The Location

Why would any sane person take two weeks off of work, to hike into the middle of the forest, around lakes, over mountains and through rivers, all while living only off of what you pack in on your back, and simply call it 'a much needed vacation'? I know that may sound a bit unpleasant to some but I should add the abundant and beautiful wildlife that that are known to this area. Brown bear, black bear, cougar, mountain lion, bull moose and just recently reported on another blog, a sighting of a wolfpack. Oh, did I mention the occasional grizzly bear? Of course you do have your cute, cuddly, fuzzy critters like squirrels, chipmunks, field mice and marmots....but aren't they really just appetizers until a more sizeable, tasty entree comes walking along, say 190 lbs of soft and meaty goodness?

Oh, I did mention something about a vacation didn't I? Well is that really a vacation that a sane person would consider a good time? Especially since that sane person hasn't had a vacation since the Clinton administration? Well the answers to these questions at this point are completely unknown, so apparently I, the author, am quite insane.

Me and my 6'2'', 190 lb main course....I mean body, will be hiking into the Pasayten Wilderness located in the Okanogan National Forest just east of the Cascade Mountains in the Evergreen State for a period of at least 7 days. By the term "at least" I am referring to the fact that we don't get lost, injured, maimed or mauled.

Maybe I shouldn't have watched that documentary on the animal planet about Grizzly and Wolf feeling less threatened by humans now, then ever before. Not sure if that was the best choice of TV viewing...

Oh well, they look really, really cool. I wonder if they like to snuggle?

The Calling

It was July 2008, my good friend, a backpacking fanatic and a fellow outdoor enthusiast, called me up and asked me if I'd like to go on a backpacking expedition in the remote mountains in Washington state. Not knowing what I was fully getting myself into, I agreed. That expedition, or Expo'09 as we later named it, was set to go. Planning, training, more planning, more training and yes even more planning went into it for over a year.

3 days before I was to set sail on my amazing adventure, I decided to play in a pick-up soccer game. It could only help my fitness level of covering some 50+ miles of constant elevation gain upwards of 6000 feet, right? I've played soccer for 30+ years and never suffered a serious injury, nothing could go wrong, right?

Wrong! The phrase, "never say never" could not have been more true. The enevitable happened and 4 hours later in the Emergency Dept. at Scottsdale Healthcare-Osborn campus, I learned what I already knew in my heart. Diagnosis: Ruptured tendons in my left ankle, crutches for 4 weeks, stay off feet for 2 weeks. Alas, Expo'09 was put on hold for a later date.

Because of the snowmelt in this region affords such a small window of time, this extraordinary adventure hiking into the northern part of Washington and close to the Canadian border, could only be accomplished between mid-August to mid-September. We looked to the future for a better day, that day was the summer of 2010 and what was once known as Expo'09 was aptly renamed, Expo'10. The great backpacking adventure.