Girl, Thou Art Outdoorsy — High Uintas, Utah

One girl from Alaska and one from Montana, we've got nothing to prove. We are tough, by God, we eat outdoorsy for breakfast. So I am absolutely NOT ashamed to admit that we spent the night in the car. 

TENT — By Subaru

We did set up the tent. And we did spend about an hour and a half in it. We were the only people in the China Meadows camp ground, the end of the road before the trailhead up to Red Castle Peak in the Uintas. So when a dude on a four wheeler drove into the campground, made a slow circle through the sites, paused near the tent and drove off, we raised our eyebrows. When he came back a few minutes later to do the same thing, our creep factor alarm began its sharp internal dinging. There would be no rest beneath nylon this night. So we retreated to the Impreza, admitting that the reclined seats were a touch more comfortable than the ground.

      

The next day our feet took us on a 16-mile trek through rocky timberland and iridescent green meadows. Free range cattle weaved through meadow and trail, providing ample opportunity for this Alaskan to snap pictures of the mystical beasts. Yeah, I know. Bear with me.   

Sometime around noon, my beautiful friend Chandra reached some sort of blood sugar precipice and plunged off into the land of despair and fury. We'd been silent for a while, both quietly trying to figure how far we'd come, and where we were in relation to the vague map in the guidebook. Since we'd been hiking for four hours without seeing a glimpse of the purported castle-like destination, and were nearing our agreed upon turn around time, a little ire had begun to rise amid our fresh-air optimism. 

"This is...this is so fucking STUPID!!" Chandra's even pace never slowed, but her voice rose above the chirping birds and creek gurgles. 

"We're not going to make it. We came all this way, and we're not going to make it to the damn MOUNTAIN." 

I muttered some annoying crap about the journey versus the destination, something about following ones own personal path through the wilderness...which understandably was ineffectual. 

We had underestimated how much a rocky trail, plus backpacks and occasional snack breaks would slow us, and it had become clear that we would not make it to Upper Red Castle Lake. My very goal-oriented friend found this to be utter horse shit, and under the dark cloud of hunger could not, at that precise moment, see the intrinsic value in the hike itself. 

And then, we cleared the trees. 

We'd made it to the lower basin, about eight miles in, in view of Red Castle Peak in the background. After some turkey jerky and Wasabi peas and chocolate, we agreed that this did in fact count as "making it." High five.