May Backpacking Pilot

I hosted 5 women for my backpacking pilot in early May. The weather had been pretty wet and cold and I was hoping no one bailed, and no one did!

The course began with me driving my green bus to the Blueberry Patch to arrive early to set up a popup tent and chairs to keep the participants drive. The group arrived around 11am in the drizzling rain.

We spent about 3 1/2 hours in our outdoor classroom discussing gear, clothing, food, water, Leave No Trace, map reading, decision making, and trip planning. We practiced setting up a tent and blowing up a pad, as well as lighting stoves to make warm drinks. I then distributed the gear and everyone loaded up their packs.

Map reading session

Around 2:30pm, we put on our packs and hit the trail in the Finger Lakes National Forest. Since it was very wet, we stuck to the Backbone Trail, waiting for each other at junctions and deciding to keep going even in the mud and fog. I encouraged the women to make decisions as a group and to all be attentive to each other. We saw salamanders, trillium, and fiddleheads in the mystical fog and hiked almost 5 miles, ending at Foster Pond in a wooded primitive campsite. Our feet were absolutely soaked but we had a plan to manage our moisture and comfort/

We set up camp at a primitive site in the trees near Foster Pond and got into warm layers for the evening. We also strung up a tarp, under which we ate rehydrated meals. Since it was so wet, we did not attempt to start a fire. Instead, we sat around a little flame, sharing stories of mishaps in the outdoors. Luna the dog kept guard for the group. We retired to our tents around 9pm.

Our trusty tarp hang out area.

In the morning, we had some coffee under the tarp before breaking down a very wet camp and heading a little over a mile down the Interloken Trail back to the parking lot.

We did a little closing circle and were on our way, feeling success at braving the less than ideal conditions.

Thank you ladies!