The Great Adventure

I awake and it is light. My senses soak in the atmosphere and I listen carefully to the outside sounds trying to anticipate what the weather will be outside. We are surrounded on all sides by high mountains and the sun in not yet high enough to cast its light. Checking my watch it is 6am and already I can hear sounds of my companions awake.

This is the hardest part of the day and I force myself out of my warm bag and climb into my cold trousers and rapidly don my fleece. My boots are carefully sheltered under the fly of the outer tent and I quickly pull my wool socks onto my feet and strap in my feet for another 12 hours of fun.

Exiting the tent I am relieved to see that the sky is clear and blue. There is the anticipation of another glorious day. It is at dawn that we pay the price as without cloud the air is at its coolest. Often it is possible to detect the arrival of overnight cloud by the sudden increase in the air temperature.

The scene is completely transformed from my last nocturnal visit outside. No longer menacing I look around me and drink in the differing vistas. Hands firmly in my pockets and fleece tightly zipped to the neck I stumble around encouraging my legs and stiff muscles to loosen. My knee still grumbles but my body is by now semi immune to the discomfort. It occurs to me that I have been living above 9,000 ft for almost a week

My companions are already up and have retrieved our stored food hanging from a nearby tree. The stove is noisily roaring away heating the water and whilst I wait for it to boil I retrieve my plastic bowl and search through the breakfast bag for my cereal of choice. Water boiled, breakfast is served and  greedily consumed taken standing up to be followed by instant black coffee.

I leave my sleeping bag airing over a convenient rock slab, carefully weighed down by rocks just in case a gust of wind catches it. My backpack stored away from the tent and hidden under a rain cover is retrieved.

Breakfast over it is time to attend to the morning ablutions. This can be the more interesting right of passage for those trekking wild for the first time. It is necessary to dig a hole about 6 inches deep in a suitable location for one's toilet. Forsaking the additional weight of a trowel we use rocks or small branches to dig. It can be quite a challenge as invariably depending on the ground, the digging process, takes some time and the need sometimes can become shall we say pressing. That said I challenge any restroom (toilet) to have the views of my own outdoor restroom.

There are a couple of more “gotcha” to be observed. Firstly urine must not go in the same hole – otherwise wild animals are attracted to the salt that it contains and will dig up the pit. Secondly used paper must be either burned on the camp fire or packed out. It’s very useful to carry a supply of plastic bags for this purpose. It’s not as gross as it all sounds and after a couple of days becomes second nature and no big deal.

Hygiene is very important as I don’t want a dodgy stomach out here so I am very careful to clean my hands using an alcohol based hand wash that evaporates as my hands are rubbed vigorously together. A clean of my teeth (toothpaste residue carefully scattered to the wind) and the insertion of my daily disposable contact lenses and that’s the morning ablutions completed. Soap is not really practical and after the first day you no longer notice the dirt or the smell. In fact it all seems very natural to be with greasy hair and unshaven face.

It does explain why hats are so popular and I certainly would not be without mine – not only does its peak keep the sun out of my eyes, it keeps my unruly hair under control. When living in such primitive conditions its amazing how ones priorities change. Of course it helps when you don’t have a mirror although I must confess to cheating once and using the mirrored lenses of my Oakley sunglasses to inspect the sun damage to my face!

My feet are inspected and a couple of zinc plasters applied to some dodgy looking areas – prevention being better than cure.

We restock our water obtained from a nearby stream – this is purified by a chemical process using Chlorine Dioxide – created by mixing two chemical together in a little plastic cup that turns an agreeable bright yellow before the tipping the solution into my water bottles, shaking and leaving 30 minutes before consumption. The oxygen released by the Chlorine Dioxide is apparently so concentrated that it kills the bugs. An advantage is that there is no chlorine taste or smell to the water.

I am by now proficient in re-packing my backpack and follow a choreographed process. Sleeping bag at the bottom, carefully packed in a waterproof bag, followed by tent inner and out fly. Carefully squeeze in my filled camelback water carrier, the hose threaded out through a purpose built hole to be clipped to my right shoulder strap. On top of this and in the surrounding cavities I push my spare clothing, plastic cutlery and plate. Near the top goes the food (I am responsible for carrying our lunches so don’t wish to unpack my pack at lunch or crush the food). On the outside goes my sleeping pad, in the two outside hip pockets my 1 litre Nagalene water bottles and in the top pocket my camera and glasses. The tents poles are attached to outside clips.

No fire last night – we are in a restricted area so there is no fire stone to clean and scatter the ashes. Additionally as there is a fair breeze this morning there are no mosquitoes to torment us. If they are around they are shooting passed unable to land.

My nylon trekking trousers have leg portions that handily unzip thereby converting them into shorts. Ever the optimist and from previous experience I remove the legs and expose my legs to nature. It takes very little time to warm up when carrying a full load so we tend to start lightly dressed (quite a contrast to our dress at dawn, only an hour or so ago) thereby avoiding an early stop shed excess clothing.

I final check of the site – apart from some crushed grass (what luxury that was) there is no evidence that we were ever there – exactly the way we like so leave our sites, and we are off into another day on the trail.

I wonder whom we shall meet today – so far out in the back country we only seem to meet the motivated, those who have a certain outlook on life. Without fail all our encounters have been friendly and enjoyable. I also wonder what views there will be to eagerly digest and what challenges there are to be faced. There is certain simplicity to my current outdoor living and I feel my life is complete away from the pressures of modern life and the noisy bustle of so called civilisation.