My First Backpacking Trip

My First Backpacking Trip
One morning I woke up unusually late (8:00) and I saw Matthew, Joseph, and Emily preparing for a backpacking trip. When they asked me if I wanted to go, I said, “yes!“ When Meghan came downstairs mom taunted her saying, “Even Whitney’s going, Meghan”. So she decided if I could do it she could go too.
When we finally reached the trailhead we discovered that we needed to have a permit. The sun was almost gone behind the mountains by then so we decided to get one the next day and hiked as far as we could before dark. The camping spot we chose was not far from a stream.
Early the next morning Joseph hiked back and drove to get a backpacking permit. After the sun hit the campground, we set off for Thousand Island Lake. The mosquitoes were really bad and bit us even after we put on the repellent. When we got out of the meadow, the sun, was really hot. We rested at each little spot of shade. During that time, Joseph and Matthew were teasing me because I was complaining. I didn't want to admit that I‘d brought shoes that were too small and hurt my feet really bad. It seemed like forever before we caught sight of the lake. Meghan, Emily and I could barely put up the tent because we were so dead tired.
The next morning I almost cried because Matthew and Joseph said that we were going to take ANOTHER hike around the entire large lake. Luckily, Matthew saved me. He said he wanted to find out where the waterfalls on the other side of the lake were coming from. So all of us, including Nevada, started hiking up the Minerettes. Meghan saw how bad the mosquitoes were biting me and loned me her sweater. We came to snow banks and tried to smash them when we crossed the stream. Finally we came to the waterfall and by then we were dying from heat. We each put our heads under the waterfall to cool off before we hiked up to the snow. The reflection from the snow would have sunburned us but I gave everyone my sunscreen. We continued hiking until we found a frozen lake. Emily tried to climb to the peak of one of the Minerettes and Nevada went with her even though they tried to get him rest. They made it about 2/3 of the way to the top. After that we hiked back to camp and took a long rest.
We took lots of pictures because the scenery was spectacular. One place was so beautiful that we all posed there for an individual picture.
That same day after our rest we packed up camp and started back to the car. The place we camped at that night (on our way back) was so green and beautiful and we were by a trickling stream. Matthew told us a great story to end the day by. After we were in our tents we begged Joseph for his Poof Ball and cat face story?
The next morning we got up and we thought the time was around 8 AM. But much to our surprise we arrived back at the car at eight so we determined that we actually got up at 5AM. It was the best backpacking hike I had ever been on (it was my first trip after all). I really appreciate my brothers taking us girls.
Thank you