First Solo Backpacking Adventure | Epic Night on Mt Hood.

Welcome to Destination Unknown 4x4. I'm David, and today I've decided to take a trip on the backside of Mount Hood, and this time away from the Jeep. I have an ultralight backpacking setup that I brought along. I've been wanting a mobile setup for a while now, so I'm not 100% tied to the Jeep at all times. Right now I don't have any way to secure any of my gear except for the smaller items in my Tuffy consoles, so having an ultralight backpacking setup means that I'm not married to it at all times. I have every intention of continuing the overlanding Jeep stuff. Eventually I'd like to get that Jeep completely kitted out with maybe like an iCamper or something and a hardtop. It's summertime. I just want to explore and find those unknown destinations. One of the best things about getting away and hiking is the ability to see places you would never see in a vehicle. I had to stop and take another break. This trail has been pretty demanding I would say. I definitely picked a really difficult one for my first first outing, and I would say take those trail ratings pretty seriously when it says hard or difficult. So I'm hoping I'm about halfway through this trail. I'm down one water bottle already. It's been very, very hot, so I did bring a water filter. Hopefully we could find a water source to replenish. I'm getting hungry now, so I'm hoping to find a place to camp as well. But yeah, it's just absolutely gorgeous here. I can't get over it. There's all these skeleton trees from the fire. It's a bird's nest right up there in one of the trees. It's interesting how death actually creates a home for life. It's a cycle of things I suppose. With that, there is a right here you can see. You might not be able to see it in the film, but it looks like Mount Rainier right there. I think it should be Mount Jefferson. I think Adams. Of course, Mount Hood right there. And then beyond that, there's actually a lake, an alpine lake over there. So it's quite the view for sure. And again, you can't see these kind of things unless you actually go on these hikes. So good luck getting a vehicle up here, unless you can fly. I'm waiting. I'm waiting, Elon Musk. We need a flying car. It's time. Well, it's starting to get dark. I scouted out the trail ahead, and although it's passable, there's a lot of snow still. I'm down to a third of water. So in my opinion, not even enough to make the meals that I brought along. I do have some beef jerky and some other snacks in my pack, but I think it's the most responsible thing to do is call it. It sucks too, because I know there's a lake ahead, but at the same time, I'm getting eaten alive by these damn mosquitoes. I did find some snow, but it's old snow, so I don't feel too comfortable with actually boiling that and making a meal. I do see there's a lot of trails that go off of this. I don't know if they're animal tracks. I would assume they are. But yeah, this was such a hard trail. I'm a little disappointed, because I don't know if I actually want to come back. Maybe there will be a part two where I actually go past this point, but Mount Hood is so close from here. Another weird thing I noticed, I might get a picture of it, is in the little water puddles, there's worms, white worms. I don't care how good your water filter is, unless you're dying. I wouldn't attempt to filter any of that water. It's been a pretty good first outing. I think backpacking, although it's fun solo, there's definitely a high amount of risk. I think it would be actually more fun to have company along. I did purchase a new lens for this trip, and I hope you enjoyed it. It's a 60 millimeter at the widest, so definitely makes for a very immersive filming experience, I think. I can't wait to go back and look at the footage. You can see the snowpack that's still here. We're now in the beginning of July, so this trail probably won't completely open up until later on. But yeah, these mosquitoes are fierce. Check out these worms, pretty gnarly. White worms. I'll have to look at what those are when I get home. But yeah, I wouldn't be drinking that water. That's all I have left. I think hiking really makes you realize how precious water is. It's already filtered water, by the way. Well, now I just need to decide what to do. I've got basically two options. One is to go down a little further in the clearing and set up a tent, and then the other one is just to maybe make some coffee and then finish going back to the car. But I'm pretty fatigued. I'm very fatigued. I might feel good enough to go back after this break. All right, well that was pretty damn epic. Woke up for the sunrise this morning, had some coffee. I'm completely out of water, so going from here I'm just going to huff it basically down to the car and go get some water. Just really thrilled overall with this experience. And someone actually built a fire ring up here right next to my tent, so if I come up here again and there's not a fire ban, perhaps I'll do that. But yeah, I'd encourage each and every one of you to get out here and get out in the wilderness, man. There's nothing better. So with that, I think I might do a finalizing kind of just trip prep and kind of the items I took along in the next video or at the end of this one. So stay tuned for that. Finally found some water after all. Oh man, it's so nice.