Thursday,6 th Sep '07 :The next major task was to buy a backpack.As luck would have it, i left from work late and reached Concord, a shopping outlet in charlotte, by 7 p.m. A friend of mine suggested "Outdoors" to shop for backpacks.I was running out of time as i had to get back and finish packing for the trip, but the gal attitute tempted me to look for other options.Thus, i went to "Sun & Ski sports". Here, i entered an unexplored world of Backpacks. The salesperson informed me that backpacks for women are different from those of men and the size of backpack should be equivalent to one's torso length not the height.But again... 4000 ci wouldn't suffice 3 days' clothes and food. so after 30 minutes of my session.... i went back to "outdoors" for the 5000-6000 ci one... The salesperson here gave me tips on packing stuff in a backpack.She also suggested taking a rope for the trip as Yellowstones is a bear country and we would have to 'hang' our food.
Saturday, 8 th sep 2007 : After taking permit for backcountry camping, we reached cascade lake base and parked the car. we hiked for 2.5 miles to reach our destination.How I wished we met atleast one bear on our way to the camp site, but alas i guess the bears were scared of us :))))). The stretch was so beautiful.I was so tempted to take snaps, but one of my friends, knowing this attitute, decided break time for snaps ... Grrrrrr ...........Though later we realized how important it was to reach the destination before sunset.
Our destination, campsite,4E, was near cascade lake.We pitched our camp between tall trees that rustled their dry leaves in the night.we cooked maggi and soup using the lake water.The toughest part was to hang food.We packed all our toiletries and garbage in a school bag.Check out the snaps.
The sun went down.The sky was clear and the stars were growing bright.We could hear strange, weird echoes of crying woman or wolf.Scared,I squeezed myself inside the sleeping bag and slept till i could greet the beautiful morning.I strolled towards the lake and I felt .....
the meadow so peaceful yet full of life,
joy and happiness felt in the calmness of sky
the lake, in the middle of mountains, solemn and quiet
engulfed by silence speaking mystery hidden deep inside.
