A Mix For: Everything We Need
featuring The Chicks, Indigo Girls, Old Crow Medicine Show, and more!
Happy Monday! This week’s newsletter is a little different- I started this during a writing workshop and, of course, it evolved into a piece that touches on music (and summer camp because that’s my other favorite topic). In honor of summer camp season, I’m sharing it today. The accompanying mix is the soundtrack to this story. Thanks for reading and listening.
When we arrived on Isle Royale, we weighed our packs. Hannah B.’s was nearly 70 pounds, which should have been more concerning since she couldn’t have weighed more than about 95 pounds herself. Our cabin group, seven teenaged campers and two (not much older) counselors, was headed off on a 2-week long backpacking trip around the perimeter of a small national park in the middle of Lake Superior. Our packs were our lifeline.
We each carried our own essentials: two water bottles, a sleeping bag, a sleeping mat, a bowl, a utensil, an extra shirt, an extra sports bra, an extra pair of socks, an extra pair or two of underwear, long johns, a fleece jacket, a raincoat, and some camp shoes. We divvied up 14 days worth of food: oatmeal for breakfast, trail mixes for lunch, and dehydrated meals for dinner. We took turns carrying communal equipment: sunscreen, bug spray, a tube of toothpaste, the tents, the tent poles, camp stoves, fuel bottles, a couple of pots, and water filters. Everyone had a few personal effects: a book, a journal, a deck of cards, a headlamp.
The only real hygiene product among the group was some hand sanitizer. No deodorant because what’s the point when you’re not showering? Sarah forgot a toothbrush and after a few days, Hannah B. offered to share hers because who cares when you’re already this gross?
One of the counselors carried a med kit full of moleskin for blisters, Tylenol for pain, plastic tweezers for apparently nothing since they did no good when I fell on a boardwalk and got a hand full of splinters, and Benadryl for allergies which several of us inhaled as soon as we got to the campsite each night.
Stella’s fifteenth birthday was while we were on our trip, so one of the counselors carried a can of frosting to break out in celebration. As we sat on a rocky beach and passed the can around, scooping spoonfuls of funfetti icing into our mouths, we thanked the birthday gods that Stella had been born that day if for no other reason than a sugar rush.
We talked and told stories and sang while hiking. One of the songs we learned was “Everything I Need” by Melissa Ferrick, which begins:
Well I got money in the bank
And I got a car to drive
And I got a working set of hands
That my guitar seems to likeCause I got a love that won't quit
And I got time to rest
And I got a clear and able mind that sees my life
Going fineYay
Cause everything I need
Is right here in my hands
We updated the lyrics for our own situation: “everything we need is right here in our packs, right here in our packs, right here in our packs.”
Over time, we got stronger and our packs got lighter as we ate our food and used up fuel. We watched gorgeous sunsets, dipped our feet in Lake Superior, and saw some moose. We cried on the days the hiking was really hard and laughed as Victoria told weird stories to lift the group morale. We powered through as Caroline shouted her mantra - “Good! Great! Awesome! Amazing!” - with each step. On our last day, we sprinted down the trail as soon as the end was in sight. Over a hundred miles in two weeks with nothing but the packs on our backs. We had made it with everything we needed and nothing more.
Love this story!!