Portola Redwoods Trip September

sarah:

The drive there was eventful. A bike race with a fallen biker and fog that obscured our vision made it a very slow drive up the mountain. We were extremely excited and so curious to try our gear. Although very rudimentary here Alex was just getting into ultralight which is why some of the choices made were weird but we’ve been upgrading gear since this trip. I would say it was a difficult trip mostly in the sleep department. Our tent especially was way too small and falling most of the night because of the pyramid shape, and was really hard and annoying to pitch. At one point we had to move locations to adhere it to 3 trees in hopes of keeping it taut enough. But god the scenery was beautiful and we were completely alone here… We climbed to the top and got to experience the most beautiful view. I will never forget the sheets of clover covering the ground as we hiked. I feel so grateful for these experiences.

First tent location

Second tent location, and a tiny view inside

Clovers everywhere

Alex filtering some water for us

View from the top

Sluuuuuug

alex:

it was a pretty great trip to test all our stuff out. there’s a trope that’s like, the person that studies karate for 10 years through texts and theory doesn’t know karate. or something like that. i was finally getting a chance to go out and actually DO some karate.

sarah kind of already put all the pieces together above, mostly the tent was horrrible. might be a good option for one person but i couldn’t make it happen for us. also our pads, while comfortable, didn’t get the job done. i was sliding around all night like a seal. the next weekend we traded them out for some foam pads, no risk of puncture, way more durable, etc.

clothes were also something i noticed i way overpacked. having less is awesome!

communtion with nature

a young john muir

beautiful forest

more communion

good to be reminded of how tiny you are

let’s do some winter shit next!