Back in the backpacking business

We did it.

We went on our first trip alone, and we also went on our first backpacking trip in 4 years. Well, we went on an easy backpacking trip when Charlie was 12 months and I was pregnant, don't recommend that at all. Something about carrying a heavy child on a kelty while pregnant and puking doesn't go too well together.

Adam and I jump started our relationship about 6 years ago with plenty of hiking, backpacking, camping, travelling, snow-shoeing, and snowboarding trips. We are both in our element in the great outdoors, something I am forever grateful for. So when I started to plan a little two day getaway my thoughts immediately turned to something like car camping, or renting a cute little cabin in big sur. But the more I thought about it the more I A. remembered we are living on a tight budget these days, and B. want to really spend time with adam...and just adam, so naturally this meant a backpacking trip.

Kate was so incredibly kind enough to take two days off work, and my parents and my brother also devoted Sun-Tues. to my kids.

Adam was pretty excited when I presented my plans to him about a month ago, we spent a few hours looking through our backpacking bible, and found an excellent hike: Porcupine Creek Trail to North Dome. I have backpacked in areas around Yosemite, but never actually in the park itself.

This trip could have not been more perfect. We rolled up to the gate to find out it was free guest pass day (nice, save 20 bucks), then we strolled into the wilderness pass office with 4 minutes to spare and when the nice woman suggested we come back the next morning to get our permit we kindly replied that we were planning on hiking in right at sunrise and so she spent the extra 5 minutes to get us our pass and bear canister. Then we found a beautiful campsite very close to our trailhead. We had time to explore and find the trailhead, check out the map, have a few beers and dinner, sit by a campfire and catch up on things we never get to talk about.

We were up around 5:30 the next morning and were on the trail by 7. I think I finally felt all my trips to FIT really pay off. I had between 30-40 pounds on my back and hiked around 5 miles downhill, through meadows, and up and over huge granite rocks, and with the exception of feeling sweaty, and breathy, I felt fantastic. We stepped upon the magnificient North Dome to find a nice older couple packing up and leaving this epic campsite, complete with shade (it was 100 degrees), a nice big fire ring, kindling stacked, and plenty of larger fallen logs to organize our gear on.

So we did it. 

And we enjoyed it. I spent just about every minute thinking about Charlie and Kate. They were with me the entire time. My heart ached to hold them, kiss them, laugh with them. I carried them with me in a powerful and beautiful way. Every second of this trip I was truly living in the moment, happy to be hiking beside my partner, lucky to be looking at the sweetest little wildflowers, taking in the sweeping views of half dome and yosemite vally, feeling in awe of the huge trees bursting with color against the granite background, relishing in the fact that it was really just me, doing what I wanted and needed to do, but with every step I took, with every little or big thing I set my eyes on, I had Kate and Charlie's spirit right there beside me.

It was interesting how much I thought about, talked about, and the space that these two days created in my mental frame of mind. Ever since having children I have always looked back on my child-free days and felt nostalgic about them being gone. I wondered what it would be like to bike to an amazing lecture on campus, dance freely at a music festival, paint at night with close friends, or stroll through a farmer's market with no plans for the day. But this small trip of just 48 hours really made me realize that I can never go back.

And that I would never want to. I am all of those things I was in college and more now. Instead of biking to campus for a protest, lecture, or gathering, I get to bike along the bluffs with my son next to me and my daughter in the trailer behind me. I dance daily in my living room with my two little sidekicks, paint next to Charlie whenever I please, and quickly race through the farmers market on my way to the tennis courts of park.

 I am not just a mother. I am still Sarah, bad ass enough to hike 5 miles onto a breath-taking peak, and another 3 to get water, and then another 5 out the next morning. I can cook on a tiny backpacking stove just the same as a gorgeous kitchen at home. I can be as free as I let myself be.

And I get to do all of these wondrous things with an incredibly smart, funny, and supportive husband, and two beautiful, silly, and adventurous small friends.

Attitude is Everything