It was only a matter of time before I raced back out the mountains. This time, Jeremy North joined me for a week in the Gila Wilderness in Southwest New Mexico. We met in College Station immediately after Nathan & Laura’s wedding, departing early Sunday and returning Friday afternoon.

In July 2007, five other interns joined me on a great adventure to Minnesota’s North Shore to embark on a 16 mile backpacking trip. For having little to no experience, our group did extremely well. In fact, the trip went so well that I no longer consider us as interns but friends.

Today Travis, Kevin, Jordan, and I drove 575 miles to to Big Bend National Park. We made excellent time despite the unanticipated 30 minute gas stop in Marathon. What can you do when the pump maxs out at 2 gallons per minute? It was only a minor setback during a quick 8 hour drive to the park.

Geeeeez, I didn’t realize how long it’s been since the last e-mail. It’s been 2 months since Spring Break in the Guadalupe Mountains It’s been a whole month since the triathlon. By the way, that whole weekend was simply fantastic… camping at Pedernales Falls, unexpected friends showing up to race, and others to cheer us on…

Mistake #1. Hiking Alone. Mistakes 2-10: Going alone, forgetting a sleeping bag, forgetting food, forgetting something for blisters, not looking at the map until lost, not wearing any bug repellent, hiking in thorns, swimming with spiders, sleeping with raccoons, and oh yes going alone.