How to Plan An Unforgettable Summer (With Advice From Mr. Barstow)

For most seniors, this summer will be the last time before college potentially tears apart high school friendships. Summer is still a few months away, but now is the perfect time to start planning for an unforgettable summer for not just seniors, but all other grades as well.

The urgency for creating ideas for an adventurous summer came to the front of my head late last semester during a prayer in Mr. Barstow’s Economics class. This prayer lingered with me long enough that I wanted to interview Mr. Barstow about the importance of having an adventurous summer.

“You gotta seize the day, life is short and precious,” Mr. Barstow says in his motivating prayer. “If you just go with the flow in life and don’t plan fun adventures, the whole thing just zips by you and is gone.”

“The world is about to pull you apart from all your close friends” -Mr. Barstow on the summer before college

“I think most people don’t understand the luxury of that summer between high school and college,” Mr. Barstow says in an interview about the prayer. “Once you get into college, especially once you get a career, just taking two months to go adventuring is very rare. As soon as you have kids, it’s not going to happen at the same extent.”

Mr. Barstow’s advice resonated with me; this is something I feel strongly about as well; however, for many, taking Barstow’s advice might be difficult. So here are five steps to planning an adventurous summer backpacking or road tripping in the great Pacific Northwest:

Step 1: Make some money

It doesn’t take much money to go backpacking or on a road trip. No matter the price of the permit, or how many gas tanks you use, these types of trips are going to be far less expensive than a three day family trip to the Bahamas, Puerto Vallarta, or Disneyland, and for that matter, just as fun. Aside from the cost of gear, last summer a single six day trip to the Olympic National Peninsula cost a mere $40 per person, for four people.

So, to make some money, check out snagajob.com for any part-time positions at any large chains such as Chipotle, Taco Bell, Old Chicago or Jamba Juice.

From eight months of washing dishes two nights a week at a local restaurant he got a job at on Craigslist, where local job listings are posted, senior Sean Henson has made upwards of $4000 to spend on summer trips in the future. However, he may only need to spend about $1000 for a full summer’s worth of adventure.

If you want to choose your own hours, make higher wages, and not have taxes taken out of your pay, I recommend signing up for nextdoor.com — a surprisingly popular social media website exclusive to only people in your neighborhood.  I used this website to make about $500 last fall doing yard work, house sitting, and walking dogs for people in my neighborhood who were not physically capable or too busy to do these things on their own.

The ultimate quick fix for cash is of course babysitting.

Step 2: Decide where you want to go, what you want to do

Don’t restrict yourself to day hikes in the Columbia River Gorge!

On the other hand, “You don’t need to fly to Hawaii or Costa Rica,” Barstow said in his interview. “You can do a cheap road trip and eat bologna sandwiches and drive around road tripping and have just as much fun if not more fun.”

The Pacific Northwest is covered with mountains, beaches, lakes and forests to see and be immersed in.

For example, the Olympic Peninsula, 3 hours north of Portland, offers thousands of miles of trails to explore.

Whether you are looking for a 9 mile trail along the beach, or a 30 mile trail up into the mountains, or a fun road trip, the Olympics has it all. Here are just three of hundreds of trip ideas in the peninsula:

The High Divide Trail (7 lakes basin)

Hike 3 days along this 19 mile loop, fully immersed in the mountains, forests, and several breathtaking lakes. Wildlife is common.

The Hoh River Trail to Blue Glacier

Hike 18 miles up a river until veering up the side of a mountain to see Blue Glacier. I recommend staying the first night of your trip in the local/only motel of Quinault, getting your permit the next day, spending 3 nights on the trail, then driving a quick 30 minutes to Rialto Beach to hike 4 miles along the coast finding a campsite.

Cape Alava (Ozette Triangle)

9 mile triangular loop: 3 miles to the coast, 3 miles down it, 3 miles back to your car.

I recommend staying two nights on the beach for this one, and doing day hikes away from your gear. Bring a frisbee!

Eagle Creek to Mt Chinidere: Spend 2-3 nights in the Columbia Gorge while hiking up to Wahtum Lake and Mt. Chinidere, with breathtaking views of Mt Hood and all the mountains that surround.

Some more places to consider:

• Goat Rocks Loop
• The West Coast Trail Canada (reserve your permit starting April 1st)
• Loowit Trail Mount St Helens, WA
• Broken Top, Bend, OR
• Road Trip to Yellowstone, WY
• Road Trip to Glacier, MA
• Road Trip to a Canadian National Park (there are plenty)

Best day-trip hikes:

• Opal Creek
• Silver Falls
• Dog Mountain

Step 3: Find friends to go with, get permission from their parents

“That summer I already had  some great friendships, but I made them even stronger with adventures over that summer.”

-Mr. Barstow

This step is simple. Ask your friends if they want to go adventuring with you. (They will say yes).

For people with protective parents, the hardest part of backpacking is not the pain of blisters on your feet or bruises on your shoulders and hips, but rather getting permission from your parents to let you go on a week long adventure with no supervision.

All parents are different, but the best way to get permission from protective parents is to show that each person is prepared. This leads right into step 4.

Step 4: Be Prepared

This is a good time to mention safety.

“Be very careful,” Mr. Barstow says. “The world can be scary.” Mr. Barstow emphasizes that safety is extremely important. You are only young for so long, and no matter how fun it is to be spontaneous with your friends while unattended, it’s important to be smart and safe, too. As much as I and Mr. Barstow believe in sentiments such as You Only Live Once, and Carpe Diem, we also both believe that “you don’t need to shoot heroin to YOLO.”

Planning your trip really depends on your group.

If you identify more with the planned-out, schedule type of person:

Make an itinerary: Type out what you are doing each day, and where you are staying each night. You don’t need to follow this itinerary, but it is good to have a general idea of where you can sleep, and where you want to visit each day. Make sure you know what permits are required to stay at wherever you are staying, if any.

For backpacking, hiking between 7-12 miles a day is a good amount. Plan out meals—make sure you have an extra day’s worth of food. Make a packing list: this varies on the type of trip. Having the right shoes that have already been broken into and a solid pack and sleeping bag are essential; tents are optional in warmer places.

If you identify more with the spontaneous, free flowing type of person:

“Less is more for planning,” Barstow says. “Once we get to Yellowstone, let’s just talk to people and see cool things” discussing how he and his friends approached their Yellowstone trip. “I think this is better than Monday let’s go to X location and Tuesday let’s stay here.”

Even if you want to be spontaneous, being prepared for the unexpected and being able to improvise is the best way to have a fun and safe trip.

Step 5: Have Fun

If you have reached this step you now have the all the gear, food and parent permission you need for your trip. This last step is easy: take lots of pictures, live in the present, make road trip CD playlists, go to local restaurants and ask locals about their favorite spots, and make as many side trips as you have time for. Also, for motivation for the end of a long backpacking trip: leave a bag of Doritos in the car.

Barstow concludes his prayer by saying that “it’s important that, if you have adventures while you’re young, and then you get in a career and have kids, you’re okay with that.”

“I have friends who didn’t adventure much in their early 20s and it seems like they resent their kids… at times, you know, because they’re like ‘oh I wish I could go travel.’”

As a father of two young daughters, “I feel that same way at times, but I have traveled enough that for me, so hanging out on a Friday night, hanging out watching Disney movies and eating pizza is awesome — I don’t need to go clubbing. I don’t need to go do something fun and exciting, because I had fun when I was younger.”

I think that we should all be okay with watching Disney movies and eating pizza when we are older. Go adventuring.