An outdoor team adventure!

Over the weekend we had our annual team backpacking trip. For some on the team it was their first time camping and for many it was their first time backpacking. For me the backpacking trip is a combination of two things I love -- coaching and exploring the outdoors. I find this trip to be a very powerful team experience. There is nothing like sitting around a campfire while being miles away from other people and at a place where there is no cell phone service, no electricity, no email, no twitter or facebook. Freshman Will Husky summed it well when in the middle of trip he made the observation "I never realized how noisy my life is."

The spot I picked for this year's trip was the Elk Flats trail which is deep within the Wenaha Wilderness area. A Wilderness Area is a federally protected tract of land where the use of mechanized equipment is prohibited -- even the use of a bicycle is forbidden. The only way into such areas are on horseback or on foot. At the base of Elk Flats the North and South Fork of the Wenaha run to together to form the main Wenaha. Its a beautiful but long hike (5 miles). I also like the "pacing" of this trail. The first and last third of the trail are pretty steep whereas the middle third is pretty flat which allows for easier walking. Another reason I decided on Elk Flats is that I'm pretty familiar with the area. Earlier in the year I had done two different overnight backpacking trips on this trail. During my previous treks I was lucky enough to have seen a wide variety of wildlife including a small herd of elk, deer, and a mother bear with her cub.

For this trip I decided to drive the team up Mill Creek and along the top of the Blue Mountains. Besides being a stunning drive it is actually a shorter drive than taking the maintained mountain roads. However part of the road along the top of the Blues isn't maintained and is very rocky and rutted in places. For the trip we a rented Surburan and took my '85 Jeep CJ7. Over the years I have been rebuilding my Jeep as a mountain vehicle and was confident it could make it across the high mountain road. However I wasn't so sure about the newer Surburan. My fears of the Surburan proved to be true as it's tires couldn't handle the mountain road. Luckily I've had plenty experience changing flat tires on my trips in the Wenaha (8 flats now and counting) and am comfortable changing a flat.

Once to the top of Elk Flats and got all the gear situated and packs adjusted we headed down the trail. I was hoping we would come across some wildlife on our hike but 10 guys hiking together make a fair amount of noise and I'm sure any animal within miles scampered off before we got close.

Once at camp we had a few hours of daylight left to set up tents, gather firewood for the night, and explorer the area. I find it a good experience for guys to learn how to set up a tent. I also find it amusing to watch people who have never set up a tent wrestle with poles, move tents about and try to figure out how everything goes together. I don't find it so amusing getting out of my tent and warm sleeping bag to help someone put on a rain fly (you're welcome).

For dinner I made a mess of fajitas over the camp fire. The day prior to the trip I cooked up (and froze) steak and chicken for dinner. To save time while camping I also sliced up onions, a variety of peppers, and jalapeños. To complete dinner preparations I used a food dehydrator on several containers of salsa. I have never used a dehydrator and was surprised how well salsa dehydrated.

As far as dinner was concerned let me state it was hectic cooking for 10 people over a campfire! I had several things going at once with minimal equipment: water boiling to make rice, reconstituting the salsa, cooking beans over the fire, and had 2 big Fry Bakes (which are awesome for camping) going with steak and chicken fajitas. Not to brag but the dinner was awesome and guys wolfed down 5 pounds of the steak fajitas and about 3 pounds of chicken. And of course for dessert we made s'mores over the campfire.

Darkness comes quick and heavy when in the wilderness. After dinner we sat around the campfire sharing stories and chatting about everything - girls, tennis, life. As everyone was getting ready for bed a few guys took advantage of the surroundings and walked over to a near-by clearing to watch the stars. It is amazing how bright the night sky is when there are no lights within 20 miles!

Sunday morning everyone woke up on their time. I was the first up about 8am and others (Will and Etienne) slept in until 11am. Once everyone was up we wandered down to the S Fork of the Wenaha to explore around the water. I dared a couple people to wade across the stream in their bare feet. In the end only Andrew and Will made it across the small stream. For the rest that attempted the wade it was simply too cold and they turned back (or in Etienne's case he fell down). For the record the stream is pretty chilly. In August I measured the water temp in the heat of the day and found it be about 52. My best guess is the water temp that morning was in the high 40's.

Once we cleaned up camp making sure we left no trace it was time for the pack out. Its MUCH harder packing everything uphill and the hike really took its toll on me. I'm in nowhere near the shape of the young guys it took me nearly 2 hours to make the pack out. Conor and Steve decided to use the hike as an opportunity for conditioning and jogged part way (with packs) and made it in 1 hour 10 mins!

Drive back to Walla Walla was uneventful. Since we were down a spare on the Surburan we took the "maintained" route back to town. Luckily we made it back without blowing out anymore tires!

I posted pictures on my flickr page. I'll try to post video from the trip later this week. Lastly I should mentioned we were lucky enough to convince '09 alum Justin Hayashi to join us on the trip. He is part of the Boeing management program and was visiting Whitman over the weekend to recruit for Boeing.