Rock Climbing Group (F-Rock)
By Lauren Hough and Tim Kim
Imagine a box of Apple Jacks. Now take out the cereal and crumple the box. Submerge the cardboard box in water and shape it into a “pancake.” Slap ‘em on a heavily buttered, moderately warm Fry Bake – and there you have it: a genuine, deconstructed, backcountry pancake. With its batter full of trail spice and the final products coated in peanut butter to mask the taste, this meal was nothing short of disgusting. But yet, our endearing failure left us all with bodies full of fuel, and ready for the hike ahead of us.
Though the above meal may have been a failure, a result of our novice cooking skills, in all seriousness, delicious meals were definitely a highlight of our first expedition. To the majority of us who were used to “backpacking food” while backpacking, ingredients like avocado, sunflower seeds, and garlic powder spiced up meals. (Side note: F-Rock would like to give a quick shoutout to Gardetto’s for keeping morale high and bellies full. We love you!) Throw-aways in the beginning like brussels sprouts and onions quickly became sought after commodities as we learned about their abilities to transform bland dishes into aromatic splashes of vibrant color. Pizza and cinnamon rolls were made from scratch, and we even had a birthday cake delivered to us for Justina’s birthday.
Over the course of our 10 days in the backcountry, life in and around us flourished. The yellow leaves of the aspen trees became illuminated against the cozy, grey backdrops of fall in the Rocky Mountains. And like the changing of the leaves, we too started to feel shifts deep within ourselves as the turn of a new desert-filled season of this adventure auspiciously awaits.