About a summer ago I landed an internship in Menlo Park, CA doing research (a.k.a. being that undergrad in a lab full of Ph.D’s). It was my first summer away by myself and I was ready to leave Texas behind and unleash my inner Silicon Valley Girl. But, what I ended up doing was finding my Maddie Nature, instead. I’m in the middle of Silicon Valley, the Tech Hub of America, and I realized that the weather and landscape of California is too beautiful to take for granted. How were they so lucky that they had perfect weather, perfect beaches, and perfect avocados? I could understand why anyone would want to pack up, leave their families behind, and head west. While my Californian adventures are endless, there is one that I remember fondly: backpacking the Ventanna Wilderness in Big Sur. Granted, it was only a 3 day hike and it’s a pretty beaten path, but escaping the city and, most importantly, my lab for three glorious days was more than enough for me. As an inexperienced hiker (read: complete novice and possibly a liability), I was a little unsure whether I should go or not. But alas, I was convinced (read: peer-pressured) into joining my friends and I’m more than glad I went. So, today, I’m going to share my experiences, my struggles, and ultimately the lessons I learned within those short three days.

I’m going to reiterate: I am not a hiker. I’m not even remotely athletic. In fact, when I moved to the Bay Area I was hesitant to rent a bike because I hadn’t ridden a bike since I was maybe 10 years old. I live by the beach but can’t swim. So, anything past one hour of cardio would probably have me passed out on the floor. Which was a good enough reason for me to be worried about wandering up and down the mountains for three days straight. Did I mention I tend to get lost? Easily? But, my friends were adamant that I would not be [1] dying on my way up and [2] a complete burden.  I guess that was enough to convince me that when in California, do as the Californians would do: approach things with wild and unfounded confidence. But because I was not a hiker (or Californian) I still had to purchase all the necessary goods within about a week, which I highly advise against, but we’ll find out a little later as to why. So, I popped into an outdoors store near to where I lived and purchases some kids hiking boots, deet, and hiking socks. We then went to the university to rent our tents, sleeping bags, and backpacks. The smallest size backpack they had was a 60L pack, and while it was still too big for me, the rent was cheap and I couldn’t imagine how a loose waistband could possibly affect me too much. Oh how naive and simple-minded I was, but more on that later. So we all got together to pack our food and necessities, I ended up carrying my gear, all the mac-n-cheese stuff, a bag of oatmeal, and a couple of plates and utensils. All in all I thought my pack was of a decent weight, only about 28 lbs., which is a little less than a third my weight, so I couldn’t complain much.

We went to work the next day, but all regrouped at lunch time so that we could drive from Palo Alto to Big Sur, our starting point for the hike. The drive was beautiful, but unfortunately I’m prone to car sickness, so I had to take some motion sickness pills, which made me pass out for the majority of the ride there. Obviously it wasn’t going to start off well since I arrived at the trail head just waking up from a drug-induced nap and it was already about 5pm when we were finally starting. I won’t go through the entire backpacking trip, but I will tell you that we only did 5 miles the first day and I wanted to die. I thought I was ready for the hike, seriously. I had been biking to work everyday, my legs had never been as muscular, and I thought my cardio was on point. The only real thing I was afraid of was falling to my death or getting a heat stroke, neither of which were really that plausible. But, when we finally arrived to our first camping site, I was beginning to regret the decision to join my friends on their hike to Hell. We arrived and immediately had to start getting dinner prepared by filtering some water, setting up the stove, and getting our tents ready. It was a tiring first night and I was pooped by 10pm. So, I tucked into my giant sleeping bag and somehow fell asleep only to wake up the most sore I’ve ever been in my life (possibly more sore than my Peru trek).

Day two was going to be a long, but eventful one. It was only another 5 miles to the hot springs and my sore muscles were ready for the soothing relief of warm water. The only thing in between me and God’s gift to wounded hikers was many ups and many downs through the mountains. We all sat in a circle sipping away on our oatmeal (which meant less weight for me to carry), and then topped off our water bottles again before we headed out. Because I was desperate for a lighter pack, I packed less water this time around. But, a blister had already begun to form in two places on my foot: one on the side of my big toe and the other underneath a toenail (super gross, I get it). On top of that, as we starting our ascent out of the campsite I could already tell my hip was starting feel all tingly, though I didn’t think much of it. So, through beautiful red woods, a couple of streams, and over some fallen logs we were finally able to reach our destination: Sykes Hot Springs. I’d have to say that the trek there was more down than up and my spirits were definitely lifted once we reached the hot springs. I got to dip my body and relax in the hot springs, though they were really considered very warm springs to me, and soak up the sun before having to head back to our campsite. Things were definitely looking up, so much that I could almost ignore the fact that we still had 5 miles of almost just upward climb back to the campsite. At this point I was unable to ignore my blisters, though my hip was still just feeling tingly. But, it’s really hard to be upset with your body when you’re in the middle of the wilderness, amongst the red wood giants that have been there for centuries before humans even treaded the ground around it. Getting out of Silicon Valley and into the reception-less wilderness was the vacation I needed. It was then that I realized that while I love technology and I’m obsessed with staying constantly connected to the world around me, I really need to check-out and sign-off more often. But, enough of that emotional, spiritual stuff. Back to the more pressing matters at hand: the increasing numbness in my hip and my inability to walk properly in my kid’s hiking boots. Consequence of being frugal on important things: loosing other important things like feeling in your hips and toenails. So, that was a great lesson learned the hard way.

Alas, our time had ended at the hot springs and we had to start our climb back up to our home base. The group let my friend Emma (the same Emma in my Detroit blog) and me lead the way, which was their subtle way of saying we were too slow and they didn’t want us to fall too far behind. The climb was definitely better than the first day. I find that the first day is always the day you push yourself too hard and tire yourself out too quickly. Instead, you should take your time and enjoy the beautiful sights around you (even if you’re exhausted and dying). Plus, I was feeling much better with less water and less food, which took up almost all the volume of my backpack. I ended up being designated garbage holder, but that was fine since it was still much lighter. Another great thing is that I packed maybe 1 shirt and 1 pair of leggings only, so my clothes added practically nothing to my pack. By the time we reached our campsite, I knew I would not be able to walk properly for at least another week. My kids hiking boots just about had it and they were already starting to rip. My hip was feeling better, but only because I started losing feeling entirely. But, overall I felt much better than I had the first night at the campsite. My body was used to the soreness and my fatigue made it much easier to sleep. Not to mention that I probably went with the best group of people. You know you’re got a good set of friends around when you could still laugh with constant body aches and shortness of breath.  I woke up the next morning with a new-found excitement that overshadowed my achy legs, my numb hips, and my blistered feet. Instead, I felt as though I had just replenished my body with clear and clean air. I felt rejuvenated. So, we started the hike out of camp, which went very slowly with me leading, and finally found our way back to the car. To finish off a great weekend, we dropped by Pfeiffer Beach and passed out on the purple sand.

So, long story short: improperly fit backpacks might make your hips go numb for about 6 months and improperly sized boots might make you lose a toenail or two about a month after you backpack (and you might even lose it while you’re about to head out to tour Berlin, but who knows).

Cheers!