OK, so here's the story, I'll try to keep it as brief as possible.
My girlfriend and I have been very interested in backpacking for years now. We think of ourselves as cautious people, and decided to take this slow and steady. We did our first car camping trip about two years ago. Since then, we've turned a whole carload of gear into two light backpacks, and several garbage bags of trash into a ziplock bag. Last weekend, we were finally feeling ready to leave the safety of the car, but boy were we wrong.
It started off fine. We went to a beach where the parking lot is twenty minutes away with many other people. We walked a bit further, decided we were hungry, cooked some of the soup we dehydrated, and decided it was time for bed (we went friday night). We strung up our foodstuff on a tree branch 12 feet high and 6 feet out and looked for a place to set up the tent 200 feet away. We set up the tent like we were making our bed simply because of how much we'd practiced. Fell asleep and awoke to some loud waves.
What we didn't realize is that we had walked through a pinch point on the beach at the exact lowest point of the tide. When I set up camp I was working on the assumption that if it rose too high (which I already thought was crazy) we could just leave. We were trapped on both ends. At its highest point there was maybe a few feet of land between us and the tide. Take a look at the photo, I think it says more than I can. Keep in mind this was taken when the tide was still half way in.
We could've died a horrible death that night, and it was my fault.
Obviously after this we've taken about four thousand steps back and have vowed to not set foot in a park without a flushing toilet and water fountains before we a. Read The Backpacker's field guide cover to cover b. Take a wilderness first aid course and c. Both be able to do several pullups, run a mile with ease, and swim breast stroke indefinitely.
However, starting on the book as just made me realize how God damn stupid I was, and that maybe I should just pick up another hobby. I love camping and the wilderness, I've loved the memories I've made already, but I don't want to kill myself, my girlfriend and any first responders who try to save us.
Anyways, any advice appreciated, thanks in advance.
