Backpacking and Hiking Forum - Backpackers' Basecamp

cweston
Trail Wise!

Posts: 4,277

Pretty Pictures Don't Tell the Whole Story Mar 27, 2019 6:10:50 GMT -8 echo and rebeccad like this

Post by cweston on Mar 27, 2019 6:10:50 GMT -8

One of the things I always regret a tiny bit is that one tends to take photos only when things are going well. So the "struggle" is often not apparent when someone just looks at the pretty pictures.

But s--- does happen, and every now and then we capture it in images...

Like when the high elevation sucks the life out of you and every step is a struggle...

Or when it pours/hails so hard and violently that your whole camp floods. (Also, I was sick and puking from inside the tent all the while in this particular case)...

Or when a bear decides to share your bathtub with you (which is cool, but disconcerting)...

Or when you wake up on the morning you are suppose to cross that high, exposed pass, and it looks like this...

Or when it gets a little colder overnight than you expected...

Let's see 'em!

rebeccad
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Writing like a maniac

Posts: 12,666

Pretty Pictures Don't Tell the Whole Story Mar 27, 2019 12:39:06 GMT -8

Post by rebeccad on Mar 27, 2019 12:39:06 GMT -8

My husband has a tendency to document everything, though I draw the line at photos of someone puking

. But we have a lot of pictures of me changing flat tires, damaged skin, or the most recent of our poor tent after the bird encounter (though we failed to get photos before I patched it).

I do remember one photo of our boys in the morning after a bad day and night. ES has just been sick and is sitting all wrapped up in a sleeping bag while we wonder what we do next. (Happily, he was young and recovered fast, going on to do a major hike that day just fine).

www.Rebecca-Douglass.com A Is For Alpine: An Alphabet Book for Little Hikers, and other non-hiking-related books.

echo
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Posts: 3,330

Pretty Pictures Don't Tell the Whole Story Mar 27, 2019 17:45:33 GMT -8 hikerjer likes this

Post by echo on Mar 27, 2019 17:45:33 GMT -8

2010, summer in Custer State Park. Everyone survived and things were beautiful most of the time but there were enough story fodder moments for the whole family.

We had a reunion for the parent in laws 60th anniversary and camped in Custer state park. Then we went across Wyom8ng to swim in the hot springs in Thermopolis, raft the river in
Park County and go up above Yellowstone in the Mtns by Gardiner MT

My family was all around a campfire/almost bonfire at almost midnight when lightning struck right over our heads. My eye glass frames vibrated, the dogs ran away and my brother-in-law fell with his hand between two flaming logs.

A few days later, my 16 year old son took grandpas truck to go fishing on his own for the first time and within half an hour the tornado sirens were wailing, the hail was pouring down and creating a flood of ice that slid his truck in under a bridge.

The ugly picture is me, in the tent a few days later, sun burned and bug bitten and bruised from the whitewater and my battle with it and my oar. Exhausted and very happy.

“The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green earth, dwelling deeply in the present moment and feeling truly alive.”

― Thích Nhất Hạnh