Today's blog post is about the last few days- I left for a backpacking trip on Wednesday morning and then went to Yosemite National Park on Saturday. I think I lost a few pounds on the trip! Didn't eat much, and got in some good hiking. ;)
I
got back last night at 2am from my backpacking trip to 20 Lakes Basin in the
eastern High Sierras. It was a great
experience despite some rain, hail, and very high winds that had my tent nearly sideways. The landscape there was so
beautiful! I left Wednesday morning at
10am to drive up there with another guy whom I met through the Meetup
backpacking group that I was going on the trip with. Luckily he turned out to be normal and close to my age. lol The biggest thing I was concerned about other than driving 6 hours up there with some guy I don't know, was how I was going to stick to a Paleo diet for 4 days. I had planned my meals during the trip, and I
mostly stuck to my Paleo diet. Wednesday
I had my smoothie for breakfast, and then lunch was some ham, an avocado and a
plum that I had packed.
The a/c in my car died when we hit
the Mojave desert, which made for a miserable car ride the next 4 hours until
we arrived in Lee Vining at our campsite for the night. We made a couple stops at mechanics in the
Mojave, but no one had the parts to fix my car.
Bummer! For dinner I bought some
“Krave” beef jerky (the paleo brand!), Mary’s Gone Wild seed crackers, and a
Kombucha. Breakfast Thursday morning (the 4th of July!) was some
leftover beef jerky and crackers. I
really wasn’t that hungry. Then we met everyone going on the trip at the Mono Lakes visitor center, and then drove to Saddlebag Lake where we would begin our backpacking hike to our campsite at Cascade Lake. We begun our
hike around noon and made it our campsite a couple hours later- 3.5 miles. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking. Snow-covered mountains, pristine lakes,
rocks, trees- it had all of my favorite scenery! The
hike was a bit difficult to start- we had to cover the 1st mile over loose
rocks and boulders, which was mentally exhausting.
Luckily I have high top hiking boots, so my ankles were well-protected! I was getting hungry with about a mile left in our hike, and because my food was stashed in a bear canister deep in my
pack, I was given a Clif bar from another hiker- so I ate half of it. It was gluten-free, at least. We finally arrived at our campsite by Cascade
Lake with just enough time before a storm rolled in. It even hailed. A couple people had to move their tents due
to getting water logged. Luckily I set
my tent up on some rocks and although some water was collecting, my tent
remained mostly dry. Only my backpack got a little wet because it was sitting
outside under my tent’s vestibule. So we
all sat in our tents for almost 3 hours before the rain finally quit. I was starving! We gathered together and made our
dinners around 7pm. My dinner consisted of beef
jerky and a Larabar. I’m not sure if it
was the altitude (10,000 feet), or the hike, etc, but I just wasn’t that
hungry. You aren't allowed to have campfires at that high of elevation, so sitting around on the rocks with everyone just wasn't that exciting- I went to bed around 9:30pm. It was windy and a bit chilly- probably 60 degrees at that time.
The next morning I got up around
8:30am, although I didn’t sleep well at all.
It was windy all night and I just couldn’t get comfortable. Some of us had planned to do a 5 mile day
hike around the lakes- so 8 of us set off at 11am for what turned out to be a
beautiful hike. Breakfast was a Larabar
and then lunch was another Larabar a few hours later mid-hike. I felt good despite not getting enough
calories in. After our hike I laid in my
tent for a while, then came out to sit around camp with the others. For whatever reason, my allergies kicked in and I was sneezing and had a bad runny nose, that made me use up almost all of my toilet paper. I wasn't happy about that! For
dinner I had a dehydrated meal – Shepherds Pie with beef and mashed potatoes. I know this isn't Paleo, but it was
gluten-free so I settled on it. It
contained corn, which I am pretty sure gave me gas during the night and
next morning.
Saturday morning I awoke around 6am
when I could hear the others up and starting to pack up to leave. It was extremely windy Friday and into
Saturday morning, especially on the rocks where we all had our tents. All of us had to secure our tents with
bungees and cords tied to rocks, so that they wouldn’t blow away. The wind was terrible! It kept me up most of the night again, and I
think we all hurried to leave Saturday morning because the wind just made it
unbearable to sit around and enjoy the scenery. My allergies were still bothering me, so I was ready to leave and get out of the wind and get back to the comfort of my Crocs, clean clothes, and a toilet. LOL I had half a Larabar for breakfast, and at 8:30am I backpacked out with
3 others. I had bad blisters on my
heels, so I was pretty slow. Luckily, I
was able to catch a boat ride across Saddlebag Lake to where the car was
parked, so I didn’t have to do the last 1.5 or so miles across the rocks that went alongside the lake. I then saw another couple who I had been
hiking with and their two dogs, who also caught the boat shortly before I got there, who were having breakfast at the little store at the
lake, so I stopped and sat with them and had breakfast of 2 slices of bacon, a
sausage patty and some hashbrowns. They brought their two dogs on the trip- Chaser and Tally. Tally was so adorable, she was definitely my buddy on the trip- she was a 1 yr old golden retriever/german shepherd/collie mix.
After we all got back to our cars, the guy I carpooled
up here with, Nathan wanted to get lunch- so we stopped at a deli nearby and I ended
up getting a really yummy tuna salad and a Kombucha.
Then we headed to Yosemite, since we had planned to spend the day there
since I’ve always wanted to go there. So
we decided we would drive across the park and go to Yosemite Valley to see Half
Dome and El Capitan, etc. The drive was
beautiful, but very slow and curvy roads at times. The park was VERY busy. It was still beautiful and enjoyable,
though. I took a lot of great
pictures. We ended up doing a few very
short hikes to waterfalls. I had to wear
my Crocs because of my blisters. The drive out of South Yosemite was exhausting- even more slow and windy roads, and I was already so tired. But then we only had 4 hours to go until we hit LA, so I tried to stay positive and get through it. I did
eat some chips in the car ride home, and for dinner we stopped at a little
Mexican restaurant near Fresno- so I had corn enchiladas and chips and salsa- and a
Coke! I needed caffeine to keep me awake, so I decided I would just cheat. Unfortunately it tasted SO good. :/ The
Mexican dinner was good, too, but I left feeling full and a little guilty. The rest of the drive was very exhausting. The highways we took were just annoying- lots of lanes with construction, etc, and a lot of bad drivers on the roads in which I had to honk my horn a few times. lol At 2am I finally got safely home. I couldn’t wait to get a shower because I
hadn’t showered since Tuesday night!
Gross!! I think I was more exhausted from the drive home from Yosemite than I was from all of my hiking. lol
I slept for about 7 hours then had
to do some errands today- laundry, grocery, unpacking, cooking lunches for this
week when I'm at my clinical. I got Thai for
lunch-had chicken lettuce wraps and Panang curry with rice- it was delicious! (and I am pretty sure it’s paleo, too). Now I’m stuffed so I think that will be all I
eat today. Tomorrow I have to get up
really early so I can get to my clinical in Santa Monica at 6:30am. Yuck!
I go back to the Naturopath in 10 days, so I want to make sure I eat really well. Back to taking my supplements and drinking bone broth. I also need to start eating eggs again to see if they affect me at all. Maybe I'll do that starting next Monday. I hope I lose some more weight this week! Gotta stay disciplined for sure- just because I cheated a little bit doesn't mean I can continue to let myself slide. Back on track! I have a feeling it's going to be an exhausting week!
Here are some pics of my trip. :)
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