Two years ago, I was invited on my first backpacking trip with my friend Elizabeth and her group of friends who visit Panthertown Valley annually. We had an amazing weekend full of campfires, "faint foothpath" finding, waterfall chasing, and of course, running from yellowjackets (you can read about that trip on the blog here). When a date had been set for the annual Panthertown trip for 2016, I cleared my schedule and began preparing for another exciting weekend in the backcountry!