This weekend, I went on a lovely two-night backpacking trip with warmfuzzy, fishfrog, and nell. It was a bit cold, but the trail was a good level of challenging and the company was good. Backpacking is one of my favorite activities, and one I should make the time to do more often. It's cool to know that you can survive (even in bad weather) with just what's on your back. It's fun to play in streams and identify trees with nature books. Most important, it's great because it's such a complete vacation from my normal life. The normal things I deal with--e-mail, school books, driving, television, phones, clocks--are absent or irrelevant. My only worries are things that I don't usually have to think about too much--whether it's light outside, how close I am to a water source, what the weather is like, how to protect my food from animals. It's such a completely different way of life that I really feel refreshed when I get back.
