Day 2 Trail Miles 4.2 Actual Miles Hiked 6.5 I woke early and watched Aidan sleep for about an hour. So relaxed and wonderful. Then coffee, then toaster pastry and cheeses and dried fruit and nuts. Then more snow and snowshoeing and exhausting route finding. Maybe one or two people Read more…
Day 1 Trail Miles 2.5 Miles Hiked 6.5 It only took us two miles to realize we went the wrong way. Backtracking eventually led us back to the junction we missed and Northbound on the PCT. Finally on the right track, we put down our packs and fell sound asleep Read more…
So, what does one do when one quits one’s job but still has one day before heading out to walk 2,663 miles? Well…go to my first rave, obviously. Skrillex was a great show. We were twenty years older than pretty much everyone there. And we were actually wearing clothing, unlike Read more…
I changed a few more things, and I feel ready. I feel positive. I feel excited. I feel scared. I feel worried, overjoyed, concerned, proud, distressed, euphoric, tense, enraptured, tormented, distraught, and blissful. I hate that I’m walking away from my amazing and supportive husband, my wonderful animals, my comfortable Read more…
I sat in the Active Shooter Class at work and felt strange that I won’t have to worry about that in a few days. My run-hide-fight mentality will be reserved for yellow jackets. Granted, there are other dangers on the trail. Dehydration, heat exhaustion, snakes, bees, and snow…but no active Read more…
My wounds were oozing in patches. Everywhere. “Weeping” is what they call it, I think, but tears run down your skin much quicker than poison-oak-pus. So gross. Oozed until the pus crystalized and dried up, then oozed again. First my forearm, then my ankles, followed by my calves, and then Read more…
I’ve heard it said that if you know your “why?”, you can tolerate any “how”. Any amount of exhaustion or suffering or pain or heartache or disappointment you experience can be pushed through if you know why you are doing it in the first place. They also said if you Read more…
The window was open. The rain fell in sweeping curtains. I pulled the heavy smell of desert rain deep into my chest and closed my eyes. I tried not to think about gear again. I agonized over every piece of it for so long. I could regurgitate the pros and Read more…
In the morning, Aidan was feeling significantly better. We picked up the truck in Tuolumne Meadows and headed back to Carson City. Our dogs were happy to see us, but did not have the enthusiasm we’d expected from them. They’d been spoiled while we were away. We stayed there for several Read more…
Day 18– July 21, 2014 I never did eat any of those cookies. Those lovely cookies that Aidan ended up smashing with his feet to get them into the bucket to send to Muir Trail Ranch. Those lovely smashed Joe-Joe’s Gluten Free cookies that ended up, according to Aidan, “flavored Read more…