Well, I have been trying to decide what to write about next for this blog. And I finally settled. I decided to tell you about a trip that kinda went crazy once. I have been camping for many years! I usually went with my husband at the time and my kids. However, divorced now, I decided to take my friend from New York City on a backpacking trip in the Catskills. I told him the things he needed to order online. He bought most items and he was gonna borrow a few things from me and my son (thermarest and backpack). I drove to NYC. My backpack was already packed with the essentials for hiking in, camping one night, hiking the next day, and then heading back to NYC. No biggie. An easy trip. Well…. Let me tell you- NOPE.

We were suppose to leave NYC first thing in the morning, but he takes a long time to get ready, so…. We were a bit delayed getting ready to leave. I thought I picked a relatively short hike in – a couple miles), our bags were packed, so I didn’t worry to much when we hit the road late. That said, the drive was a bit longer than anticipated. He had to stop for a sandwich, which again wasn’t a big deal- even though I had packed food and a stove to cook dinner once we arrived at the site.

Needless to say, I think it was about 4pm when we finally parked the car and started the hike into a remote (dispersed), yet, what I was thought to believe, an established area to set up camp for the night and I thought it was about 3 miles. I can’t remember where I got this information from but it definitely said 3 miles in there would be a stream and an area to set-up camp. WELL… about ½ mile in, my hiking buddy said, shoot his forgot his water canteen in car. REALLY??? I sat and waited while he went back to car and grabbed his water and I waited with packs.

Then, when he returned, we resumed hiking. Beautiful views all around us. It was amazing. Without a doubt some of the best views. He won’t admit it, but… he was lagging behind me, tired cause he packed too much and his pack was heavy.

The sun was setting and we were still hiking. Not good… the sun went down and we were still hiking. We hit mile 4 and a plateau. We decided to go a few more minutes and see. We actually ended upon a section where we had to go down a ladder that was so steep. Needless to say, we backtracked and settled into an area on the plateau where we set-up camp, ate and turned in for the night. Neither of us really feeling in a great mood. The next morning was well worth it!!! Eating breakfast on a ledge overlooking the catskills. Couldn’t be better. WELL…. As we were packing up camp, a gentleman comes onto the plateau letting us know that we illegally camped cause we were at too high elevation. He was nice about but pointed out our mistake. Something I hadn’t encountered before. Live and learn by your mistakes- we all make them.

We hiked out mid-day, happy with our views and that we were going downhill. However this time the downhill started to hurt my knees because of the steepest. Playing catcher in softball in highschool didn’t help.

Overall—lessons learned for me was that even though I had been hiking for 20 years at least, you really need to be prepared!! And quadruple check your route, and you get lost, stay on a path, wait for daylight and retrace. We’d both do it again in a second. At least we had all our gear.

Find all your gear needs here at   Fortheoutdoorenthusiast.com     and my previous blog provides a list of gear you should have and not forget in the car.

Email me at Fortheoutdoorenthusiast@gmail.com if you have questions.