Day 4: Backpacking and Wolves

Today was a slower day. We seldom left the classroom we normally occupy. Despite this, today was enjoyable nonetheless. It may in fact be due to the mellow nature of the day.

We started the day by learning about backpacking. This began with us learning the story of a woman named Cheryl Strayed, who hiked 1,100 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail with a 70-pound backpack. She dubbed this backpack Monster due to its size.

After learning about her story, we got into pairs and were told to decide on a place, distance, and time to hike hypothetically. Me and my friend Tomas decided to hike 100 miles of the Appalachian in 10 days. Once we did this, we had to decide what to pack and how much it would weigh with this large chart. Our pack's weight ended up being about 45 pounds.

After that, we then had to put a backpack with 45 pounds of dumbbells in it to experience it. When I put it on, it almost hurt at first, but then when I put the waist strap on and took some of the weight off of my shoulders, it wasn't so bad. Some of the other people who had done this even felt empowered by wearing the pack, and I can see why. Knowing that you have and extra 45 pounds on your back without too much issue makes you feel strong.

Once we ate lunch, we watched a movie called Never Cry Wolf. The movie is about a man named Tyler, who had to conduct an expedition in Alaska. His goal was to find and kill a wolf in order to examine its stomach contents and find out its diet. However, he is way out of his depth and is saved by an elderly Inuit man named Ootek. He ends up getting attached to the wolves and is dismayed when people eventually show up and hunt them. The movie ends on a somber note as some wolf pups are left without parents, but Tyler decides to stay in Alaska and continue his studies.