Our First “Hiking Trip” -Part 2
After leaving our adironack chairs behind, and continuing on our way, hiking through a small downtown area, we walked passed a park and came to our second bench on the trail. it was strategically placed for optimal beauty, overlooking a mechanics shop. I really would like to know who decided bench placement on this trail.
We crossed the street, and walked by the mechanics shop. The road we were on had a few houses, but getting more and more sparse as we went. We walked under a highway overpass, and a little further, and we finally made it to a real hiking area. “We should’ve just drove the car here and hiked out from here,” sighed Mike.
“I agree. This is what hiking should look like!” I said. It was gorgeous! A meadow with a trail, and wildflowers everywhere.
By the time we got to Lapham Peak, I was exhausted. “Let’s camp right over there,” I said pointing to a group of trees in the middle of the field.
“I don’t think we can camp just anywhere in the park,” said Mike. “There’s a hiking camp site, we can camp there.”
So we kept going, and I kept pointing out places we should just stop and pitch the tent. My hips and my left knee were in so much pain, and I was getting a blister on my right foot. I just wanted to stop for the night, as it was getting close to sunset. We walked passed a guy who had strung a hammock up alongside the trail. he had all his hiking gear next to him along the trail. I aggressively pointed at him, and whispered to Mike, “SEE! He’s doing it!”
“It’s not much further,” Mike tried reassuring.
We walked passed a marsh area and stopped at a high bench, perfect hight to rest the backpack on while standing. We unstrapped our packs, and I played down on the high bench while Mike dug in his pack. Mike pulled out a flask and handed it to me. “I brought one too,” I chuckled. The warm brandy felt good, and somewhat numbed the aching hips and knee. I could have slept right there, but ants were starting to crawl on me, and Mike started getting up to get moving.
After the marsh, we came to more meadow, where there were signs for the camp site. After walking for a while, we found the campsite. The, single, campsite. There were two guys who had the site, and Mike asked them about it. Apparently, you needed to book the site pretty far in advance. While Mike talked to the two guys, I walked away, tears forming in my eyes. I was exhausted, and my hips and knee were excruciating. I just wanted to sit or lay, and keep sitting or laying until I fell asleep.
Mike caught up to me, and saw me. “We should have prepared better for this.”
“Let’s just put up our tent over there, no one would see it,” I pleaded. “I’m just so tired, and I’m really hurting.”
“We could call an Lyft,” suggested Mike. “There’s another camp site in Delafield, we could camp there?”
“If we get an Uber, I just want to go home.”
So we hiked to the nearest road, going off the trail and cutting through thorny bushes, just to take the shortest route to get there. We came out on a road, with a house up a long driveway on the other side, requested a Lyft, and waited for our ride. 15 minutes later, we were loading our backpacks into the trunk of a black car.
Our whole hiking trip took, from the time we left our house, to the time we left Latham Peak, 7 hours long. It took us 15 minutes to get back home by car.
We brought all our gear into the house, and just left it by the front door. I plopped down on the couch and Mike brought me a glass of wine. “I like this camp site,” I told him, as he sat next to me on the couch.
“Yeah, me too! We should stay here.”