Bought some new equipment!

Last night, I purchased two items to add to my gear (the last two big things I need!)

First, a Marmot Precip Rain Jacket and Second, Leki Trail Trekking Poles.

My other gear consists of the following: An Osprey Aura 65 pack, an Henry Shires Tarptent-the Moment, a Marmot Helium 15 degree Down sleeping bag, and a Jetboil stove. Oh yeah, and my Patagonia trail running shoes! In my book, the big stuff is taken care of!

 

Reflections [2]

I found more 3/5 cards from another 5 day trip that my dad, brother, and I took last August from about 50 miles north of Damascus Virginia to Damascus. Here are some of my thoughts I recorded about things I learned:
1. Go the extra miles now, and you won't have to do it tomorrow.
2. When you fall down, don't stay there.
3. If you don't want the trail to go there, it probably will.
4. Getting wet is inevitable.
5. If you don't like the scenery, hike a mile and it will change.
6. Downhill seems great at the time, but at some point, you have to go back up.
7. Bathing in a freezing cold stream can be refreshing-or just cold.
8. Hiking to the top of a mountain is beautiful-always.
9. A water source in the guidebook doesn't always mean running water; it may mean brown, stagnant, algea covered water.
10. It will all seem like a dream when you're done. Don't worry. It wasn't.

A reflection

I was looking back on some 3/5 cards from a hiking trip on the Florida Trail last March. My friends and I hiked approximately 75 miles in 5 days. It was my first backpacking trip, and it ignited a passion and desire in me to keep going, to do something bigger. Here's a quote I found:

"The night is quiet, a little on the cold side. The thoughts of the next weeks and months keep vying for my attention-attention that I don't want to give them out here. This place is for hopes and dreams-for the future-for plans and passions. This is a place of restul quiet, of inside jokes, of meditation. This is life. Just saw a mouse..."

And I remember why I love to hike. Why I love to challenge myself. Why I love to share the experience with others. And again, I can't wait for this new adventure to begin.

Hike...then run

My brother and I are tossing around the idea of running a marathon once we get done with our hike in October. When else in our lives will we be in such good shape? A couple weeks of running and we'll see what happens. Surely we can at least finish the race. Who knows, maybe even a P.R.? It's an experiment, but it should be fun to see how it plays out!

Oh the mountains!

I just returned this evening from visiting a friend in Virginia. The drive was long, but beautiful. I love driving in the mountains! And even more, I love hiking in the mountains. As I drove, I daydreamed-of the months ahead, the months that will be spent in the woods. The ridges that we will climb over, the valleys we will enjoy (and I even lingered for a moment on the pain that will be endured). What I drove through just today will take weeks to accomplish on foot. But that's the beauty of it, I think. And I can't wait!

Exactly 4 Months!

Ah!!!

In 4 months from today, Daniel and I will be heading down the trail.

I will have graduated from college.

Daniel will have left his job.

We will have said good-bye to friends and family.

Wow.

It seems so far away, but really, it's just around the corner.

I can't wait!!!

Adjustment to the Plan

After consulting more with our family and in planning for a family vacation, we are no longer taking a full week off in june. we will come home for our younger bro's graduation and then head directly back out on the trail.

instead, we look to start about a hundred miles north of buchanan virginia and finish the top portion in early august. we will then take a vaca in north carolina, i will go to my friend's wedding, and we will both head south to finish the souther portion on august 21. essentially the same plan and mileage with a few adjustments!