The account of a first-timer’s backpacking extravaganza
Ice Age Trail, Kettle Moraine State Forest, Wisconsin
Ice Age Trail, Kettle Moraine State Forest, Wisconsin
This was to be my first REAL backpacking, camping trip! Naturally, I spent the the entire week prior at REI. I got to buy all sorts of super expensive backpacking goodies. Boots, air mattress, a cocoon(!) for my sleeping bag. Who knew that you can get socks to line your socks! or how many vegan, gluten-free freeze-dried camping meals exist—score! And forget breaking in the boots, I ain’t got time for that!
Day 1: Friday morning we hit the trail & saw 5 horses, a wombat, and a few unripe raspberries. We made camp beyond the Mauthe Lake campsites—our mission: the further we camp away from people the better! Hiked 8 miles. Had one blister forming on my right heel, one curious bulging bruise on the top of my left foot. I said tomorrow we will find fields of ripe raspberries.
Day 2: Saw fish, a painted turtle, so many toads on the path, and bushels upon bushels of ripe raspberries. yum. Hiked 13 miles. Blister on right foot fully formed, questionable bruise on left foot seems more ballooned and swollen. I said today I will see a snake! And I did. Just not the kind of snake I was expecting to see. Note to self: be specific when talking to the universe.
The Last Aloha featuring the Snake
Setting: day 2, midway through our 4-day backpacking trip
As daylight began to fade we arrived at last to the Parnell Tower. After 12 miles, we were pretty dead, but thankfully the lookout tower was only a staircase away. Still needed to make camp so we had our packs with us.
The trail we came in on bisected the very long stairway: to the left, stairs led up to the lookout tower & to the right, stairs led to the parking lot & toilets. We planned to head up the tower, but first, to the toilets!
Since we were coming right back up, I decided to leave my pack at this mid-way point by a bench and go use the bathroom. Marcus, my hiking companion, said he was not about to leave his pack because he didn’t want his stuff stolen. I replied, “No one will steal my backpack!” For good measure, he had me “hide” the bag behind a fallen tree behind the bench. I didn’t put much effort into hiding it as I was under the belief no one in their right mind would take a backpacker’s pack! I left my sweaty aloha hat on top of my bag.
After using the toilet, I waited on a picnic bench outside the facility for my hiking companion. While sitting there, I watched as a girl came running down the stairs, squealing that she nearly stepped on a chipmunk. A boy came running off the stairs behind her and then came a woman. They were all sprinting through the parking lot toward their car. While running in her miniskirt and ballet flats toward the car, the woman was puffing on a cigarette. She yelled for the kids to hurry up.
I felt like something sketchy was underfoot. Am I witnessing some kind of heist? I wondered whether I should take down their license plate number. But it was an Illinois plate and those have all weird letters and numbers jumbled together; so I said the heck with it, I can’t remember all that. After they scrambled into a white 4-door sedan (kids in the back, no passenger in the front), the woman sped toward the base of the stairway—not toward the exit of the parking lot and parked. Hmmmm. The woman hopped out and started rearranging the trunk.
I went into detective mode. No one was sitting in the passenger seat. This woman is moving things to make room in the trunk. She is in a full-blown frenzy. I see her glancing up the stairs. She appears to be expecting someone. An accomplice?
I slid off the picnic table and started walking toward the car. I arrived at the foot of the stairs and positioned myself between the car and the base of the steps. I looked up the stairs. What timing! Lo & behold, I see a man hurrying down the last couple steps with my backpack on his back!! With a straight face, I look him dead in the eye and ask, “What are you doing with my backpack?" Without missing a beat, he hands me the bag. I ask him if he has my aloha hat or if he left that by the bench. He said he didn’t see a hat. He jumps in the car & the family from Illinois high-tails it away.
Heist aborted!
So much going through my head at this point. a) what kind of EXAMPLE are you setting for your kids!? b) REALLLY!!??!? c) not to make generalizations but people wonder why Illinois doesn’t have a good reputation in Wisconsin… d) I hope my hat is still up there! e) If I had been as constipated as Marcus I would have lost my bag!
At this time my hiking buddy comes out of the toilet, and I tell him a man brought down my bag for me! We quickly hike up the steps & look around for my hat. Gone. The last aloha.
