Sunday, March 30, 2008

Cold Nights

So a few blogs back I wrote about my impending backpacking/rock climbing trip to the Black Hills of South Dakota. I have recently returned and loved the whole experience...except the nights.

We drove out to Rapid City on Monday morning in beautiful weather and proceeded to rock climb all afternoon in beautiful weather. I was even wearing shorts. The whole trip was filled with "firsts"...my first backpacking trip, my first time lead climbing, my first time cooking on my little stove in the wilderness. We went to bed Monday night fairly warm from a nice spring day, but awoke each hour to the bitter cold of a lingering winter night. The first night was terrible, as we awoke every half hour and barely slept in between.

The next day was fairly cold but still nice enough to climb. We climbed a climb near Mt. Rushmore where you can get your picture taken with the profile of George Washington's head. That was a great time. Tuesday night we went to bed prepared. I wore to bed 4 pairs of socks, 2 pairs of pants, a t-shirt, a long sleeve t-shirt, a dry-fit, a fleece, and a coat, in addition to 2 pairs of gloves and a stocking cap...and still got cold.

We ended up packing up quickly on Wednesday at noon and heading home because it was really cold and snowing, but the trip overall was a huge success. It was full of great climbing, great fellowship, and many great memories.

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