Fourth Day: May 22, 2018 

Today we began with learning about Cheryl Strayed’s story of her 1,100-mile journey hike. We watched videos about her hike; these videos included reasons for why she hiked, excerpts from the story she wrote, and events leading up to the journey. Afterwards, we compiled a list of items we would need for a 10-15 day hike journey. With these items, we listed weights, which we added together to find how much our backpack would weigh. My partner and I created a list that ended us with a total weight of 33.6lbs. To see how much that would weigh on our shoulders, we added dumbbells to a backpack, put it on, and walked around the classroom. 33.6 pounds didn’t seem like that much, until after I put on the backpack. After lunch and recess, we watched a movie called “Never Cry Wolf” about a man who went into the mountains to conduct science experiments on organisms living there; he finds himself captivated by the wolves that abide there, and he adopts some of their tendencies. As usual, we ended the day with yoga, except this session was shorter than our usual 1-hour sessions.

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The bag that Cheryl carried for 1,100 miles weighed little over 70 pounds. The bag we tried to carry was half of that, and it was still difficult to walk with. The fact that she spent over 90 days walking on a trail with 70 pounds on her back is insane. The picture shown is of the 35lb bag we tried to carry, and our minimalistic hiking plan.