Sunday, September 9, 2012

Get Outside Monday #5

First things first.  I hope you guys like the new layout.  I've been working/designing it for quite awhile and I think I've finally perfected it.  If anything is still wacked out, let me know and I'll make sure to fix it!

Now, onto Get Outside Monday!
 
Last weekend we went backpacking around Ross Lake.  


It is an insanely beautiful glacier lake.  It's also incredibly huge!

We left early Saturday morning (after packing all of our gear, which, by the way, ended up being about 25 pounds in each pack) and headed for the ranger station to get our backcountry permits.

Our packed packs!
We planned out our itinerary and left for the trailhead.

All geared up and ready to go!

After about 5 miles I noticed that I was getting blisters on my heels.  
Side note: Ever since I've had these boots, whenever I take them on long trips I've gotten blisters.  In the past this was because I always forgot my nice Superfeet insoles, so there was always an excuse!  THIS time, I put them in, but put them in on TOP of my boot's insoles.  Yeah...not smart Alison.  Either way, I'm getting new boots.


 I figured it was fine because we were already halfway done with the hike and I'd get to rest them up all night and maybe soak them up in the lake.

After hiking about 10 miles, my blisters started hurting like crazy.  Not only that, but my back was in pain and my groin was in pain (very weird since I've never had soreness there).  


Do you know what my husband did?!
Since we only had about 2 miles left, he carried my pack for awhile.  BOTH PACKS.
 

 I love this man.  He is too good to me.


We got to camp (13 miles total for day 1) and found a perfect campsite on a nice big rock overlooking the lake.  It was gorgeous.


 

 Nick made a fire and I tended to my blisters.  I counted them all and found out that I had 10, 10! blisters on my feet combined.  Nasty.

Do you see the two hobbits hiding in our campsite for the night?  :)
 Our orginal plan was to spend 3 nights and 4 days out on the trail.  My feet were killing me and I didn't know if I could (or should) make it the full time.Our 2nd day was supposed to be an intense climb up to a beautiful ridge.

After quite awhile of discussing, Nick and I decided to just forget it and take it easy on the way back.


Left: our original plan     Right: What we actually did.

Story time:  Our first night we were reading our books in bed when I heard some footsteps outside the tent.  I asked Nick if it could be the park ranger, but he said they wouldn't be around at night.  The footsteps got louder (our hearts did, too).  Nick yelled and rattled the tent.  Immediately we heard dirt hit the tent and the galloping of some animal (we assume it was a deer, but it was insanely scary at the time).

Our 2nd day we hiked 10 miles, which made for a really nice and easy 3rd day with only 3 miles left.


 Long story short, it was a gorgeous hike.  The campsites were awesome, the lake was beautiful, the weather was awesome, and we're definitely going to do it again.  


You can actually take a boat (motorized or canoe/kayak) in to the lake.  A lot of the really nice/awesome campsites are meant for people who boat in.  Next time we're going to bring out a canoe or kayak so we can explore more of the creeks/rivers and save our feet for intense ridge hiking.


How did you get outside this week?  Link up with me!

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Just Sayin'

1.  Write a post about how you got outside this past week (you can even tie it in with your weekend recaps)
2.  Grab the button
3.  Link up
4.  Get inspired by (and support) other outsiders!


7 comments:

  1. I love the new design!
    Have a great Monday :)

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  2. Your trip looks like it was a lot of fun! I love that you get to hike in such a beautiful area! Jealous!

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  3. I am ashamed to say I barely went outside this week. The weather here has been absolutely horrendous...rain, wind, more rain, rain blowing sideways, rain flooding our driveway, wind blowing our trash cans all over the place, more rain...and 52 degrees. Blech. Your pictures are gorgeous and you two are too cute :)

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  4. Wow what a fun time! I don't get outside nearly enough unfortunately.

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  5. I like the colors in your design! I have always wanted to go to Ross lake or Diablo. I thought we were going to get over there this summer, but camping with a 9 month old in a tent does not appeal to me! Oh well maybe next year when he is walking. haha. Oh by the way enjoy doing this stuff while you can, kids can really put a damper on the festivities.

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  6. I adore your new layout! Super cute :D Looks like you guys had a wonderful hike, my boyfriend and I might have to venture up that way sometime soon :D

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  7. Incredible pictures - that looks like so much fun! How scary that you heard footsteps outside your tent, luckily (hopefully) it was just an animal!

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