Night Hike & Open Air Campout

Our son Antony, bottom far left on front row of picture! His first overnight hike and open air camp out!

Overnight Hike and Camp

Firstly, I love camping; I’m all for being in the wild outdoors, looking up at the stars and being mesmerised by the glow from the embers of a camp fire, especially when roasting marsh mellows.

Last weekend, with our son Antony being twelve, it was ‘his time - the right of passage’ to endure an overnight hike with his peers in the Young Men’s group from church. This was a small expedition of no ordinary means. Now I might start sounding ‘wimpy’ at this point in my recollection, that’s because I realise I’m not the fittest ‘bloke’ on the planet, not even with all the AGEL gel packs I consume regularly (which I love). My problem lies with my lack of physical exercise, I pretty much sit around most days, working behind my laptop screen (sad I know), indeed this might be me in a few years….

How the Internet changed my life

Back to topic…I knew this overnight hike would test my endurance and stamina, I also happened to be the oldest ‘bloke’ on this outing, so I played that sympathy card as much as I could, especially when I was trailing the pack from time to time, my excuse was I was holding up the rear and ensuring we didn’t leave anyone behind!

We hiked from 8pm till just gone midnight, which in itself is not bad going. However what initially became an amusing story of ‘becoming lost in the forest’, walking though the mud and tripping without little night sky light (no moon that night) and only small torches to hand, quickly became frustrating as we realised we were literally going round in circles – lost! As we tramped over the same paths we recognised again, I got out my trusty compass just after midnight and said – “head east boys!” We eventually found a clearing and were grateful to lay out the plastic sheet on the ground so that all the boys could lay out their sleeping bags and sleep under the stars, praying for no rain that night!

This image was the morning after and my Antony waking up in the blue sleeping bag - what a man!

YM Hike - Antony waking up

Now this is where I show my ‘true colours’ having done this thing a few times… I came prepared and that’s my Blacks - 2 man pop up tent to the right of the others! I offered my one and only son the spare place next to me in my nice warm tent, but he didn’t want the shame, he wanted to be with the ‘men’ and sleep under the stars.

My Pop up Tent

It’s interesting what a good night’s sleep feels like in a tent, as I emerged, seeing how cold everyone else was and the dew of the morning all over their now wet sleeping bags, I was grateful for my little luxury. We gathered our things and hiked off for a breakfast meet, some great planning by our young men, they were having breakfast brought to us, but we’d have to hike for it.

Antony - ready for hike

This next stage of our hike was another test of sifting the ‘men from the boys’, an early morning crossing of a local ‘ford’ (a place where water runs through it). Having done this before, I knew only too well how freezing this water can be in the early morning, so I elected to take the bridge crossing. My Antony’s first experience of our local ‘ford’ crossing, he screamed the entire way across. It feels like daggers on the feet!

Ford Crossing

If you don’t believe me, here’s the video proof…

Another image looking down at the ford crossing…

Ford Crossing

It was now the home stretch, but like a marathon when athletes hit that ‘mental and physical wall’, our bodies (especially mine) was beginning to give up… We’d been up at just after 6am, so I’d been fortunate to have a comfortable 5 hours plus sleep, whilst others had very little. What I found challenging were my boots, they weren’t the best ‘worn in’ for the task and later I were to find I’d gained some rather nasty blisters and even a week later as I’m writing this up for my blog my feet are still recovering! My left big toe is still ‘black and blue’ from the bruises of walking in those boots, thankfully my blisters have pretty much healed up!

The home stretch, those last few miles I had little physical strength left, showing my age, all of 42 years! However I kept going, willing my legs to move, pacing myself to get to our end goal, where a car ride home and a soak in a hot bath awaited.

Out of all of this, what impressed me and I’m glad to say some others too, is that our son Antony became a man in the eyes of others, not literally of course being 12, but in his enthusiasm and joy of participation with his peers. He was often seen running ahead of the group, excited to see beyond the next bend in the road or just eagerly excited to be hiking with his friends, it was all a grand avdventure for him.

Antony on the hike singing

Antony’s first experience open air camping and some serious hiking was now a new joy and experience for me. It amazes me sometimes how the young can have such stamina and fitness, heck I was young once like Antony and somehow albeit I enjoyed those similar experiences that I see him relish I somehow feel he has a greater appreciation than I did of those activities. He’s asked me about five times since last weekend “when can we do another hike?” I keep explaining “when my feet recover!”

Final video of Antony and “the boy’s” hanging out and singing acapella style as they go along the road on the final stretch home!