April 28 - Getting Ready

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As simple an activity as backpacking essentially is, preparing for a modern day hike is quite the endeavor.  John Muir used to go into the mountains with a loaf of bread and a pound of tea slung over his back in a tow sack.  Well, we aren't as resourceful, and so we go into the woods with much preparation and way too much food.

After a trip to Bryson City for groceries, some 40 minutes away, we laid everything out in order to ascertain whether we could get all this stuff into our backpacks, and once there whether we could then lift it onto our shoulders.  We don't travel lightly.  You can see in the picture the apples and with them we brought really heavy caramel dipping sauce.  We also brought tortillas and banana nut bread -- not dehydrated, either.  The hike we agreed on was pretty kid friendly, so we weren't super careful with the weight.  We made an itinerary change part way through, though, and the weight became a major burden (more on that later). 

 Getting ready for backpacking is fun.  There are lots of little doodads and Velcro pockets and cool water devices and sharp pocket knives and whistles and millions of straps to adjust to get everything just right.  The promise of the adventure lured us.  

Jordan took this lizard picture.  He(?) was watching us pack.  One of the best things about backpacking is how slowly one moves through the world.  The small things become obvious and interesting, like the way a wildflower opens or how a millipede moves.  It is glorious, really.  This same day we had the pleasure of seeing a hummingbird around our camp. The hummingbird was a deep green and just a bit bigger than a carpenter bee.  It was so tiny we weren't sure, at first, if it was a big insect or a small bird.  It came close and we could see it take nectar out of the flowers in the trees. 

As organized(?) as the top picture looks, it took us most of a leisurely day to get fully packed up, ready for the hike the next day.  Of course, when we were done all 3 of our packs seemed too heavy, but we did not take anything out; after all this was a 'kid friendly' hike (hah!).

That nights festivities included a few rounds of Hearts, a campfire, and listening to the frogs and crickets.

April 29 - A Walk in the Woods