Smith Rock
Last year I went on my first backpacking trip with the IOP program at south. I got to go to smith rock state park. About 60 of got onto a school bus at 8:30 on a Friday morning headed for Terrebonne Oregon. Is was a long and uneventful bus trip.
After over 3 hours f driving we pulled into a empty lot in the middle of the desert. We had to hike 8 and a half miles to the bivouc camping area. We took off down the narrow dirt trail into what looked like nowhere. The sun was coming down on us hard and I think everyone underestimated how warm we would get, since it was mid February we assumed it would be cold. After a few hours of hiking, Jeff Hess stopped the group and went running to the back, a few minutes later he came back to the front and told us we had gone down the wrong trail. Everyone picked up their things and turned around. We got back onto what we thought was the right trail, key word thought.
It has been a few hours now, and we aren’t any closer to setting up camp. We weren’t on the right trail and we had lost part of the group. Peter Hoffmister had actually gone down the right trail with a small group of students. We had minimal communication with the other group but they helped steer us in the right direction. Finally after hours of hiking through the desert, everyone angrily cursing Jeff, we made it to the point that was going to bring us back in route with where we wanted to be. We stared at the path that went straight up the back of the mountain in agony. We had to go up one side and down the other. Everyone is tired from what turned out to be about 14 and a half miles of trekking down trails that had not been maintained. We all started up the steep trail trying to go slowly but keep up a pace knowing that it was getting dark. The sun was just setting as I made it to the top, it was the most beautiful sight I had ever seen. The clouds looked like a wave crashing over the flat landscape that surrounded the peak I was standing on. But it was short lived, I had to go then or wait for the next group. Wanting to spend the least amount of time hiking in the dark as possible I had to run down the catch up with the group that had just left. The 7 of us winding down the side of the mountain. When we go to the bottom was when we got our first glimpse of the smith rock face. But yet I still wasn’t close to setting up my tent. It was probably another two miles, relative to what we had already endured it was nothing but still it was a long hike.
We hiked along a stream for a few miles until we came along another small hill, when we reached the top we realized we had made it, we could see glowing lights of lanterns and smell cooking food. But best of all I could hear familiar voices of the student leaders. I walked around looking for Cameron who I was tenting with and knew I needed to find. I found him laying in the dirt, extremely dehydrated and tired. We drank water and found a spot to set up stoves to cook our food. In the dark me and Cameron huddled for warmth with a few other of our friends who ended up at the same picnic table as us. Finally warm and done walking for the day I got into my sleeping bag and have never been so happy to sleep on the ground before.