Katahdin got its own story earlier. This is the 100 Mile Wilderness — 100 miles of bog bridges, river fords, wild blueberries, and deer flies that bite through wool socks. We started NOBO on July 5th, my 58th birthday, with 10 days of food on our backs. By the time we were on day 3, Marty had his trail name–…
When the City Tap Needs a Trail Filter during a Boil Advisory
Last week Winston-Salem broke a couple of water mains and we all got that text: boil advisory. City crews did their thing and fixed the main fast, but I realized my backup was already sitting in our backpacks. Our home RO system? It needs pressure to work, and when mains break, pressure drops. It just quits working. Our Grayl Geopresses?…
Summiting Katahdin: A Journey to the Top
We finally made it to the summit of Katahdin on Monday, July 13th around 1:30 pm. It took us 6 hours to summit! It felt really good to make it to the top! I’ll try to write about the 100 Mile Wilderness in another post. It was a beautiful hike. The biting flies were crazy……… hence the neck gaiter over…
Ready, Set, Go! Essential Gear for a 10-Day Backpacking Trip in Maine’s 100 Mile Wilderness
I hope you all have a very happy Independence Day Weekend! We head to Maine tomorrow after work. I returned from Chicago late Saturday and we spent the day after church on Sunday getting our backpacks packed. Mine comes in at 35.5 pounds total. If you subtract the food weight and the weight of 3L of water, my base weight…
Done Prepping for the 100 Mile Wilderness on the AT in Maine
In just fourteen days, we’re heading out on the trail in Maine! The freeze dryer is still humming along! We’re in the final stages of getting everything ready, especially since I’ll be in Chicago for work next week. I was bummed to hear that the cherry orchid didn’t produce any cherries this past year because of the freeze. We ended…
Gear Preview: New Smartwool Intraknit All-Season Leggings for the 100-Mile Wilderness
Hey friends! With our big 100-Mile Wilderness + Katahdin hike starting July 5 (my birthday 🎂), I’ve been fine-tuning my clothing system. I’m a huge fan of Smartwool — I basically live in it every day — so when I saw the new Women’s Intraknit All-Season Base Layer Bottoms in lavender, I hit “buy” pretty quickly. I’ll be honest: the…
Adventures in Hiking: Lessons Learned on the Rock Castle Gorge Trail
Where does the time go? I have been traveling quite a bit for work recently and have not had time to write about our adventures. And boy howdy have we had a few of them. On Memorial Day weekend, we went to carb day at the Indy 500 (Friday) and attended the race that Sunday. It was a great race…
Foothills Trail Journey: Tackling Ticks and Camping Challenges
This past weekend, we backpacked 21 miles on the Foothills Trail and made a loop using the Chattooga trail to make a loop. This area is COVERED in Lone Star ticks. We pilled over 50 ticks off of us and Ghost. After washing our shirts, there was still one alive and kicking, too. You have to use boiling water to…
Preparing for Maine: Natural Bug Spray, New Ear Tube and More
Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there! Recently, I have been getting into the Lego botanical sets. They are so much fun and very relaxing to assemble! They are available on Amazon! Sean got a Mother’s Day Bouquet for me and I got it put together this week. He was originally supposed to be out of town today,…
Farm to Freeze-Dryer: Fresh Strawberries!
71 days until we hit the trail in Maine! Things are slowly coming along. Marty got the bag that will hold his hydration bladder inside his pack. His tube wouldn’t fit from the outside pocket to the front of his pack when it is fully packed, so he ordered a pouch/sling to hold it inside his backpack. Hopefully it works…
My Little Red Bike 