Weekend Backpacking Trip

Guess what...I went backpacking this weekend! It was so great being out in the wildnerness and away from my normal Greek driven days. I'd never backpacked before but had been wanting to go for some time. This seemed like the opportune moment considering the leaders of the trip, Katy and Matt, weren't so hard core that newbies couldn't come along. This was good because of the 6 of us that went 3 hadn't backpacked before. We left on Friday afternoon and hiked an hour or so to a camp spot and set up camp for the night...mostly in the dark since we were caught in traffic on the way there and lost a lot of daylight. The park we were in is 30 mins from the city (up here you call New York City, the city) so we could see the bright sky of lights that were from the city, but also had a pretty decent view of the stars as well. It was strange to think that we were camped out in the peaceful wilderness only 30 mins from the busy city. Saturday was the big hiking day. We started at 10 and hiked till about 5. We stopped by a fire ring with a lot of flat ground near by. It was a great place to set up camp. When we started cooking dinner (freeze dried "lasanga") two of our neighbors came to be social. They brought their food with them and cooked it while we were cooking ours. The girl had made her own burner out of a coffe can. It was pretty neat. They were both from the city. There were some other people camping a bit closer to the shelter and up the hill to the left, but we never met them. Matt and Katy were saying it was weird to see so many people on the trails, but that it was also kinda nice. In the mid-morning and afternoon we saw a lot of day hikers and moms and dads sitting on rocks with their kids. It was pretty cool. I think the coolest thing was being able to pick blueberries along the trail. I hadn't picked blueberries in long time so I enjoyed being able to do so. Sunday we only had a short hike back to the car, a couple hours I think. By that time our packs were so light that we were making really good time. Oh, the first day when I picked up my pack I about died. I was thinking, "Oh, Lord have mercy! What have I gotten into?" It took a while to get used to the pack. I fell once the first day and landed on my knees...luckily we hadn't gotten to the rocky trails yet and I landed on soft grass...I told the girls I was near that I was just saying a prayer for the group. Haha... Anyway, I have posted pictures of the trip that Matt took if you want to see some of the trail and people I went with...or need proof that I really did go backpacking. It's on a site called FriendUp and I don't think I can give you a link to my site...you may have to sign up and then search for my name. I'm listed as wildflower. Tell me if you are able to find me and/or if you're having trouble.

FriendUp