Thursday through Saturday, I went backpacking. Well, technically Friday-Saturday, since all we did Thursday evening was car-camp. It was about a 6.5-mile hike. If it had been seven, I would be dead. I know, I know, I can't believe I'm saying it either, but two days later, my legs are still screaming at me for springing up from my nice little computer and taking them for a "walk in the park" without giving them advance warning.

Physical complaints aside, it was a bit of a grueling hike, but well worth it. I went with Seanna, a girl from my crew; Dad; and Andrew, a guy from another crew whom I'd met briefly at the Dutch oven cookoff my crew had put on. (We'd invited his entire crew, but due to faulty communications, he was the only one who was notified. Some lucky girl in my crew is going to be getting a talking-to.)We camped out that first night, like I mentioned, in a regular "drive-through" campsite. We had fun, cooking hamburgers and trying to figure out how to hang a lantern from two trees. Seanna managed to lasso a branch on one, but had to climb up on Andrew's shoulders to tie off the other side. He braced against the tree with his forehead and came away with a nice little bark pattern. :-p Anyway, the next morning we woke up at 5:30 to have breakfast before setting off. When we got to the ranger station to get our permit, we were informed that we would have to carry a bear can YET AGAIN. This is what happened on Whitney. Since I was the only one with room in his pack, I got to carry the can plus everyone's food. I WIN. So everyone got their food out. I'm thinking, OK, I'll end up carrying like four or five meals. Seanna starts pulling backpacking meals out. One, two, three...six. SIX?? She brought SIX backpacking meals for an essentially overnight trip? We were all cracking up to no end (including Seanna).

After we managed to whittle down our food to the bare essentials, we set off for our destination, Paradise Valley, some six and a half miles away. (Wait, I already mentioned that.) Now, Seanna likes to talk. Andrew likes to talk. Heather does not like to talk so much. So Heather is talked nearly to death from all sides. It turned out all right, though, because Andrew and I found out we have a lot in common, so for once the person talking my ear off was talking about things I was actually INTERESTED in. Now there's a novel idea. :-P We discovered our senses of humor, personalities, and tastes are very much the same, which rather frightened both of us. I'm afraid my reputation of intimidating males my age took a bit of a beating. :-/

We saw a lot of gorgeous waterfalls. Because our rainfall has been like 250% of its normal, they were absolutely spectacular. (See link below for some photos.) One particular one wound through a gentle granite slope that was very slick. Ignoring the sign that warned of this, my father decided a smart thing to do would be to venture out on the rock right up to the waterfall to get pictures. The three of us waited on the trail, figuring out who was going to run back to the trailhead (about five miles away) for help while the other two prayed. :-P When he got back, I told him, "Don't you ever do that to me again." The other two just laughed.

We finally arrived at our campsite after hiking for only three hours. Up incredibly steep terrain with an absurd number of "stairs," but only three hours. We pitched 100 feet away from the river (Leave No Trace and all), in a beautifully secluded spot. We didn't see or hear anyone the entire time we were there. After eating and getting set up, Seanna took a nap while the rest of us decided to go for a swim in that river. That SNOWMELT river. Whee dogies. To make things worse, the riverbed was made up of rounded stones around the size of my fist. My feet are still bruised. We got in about to our thighs. Then Andrew said, "I dare someone to take two big steps forward." So of course I had to. And then he had to one up me by getting in to his chest. I, however, was not about to go all the way in. So he tackled me. I took him down with me. Dad said my scream as I hit the cold water echoed off the canyon walls. X-D

We got out and started drying off, only to be attacked by mosquitoes after rinsing off all of our repellant. I started swinging my shirt around methodically to keep them away. It worked pretty well until I accidentally hit Andrew, who grabbed a pants leg and hit me back. We beat each other up with clothing for a good ten minutes.

By this time Seanna was awake, so we got dressed and got a fire started for dinner. After dinner, we all crammed into one of the two-man tents and played a variation on Pictionary, guys versus girls. We girls wiped the floor with the guys. Even though they gave us words like "okra," and "agoraphobia," and "duck-billed platypus." Booyah.

We then retired to our separate tents and managed to stay awake talking until one in the morning.

Sleeping on the ground does not agree with me. At all. When I woke up, my neck was able to turn about two degrees before it caused me pain. Yay fun. We went swimming again, and saw a deer that crossed the water and came within five feet of us. That was cool.

The death march home allowed us one quick stop, which is probably why my legs are filing litigation against me. Excuse me, two brief stops: one planned; one to give berth to a baby bear. A cool sight, but nervewracking, as bears always are.

We finally got to the car and collapsed into it. Seanna and Andrew both got really carsick, making me ever more grateful that that's not a battle I have to fight. He gave me a huge hug when he left and told me I was definitely going to be one of the people he wrote while on his "mission," which he's leaving for shortly. When he comes back in two years, he's going to do Mount Whitney with our crew.

That was the activity section of the hike. The emotional impact of the trip was far greater than I ever expected it to be.

Some of you are aware of this paradox I deal with. One small part, mostly my ego, I believe, would like very much to be noticed and appreciated by the opposite gender. The rest of me fights against this tooth and nail, usually managing to subdue it. Most guys think I am scary/intimidating/frightening/etc. and I'm proud of that in an odd way. I got thrown a curve, however, this past weekend. Andrew thought I was one of the coolest people he'd ever met and one heck of a Scout. He kept saying he'd never met anyone who could "outscout" him before.

We kept finishing each other's sentences and making the same jokes at the same time. We're both computer geeks and complete Scouting nerds and share the same tastes in nearly everything except politics and religion (he's extremely liberal and Mormon, and I, obviously, am not). I mean, it doesn't get any nerdier than standing around on a Scout campout, eating your MREs, discussing why _Macbeth_ is the best of Shakespeare's plays or reciting Poe or quoting M*A*S*H. And to think that is awesomely *cool*--well, that just makes it nerdier.

Now, just to clarify, I am not the least bit "interested" in him, mainly for the above two differences and that huge part of me that simply does not want to be involved (which is more than personal preference, but that's another story). My father and Seanna think he is in me, which I really hope isn't true because he's already become an awesome friend. But it's kind of shaken me a little bit. He's the first guy who's ever really shown any appreciation for the weirdness that is me--and he *shares* it. I've only known him a short time, yet I feel like there is very little I could not confide in him, and vice versa. That feeling scares me, and I don't know why. And at the same time, it makes me happy, too.

Well, that was quite the tangent. Ain't growing up grand?

La" Kid at heart? Me? As long as there's a second star to the left."Zorra