Best & Worst Travel Moments of 2017

Journal Travel December 28, 2017

Best & Worst Travel Moments of 2017

It’s easy to look at everyone’s highlight reels and be in awe of all the amazing places that you’ve visited over the year. We get so fixated on getting the shot and the instant gratification of someone being in awe of where we’ve been that we forget about the real feelings we had when we were there. Here are some raw emotions, the good and the bad, about some trips that I’ve taken this year in 2017.

Best – Visiting Glacier National Park for the First Time

There are few places left in the United States where you can view glaciers and Glacier National Park in Montana is one of them. I had an extended weekend with only 4 days in the park to fill with hikes and views and needless to say, it surpassed my expectations. The park starts with the jaw-dropping views of the Going to the Sun Road. Being able to drive this road for 2 hours, my heart was filled with joy of what I had just seen. Then we continued to day hike our way on the Highline, Grinnell Glacier, and Hidden Lake Overlook Trails and was astounded at the beauty of this place. It really is a magical wonderland that is very overlooked in my opinion.

Being a Dark Sky National Park and having these glacial melts makes it one of the best places for backpacking, kayaking, hiking, no cellphone reception, type of getaway. The only thing that made me sad was that I had waited 25 years to see it for the first time. Research in the park said that the glaciers may be melted by the year 2020. If you want to see glaciers in the US, I strongly encourage you to make a trip out there soon but bring some bear spray. I don’t want you to get eaten by a bear.

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Glacier National Park
Montana, USA

It only took one trip down the Going – To- The-Sun Road

to fall in love with Glacier Natl Park

Worst – Backpacking 20 miles on the Appalachian Trail (NY to CT)

I WAS MISERABLE. It was my first backpacking trip of the year and being the overly ambitious person that I am, I knew I wanted to take advantage of the fact that we had a three day weekend in April. At one point I remember entertaining the idea that we could hike 17 ish miles the second day to get from one shelter to the next. HA! You’re funny Nimisha. Thru-hikers could do it, why not us?! Because you’ve just spent the last 3 months locked up during the winter and your body needs to get re-acclimated to hiking, let alone backpacking.

The first 5 or so miles felt really difficult! I don’t know if I was more excited or in better shape the previous year or if I didn’t get enough sleep the night before but HOLY shit. When we got to Wiley Shelter it was decent timing but it was only mile 6 (barely) and we still had 4 more miles to go. I felt SO bad because I was really miserable at times and the poor bf had to be the positive person to keep me going.

The way down to Ten Mile River my knee tapped out and I was in pain so I started to lose confidence in my ability to make it to this shelter, let alone the next one 8 miles away. On the verge of tears, I got spooked by a snake (it was the tiniest garden snake) and then I saw that it had a snake family so freaked out and weed-whacked to the other side of the trail. Then, got spooked by my own trekking pole and lost my shit completely. I screamed so loud that Danny (the poor bf), hiked back up to find me. I was crying. I had a meltdown. Best way to start the backpacking season.

Best – Backpacking the Cutler Coast Nature Preserve in Maine

This has easily become one of the most incredible backpacking experiences I’ve had to date. It was breathtaking. The hike was stunning view after stunning view. You were literally hiking along the Atlantic Ocean, as your buddy, keeping you going to the next campsite. The trails were well kept and although it was muddy, and I was eaten alive by mosquitos, it was absolutely worth it.

There are few places where you can find yourself out in a remote area of the world with little to no light pollution, clear skies, the ocean nearby, and these incredible views. The hike wasn’t too bad, I had way too much camera gear with me but it was all worth it for the views on the last 2 days. You can find out more about the trip here! Listening to the ocean for 48 hours washed my spirit clean. And finding a Tim Hortons and getting Timbits on the way back was the icing on the trip.

Worst – Camera Malfunctions in Iceland

Preplanning like a crazy woman, I thought about everything from what gear I wanted to bring to what shots I wanted to get on my trip to Iceland. Non-stop rain pretty much washed all over that. It was pouring for literally 5ish days non-stop. Setting up camp in the rain at night and taking pictures of waterfalls during the day left my camera equipment feeling damp most of the time. Although waterfalls are stunning to shoot, there’s a lot of water vapor in the air and water around the base of the falls, which led to my camera getting soaked. Going to Seljalandsfoss and Gljúfrabúi basically ruined my set up for the next 48 hours. Disaster struck when my lenses and camera sensor fogged up and then my camera was suffering from water damage for about a day and a half. My camera started spazzing out and buttons were getting sticky and it became very frustrating to use the next day. All that planning and I didn’t account for this…

But I was in ICELAND. I was not going to throw away my shot at enjoying and these landscapes and being there with Danny. Photography came second on this trip (something I needed to remind myself). Luckily, after drying out the camera in the car/Airbnb there was no lasting damage and I was able to go back to shoot a few locations where my camera spazzed out after a road closure changed our plans.

