Himping?
That's right. Himping.
Combines two of us siblings' favorite things to do: hiking and camping.
Back when everyone was a bit younger, but not too much younger, we made it a point to get out, see more of Oregon, appreciate nature, and get moving. I have a great little book--titled something along the lines of 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles of Portland, or something like that--and we just started picking at random and have we ever had some good times and great trips!
One of the first trips we took was to a lovely place just Northeast of here called Bagby. And I had not thoroughly checked out the campsite and was very much not prepared with some basic necessities.
I forgot firewood.
I brought a tent that I'd never actually set up by myself before.
The campsite was fairly rustic which meant:
a) we were the only people there
b) it was absent a lovely camp host who did things like refill the toilet paper in the pit toilets
c) there was no source of potable water
d) all of the above
In my family we're a pretty hardy, never say die type though and as the kids explored the area I drove (rather quickly I might add, and yes they were definitely old enough to hang on their own) down the mountainside to a nearby town and bought TP, firewood, and some extra s'mores supplies.
All went well, we had chairs, plenty of food, a new board game to play, a creek/river rushing near the campsite...total bliss...until it came time to set up the tent. The group of us just couldn't figure it out.
I was quite upset.
The boys didn't mind and hacked it on the ground under the stars in their sleeping bags while my lil' sis and I huddled in the back of the station hatchback wagon. Not my finest night's sleep.
But the next day was great and we drove about 20 miles nearby to the Bagby Hot Springs where we reclined in rustic, rough-hewn logs that we filled with piping hot spring water. After we were properly pruny, we headed to Pegleg Falls where there was a VERY cool humongous rope swing that quite frankly scared me to death but they enjoyed immensely (I didn't know if was a trustworthy person who had tied the rope and how secure of a branch it was on....we all survived so must have been okay).
As summer nears (though from the snow a couple weeks ago you wouldn't know) I can't help but think of all the places we still get to himp as well as all the lovely places that we have himped in the past.
And with that I'll close with one of my favorite pictures of us on a siblings (+one cousin) hike to Mirror Lake and Tom, Dick, and Harry Peak.
