Backpacking is one of my very favorite ways to get outdoors.You get the peace and solitude of the high mountains, the adventure of charting new routes, the thrill of being cut off from the real world for days on end, and the ability to hone your wilderness skills (for when the zombie apocalypse happens...) I found out that May had never been backpacking before so I insisted that we plan a little trip into the Cascade mountains of Central Washington. To a place called, the Goat Rocks Wilderness! 
Preparing to go into the wilderness is very important. If you forget something it could be a matter of life and death (seriously!) so we made a list and checked it twice. Sleeping bags, sleeping pads, tent, stove, pots, water purifier, food, whiskey, and ibuprofen. It doesn't sound like a lot, but you try carrying it on your back for awhile.
The Goat Rocks Wilderness is located in the Gilford-Pinochet National Forest. Goat Rocks Wilderness is so named because of the many goats found in the mountains there (duh!) Wilderness areas are designated as special places that have no permanent human impact (aside from trails and signs) and do not allow motorized vehicles. Because of this they are typically very remote and very unspoiled (We had to drive for about 15 miles off road to get to the trail head.)
Our friend Chris and his pooch Alberto joined us and we planned to hike about 10 miles total over two and a half days (Not very many miles, but I knew from experience to not take a significant other on too strenuous a trip for their first time out...). Our ultimate destination was going to be a loop trail to Goat Lake (Full disclaimer: we never made it to Goat Lake).The trail was a really mellow ascent up a river canyon. It crossed the raging river several times and the cool breeze flowing along with the river was refreshing during the hottest part of the day. We had a late start on the first day so we decided to camp next to the river for the first night (about 2.5 miles). It was a nice location with easy access to refill our water bottles. We were able to have a small fire and the sounds of the river lulled us to sleep.
The second day we got an early start and continued up the canyon to the higher elevations. As we got higher we were afforded awesome views of the surrounding mountains including the dramatic ice capped face of Mt. Adams (which I had climbed the summer before).
We encountered several people on the trail that day (it was labor day weekend) as well as a train of horses headed up to the high mountain meadows to restock a trail crew. They were a ornery bunch of horses and they seemed a little green on the trail. We tried to give them plenty of room as they passed. May whispered something to them and they seemed to calm down (she used to be an equestrian after all and I hear she learned from the best!)
We reached a really beautiful meadow overlooking a canyon and a waterfall and decided to make camp. We had plenty of time to relax in the still warm afternoon so May took advantage and knit some wool socks. I gathered wood for a fire, while Chris made some candy treats out of tree sap. We had a big "little house on the prairie" thing going on and it was fun. Despite a small fire the weather turned cool and there was a little bit of shivering that night. Luckily, Chris has Berto to snuggle with.
The next morning, we got on the trail pretty early and made it back to the trailhead before noon. It was a long dusty ride back to Portland and we were dog tired but it was a great trip and I was really stoked to see how good a backpacker May is. Next time Ill be putting a little more weight in her backpack!
