I’ve just returned from a hike. A test run really. I strapped on a 30 pound backpack and grabbed my hiking sticks and took off. It wasn’t a particularly charming hike like the ones I did in the Yorkshire Dales earlier this year.

Nope. This was an afternoon hike around town. A test really to see if I could indeed handle hiking with a pack on. The last time I strapped on such a pack was in 2023 when I backpacked with Tim and some of the grands into the Wallowa Mountains.

Tim makes the same backpacking trip every summer from the East Fork of the Lostine to Mirror Lake. I thought I was fit enough to handle the trip even though I hadn’t made that hike in decades. The first part of the hike to Six-Mile Meadow has an elevation gain of 7,000 ft. I was totally unprepared for that.

The first mistake was setting out on the Wallowa hike in the afternoon. The second was the rain. Come to think of it, everytime I’ve made that hike, it’s rained on me. At one point I was so teary and whiney that my then 10-year-old grand tried to carry my 40 pound pack for me. It was awful. Tim finally had to leave me and head on up to a clearing to make camp then come back and get my pack and lead me to camp.

I did finally make it both to the camp site, then the meadow after a downpour the next morning, then on to Mirror Lake, where I did strip off every bit of clothing right next to the dusty trail and jumped into the lake, while my mortified husband and grandboys ran off in an opposite direction. The boys, I figure, will always have a great story to tell their own kids and their best muckers over a beer one day.

After that trip, I told Tim I would not be returning to Mirror Lake unless a horse was carrying me up there. I had no desire to suffer like that again. So while he is planning on heading up there again in August, I will stay on level ground and help care for the grand girl who won’t be making the trip with Pa.

However, I am off on another backpacking adventure next week. This one without Tim. He has been very nervous (and rightfully so given my history) over whether I am capable of making such a journey without him along to help. My friend Ellen Wade and I have signed up for a Writers in the Wild adventure. Ellen is flying in from Chicago to join me on this trip. (Stay tuned for yet another book to follow The Devil’s Pulpit).

Ellen has even less backpacking experience than I do and she’s older. But that has never slowed or stopped her from a challenge. When I sent her information about Writers Gone Wild opportunity, Ellen signed up immediately. I had mistakenly thought we’d have a discussion about it first. But nooo, Ellen signed up so I had to.

Originally, we were going to be hiking the Three Sisters Loop, about 40 miles with an elevation gain of about 5800 feet. Tim was very worried. However, the snow pack still on the mountains necessiated a change in plans. So instead, we will be backpacking along the MacKenzie River Trail through old growth forests. We’ll do about 30 miles in four days, starting next Thursday. The temps will be between 80 and 90. The trees will provide shade, and the river trail will help cool things down. Oregon hiking isn’t like the Yorkshire Dales, however. We’ll be trodding over volcanic rock instead of soft green fields.

Prior to our trip to Scotland, Ellen had never peed outdoors. I taught her how on that trip. I’ve already warned her that under no circumstances am I going to teach her how to dookey outdoors. She’s on her own for that.

The hike through town today was to prove to Tim and myself that I can carry a backpack and hike the distance needed each day, even in the heat. With cheers from Konnie, I logged a little over four miles in 80 degree weather while carrying a modestly heavy pack in about an hour-and-a-half.

Tim is a little less worried now. A little more confident that us girls are going to do just fine on our own – with a wilderness guide to help us along the way. There will be no phones. No technology on this trip. So I’m okay if y’all want to worry about us a little. And, if so inclined, send some good juju our way.

Women in the Wild. That’s always been the path Ellen and I have chosen to forge.

Tomorrow, Tim is going to teach me how to set up a tent. Y’all pray for him okay?

Karen Spears Zacharias and E.J. Wade are authors of The Devil’s Pulpit & Other Mostly True Scottish Misadventures (Mercer University Press).