At least, it started out as his first backpacking trip, but as the weather grew more and more grim, we began downsizing the adventure. So, what began as an ambitious plan to hike in six miles on Skyline Divide in the Mt. Baker Wilderness and sleep overnight in the backcountry rapidly deteriorated into pitching our tent at the roadside Douglas Fir Campground, hiking along the North Fork of the Nooksack for an hour and a half, putting the kid to sleep in the tent at seven o'clock, sitting in the car drinking imported beer and listening to the Mariners game on the radio, spending the night cramped against the damp walls of our narrow tent while it poured rain, getting up at 5am, throwing our gear into the car in soggy lumps, and driving home.
Laughing all the way.
Yes, we were extremely unprepared for baby's first "wilderness" experience. But now we are all the wiser. Aside from all of the missing pieces of gear and planning that would have helped us, our most important lesson was simply to check the weather forecast and think seriously about rescheduling if it threatens to dump rain.
All of this essentially makes for a great story of how we fumbled and bumbled, and it was not discouraging in the least. We are more excited than ever to return to the mountains and forests, each time getting it a little more right. And, parenthetically, Archer absolutely loved riding on his dad's back watching the rain trickle of the cedar boughs and the river thunder over the boulders -- wait, maybe that was me. Anyhow, he was a happy camper in that carrier -- taking in big eyefuls of his environment.
