Rabbit Lake

Backpacking. Ugh. It's tough to want to put on a million pound pack and hike up a mountain. Call me a spoil sport, but the thought of it is no fun. But what's weird, is that once I get going up the trail, I'm nothing but happy. I feel like I can hike for days and days, and I'm always so proud that I did it. Why don't I ever feel that way after watching Season 7 of "Friends" for the fiftieth time?

I was a tad nervous when we started our hike, because we had to start on the complete other side of the trail. There were clear, big, red warning signs for bears, so I was a bit of Nervous Nelly.

Jeff looked at me, and said "Come on, honey" again. He had the bear spray in his hands, and he was rearing to head up the mountain. We went over the proper procedure when encountering a bear. About an hour into our hike, he suddenly told me to think of everything he told me about bear encounters-and just do the opposite. Yep, that's right. He told me the wrong thing to do, but luckily he told me the proper procedure, eventually. Good thing we didn't see any bears.

Once we arrived at Rabbit Lake, we hunkered down and sipped some hot lemony tea. Because it was very windy and very cold. Oscar didn't mind.

It was pretty windy, because there were no trees. We were way above tree line, and very exposed. No place to hide, except the tent.

We cuddled inside for a little body heat. Once again, Oscar didn't mind.

The next day, at the very end of our hike back, we saw a moose! A bull-moose! Yes, this is the best picture I could get of him. I was very nervous. But he didn't spit or hiss, so I guess we were safe. He just stared at us. And we stared right back. Then we slowly backed up and got in the car.

You can see all our photos here, pre-picnik.

xo

Alli