Holy Grail

I have found it. My own holy grail right here at camp.
Recently I've been itching to get outdoors more regularly. The medium that happens to have come upon me is backpacking.
I've been looking into bags, stoves, compression sacks, utility tools and the like, trying to see what it would take to get me on my first adventure. Right now I am currently in the possession of one mummy bag (it's no superlight, but it'll definitely hold up in the temperatures we get around here). But hey, it's a start.

Until I found it...

My holy grail...

Andy asked me to bring a box filled with topo maps from the 80s and junk like that to the "wilderness shed." "We have a wilderness shed?" was my reply. He told me where it was. I did a couple other errands before arriving up in the area he was telling me of. But, by the time I got up there, I had already completely forgotten why I was going. Coley asked me what I was doing, I said I honestly had no clue, but Andy had told me something about the door to the right of the accomodations closet, so I went on to scope it out.
I try the first door, it doesn't budge. I try the next door it opens.
I don't recall actually hearing the Hallelujah Chorus upon this discovery, but in retrospect, it seems it would have been appropriate.
It turns out the 'wilderness shed' is basically camping gear for about 40-50 people! Oh discovery of all discoveries! There are internal frame packs, sleeping bads, sleeping bags, tarps, tents, stoves, climbing ropes, ice axes and salt packets! Jimminy Christmas!
Last night I went in there exploring some more. There are several types of bags. First, there is one Kelty Ridgeway (the only recognizable name), which was of course too small for me. Next try was the Mountain Equipment Co-op bag. Again, a real bag. Again, too small. Up next were the Jansport bags. The last ditch effort (but hey, a bag's a bag). First of them were the ones with the color I liked most, a grey/yellow/black combination. After I fenagled with it a bit, I came up on the size tag. "Small." No luck for me. My next try was a blue Jansport bag, labeled regular with the stitching "Rockies 90." I donned the bag. Amazement came over me! Never before in my life had I actually worn a pack where the hipbelts bore the weight of the bag (as is supposed to happen). I had never felt comfort like this when wearing a pack! I had finally found what I was looking for! I brought the pack home and opened all the pockets and hung it upside down above our space heater to air it out.

Yesterday after my initial discovery of the shed, I asked Andy if I was allowed to use some of it, he said "yeah, and 40 of your friends? Just ask before you borrow any." He also said he was going to see if we might sell them if they weren't going to be used for another couple years, probably for $20-25 a pack; I told him I would buy one for sure (even more so now that I know one fits!). Now I would just like to get a small compression sack for my sleeping bag (and maybe some clothes) to keep those nice and dry when I hike and a small stove (like the MSR PocketRocket). If you're ready to go hiking then let's make a date and hit the hills!

And a Kelty brand Noah's Tarp 12