As promised, today I am starting my multi-part series on our NOLS adventure which (insanely) began over a year ago! I am currently stuck in a hotel room in Sierra Vista, AZ while Mike finished up the last of his 16-day Army Reserve career course, so I figured I should get on it.
As I got to thinking, I realized that instead of jumping right into our trip, I should start with the tedious prep situation that preceded leaving for Lander. As many of you remember, I broke my right arm just 6 weeks before we were set to leave.
We then spent about a week trying to decide whether or not to even go to NOLS. Luckily, after much prayer, debate, and talking with family, we decided to go balls-to-the-wall and give it a try. I was even able to train prior to the trip since my awesome Daddy lent me "The bionic arm" from his bicep surgery. You can see it on my right arm here on the Mohawk Lakes Trail.
As I got to thinking, I realized that instead of jumping right into our trip, I should start with the tedious prep situation that preceded leaving for Lander. As many of you remember, I broke my right arm just 6 weeks before we were set to leave.
We then spent about a week trying to decide whether or not to even go to NOLS. Luckily, after much prayer, debate, and talking with family, we decided to go balls-to-the-wall and give it a try. I was even able to train prior to the trip since my awesome Daddy lent me "The bionic arm" from his bicep surgery. You can see it on my right arm here on the Mohawk Lakes Trail.
So once we made the decision to go ahead with NOLS, we had to get all of our stuff together. Were I going on another long-term backpacking trip, I prepare much differently knowing what I now know, but at the time, all we had to go from was the packing list. So we began setting out all of our things in the guest bedroom.
Notice how shiny and new all of our things are. They definitely do not look like this any more. Also note things that were totally unnecessary like our ski helmets near the head of the bed. Ridiculous, now, I know, but at the time, we thought we'd be shredin' during the winter section.
We also spent a lot of time preparing our boots by sealing them with Nik-Wax and I even spent some time traipsing around the house in mine in order to properly break them in.
Once we got to Lander, we spent two days getting all of our gear laid out (known as "exploding") in a couple of bays at the Rocky Mountain Headquarters. It was a total organized mess, to say the least.
Our group gear for the backpacking section. Note the orange vests which we had to wear because it was hunting season. A few years ago a NOLS-y got SHOT! during a backpacking section reportedly because he was wearing a fur-lined vest that confused a hunter. Check the next blog about our backpacking adventure to see whether anyone on our trip had a similar experience.
The whiteboard outlining all of our needed gear. We used this each section to make sure we had everything that we need.
Our gear before the "explosion" began
Mike going through all of his stuff
All of my gear for backpacking laid out
Going down the list with Kai
After two days of going through everything and getting all packed up, we were finally ready to hit the road and spend 10 days backpacking through the Wind River Mountain Range in Wyoming. Check back soon for pictures and stories from that part of our adventure.
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