Winter Trek 1

This morning I just got back from my first-ever backpacking trip. Five days, four nights (well..sorta) in the great Yosemite wilderness. Woah! We hiked/snowshoed ten miles up to Shuteye Peak, a mountain at 8,400 ft elevation.

The first day, we hiked around 5.5 miles, then set up camp overlooking a beautiful valley--little did we know that our view the next day would FAR exceed our first view. Because our backpacking trip, "Trek," was part of my leadership class, each day we had LOD's, "Leaders of the Day." The second day, I, along with two other girls, was leader of the day. This was pretty easy--we had the map, compass, and watch, so we basically made sure everyone was hydrated and not too tired, made sure we were going in the right direction, kept track of time, and helped designate jobs when setting up camp. Plus, we were in charge of waking people up in the morning. One of the coolest things about trek was that no one, except for the leaders, had a time piece of any kind. No watches. Definitely no cell phones, and no clocks. The first day when I had no idea what time it was (except by judging from the sun...), it was weird. It was a completely different mindset than I'm used to. But it was also very cool.

The day I was leader, we had to veer off the beaten path and blaze a trail up to Shuteye Pass, a saddle between two mountains. It was difficult going, to say the least. We had to pull the two sleds carrying our tents up a very steep incline, but man, was the view when we got to the top worth it! When we got to the top, all the girls and I ran to the far side, whipped off our shirts, and swung them around our heads. It was an amazing shirtless victory haha.

shirtless victory!

When we set up our campsite, we have to dig out an area designated as our snow kitchen. This is basically a rectangular, 1-2 ft trench which we then cover with a tent top, aka "go-light." With body heat and the stoves on, it gets almost toasty in there--out of the wind, sometimes it even feels 20 degrees warmer than outside!

Inside the go-light

Day three we climbed a summit. It was QUITE the incline. It took us two hours to get to the top, but man, it was the highest point for miles around! You had a 360-degree view of the valley, and on top a fire-watch-building thing was built. In the summer, someone lives up there and his job is to watch for forest fires. Kind of a cool job, but I think I'd get cabin fever.

the view from the top

Skylar and Spear standing on top of the watchtower

When we got to the top, a bald eagle soared over our heads--it was such a gift from God! So beautiful. For one of the professors who was on our team, DJ, it was his first time in his life ever seeing a bald eagle in the wild.

Coming down from Shuteye Peak, elevation 8,400 (about 1,000 feet higher than our campsite), we kept slipping because the incline was so steep. So we started sledding down on our butts! It was so much fun! Comparable to Noah's Ark, even.

Sledding down the hill!

After sledding down the mountain on our butts, we went on a solo time. During this time, we can just spend time with God, either reading, writing, journaling, praying, singing, thinking...some people even sleep! For the fall treks, solo is a 24-hour deal. But we only spent 2.5 hrs because it was so cold.

My view during solo--including my snowshoes!

Speaking of cold, you know what I had to wear at night to stay warm?
First, I was in a fleece liner in my zero-degree sleeping bag, which was in my bivy sack (an outer sack that goes over the sleeping bag to keep it dry), on a sleeping pad.
Then, I wore:

• An underarmor shirt
• Underarmor pants
• fleece pants
• fleece jacket
• hat
• neckwarmer
• gloves
• wool socks

And the first night I was STILL cold!

So the next night I stuffed extra clothes in my sleeping bag. This finally warmed me up at night. That morning, here's a list of everything I pulled out of my sleeping bag:

• two pairs of wool socks
• Gaiters
• snow pants
• snow jacket
• extra hat
• extra gloves
• extra fleece jacket
• and a spare T-shirt

 The fourth day of Trek, we woke up to a blizzard. We had gotten over five inches of snow overnight (!). In fact, it had been so windy that night that both I and my tent roomie, Mads, had had dreams about tornadoes!

The view from my tent day 2

View from my tent day 3--blizzard! Agh, can't see the mountains anymore! =(

We quickly ate breakfast, packed up the tents, and headed down the mountain. It snowed practically the whole time we were trekking. Initially, the plan had been to go about seven or eight miles, and then camp for the night and finish the remaining two or three miles in the morning. However, because all our gear was soaked, we instead hiked ten miles through a blizzard in our snowshoes, then hopped in the vans and drove to DJ's house, where we spent the night. It was SO nice. For once, I could feel my toes.

Camping in DJ's basement

Overall, trek was an amazing experience. I grew closer to my awesome team, I hiked mountains, I saw breathtaking sights, and I experienced adventure and the workmanship of God on a whole new level.

My awesome group, team "Slayer and the Moments"