"I want to do something epic for @mini.turbodb's spring break," @mrs.turbodb mentioned to me a few weeks ago.
At the time, I think we were on our way home from a day of skiing, and I jokingly suggested that we could take her on her first ever backpacking trip, through the Grand Gulch. After all, I'd recently created a goal around hiking the length of this amazing gash on the Earth's surface.
Anyone who has followed along for a while will likely recall that I don't like carrying weight on my shoulders. In fact, I have a collection of variously-sized fanny packs that keep the weight on my hips for exactly that reason. Certainly, @mrs.turbodb knows this well, and I assumed that my joke would land as I intended, and that we'd end up discussing other options.
Plus, given that we had no backpacks, no sleeping bags, no sleeping pads - and didn't even own a ground tent - I was shocked when my joke suddenly became "the perfect plan."
"Character building," "a life experience," "something she's never done," and "something she'll remember forever," were all reasons that this was a fantastic opportunity.
"She doesn't like camping," "water is going to be extremely scarce - to the point we might go to bed thirsty," "we have no gear at all," and "even if she looks back and appreciates it when she's 30, we're all going to be miserable while we do it," I countered.
And so, it was settled. We were going.
We'd enter Grand Gulch through Pollys Canyon and exit through Kane Gulch. But first, we'd need to acquire an entirely new genre of gear. It was going to be Her First Time Backpacking.
Let's not get ahead of ourselves, this trip is coming soon...Consider subscribing to be notified when it's here!