The Sisterhood of the Traveling Packs

"BLAZER OF TRAILS, BENDER OF RULES, BUSTER OF MOVES, FORCE OF NATURE".

These words to live by are emblazoned on my favorite shirt (thank you REI). Michelle and I were three out of four on the top of Tuolumne Peak, an obscure granite knob near the geographical center of Yosemite national Park.. We had definitely blazed the trail to reach the peak, busted some moves to scramble to the top, and I was pretty sure that Michelle was a force of nature. "How about a selfie?" she asked with her trademark bubbly excitement. I got in close to Michelle and at the last second, removed my trusty sun hat so that my face would not be shaded. There was a simultaneous  camera click and an awful rattling sound as the SPOT beacon that I usually carry in a secret pocket in the top of my hat fell out and ricocheted down the side of the mountain bouncing off boulders and coming to rest in an enormous talus field. Both Michelle and I kept our eyes peeled on the bounding orange lifesaver the size of a pack of cards. We were certain we knew where it had landed - right behind that triangular boulder just below the patch of grass. As scrambling down the way we had come up looked sketchy, we searched around for an easier route, and eventually found ourselves in the talus field. We saw the patch of grass, and surely that was the pointed triangular boulder.... Or was it that one over there? After an hour of searching down an enormous variety of holes, there was no sign of the SPOT beacon.  We decided to carry on without it. Our rule for keeping in contact on the trip had just been bent right out of shape -no doubt our husbands would be puzzled at the unmoving signal near the top of Tuolumne Peak!

The fateful selfie atop Tuolumne Peak

That Michelle is pretty scrambly!

I have been extraordinarily fortunate to find, right here in my community, a group of adventurous women - all mothers - who fit my definition of ideal backcountry partners: physically well matched, get on like a house on fire, and game to try new things. Experienced or newbies or somewhere in between - it doesn't really matter.  These are my Sisterhood of the Traveling Packs.

 "Wear them, they will make you brave" 

              

Strapping on our packs is transformative. We leave the weight of our everyday lives behind, and shoulder a different burden that indeed somehow imbues the sense of courage and determination, an ability to face whatever challenges lie ahead. Like the time Isabella and I planned a trip in late October to Yosemite. Our first choice plans fell apart but, at the recommendation of the Park Ranger, we climbed up along the south rim of Yosemite Valley on the Pohono Trail. "Is there water along the trail", we are queried, at least three times. "Oh yes, you should have no trouble, the streams are running".  It was a cool, cloudy weekend, the forest fragrant with recent rain. Despite the damp, we crossed one dry stream after another before finally finding one hiding a slow drip. Over the course of a lengthy break, this ‘running stream‘ eventually filled a couple of water bottles. The sense of thirst and dehydration was at odds with the damp frost that settled on our tent shortly after nightfall and the somber moodiness of the vertiginous views down into Yosemite Valley. We returned to our cars in high spirits, Isabella mentally refreshed and ready to return to the new baby, grade schooler, and two rambunctious dogs that awaited her at home....after chugging about 2 litres of water!

"The streams are flowing"

Isabella on the edge

"She loved the feeling of strain in her muscles, the exhilaration that came with mounting exhaustion."

Last October, I was delighted to go out for the first time with two friends, one relatively new to backpacking, and the other returning to it after a couple of decades raising kids.  Erika and Rosie bravely tackled climbing the endless steep steps of the Mist trail  in Yosemite, and descending the endless steep switchbacks of the Four Mile trail back to the Valley floor, despite whacky ear drums, numb feet, blisters, cramping muscles, trembling quads and a near asthma attack due to forest fire smoke. On approaching Glacier Point, with its buses and parking lots, after a sleepless night and a long climb, Rosie jokingly suggested that we should take the bus down. A day hiker coming in the opposite direction earnestly let us know that the bus was waiting at the top. Hilarity erupted.

Enjoying the view and resting the legs at the top of Nevada Falls

At Glacier Point, NOT looking for the bus to get back!

“We will go. Nowhere we know.”  “She kept walking. The very small, brave part of her brain knew that this would be her one chance. If she turned around, she would lose it.” 

Michelle and Sabine decided that my plan to take the cross-country route across the Ten Lakes basin in Yosemite sounded legit. The seventh Lake was just over there, a perfect lunch stop. A considerable time later, after scrambling around many cliffs and narrow arroyos and peering at the map multiple times, we still hadn't found the lake. There were ten of them for God's sake -how hard could it possibly be to locate just one? We laughed at ourselves and carried on. Later, Sabine was extremely doubtful about the 'shortcut' I suggested out of the Ten Lakes basin. It appeared to go straight up. I'm sure she was cursing me the entire way, but she gamely picked her way up through the bushes and then the talus.

Contemplating the shortcut

Not too far to go

Made it!

"It was private, so quiet, and so lovely; it felt like her place—like she was the first person to ever set eyes on it."

                            

Sabine, Michelle and I finally stumbled on the seventh Lake in the Ten Lakes basin. We emerged at one end, a serene spot: a pristine granite slab that sank into crystal water, remote from the few other people at the far end of the lake. We enjoyed lunch, a soft breeze blowing in the warm sun,  and then couldn't resist stripping off taking the plunge.  Our noisy splashing, however, did not seem to deter an extremely persistent group of fishermen who had apparently not received to broadcast of “NAKED LADIES SWIMMING”. We must have been jumping off their favorite fishing rock, and so they congregated in the trees about 30 feet back and just waited. And waited. And waited. Eventually, the pressure became too much and we got dressed again. Once we left, the fishermen nabbed our spot immediately. We giggled like a gaggle of girls. Which I suppose we were.

"Maybe happiness didn't have to be about the big, sweeping circumstances, about having everything in your life in place. Maybe it was about stringing together a bunch of small pleasures."

                                    

Small pleasures make a trip. Small pleasures shared are happiness. 

                                               Coffee on cold mornings.

                                                         A lofty lunch.

                                                                             A brew at the end of a long, tiring day.....

    and a hot meal.

                                                                     A warm fire on a chilly night.

     Silent companionship

"She heard herself sigh at the pulsing sky spread out above her. "I love this." "

We are drawn together, not only by our common bonds of motherhood, but by our love of the outdoors. The open sky above us and the beauty arrayed below it gives us great joy.

                               

 "… no matter what happens, we stick together"

Perhaps the thing I enjoy most about trips with the sisterhood are the many opportunities to air our myriad problems during long miles on the trail. The issues vary from trip to trip and from year to year. At the moment, most of us are fighting the battle that is raising teenagers in today’s complicated world. College applications, mental health, teenage rebellion…. these will undoubtedly change in coming years. But we will always know that the sisterhood will provide unconditional support. No judgment. In the wilderness. That beats a therapist any day.

"Love your pals. Love yourself" 

So I say to my Sisterhood of the Traveling Packs: Thank you for the belly laughs, the encouragement, the companionship, the swims, the drinks, the understanding ears.... and for the adventure. Let's do it again next summer!

All quotes from  Ann Brashares, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants