My first adventure in backpacking (hijinx ensues)

I have a friend JA who has literally camped and backpacked all over the world. She is by far the most worldly person I know. She is multilingual and an expert at placement and construction of outhouses*. *She know's I am talking about her now.
Being so experienced, I had no reason not to trust her completely. I own hiking boots, sleeping bag and pad. She had everything else. She even thought ahead with this being april and weather being unpredictable at best, she wanted to stay low in altitude to avoid the possibility of snow. So with the forecast being 2000 foot snow level we stayed below 1800.

This did not stop us from waking up in the snow. Heavy snow. Lot's of it.

I don't do well in the snow. I don't like driving in it, I don't like being around other people in the snow*. *Long story for another entry.

So, JA being considerate of my snow issues, we headed back out of the Olympic National Forest for lower ground. More specifically her parents house about 30 minutes away. We cooked breakfast and sat and looked over the water and thought about what it was going to be like once we finally got to go hiking. She got some tips and we took off to a small park nearby and on the water. We hiked around there and found what might be the next adventure of our whole group of friends in car camping.

While we were out there we concocted the story of fighting off a bear with our purses for those who want to ask us how our hiking trip went. All I have to say is thank goodness we carry zip ties in our purses. (Don’t ask) She had told me at the beginning that my only job was to tell her when I wasn’t having fun anymore and we would head straight back to the car and get dry, warm and fed. Well, after hiking around this park for a couple hours in the rain, I realized that I really wasn’t prepared for the rain and decided it was time to get dry and that my hot tub was calling our names.

Great weekend, we spent about 40 minutes in the tub getting warm, then got food and movies and spent the rest of the afternoon watching movies and hanging out. It couldn’t have been much better.

I am very lucky with the friends I have. They are as flexible as I am. I try new things with them and they come hang with me and do nothing. Nothing is good sometimes.