You probably wouldn’t know that I wanted this day to happen for quite some time. I am committed to the hiking community through personal posts, inspirational quotes, and photos solely of hiking and camping. However, I sat back and kept myself from joining the large crowds and hiking groups. For years, I watched friendships emerge from sharing the simple passion of hiking and being outdoors. It was beautiful to watch. Two or more strangers met for the first time. They crushed goals and had the time of their lives.
When I first started hiking, I very much enjoyed going solo. I hiked my own hike, at my own pace and no one told me otherwise. I eventually wanted to experience what I’ve seen throughout the online hiking community, a random meet up. For so long, I wanted to meet up with someone I kind of know but have never met. I’ve been liking their photos on Instagram for inspiration. I also wanted to create new and awesome memories.
If you follow me on any social media, you will notice that I am not shy behind the computer screen. I stand tall with my keyboard. I have let the fear of meeting new people hold me back. Anxiety has also been a barrier for far too long. I have missed out on countless opportunities for adventure. I missed chances to simply grow as a person by stepping out of that comfort zone.
I have been following Tiffany (@followtiffsjourney) on Instagram for a few years. She was one of the first female hikers I started following when I joined. I was very inspired by her and her adventures. Our schedules never matched. I was also held back by a simple fear of meeting new people from really meeting her. “Will I be able to keep up?” “What if we don’t get along?” Those were just a few of the many thoughts racing through my mind. These thoughts emerged whenever anyone asked to meet up. And as much as I wanted to, I was just too scared.
Being the founder of an online women’s outdoor platform, I feel blessed to be able to read and share the inspiration of 19k women who crush their goals and step out of their comfort zones daily. As I read these stories, I am inspired and understand that it’s okay to be uncomfortable. A big realization and a chance to step back to reevaluate my own life.
On Wednesday, July 18 Tiffany messaged me on Instagram and asked if I had plans for that weekend. She managed to find wilderness permits for a place that I too, had been wanting to backpack. This was it, the moment of truth. Would I finally break that comfort zone? After 3 years, are we finally meeting up? I knew that if I wanted something bad enough, the only way to get it was to make it happen. I instantly responded: “I am so down!” Sent it. Boom. There was no turning back. I am no flake. This was really going to happen.
We exchanged numbers and started to text. She explained to me her plans and I couldn’t help but smile inside. She was JUST like me. She had everything all planned out and I literally didn’t have to plan at all. It was amazing. Although, she did forget to check the weather and that was the FIRST thing I had checked. She planned 4 days and 3 nights in the Ansel Adams Wilderness. Unfortunately, there was a high risk of thunderstorms each day.
By Saturday morning at 5 am, I was parked in front of Tiffany’s house. I was all packed up and ready to go. She got into the car. We joked about how our first hike together was not a local 5-mile trail. Instead, it was an epic 4-day backpacking trip in the Sierras! She even made me oatmeal cookies! From that moment on, it felt like we had known each other for a very long time.
And then, we were on the road to Mammoth! My favorite drive of all time.
Our hike consisted of a 25-mile loop with about 2,110 ft. of elevation change and we knocked that out in exactly 48 hours!
We lucked out with the perfect hiking weather on our first day. The sun appeared and disappeared. The clouds were dark and thick. The views were like nothing I had ever seen. Our first day, we hiked a little over 7.5 miles to our first campsite at Ediza Lake. We arrived to camp a little later than planned. We got a late start. Still, we arrived with about an hour or so of sunlight. The views were amazing. There were many hikers camping that night and luckily we managed to get a decent spot. We shared a delicious turkey sandwich on the trail before getting to camp. This meant there was no need to make dinner. The sunset that night was beautiful and the colors were unreal.
The day was coming to an end and I had survived meeting a stranger from Instagram. I had zero complaints about the entire day and couldn’t have asked for a better one.
