Duration: a 3 days 2 nights trip turned 4 days 3 nights

Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve been obsessed with the idea of camping. I mean, who wouldn’t want to sleep in a tent after seeing how much fun it looked on TV? I’d pester my parents constantly asking them when we’d go camping?! But they never gave me a straight answer. Well, to be fair, I don’t even remember seeing tents for sale anywhere growing up. Maybe it was just not a thing back then in China.

Fast forward to four years after I moved to the U.S., and I finally got my chance to do car camping! At the time, I had no idea there were different types of camping. I thought camping always meant backpacking. But! Car camping was already a blast for a newbie like me, and I absolutely fell in love with sleeping in tents!

Then, in 2021, out of nowhere, I was hit by this intense urge to try backpacking. I asked all my friends, but no one was interested, so I just joined a randomFacebook group event and ended up going with four strangers (two of whom were the hosts).

Our route was the Cooskie Creek Trail in the King Range Wilderness. According to AllTrails, it was a 22.8 miles lollipop with an elevation gain of 4,222 feet. Now, the elevation gain doesn’t sound bad if it’s stretched in all the miles, but most of that climb was squeezed into just 9 miles. And if you do the trail backward? Welp, I wouldn’t want to do it as a beginner backpacker.

The hosts assured us this was a beginner-friendly route and said they’d handle and carry the food, but we all brought our own snacks anyways. (Smart move and you’ll see why.)

Day 1 started late in the afternoon, and we moved at a pace that could only be described as “leisurely.” We did 4 miles (3 miles short of our goal) even though the terrain was pretty flat.

Day 2 wasn’t much better. Our slow pace forced us to scrap our mountain plans and stick to the coast thinking it would make Day 3’s return trip much easier.

On Day 3, we woke up to a surprise that high tide had swallowed part of the coastal trail. We couldn’t go back the way we came. Our only option was to head into the mountains. The original plan was to climb 2,200+ feet over 7 miles right? but now, we had to tackle that same elevation in just 2.5 miles. And the weather decided to hit us even harder! Dark clouds rolled in, and it looked like rain was imminent.On top of that, one of our group members had an emotional (and probably physical too) meltdown. She just plopped down, started crying, and declared she couldn’t go any further.
Long story short, we ended up staying an extra night. Thankfully, everyone had their own food, so we didn’t starve.

To me, it was a great adventure! I’m glad that experience didn’t kill my appetite or passion for backpacking. Instead, I found it to be an incredibly adventurous and memorable trip!

Overcoming the chaos in the wilderness makes you feel alive.

And, just like that, my backpacking journey began. :)