I got a nice surprise from the trip, day 1 -

I wanted to try "cowboy" camping where you're sleeping under the stars in your bag and wake up to the sun's warm glow.

​the stars WERE amazing that first night, not only were the constellations in full view but there were so many "starfields", i'll call 'em. Where far off behind the constellation are massive gatherings of stars where it looks like long clusters of colors of pink and orange as the background to the constellations.

that was an incredible view to fall asleep to.

late that night I woke up to something that felt like a splat on my eyelid. It didn't feel like rain though, it felt more solid.

looking around I didn't see or hear anything. being exhausted from the hike up to this field we were sleeping in, above and between two alpine lakes, I fell back to sleep.


AGAIN, I felt the splat on my face.


this time I could see something quickly moving back and forth immediately above my face. it looked like a tail of some kind.

a skinny tail, sliding across my face and rapidly wriggling back and forth . what the hell!?

in one of the fastest moves I've ever made - I grabbed the snake's body as quickly as I could and tossed it away from me, rolled over and fell back to sleep.

I later realized the snake had been on my face and trying to get cozy with me in my bag which was why it had been wriggling so much to get into the top of my bag :-D

there are many opportunities for good stories from our trip but this is the one that stands out to me as the most surprising and enjoyable to tell.

the terrain was incredibly rugged with huge craggy peaks shooting into the air and expansive gashes in the earth as valleys below and everywhere between was one of three terrain, acres of scree fields (boulders and rocks), large pine filled forest, steeply sloping fields covered in ripe blueberries as far as you can see.

in one of the flat fields along our route on day 4 among the blueberries I was filming part of our journey and noticed a dog off in the distance. being in the most remote location I've ever been, I couldn't understand why there would be a dog out there in the field, alone, with no one else around.

turns out dogs and black bears have a similar look to them from a distance. I've been afraid of bears encountering me while I'm sleeping but I've heard stories from ​others in my backpacking group that they can never get a good shot of them because the bears are always so quick to get away.

that was true of this bear too, he looked up to see what was making the sounds. once he noticed us, ​he couldn't ​get out of there fast enough. I caught much of it on video which I was very excited about. This was the creature I was hoping most to see while out here! and not only did we find one but I also got a video of it :-D

​I slept better that and every night after knowing how afraid the bears are of us.

turns out dogs and black bears have a similar look to them from a distance. I've been afraid of bears encountering me while I'm sleeping but I've heard stories from ​others in my backpacking group that they can never get a good shot of them because the bears are always so quick to get away.

that was true of this bear too, he looked up to see what was making the sounds. once he noticed us, ​he couldn't ​get out of there fast enough. I caught much of it on video which I was very excited about. This was the creature I was hoping most to see while out here! and not only did we find one but I also got a video of it :-D

​I slept better that and every night after knowing how afraid the bears are of us.