Wayyyy back in February, the Young Men's organization in our ward invited the young women to join them on their planned High Adventure hike up Mt. Adams in August. Aubree's immediate response was, "heck yes!" I thought she might waver when she learned about the, uh, bathroom situation (having to poop in a bag and carry out their own waste), but she was unfazed.
The youth leaders wisely prepared a series a preparatory hikes. On the first of these hikes, Aubree moseyed up the mountain with a couple friends. They were some of the last to arrive at the peak.
On the second hike, her girl friends didn't come, so Aubree hiked with her guy friends.
This time around they stayed at the front of the pack. Later, her leader told me, "After the first hike, I was a little worried about whether or not Aubree was going to be able to handle Mt. Adams, but after the second hike, I knew she'd be fine."
Unfortunately, those were the only training hikes Aubree was able to attend because of our two month road trip and then her trip to girl's camp in California. We figured she was physically prepared however, because she'd spent a month running with the high school cross country team and had completed a three day backpacking trip while at girl's camp in CA. We were mostly correct, but missing the training hikes did have unexpected negative repercussions.
As the High Adventure dates drew closer, we started getting more detailed information about what we needed to pack and prepare. It didn't take much for us to realize we were in over our heads. We took the packing list and did our best to pack Aubree's pack appropriately, then we called our resident outdoor expert Tallie and asked her to look it over. She ended up vetoing and replacing almost everything we had in the pack! She let Aubree borrow everything she needed to be properly outfitted. Tallie for the WIN!
The ward leaders provided all the food for the kids to pack in their sacks. By the time Aubree had all her clothing, bedding, equipment, and food packed, her backpack weighed 30 pounds. Thanks to Tallie, her pack was one of the lightest of the group.
Ultimately, only five girls ended up going. Aubree, at 13, was the second oldest girl (Brooklyn was 15). The other three girls were only 12 (and two had JUST turned 12). I realized much later that all of these girls are the oldest children in their families. So, not only was this THEIR first high adventure experience, but it was also a first for all of their parents. Honestly, we didn't know what we didn't know.
This brave group of 5 young women, 9 young men, and 8 leaders left Monday morning for the long drive down to Mt. Adams.
They first had to stop at the Ranger's Station to pick up their hiking permits and their "blue bags" (which, I was disappointed to learn, weren't actually blue).
Then they set up camp for the night at the base of their hiking trail. Aubree shared a 2 1/2 man tent with Brooklyn and Emily. That was good in the sense that they each had less tent weight to carry and they stayed cozy warm, but three people squished in the small tent made it hard to sleep and store their gear.
They tried to get to bed early, but there was a lot of nerves and excitement. Kids in nearby tents were loud (some stayed up most of the night - yikes!), so it wasn't the best night's sleep.
The next morning, they started with a devotional, then split into three groups (fast, medium, and slow) to begin their ascent to "Lunch Counter," their stopping place for the night. This is where I think Aubree missing the prep hikes became a detriment. Since she hadn't hiked with the groups since April and wasn't confident in her physical abilities, she decided to play it safe and start with the slow group.
The slow group ended up being significantly slower than the other two groups. It also quickly became apparent that the heavy backpacks, steep terrain, and high elevation might have been a bit too much for the youngest girls (and don't get me wrong, it was no picnic for Aubree either).
It was a looonnnnggg, agonizing day. Aubree and Asher (with a leader) eventually broke off and became their own mini group, but it still took them eight hours to reach Lunch Counter (the fast group made it in 6).
The rest of the slow group took a full ten hours. They were all emotionally exhausted by that point. Had Aubree started with the moderate group, she would have been with her friends and (I think) would have had a more positive, social start.
Lunch Counter is just a rocky, semi-flat area closer to the summit. Once Aubree arrived, she spent most of her time talking to Brooklyn. They couldn't set up their tent though, because Emily had their poles. They also really needed to use the bathroom, but were waiting for the portable toilet Brother Jensen was carrying up the mountain. Unfortunately, they soon learned that the portable toilet was only for #2. The girls had to figure out the rest on their own.
Everyone was pretty exhausted by the evening and many didn't have much of an appetite, but they had Mountain House meals for dinner and enjoyed stunning views and an indescribably beautiful sunset.
Wednesday morning they were up and ready to attempt the summit. The three younger girls decided not to make the attempt. The ice was treacherous.
Aubree made it to the false summit, but didn't make it all the way to the summit (most of the rest of the group did make it all the way to the top).
Aubree explained, "It was the ice! I wasn't mentally prepared for how scary the ice was going to be."
It's true. She had no prior experience using crampons or walking on ice. Also, everything we'd heard was that glissading down the mountain after hiking up was so much fun - the "reward" for the hard upward hike. At this point in the season however, the snow was more of an ice field littered with rocks and bolders.
Aubree wasn't the only one terrified. She admitted, "With every step I took up, I knew I would have to come back down!"
She was disappointed that she didn't make the summit, but not disappointed enough to think she made the wrong decision. Most of the boys didn't have nearly the same concerns about the ice as the girls and their (female) leaders. Aubree attributes that to a few factors. First, the boys have more experience camping (including snow camping) and hiking. Second, boys lack a functioning risk meter. Third, testosterone.
If they thought they were physically and emotionally exhausted after their first day of hiking, it was nothing compared to the end of day 2.
Their leaders, especially Sister Jensen, were absolute saints!
Thursday morning they packed up all their gear and headed back down the mountain. That sounds like it would be an easy process, but it definitely was not. In two days time, gear had spread out and some of the younger kids didn't really know how to pack it back into the small space of their backpacks.
Then, they had to traverse the ice fields again, and some of them (coughAubreecough) felt a bit traumatized by the ice from the previous day.
As a result of her fear of heading down the ice, Aubree again decided to travel with the slow group. Though she loved spending time with Sister Jensen, the slow progress and frequent stops meant another long and frustrating day of hiking.
Eventually though, everyone made it mostly in one piece (there were some minor ice-related injuries) back to base camp where they all received well earned High Adventure shirts.
Their final stop of the trip was to get burgers for dinner outside Portland. Aubree says she was so deliriously tired at that point that everything was funny.
They didn't arrive back home until well after 10pm. When Aubree and Brooklyn crawled out of the car, they hysterically laughed together, "We almost died!"
As we waited for all the cars to arrive back, we parents finally got to hear some of their stories. (Oh, and let me tell you, when all those teenagers piled out of the cars after four days on a mountain, the smell about knocked you out!) There was a lot to hear.
When we finally got home, I asked Aubree two questions.
1. If you knew before you went what you know now, would you still go?
2. Are you glad you went?
She thought for a while before answering, then said, "To the first question, no, I probably wouldn't have chosen to go. To the second question, now that I know we didn't die, yes, I guess I'm glad I went."
With the wisdom of hindsight, I'm sure we would have done a lot of things differently, but in the end we are so grateful that the young women were invited on this literal HIGH adventure and that Aubree had the experience. For sure, it was HARD, but it was also pivotal and powerful.
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