point. Looked up and guess what I saw. Nothing. Wait what? Where'd they go? Oh, right, they're already there. LOL! Ah, Pepperdine, I thought you were bad already, this thing is beating the crap out of me. Good times.
I got up there. (Woop!) And took pics....
Signing in the little book thing they have at the base of the flag. Pretty cool. You can also see the tiny moon toward the right side of the flag.
I was a bit surprised they have a flag there. "Oh yes, this mountain is the property of the United States of America!"
Here's what the view looks like all around the peak....
And that's just me, super happy about getting there. :D
We set back for camp after taking pictures and soaking up the view.
Then night set upon us. It felt so serene at night. Although I was kind of uncomfortable the first night because it was a little too warm. I love how there were noises at night, like little critters had visited our site. I wonder what they were.
Oh! Random, but it's a definite plus bringing baby wipes with me. I took a shower without really taking a shower (I was still salty and all). Better than nothing, right? Girls and hygiene. Sigh...
Along came Saturday, and we set out on our 12 mile hike. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures on this day. Too busy walking fast and catching up. Although I did enjoy the trail a lot more than the one we hiked in on. There were places on the trail where it was shady and cool. We crossed many small creeks (I hope that's what you call them). It was very interesting. And there were a lot of bikers too. Just the surrounding environment was incredible. Couldn't have made me any happier.
And I came upon a very curious thing. Well, for me at least. It was definitely animal waste, but it was HUGE! We passed a few on our trail, and it kept bothering not knowing which animal the poop came from. Do mountain lions poop that big? No, I didn't think so. I could assume from the content that the animal's diet was something along the line of grass. I thought of elephants. But that's just because I've been around elephants and saw their waste. Looks very similar, just darker. Only when someone mentioned horse riders that I figured out the horse made those. Way to go, Wendy.
We got back to camp before sunset and were all dead meat. We ate, tried to stay awake, played games, and went to bed early (around 9?). I don't really know the exact time. One thing I love about nature: no definite time. Worrying about time is such a damned thing.
Anyway, then the next day we packed up and hiked out. The way back seemed a whole lot shorter than going in. But you know what the funny thing is? That is true for every situation. I find myself thinking the trip "back" from somewhere is always shorter than the one taken to get somewhere (if that makes any sense at all).
Oh, look at me rambling. :s All in all, a successful trip. Loads of fun. I need to exercise more. Gain some weight (why is it so hard for me to gain weight?). And go on some more awesome backpacking trips! :D