Predicted thunderstorms for Day 2 were the highest; yet, we woke up to clear blue sunny skies. We had 8 miles and one pass to cross to get to our next campsite. The morning was already warm. The mosquitoes were out and about. It was pretty difficult to complain in such a beautiful place. The hike itself was a little tough for me. Did I mention that my pack was 29 lbs.?! I felt a bit anxious about the pass we needed to cross. I hoped we’d make it over before bad weather hit. We climbed the pass and was surprised with great views of Garnet Lake. The water looked amazing from up above and I decided that I was going swimming! Unfortunately, I wasn’t wearing my swimsuit and it was more likely to be at the very bottom of my pack. I threw off my boots, soaked my feet anyways and it felt great. Two or so miles to our destination for the day and the clouds started to roll in.
As soon as we reached the outlet of our destination, we heard a lot of thunder. The sky immediately got dark and we knew we had to set up our tents before it started to rain. I dropped my pack in search of a decent spot for both of our tents. I quickly found our home for the night. It was a pretty epic spot.
I have never seen people set up their tents as fast as we got ours up. All within about 5 minutes, it started to drizzle and everything was getting wet. We climbed into our tents to let the rain pass but the rain only got stronger by the minute. I kept my rain fly open to watch the storm as it passed. I closed it just as it started to HAIL! The lightning was so close and bright I literally saw flashes through my tent. The hail hit my tent. The loud cracking of lightning was overwhelming. I heard thunder rumbling loudly. There was NO way I was getting out of my tent until the storm had passed. I’ll admit, I was scared. I had never experienced such a storm in the backcountry. But I had to be strong for the both of us. I kept reassuring Tiffany that we would be OK. Suddenly, she yelled out from her tent. She said she was getting flooded.
As soon as the storm allowed us to transport her gear into my tent, we did just that. I would say that the storm lasted about 25 minutes though it felt much longer. As soon as Tiffany got into my tent, the storm settled down. No joke, the dark clouds passed. The sun immediately appeared. People from all over camp yelled out in joy that the worst of the storm was over. We had just about an hour and a half before sunset. We needed to collect water from the lake for dinner.
Slowly, but surely we made our way out of the tent. We were surprised with a small blanket of hail covering the floor! I went down to the lake to collect water. We prepared Mountain House Chicken & Rice for dinner. We watched the dark clouds behind us. The sun was reflecting off Banner Peak. We finished dinner and prepared to watch the sunset. The sky was already changing colors and hands down, was one of the most epic sunsets I have ever seen. The lake reflection basically doubled the sunset and the sky had never been so colorful. You wouldn’t even imagine what we had just experienced with that thunderstorm, the lake was just so calm.
Tiffany ended up sleeping in my tent that night. There was no way her tent would have dried in time. It was the end of the second day. The stranger I met from Instagram was no longer a stranger to me.
I’m not sure why we didn’t stay another day. It would have been great to explore more of this magical place. Exploring without a pack would be even better. But I truly believe we were both ready to pack up after last night’s thunderstorm. We wanted to get a head start on our biggest day. It was 9ish miles to complete the loop, but first…we swim! That’s right, we were not leaving until we jumped in! It was so perfect and just what we needed, a little refreshment for the hike out. The water was perfect! Okay, maybe a little cold. If you think it’s going to be the coldest water ever, it doesn’t turn out to be too bad.
To complete the official loop, we connected with the High Trail and hiked out. The entire time we hiked, we seemed to be the only ones going in the opposite direction. By doing this, we were able to see just how far we came since Day 1. The views from the High Trail had us feeling like we were hiking in another country! I am not going to lie. When we passed the junction to continue hiking along the flat River Trail, I was slowly dying inside. I just didn’t understand why we would continue hiking uphill when we needed to go down. From wildflowers to alpine lakes and not to mention, the majestic mountain range that surrounded us, I am so happy we chose to complete the loop via the High Trail.
We officially started hiking Saturday around 2 pm and we officially completed the Thousand Island Lake loop on Monday around 2 pm. The day was early and though backpacking came to an end, our road trip had not… for it was time to relax our tired bodies and soak in the hot springs!
For the longest time, I sat back and watched people come together. They crushed goals and had the time of their lives. This happened because I was too scared to put myself out there. After just one experience, I can say I am ready to venture out a little more as I prepare myself to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.
