Backpacking Practice
By Micaela Ellis
For the past four weeks, three times a week, the Lighthouse School students have been choosing what they want to do for P.E. One half of the school decided to do running and the other half decided to do backpacking. The backpacking group is working towards an overnight backpacking trip in Point Mugu State Park with 15-20 pounds on our backs. The adults will backpack with 35-40 pounds on their backs. My group did backpacking, and today, we went to the Ventura River Bottom hike. We put 11 pound bags of sand in our backpacks, mess kits (utensils and bowls), trail mix, an orange for each person, supplies for making lunch, food, and water. Each person carried supplies and/or food for lunch. We hiked in the hills of the River Bottoms and there was water in the waterhole! For lunch, we brought the things that are necessary for making pasta (a butane stove, pasta, and cooking water). For extra toppings on our pasta, we brought parsley, Kalamata olives, extra-virgin olive oil, salt, artichoke hearts, pepper, parmesan cheese, and sun-dried tomatoes; all the items for a gourmet lunch! This hike was so fun!
