Overnight Backpacking - Take 1

The weekend before last, we took our first backpacking trip together. I took Rachel into the Superstitions for a night. We had a destination in mind but once we started going, we just went until we felt like stopping, set up camp, played cards and made dinner, slept, and hiked out in the morning.

Here is Rachel on the way in. Notice, no sweat, big smile. The only thing that really changed throughout the trip was the sweat for both of us. We had a great time.

I know Rachel would get mad if I didn't include a picture of myself in this post, so here I am on the way in. Get a good look, the rest are of her.

This is the background for our little campsite. It was nice not to be in a campground with a bunch of other people. We saw two other people the entire time we were out there and that was it. We just found a flat spot of ground the size of out tent and set up camp.

Day 2 was great as well. We woke up when we felt like it, packed up, and took off. The weather was great. Nice and cool in the morning. As the sun came up, it warmed up, but the good kind of warm here, not the bad kind we are starting to get into.

We were having some technical difficulties with the camera and the White Balance so here is the best picture the camera could get of Rachel coming down the trail.

Overall it was a blast. I learned one very important lesson on this trip. I learned how to get Rachel to want me to buy more gear. We each carried in the only sleeping pads we have at the moment, 3.5 inch self inflating Camp Beds, that weigh in at 5 pounds each. At the end of the trip, she put a request in for me to buy 2 Big Agnes Insulated Air Core pads that only weigh just over a pound and pack up about 1/10th the size of the other ones. We also borrowed a Jetboil stove from a friend at work. She wants me to get one of those now as well.

So, all in all, we had a good time, but more importantly, I get to buy more gear.