{"id":561,"date":"2010-07-21T06:50:46","date_gmt":"2010-07-21T06:50:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/omeoflittlefaith\/2010\/07\/6-unanswered-backpacking-questions.html"},"modified":"2010-07-21T06:50:46","modified_gmt":"2010-07-21T06:50:46","slug":"6-unanswered-backpacking-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/omeoflittlefaith\/2010\/07\/6-unanswered-backpacking-questions.html","title":{"rendered":"6 Unanswered Backpacking Questions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday I returned<\/b> from a 4-day adventure in the Pecos Wilderness at the top of New Mexico. It was my annual backpacking trip with three old friends (and two new ones), and as usual, I returned with a sunburn, a lot of mosquito bites, sore legs, sleep deprivation, and an inexplicable desire to do this again, soon.<\/p>\n

I also returned with a few unanswered questions related to the trip:<\/p>\n

1. Why must it rain every day between 4 and 6 pm in the mountains of New Mexico?<\/p>\n

2. We camped at the trailhead for one night after coming back down the trail. A few hours behind us, a guy showed up along the trail carrying a homemade spear. It was a large, hand-carved wooden staff with what looked like a dagger blade attached to it. What was up with that<\/i> dude? Was he expecting to meet up with a clan of ancient Spartans or something?<\/p>\n

3. Who would have known that a chance trailside encounter with Andy the ornithologist would have led to an enjoyable late-night fireside conversation about Peruvian hummingbirds?<\/p>\n

4. Is there anything cooler than choosing a campsite, and then discovering (via my own powers of observation, FTW!) that it’s on the same side of the lake as a strand of ancient and grotesque Rocky Mountain Bristlecone pines<\/a>?<\/p>\n

5. Who changed all the trout in those alpine lakes to salamanders? And why didn’t they tell us about it?<\/p>\n

6. If I can survive (quite enjoyably, in fact) for days at a time with no cell service, no Internet, no television, and only 28 pounds of food and possessions which fit into a little backpack, then why do I require so much stuff and activity in my non-backpacking, real-life existence?<\/p>\n

——–<\/p>\n

If you have the answers<\/b> to any of these questions, I’m all ears. (Not really. Were I actually all ears you would freak out upon seeing me. Also, it would be difficult to type.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday I returned from a 4-day adventure in the Pecos Wilderness at the top of New Mexico. It was my annual backpacking trip with three old friends (and two new ones), and as usual, I returned with a sunburn, a lot of mosquito bites, sore legs, sleep deprivation, and an inexplicable desire to do this…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-questions","category-random"],"yoast_head":"\n6 Unanswered Backpacking Questions - O Me of Little Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/omeoflittlefaith\/2010\/07\/6-unanswered-backpacking-questions.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"6 Unanswered Backpacking Questions - O Me of Little Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Yesterday I returned from a 4-day adventure in the Pecos Wilderness at the top of New Mexico. 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