Afterthoughts--
So what did I learn from this experience? People tell me I tempt others when I leave something valuable unattended, unlocked, etc. Well I disagree! There is always a choice. If someone wants something badly enough, they will go for it. And maybe his/her need is greater than mine. There was a time I was eating lunch--an overpriced thali set--outside a restaurant in Nepal. Before I could react, a man swiped the curd (yogurt dish) from my plate, ran a few steps and slurped it down. The restaurant worker who witnessed the whole exchange ran after him, yelled, and hit him. The man curled up in fetal position and took the abuse. In the meantime, a server quickly replaced the curd on my plate. I felt condolence & compassion for the man who clearly needed the nourishment much more than I!
And as for this family from IL, when I got over the shock of their attempted heist, I realized I was the one who learned the valuable lesson. It’s a matter of perspective, isn’t it? When we say 'me, my, mine'…what are we doing? We are both harboring attachment & creating separation… If we are connected through one collective consciousness, there is no need for this possessive line of thought. And if I get upset because someone took something that "belonged to me” I allow attachment to lead me toward misery. However, if we release attachment, truly just let it go, with the idea 'hey maybe s/he needed that more than me,' what kind of paradigm shift would we experience? The backpack is not ‘mine.' Nothing belongs to me. I both forgive & thank the family for enlightening me this Independence Day weekend—thank you for teaching me independence from the ego-driven world, from our grasping and attachment of material possessions; thank you for enlightening me with the true meaning of non-attachment and bringing awareness back to our interconnection.
Day 2 (continued): ate dinner on the top of the tower, watched the sunset over Kettle Moraine State Forest. Camped in a swarm of mosquitoes.
Day 3: saw a family of turkeys (parent turkeys and 2 chicks awkward in flight). Blister on right heel popped and began healing. Left foot still swollen. Bathed in Mauthe Lake with rose-scented Dr. Bronner's. Watched the sunset in the hammock while eating ginger dark chocolate & maple-flavored almond butter. Hiked 14 miles.
Day 4, Independence Day: the first morning waking up before 8:30am(!) Saw 2 dead mice on the path (the snake did not eat its prey...), a salamander, and many dogs. Hiked 7 miles to arrive back at our starting point. Feet survived!
Hiked: 42 miles. Lost: 1 aloha hat. Gained: a sense of compassion for all humankind.
Note to self: Keep spreading that aloha Lizzie Bear, because the world thrives on LOVE.
Day 1: Friday morning we hit the trail & saw 5 horses, a wombat, and a few unripe raspberries. We made camp beyond the Mauthe Lake campsites—our mission: the further we camp away from people the better! Hiked 8 miles. Had one blister forming on my right heel, one curious bulging bruise on the top of my left foot. I said tomorrow we will find fields of ripe raspberries.
Day 2: Saw fish, a painted turtle, so many toads on the path, and bushels upon bushels of ripe raspberries. yum. Hiked 13 miles. Blister on right foot fully formed, questionable bruise on left foot seems more ballooned and swollen. I said today I will see a snake! And I did. Just not the kind of snake I was expecting to see. Note to self: be specific when talking to the universe.
The Last Aloha featuring the Snake
Setting: day 2, midway through our 4-day backpacking trip
As daylight began to fade we arrived at last to the Parnell Tower. After 12 miles, we were pretty dead, but thankfully the lookout tower was only a staircase away. Still needed to make camp so we had our packs with us.
The trail we came in on bisected the very long stairway: to the left, stairs led up to the lookout tower & to the right, stairs led to the parking lot & toilets. We planned to head up the tower, but first, to the toilets!
Since we were coming right back up, I decided to leave my pack at this mid-way point by a bench and go use the bathroom. Marcus, my hiking companion, said he was not about to leave his pack because he didn’t want his stuff stolen. I replied, “No one will steal my backpack!” For good measure, he had me “hide” the bag behind a fallen tree behind the bench. I didn’t put much effort into hiding it as I was under the belief no one in their right mind would take a backpacker’s pack! I left my sweaty aloha hat on top of my bag.
After using the toilet, I waited on a picnic bench outside the facility for my hiking companion. While sitting there, I watched as a girl came running down the stairs, squealing that she nearly stepped on a chipmunk. A boy came running off the stairs behind her and then came a woman. They were all sprinting through the parking lot toward their car. While running in her miniskirt and ballet flats toward the car, the woman was puffing on a cigarette. She yelled for the kids to hurry up.
I felt like something sketchy was underfoot. Am I witnessing some kind of heist? I wondered whether I should take down their license plate number. But it was an Illinois plate and those have all weird letters and numbers jumbled together; so I said the heck with it, I can’t remember all that. After they scrambled into a white 4-door sedan (kids in the back, no passenger in the front), the woman sped toward the base of the stairway—not toward the exit of the parking lot and parked. Hmmmm. The woman hopped out and started rearranging the trunk.
