What your trip is like
Getting selected—Read the website, and/or talk to our rep, write an email to the frog. If you get an application from us, think about it, and maybe send it back. Write us an essay and tell us why you would like to go. Commit. Prepare—we start off just talking a lot. Someone will come see you, and we will talk on the phone some. We will have a lot of emails. We want to understand the best kind of trip to help you get the most out of your wilderness experience. We also want to get your expectations in line. The Outfitter will probably design a unique trip for you. A few months before we go, we will lay out all the gear you will have “up above†on a trip. Details, details, details. Over the next several months, you get familiar with some of the equipment, like your pack, your tent, your rain gear, your boots, your sleeping gear, and your “dried in†equipment. You learn about your camera and your journal. You walk around with the pack some. You learn to pitch your tent very quickly. You may meet and learn something about other people who may be on your trip. There are usually four to six new packers on a trip, besides the guide and one Ramrod. Some of the new packers may be from your family.You try out different kinds of food and drinks. You do some exercising and training. If you want to sleep among the glaciers, you have to get ready.You begin to talk about some of the 23 subjects we may cover. We want you to have something to think about. We will continuously talk about what it is really like “up aboveâ€, and what you should expect. The hard things, the good things, the great things, the unexpected things, the bad things; the why we really go things.
Travel to the Trailhead. You start with a very long and exciting day. You end up at the trailhead. You may go out with your group or sponsor, or your family, or your Guide or Outfitter or Ramrod; you may take a plane, or a car. You may drive yourself to the trailhead, or meet your Guide along the way. But you end up at the end of a road in a national forest, at a wilderness trailhead, as high up as we can drive. You probably sleep there overnight, to get used to the altitude. You finish fixing your gear for tomorrow, eat your last can-good meal for awhile, and then sleep like a baby. Maybe.
Teddy
First day of the backpack. The ramrod rousts you early, and you get some light, high carb food, pack up your gear, and hit the trail early. It is good now that you have had that pack on before. You feel a little scared, but wildly excited.  You are going into a wilderness, up the side of a mountain.You walk for about 45 minutes, and then take a break for about 15. You drink a lot, and snack. You are going to our first base camp. You get there early to mid afternoon. You are walking along a stream. This will become your frame of reference, along with the ridge. You will get to know this stream very well. It may end up being “your riverâ€. At times you climb up above the stream, and you lose sight of it. But you can usually hear it, and it always comes back.You are walking along some form of trail, made by the national forest rangers and volunteers. We will talk about conservation, wilderness, and what volunteers do. Mostly we don’t talk, since we are looking out for game. You may see elk, moose, deer, antelope, bear, beaver, marmot, and big birds. You will keep your gear muffled, and not talk much when we are “gamingâ€. The guide will have showed you some hand signals he uses when he thinks there is game in the area.We will go just fast enough to get where we are going, to see what we are seeing, and to keep the group together comfortably. At times you will work hard. The mountain will make you earn her rewards. The guide walks in front, and the ramrod at the very end.Suddenly you are at your first base camp. The guide tells you where to put your tent. You set up and get it “dried inâ€.  Everyone will have some quick duties, to get camp set up. Some get the food up in a tree; some set up the kitchen.  The ramrod boils up some water and gets hot drinks in everyone. You take some high energy snacks, and feel pretty good directly. You begin to notice that you are camped at the edge of a meadow, with wild flowers, with your river behind you, and majestic mountains yonder, on up the valley.You rest some, then after supper you go scout out the area and look for game. The outfitter begins to talk about tomorrow.
Day hikes. The smell of Rita’s hash or biscuits and gravy, Agua Dulce style, wakes you before the Ramrod does. But he hands you hot cocoa in your tent. You get big high carb breakfasts each morning now, because your hardest work is done, and today, you are going to go higher. The adults decide that coffee grounds boiled up in a pot of water make the best coffee in the world.The outfitter will assign daily duties. You may be in charge of maintenance, or kitchen help, or something else. Eventually, you may get the Point. This person is the guide’s assistant for the day. The Point will study route possibilities, discuss desires and needs of the group, “read†the weather, decide on the day trip, make sure everyone is prepared, and walk up front. You learn some leadership and team building skills this day, and you will learn to “reckonâ€, using a model for decision making. This may earn you the official Middle Fork bandana, awarded the last night. After you get back the outfitter may send you a certificate recognizing your outdoor leadership training. You may use this as part of your college application.Sometimes the Guide talks philosophy. Sometimes you secretly roll your eyes; sometimes you don’t.You may go up to a string of alpine lakes, or way up on a pass, looking back down where you came in the first day. You may go up to and walk on a glacier. You may scramble up to the top of a peak. You may hide out and look for game, if we pick up good “signâ€. You may walk along a couple of miles of “your riverâ€, looking at rock formations, rapids, pools, tributary streams, and waterfalls. You may climb up to the very headwaters of the River. Some of the time you are on good trail, sometimes you “bushwhackâ€. Sometimes the guide or ramrod will talk about some of the educational things, like weather, or the importance of good watersheds or animal habitat. We will identify different kinds of trees, and see how they like different “zonesâ€. We will study wild flowers, and all kinds of animals. Sometimes it will be about like it is when you are in school: a teacher up front talking. You take some great pictures.We may see a few other parties during the day, but not many. We may visit awhile about where they are from, and what they have seen; or other mountain ranges they have visited. Sometimes we just howdy and move on.You take a nice long pick nick lunch. Some of the adults take a nap. You have gone a few miles, and climbed up some this day.You go back to camp in time to clean up, rest up and have a big supper. The guide rehydrates some food and you have a big group meal. You feel good about it when we cook the meal you carried in for the whole group. You tell the group about your meal when you are on kitchen duty. The guide usually makes a big main dish and a couple of side dishes. Sometimes he makes dessert. After supper, you may walk back out in the meadow and look for game, or take good late evening light pictures. You may sit by some rapids near the camp. You may sit around a fire some nights, and the outfitter may play cowboy songs some time. You lay with your head outside the tent on dry, mild nights and watch for shooting stars. But most nights, you fall asleep before it gets that dark. The ramrod secures the camp and closes up your tent.You may move your base camp, or stay there the whole time. Some trips take a big loop, and come back out at the trailhead. Some trips go back the way you came. Sometimes you meet another group from the Middle Fork halfway and swap keys. Then you go out another way.The last night the Guide may award you the official Middle Fork bandana.
Heading out. After a few days, it is time to head back out. Your pack feels better now than it did when you carried it in. It is lighter (you ate all the food), you are used to the altitude, you are walking generally downhill now, and your energy is up as you are going home. It is always hard to leave, and you take a little walk back in the meadow just before you do. But you are really eager to tell people about your trip. You get back to your trailhead vehicle, and go to a neat little Western town for the night. You get to liking the little town. You clean up in a real hotel room, sleep in a real bed, and have a fine meal with your friends. You call some people. You sometimes think about the wrap up essay you will write the Middle Fork, which may end up on the web site and help next year’s group understand what to expect. You put a few more notes in your Middle Fork journal. You wonder if you could be a Ramrod some day. Next day you head for home.But mostly you keep thinking about your new friends: the river, the meadow, and the mountain.  Â
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