Robert and I have returned safe and sound from our backpacking trip to Rachel Lake. It was mostly a success except for almost freezing to death the first night thanks to a fierce, icy wind coming off the lake. I had on a T-shirt, long underwear, fleece, raincoat and gloves that night and was still shivering. It was sunny and warm the rest of the time, though, resulting in a pleasant and relaxing trip. No bears to be seen (dang!) but plenty of deer, chipmunks, camp robber jays and one shockingly loud marmot. You can find photos from our trip here.

Here is the food rundown: The first night, we had tuna fillets (Starkist pouches), gravy and instant mashed potatoes which I spiked with parmesan cheese and olive oil. It was okay but the freezing wind turned our dinner cold almost instantly so that was a bummer. But, the frito pie on the second night was perfect! Instead of bothering with a roux and then adding ingredients separately, I just threw it all in together and it was ready in minutes. The spiciness of the chili really warmed us up. Lunches consisted mainly of snacks: trail mix, peanut butter, summer sausage, crackers, etc. For breakfast, I made homemade instant oatmeal packets using quick-cooking rolled oats (I pureed some in a blender to act as a thickener), powdered milk, brown sugar and dehydrated strawberries from Trader Joe’s. Also for breakfast, I made logan bread which my mom always used to make when we would backpack as a family. The logan bread was fantastic with coffee. You can find the recipe that I used here. I replaced the raisins with dried cranberries and dried apricots and I added more than the recipe calls for. We also brought a lime and some tequila minis and had “margaritas” while sitting on a sunny rock down by the lake one afternoon. I’m not sure if life can get any better than that!

1 Comment »

  1. Great pictures. I can’t believe how high you guys were able to hoist your food sacks.
    Other than the fog, the days looked to be really sunny and pleasant.

    Comment by Barbara — August 20, 2006 @ 1:11 pm

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