Wandering in the Desert

So is it really considered being lost if you never knew where you were going in the first place?

Saturday morning a group of 12 headed east to go backpacking near the Columbia River Gorge. I had never been east of the Cascades so I was excited for a change in scenery. The intended destination of our journey was Ancient Lakes. We got to the trailhead about 1:30 and the desert sun was high and hot. I was happy that our destination was a lake, which I was planning on jumping in to cool off.

Although none on the trip had made the hike before we had read a description of the trail and the destination. We know if was roughly 3-4 miles to the lakes and little else. Not long after we started on the trail we realized that there were no signs anywhere to lead us and forks in the trail every 50 yards or so. We wandered the dusty desert trail for two and a half hours seeing no signs of water anywhere. Were the Ancient Lakes so ancient that they had long since dried up? We decided it was wise to head back in the direction that we had come since we were drinking our water supply away and definitly needed to find some source of water. Plus we had traveled more than the 3-4 miles and still saw no water.

We soon discovered the we had made the wrong choice several forks back and while we did not end up at the intended Ancient Lake we found ourselves at the shore of neighboring Dusty Lake. Let me just say that I let out a loud hallelujah as we came up over the final hill and I could see the water just a short distance off. We quickly ditched our packs and released our feet from the confines of our hiking boots. And a few of us even braved the water of Dusty Lake. One of the most refreshing swims of my life!

We pitched our tents, enjoyed sharing stories, laughing, devouring our dinner and even used the strobe feature on out headlamps for a dance party. I love the simple, quirky pleasures that come to be when you are left with only yourself and the people you are with out in open, wild spaces. It is good to be reminded of how little we need in order to find joy.

I didn't take to many pictures but here are a few...