I actually really like hiking, I just haven't got any gear. So uh all the hiking I've done is on school camps. It's super painful, but the memories are absolutely amazing!
I will definitely try and go more after HSC finishes
The first time I tried we got rained out - we went to Mangrove Mountain and we had the fattest rainstorm come on us on the one night we had (it was meant to be 3 days 2 nights, but the wet weather the previous night washed out the track or something?). One group's tent got flooded, and that just about says it all, and it was super tiring because back then (2 years ago) I was a scrawny 45kg 5'4 kid, so I decided to be the guy that put dibs on carrying tent poles
The next time was about a month later, and we went on this hike through the Royal National Park. It was even more tiring because the route that we had to go on was even more hilly, and we packed everything for two days + camping equipment (unlike the previous time when they drove up our stuff to the campsite, so we only had to carry a day pack). We saw civilisation because the camping site was near Heathcote I think? so the hike wasn't all green
Fondest memory was one person trying to cook instant noodles in a plastic bowl over a campfire, that was funny. It was pretty damp on the second day, but all I remember about the second day (I remember everything else, but this stands out so much) was the final climb to get to Waterfall. We basically went up a cliff, and we were climbing stairs for about 15 minutes on already tired legs because it was at the end of the hike. We were so dead by the time we got on the train, most of us collapsed. One guy fell asleep
The last time I went hiking was in a 5 day camp last year. We actually made some nice food - lemon and coconut balls, fried rice, 'deconstructed apple crumble', and on the last day we had these wraps which were amazing, and I forgot how to make them but they also happened to be vegetarian! Worst part was the tiring feeling at the end of each day, but we did get swims on the 2nd and 4th day. 4th day swim was really welcome, we had to take a longer alternative route because of fire danger (it was a 40 degree day) but it was a really good experience - after the first day all i wanted to do was leave, after the 5th all i wanted to do was stay
Maybe we can have an AN hike
?