I went into detective mode. No one was sitting in the passenger seat. This woman is moving things to make room in the trunk. She is in a full-blown frenzy. I see her glancing up the stairs. She appears to be expecting someone. An accomplice?
I slid off the picnic table and started walking toward the car. I arrived at the foot of the stairs and positioned myself between the car and the base of the steps. I looked up the stairs. What timing! Lo & behold, I see a man hurrying down the last couple steps with my backpack on his back!! With a straight face, I look him dead in the eye and ask, “What are you doing with my backpack?" Without missing a beat, he hands me the bag. I ask him if he has my aloha hat or if he left that by the bench. He said he didn’t see a hat. He jumps in the car & the family from Illinois high-tails it away.
Heist aborted!
So much going through my head at this point. a) what kind of EXAMPLE are you setting for your kids!? b) REALLLY!!??!? c) not to make generalizations but people wonder why Illinois doesn’t have a good reputation in Wisconsin… d) I hope my hat is still up there! e) If I had been as constipated as Marcus I would have lost my bag!
At this time my hiking buddy comes out of the toilet, and I tell him a man brought down my bag for me! We quickly hike up the steps & look around for my hat. Gone. The last aloha.
Afterthoughts--
- This family from IL probably figured a hiker left the bag in order to climb up the tower (the opposite direction from their getaway car). Little did they know, I had unintentionally set them up in a trap!
- What would have happened had he not given up the bag!? gah, I don’t know… I did not get their license plate number—I don’t even know what kind of car they were driving, so I had really nothing to go off of to turn in any reports…
- My first backpacking adventure nearly thwarted! I was midway through my backpacking trip—a 2-day hike away from our car. Such a heist could have been a doozy for me ! and just think of my newly purchased cocoon!
- And finally, I found myself chuckling. The snake. I had told the universe today I would see a snake. And a snake I did see—it may not have been reptilian, but by our deeds, we choose our creature form!
So what did I learn from this experience? People tell me I tempt others when I leave something valuable unattended, unlocked, etc. Well I disagree! There is always a choice. If someone wants something badly enough, they will go for it. And maybe his/her need is greater than mine. There was a time I was eating lunch--an overpriced thali set--outside a restaurant in Nepal. Before I could react, a man swiped the curd (yogurt dish) from my plate, ran a few steps and slurped it down. The restaurant worker who witnessed the whole exchange ran after him, yelled, and hit him. The man curled up in fetal position and took the abuse. In the meantime, a server quickly replaced the curd on my plate. I felt condolence & compassion for the man who clearly needed the nourishment much more than I!
And as for this family from IL, when I got over the shock of their attempted heist, I realized I was the one who learned the valuable lesson. It’s a matter of perspective, isn’t it? When we say 'me, my, mine'…what are we doing? We are both harboring attachment & creating separation… If we are connected through one collective consciousness, there is no need for this possessive line of thought. And if I get upset because someone took something that "belonged to me” I allow attachment to lead me toward misery. However, if we release attachment, truly just let it go, with the idea 'hey maybe s/he needed that more than me,' what kind of paradigm shift would we experience? The backpack is not ‘mine.' Nothing belongs to me. I both forgive & thank the family for enlightening me this Independence Day weekend—thank you for teaching me independence from the ego-driven world, from our grasping and attachment of material possessions; thank you for enlightening me with the true meaning of non-attachment and bringing awareness back to our interconnection.
Day 2 (continued): ate dinner on the top of the tower, watched the sunset over Kettle Moraine State Forest. Camped in a swarm of mosquitoes.
Day 3: saw a family of turkeys (parent turkeys and 2 chicks awkward in flight). Blister on right heel popped and began healing. Left foot still swollen. Bathed in Mauthe Lake with rose-scented Dr. Bronner's. Watched the sunset in the hammock while eating ginger dark chocolate & maple-flavored almond butter. Hiked 14 miles.
Day 4, Independence Day: the first morning waking up before 8:30am(!) Saw 2 dead mice on the path (the snake did not eat its prey...), a salamander, and many dogs. Hiked 7 miles to arrive back at our starting point. Feet survived!
Hiked: 42 miles. Lost: 1 aloha hat. Gained: a sense of compassion for all humankind.
Note to self: Keep spreading that aloha Lizzie Bear, because the world thrives on LOVE.
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