Mornings on the trail

You wake up.

It's 4:45 am and you are still exhausted from the day before and from the long and rather damp night which has encouraged the mosquitoes to join you in your sleeping bag. The sky is still dark but there's a glimmer of light on the horizon.

It's too dark. That's not the reason you're awake - it's because you really need to pee. Trouble is there isn't a bathroom nearby, so you have to scramble out of your sleeping bag, grab a tissue and your headlamp from your bag and head off into the darkness to find a suitable bush. You find one that doesn't quite protect you from notice but your group is still alseep and besides that it's dark enough that no one can see you.

When you're relieved you go back to the camp and climb into your dew-covered sleeping bag to slip back into dreamland but inevitably the alarm blares out an annoyingly cheerful tune and you're forced out again to prepare for the day. You slowly climb out of your bag again, this time more reluctantly, and begin to pack your bag for the twentieth time in twenty days.

First you change into your clothes for the day. It's cold but you'll warm up with the sun. The sleeping bag egts a quick shake before you roll it up so that the dew isn't so thick on it. Then the ground mat gets a shake and gets rolled up. Then it's breakfast time - if you're lucky and found a grocery store the night before you can have some yogurt with your granola. Otherwise it's water mixed with some condensed milk. Flipflops get shoved into the pack and replaced by a pair of socks, then thicker socks, then finally the hiking boots. Your feet scream in protest from the pain of the blisters and sores your shoes caused the day before but you ignore the pain and lace up the shoes. All this happens quite slowly of course, as the cold melts away with the sunrise.

You pause to chat with your groupmates about the day. You have to go over the maps and discuss the length of the day, the destination and the amount of water to pack. Today it's five liters. You fill up your bottles and shove them in your pack with great hesitation. Once you're all packed up you'll have to throw all that weight on your back.

If you're ready first you sit and wait for everyone and chat, delaying having to put on the pack. If you're ready last you get hurried by your groupmates, reminded every few minutes that it's time to go and the day is going to get hot.

Finally everyone is ready and it's time. You heft up your bag and attatch it to your back and transform once again into that turtle, carrying its home on its back and slowly moving on to a new destination.

It's time to go and explore.