Everything I need to know about surviving in the wilderness I learned in college

Last week my Denver sorority buddies and I had a lovely dinner.  We caught up on what everyone is doing and how our families and kids are and dissected my recent online dating foibles and talked about Karen's upcoming wedding. We reminisced about our sorority days and tried to remember long-forgotten details, like exactly what happened on Bid Day, or how brutal the rush process was.

It's a great group of women - smart and accomplished and incredibly active.

We decided to plan a hiking/backpacking trip to do together next year.  A real one - 3 or 4 days in the wilderness, carrying our tents and food and clothes, climbing mountains and testing ourselves and enjoying each others' company.  The thought is both exhilarating and scary to me.  I've done plenty of hiking, and I certainly feel physically strong and capable to handle it, but I've only done day hikes.  I've never put a pack on my back and walked into the woods with the intention of staying there overnight.

We were all encouraged and motivated by a week-long wilderness trip my friend Christin (the one who hiked Quandary with me) did this summer.   Christin raved about it, and her experience was what fostered in us a desire for a similar experience.  Ten women of varying levels of wilderness experience, roughing it together, making new friends, and achieving renewed clarity and focus about who they are and what they want their lives to be.

Christin was describing how amazing it was for all the women, including those who had never hiked or camped.

"There was a woman on the trip who had not only never done any kind of wilderness stuff, but I don't think she had ever peed outside in her life," she marveled.

My friend Jen chortled.

"She obviously never went to a fraternity party."