Remember that day we went camping? It was fun...

Ross conned me into backpacking. Let me backup by saying - I really love hiking. I love it. I love being outdoors, I love feeling my blood pump through my veins, I love thinking about how vast and beautiful creation is - but, I do not like hiking in the dark and I do not like being lost. So when Ross commented that he wanted to go backpacking the following weekend, as it would be sunny and 70s, I said, "Sure! But I want to camp in a campground (even if it's a backpacking one) and I don't want to hike in the dark." I thought those 2 stipulations were pretty clear - so we planned our trip. It started out great - just the perfect day. Ross had found a state park lovingly referred to as 'The Little Smokey Mountains'.

Here's my hubby. He is just so cute here! Totally in his element - he loves backpacking.

I'm still feeling good here. However, I am starting to realize why this park had its little nickname - the trail is either going up or going down. It's a constant mountain climb. Which is fun for the most part - but difficult packing.

Then came the meltdown. I admit it; after hiking for 3 hours and the sun totally down and no campsite near, I was freaking out. In retrospect, it's not the worse thing in the world to just camp where ever, but due to it being dark out (as we set up our tent with a flashlight), we didn't have a fire, therefore no dinner = Not a happy Megan. Once we got in the tent though, things looked up.

Cool things during the night. 1) I slept most of the night. I usually wake up at like 2 in the morning and then listen to the noises outside my tent and visualize being torn a part by a bear (have seen way too many 'When Nature Attacks" shows). 2) When I did wake up, it was 5:45 and I heard a pretty big trotting sound coming through the forest. I'm pretty sure it had to be a fox or coyote by the way it was running, but anyways - it ran right up to our tent and sniffed around the perimeter twice. Look at our tent... I could feel his nose on my feet! It was crazy!

In the morning, I felt so much better and was so happy that we had gone hiking.

Ross making coffee with our stove.

We decided to bypass the way we had come (too many hills) and took the horse trail for a couple of miles. It was so beautiful at 8 in the morning.

So we really did have a great trip.

I learned that I need to relax a little bit and be more spontaneous, and Ross learned to schedule our hikes better so that we're not walking in the dark. :)