Hiking / Backpacking Adventures

Cleveland National Forest Day 3: Blue Skies Smilin’

Cleveland National Forest: San Mateo CanyonOn Sunday morning we woke up around 8:15 am, after a somewhat restless night (the lack of clouds and rain meant that the temperature was quite a bit lower than the night before). The only water we could hear was the creek rushing along next to us. Other than that, we listened to the frogs finish up their nighttime conversation, and the birds pick up where the frogs left off.

We got up and started our day. We heated up some water to make oatmeal and tea for breakfast, and ate as everything started to get bright and sunny around us. Then we proceeded to clean up and pack up.
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Hiking / Backpacking Adventures

Cleveland National Forest Day 2: Unavoidably Wet

Large bird soars over San Mateo CanyonAs we were hiking on Friday, we pondered how to make sure we got back to civilization at a decent time on Sunday, given that we would lose an hour due to Daylight Savings. Dave suggested that we “spring forward” on Saturday instead of Sunday, since it wouldn’t really make a difference either way. I thought it was kinda a weird headgame, but I figured it’s all a construct anyway. So, when my alarm went off at 6 am on Saturday, I sprang it forward to 7 am – and then promptly went back to sleep.

We woke up around 9:15 am (Pacific Daylight Time) to the sound of a steady rain falling onto our tent. We laid there for quite some time pondering the situation, wondering about the possibility of waiting out the rain in our tent versus proceeding with our plan despite the weather.
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