Best – Shooting the Milky Way in the Adirondacks

What do you do when a friend from work asks you to come away on a weekend adventure to shoot the Milky Way? You say YES! This trip was a perfect example of when you scream into the ether yelling that you don’t have opportunities to do the passion projects you want and the universe throws you the chance and says “You’re move.”

After juggling with the decision to go out on a weekend camping trip, I decided to pull the trigger and go. They were headed out for what they claimed would be the perfect location to shoot the Milky Way in the Adirondacks, NY. They were not wrong. Our campsite was right on the water of a small lake which offered an unobstructed view and clear sky for shooting. We scoped out the best locations using Star finder apps during the day, so our compositions were interesting and varying at night.

$10,000 worth of camera gear, tripods, one gigantic tent, and 4 new friends embarked on a night full of shooting stars. I was nervous for so many reasons that were not worth worrying about once we were all waking up at 1 am to do the same thing. We headed out with our headlamps to our respective locations and the entire night we wandered all over the lake to shoot. It was fun collaborating and sharing ideas/compositions and learning so much from each other in a 48hour period.

Worst – Using a not so Primitive ‘Toilet’

I’ll be very honest, in all my backpacking thus far, I have not needed to dig a hole and poop in it. This was the closest experience I have and it was gross. And this wasn’t even ‘that bad’ as far as backcountry bathroom breaks are concerned. I’ve peed in the woods plenty of times but having to go number 2 in the woods is something I’m not comfortable with, yet. This ‘toilet’ was literally a box with a toilet seat cover on top, in the middle of the brush. No walls. Completely exposed. Nothing to prevent a banana slug from crawling onto your butt.

When I looked at google images of the hike, I found an image of the toilet and thought it was a funny picture from a while ago. No way that this is still the case now in 2017. Boy, was I wrong. My tummy rumbled and I knew I had to make the dreaded trip to the toilet. So I mustered up my courage, open the lid, kicked the box and something about the size of my palm moved. Naturally, I said F*ck no! And tried to hold it until the next day. I really only needed to make it through the next 24 hours.

The next day, my tummy rumbled again. I looked down and knew that I had no choice but to bite my tongue and do it. It was AWFUL. I had my own toilet paper so that helped but the box was so high that my feet dangled off the end and I felt the box move under the pressure. So gross!

Best – Þórsmörk aka Thorsmork

One of the high lights of visiting Iceland was seeing the variety of landscapes that exist in this small nation. Þórsmörk had the most beautiful landscapes which are all hike accessible! This small park exists close by all your favorite touristy spots but is nested deep on the best off-road you can drive on. F249. Getting there is part of the fun. We paid to take a bus and the ride was one to remember. A giant wheeled tour bus taking on the gravel roads and endless potholes to the Volcano Huts Campground. The views were phenomenal and 12 river crossings later, you reached your campsite. The hiking views were unobstructed for miles and miles. This is also a famous location for the start of the Laugavegur backpacking trail which I hope to backpack someday.

Best parts of this location are the sheer magnitude of the mountains in the distance mixed with the deep green hills with snowy glacier tops. Look down, and you see the glacial melt rivers that aerial photographers made famous. The interweaving patterns are unreal on top of a perfect landscape. 48 hours isn’t enough to explore this place, you’ll need at least a few days to take in all the trails. You can find photos in my Iceland Gallery and I will be writing about this trip in greater detail in 2018.

I realize that despite the post name, there are more best moments then worst. I’d take all of the bad days if it meant experiencing the good days over again. This year was a fun one for travel and a lot of it was for personal adventuring. Lots of time and energy went into investing in my creative pursuits! I dedicated so many hours to learning about camera gear and what I needed for each trip. Plus, using the points on my travel credit card helped me visit my family after I felt broke after trips like Iceland.

This is the first year of many for travel, camera, and budget-related adventures. I have big plans in sight for this blog, my Instagram, and possibly even starting a Youtube channel (say what?!). Only exciting things to come in 2018! Not that I have any idea where 2018 will take me but that’s part of the adventure! Where to Adventure Next?

That’s it for posts for this year! It’s crazy that it’s over but I’m thrilled about the number of posts I managed to publish for my first year. It’ isn’t as many as I would like, but it’s a start. Hopefully, the new year brings more adventures, writing, editing, and posting.

Happy Holidays!

Nimisha

Best & Worst

Travel Moments

of 2017