Happy Sunday! I am in a small town in Tennessee this morning. I stopped here last night as I make my way to Missouri for work this week to help roll out a new client. Flying on an airline is not my thing. After the last crazy flights to and from Oregon, I decided that anything that is 13 hours…
Category: backpacking
173 Days to Monson!
Happy Wednesday! Only 173 days until we hit the trail in Monson, Maine! Less than 6 months to go. Woo! It seems so close, but yet so far away. It takes a lot of planning to get to day one on the trail, so we are deep into planning mode right now. We are working out the details of each…
Eustachian Tube Dysfunction Fixed: My First Hiking Experience
Happy New Year! Yesterday, we backpacked to the summit of Mt. Jefferson to test out my new gear and my new ear. I was going to title this post, “Testing New Gear and My New Ear in the New Year,” but I refrained. Ha ha. The elevation of the summit is 4,665 ft, which is a good test of the…
Arrived! LiteAF Backpack: Lightweight Gear for Hiking Adventures
On the 5th day of Christmas, the postman brought to me my LiteAF backpack that I ordered back in October! I was so excited that it arrived almost one month early. It weighs in at 48 ounces and takes off 3.5 pounds from my other backpacking backpack. This will significantly help me keep my total pack weight below 40 pounds…
Rediscovering Christmas Cards: A Heartfelt Tradition
For the first time in 9 years, I have Christmas cards in the mail before Christmas Day! Woo Hoo! Christmas has been a struggle for me since my family was broken up. I know people don’t like to hear about that part, but it is completely normal for women to feel this way after abandonment– even 9 years later. This…
Dickey Gap to Damascus – Our 50 Mile Backpacking Adventure
It’s been a month since we got back from our backpacking trip on th Appalachian Trail. It was epic! I have not had time to write about it because I have been busy with work and trying to get fully staffed. It’s been rough-ish as I am hiring in 3 of my 5 divisions right now. The holidays are a…
Heading Out on 50 miles!
I got my backpack together on Sunday. I added 3L of water which weighs almost 8 pounds. Yikes. I added a complete Smartwool base layer because of the cool temperatures at night. The total weight before adding the keto muffins I baked? 41 pounds. I also need to add my vitamins. I think I will definitely need my daily vitamins…
Celebrating Our First Anniversary: A Journey of Friendship and Love
Life continues on without Shadow. The huskies seemed to be okay yesterday, but neither of them ate any breakfast this morning. Could be that they just are not hungry or they could be grieving. We went for two walks yesterday with Ghost and Ammy. The house seems a lot more quiet without grumpy grandpa. I think in retrospect, we realize…
Life Lessons Learned: The Let Them Theory and a Kayaking Adventure
Kayaking trips are something I don’t think I have blogged about much in the past. We enjoy kayaking on day trips and we also enjoy kayak camping. This past weekend, we paddled 12 miles on the Catawba River with our kayaking group. It was our 6th annual River Feast and a Toys for Tots toy drive. It was a great…
Max Patch to Hot Springs: A Backpacking Adventure
We had a great adventure last weekend. We hiked from Max Patch to Hot Springs. It ended up being just over 21 miles with an elevation gain of 2,966 ft. From the summit of Max Patch to Hot Springs has an elevation loss of about 4,629 ft heading north bound. It was a moderate hike with several ascents that were…
My Little Red Bike 