kyle nystrom

Kyle Nystrom

We went on the AT for 2 weeks. It was my first time really backpacking. It was hard doing 5 miles a day with a heavy pack, but I made it. A lot of things happened while we were on the trail, but I’ll try to summarize it.

During the start of the trip, we were having a lot, and I mean A LOT, of problems with people stopping, or just not carrying their weight. We did end up being able to go a good distance without more than a few breaks though. On the last day I saw everyone doing so well during the hike. We went about 4 miles in the cold and rain without more than a 20 minute break for snacks. We would have had to go 2 more miles, but one of our staff had driven the van up to the halfway point so we didn’t have to hike so far. That was really cool. It was also a lot of fun when we just sat around the fire and I got to tell some of my jokes. That was hilarious, and I got to do a lot of skits, like the fiery water, the burger king, and the order of the red orb.

During the 6^th day we stayed in a cabin. That was really fun because it was raining hard that day, and we got to sleep inside a dry, heated cabin. We also got to eat Mac-n-cheese with bacon mixed in. that was really good. On the last day we cooked up burgers and hotdogs. We used the pan with the burger grease and fried onions in it, and then mixed that with maple bacon beans. That those were the best beans I’ve ever had, and ever made, and pretty much everyone agreed with me about that. One thing I missed having on the trail was snack bags. It’s really cool when each person has an entire gallon zip-loc baggie of food to eat during hikes.

All in all, I think it was a decent expedition. We had some problems and fights, but we did really well in the end. Sometimes people get frustrated and it keeps the trips from being fun, but it usually works out in the end.