The Best Thing I Did on My First Hut Trip Was Miss the Bridge

In The Whistler’s Daughter, I share some of my experiences on hut-to-hut trips. They are over-the-top adventures—remote mountain trails, spectacular scenery, and the wonderful feeling of reaching a warm hut after a long day outside. Everyone should experience one at least once.

What I don’t mention in the book is how nervous I was before my first trip.

I worried about keeping up. I worried about whether I was prepared. Mostly, I worried that everyone else would look capable while I would quickly reveal that I had no idea what I was doing.

Fortunately, I got that part over with during the first hour.

We came to a perfectly solid snow bridge crossing a creek. The bridge wasn’t the problem. I was. I missed my turn, veered off the trail, and skied straight into the water.

That is the snow bridge in the photograph—the perfectly safe bridge I somehow failed to use.

Strangely, I was relieved.

Once you miss an entire bridge and land in a creek in front of everyone, there are no high expectations left to meet. I didn’t have to pretend to be the strongest, fastest, or most experienced person in the group. I could simply climb out, dry off, and keep moving.

And I did.

That embarrassing beginning became one of the reasons I loved the experience so much. It reminded me that adventure doesn’t require looking graceful or knowing exactly what you’re doing. Sometimes it begins with wet clothes, bruised pride, and a group of people trying not to laugh while they help you out of a creek.

The huts were extraordinary. The journey between them was even better. But the real gift was discovering that I didn’t have to prove I belonged there.

I just had to keep going.

This is one of many adventures that runs through The Whistler’s Daughter, available October 1.