Backpacking in Blaze Orange
Thanksgiving, flying home for Thanksgiving can be expensive if you also have to fly home for Christmas two weeks later, so I went backpacking instead. Thanksgiving can be a big day for hunters I guess, I really wouldn’t know I have never been hunting but my buddy had and recommended we Backpack in blaze orange just incase we get mistaken for an oversized 8 point.
We went to Land Between the Lakes and hiked about 17 miles of the Fort Henry Trail, about two and a half years ago I did the whole 26 miles with some other friends so I knew the trail well enough.
On the first day we hiked 11 miles, which is which, for me, is huge. I felt like I had really accomplished something as we sat later in the campsite. We went farther because there wasn’t water where I thought there would be, where there was two and a half years earlier, it had dried up or was simply drainage. Anyway there was no water, so we hiked a mile and a half farther than was the plan. The last mile and a half was on a ridge called the Devils Backbone. It isn’t as bad as it sounds it was actually pretty easy there are a few cool sections where is looks like we were hiking over a stegosaurus.
Anyway, we finally found water and set up camp. We then counted our miles and sat around the campfire I ate mac and cheese. It was getting cooler and cooler so I dawned my wool poncho on top of all the thermal and fleece stuff I was already wearing. Fell asleep around 8 in my 20 degree bag, woke up around 3 and put on more clothes because the temperature dropped like a rock off a giants bald spot. Around 4 woke up and decided to leave the tent for a second, went to unzip the outer zipper and found it had frozen. So I worked with it for a while because I really really desired to get out of the tent as quickly as possible. Finally got out stood straight up and the cold air felt like a brick against the forehead. So I took a tiny walk and returned to the tent, and my sleeping bag had never been so wonderful, so warm, and my mat so comfortable and I slept well till 7.
Woke up, my buddy made coffee, I don’t like strong coffee generally but it was hot and I was freezing. We took down camp, I left a stone as a witness that we had been there and we hiked out of the camp at the base of the Devil’s Backbone. We found out then from some hunters that at Land Between the Lakes offers dear hunting two days a year to like 1000 people. And those two days come the day after we leave, Saturday and Sunday.
So six miles later my buddy and I were in pain but finished. It was a great trip, and the greatest thing is that I finished. It feels so good to do because I am not incredibly athletic and have to work very hard at being healthy, I really feel good about completing goals that I set that have to do with my health. I exceeded my desires by going two miles longer than I thought and 11 miles on the first day. The second day I felt good (good means pretty sore in the legs but able to move), and I finished what I started.
When I need to I can divide my motivation in two. My body tells me that I can’t make it and it hurts too much, my head tells my body it will die if it doesn’t kick into survival mode.
What is Joy, knowing that my reserve can be stronger than my flesh.
