The Long-Awaited Backpack

I have been lazy about posting. This is partly because it is so stinkin' frustrating to put photos in Blogger; and it's hard to blog when my sweaty arms stick to the vinyl tablecloth; and it's hard to blog when I am preoccupied by work. And I'm not feeling witty at the moment, either. But, here I am, sticky and witless, ready to try to get my groove back.

Finally! After years of waiting until both kids could carry enough weight that we could get into the back country, we managed to pull off a two-night backpacking trip. There was a time when Simon and I had this down to such a science that we knew exactly which piece of gear went into each pocket, how many packets of instant oatmeal we needed and which bungee cord was just the right size for which sleeping bag. We didn't go very far: just three miles to little Wier Lake, which we had to ourselves the whole time. We hiked in and set up a base camp, then spent the second day just goofing off. We hiked out on the third day. Usually Simon and I relocate every day, but this is the way to do it with kids.

Unless you do it this way, of course. We met these guys coming out as we were going in. So, they rented these llamas from...are you ready for this? The Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork. So unlikely on so many fronts: that Spanish Fork has a Krishna Temple; that the Krishna Temple has a llama rental service. Si wondered if there was a llama named Dalai. "No, Honey. That would be rude to the Buddhists." This one was a real ham. As soon as I took out my camera, he walked right up to me and showed my his best side. Now the kids are all for chucking the backpacks and renting llamas.

We had perfect weather, which is miraculous in the Uintas. No moon, either, so the firmament was perfectly complete from horizon to horizon both nights. The Perseid's meteor shower is visible in Utah this week; the experts said that it would not be visible until 3:00-4:00 AM and that any other shooting stars would be "incidental". I beg to differ, as we sat there from 9:30-11:00 PM going "OOOOOH!" and "AHHHHH!" every ten minutes or so as HUGE meteors shot across the sky, often with long, thick tails.

Car camping is fun, especially down in the desert. But I like backpacking better. Less crap=fewer chores. I am perfectly happy with two pairs of undies, two pairs of socks, one shirt, one pair of pants. I have my same little kitchen I have had since college. Simon, though, unbeknownst to me, hauled in a bottle of Cabernet and a couple of these cheesy plastic wine glasses. Then he had the nerve to complain that he was the only one who didn't have room to bring a paperback. Oh, whah. Yeah, we actually had a little reading time, since we didn't move camp. And time to take a hike to some other lakes in the area.

We found this perfect, throne-shaped rock by the bridge at the bottom of Long Lake. If only there had been, like, four of them. At our camp. We just sat on the ground, so we had lustful thoughts about this rock. We also found, stashed in the memory of the GPS, a geocache we had programmed in years ago but never hunted. It was nearby, so we went and found it.

There was even time for a little bit of this!