I have begun to repeat my old habits from the PCT. I find myself looking at my watch, looking at the data book, screaming at a seemingly endless uphill…when will I learn that I make it harder on myself by expecting so much? These last two days have been the … Continue reading
A big part of the trail life is the people and the society that forms out here in the woods and trail towns. We’ve had positive experiences already, some with people we’ve known, and others that we’ve been wanting to meet or have met for the first time. At the … Continue reading
That is the question I’ve been asking myself each night as I lay in our tent, listening to every sound, thinking each one is a bear out to get my food. I don’t remember having sleeping issues on the PCT, but I’m certainly experiencing them here on the AT. Not … Continue reading
We’re getting our hiking legs back quickly and picking up our routine as well. After a crazy night of thunderstorms and lightning, in which our tent performed valiantly and kept us safe an d dry, we are now sitting in our tent near a shelter with the sun going down … Continue reading
It is day two on the trail and I have had many trail similarities and differences already. All the things that I forgot about over the years, like the sore hips and shoulders, the fear of the uphill climbs, kicking a root as soon as I look up from the … Continue reading
I have 4 important numbers to share at the start of this trail. First is weight: 149.6 lbs for me and 124 lbs for Julie. As a point of reference, our normal running weights are 138 and 121 respectively. As you can see, Julie did much better than I did … Continue reading
It is starting to feel real. We are in the final days before the trail in Charleston, SC with Matt’s sister, Emily and her husband Matt and two boys, Austin and Aiden. We made a trip to the Piggly Wiggly this afternoon for a few items, including the all important … Continue reading
Yes, I’m going back for seconds. It’s hard to believe, and it was even my suggestion that we do the trail. The mental and physical scars have healed. I have digested all of the PCT to be hungry enough to do another one. I can’t believe I’m saying this, and … Continue reading
A lot of people often asked us what a typical day was like for us, and while it did change somewhat over time, we basically kept our routine the same for the whole trail. Our goal was to always stay consistent, so that we never HAD to do big mileage … Continue reading
1. While I don’t miss hiking 25-30 miles a day, I sure do miss the ability to eat anything I wanted to from hiking that many miles. (Not that I could always eat what I wanted anyway, as our days rarely ended in towns, but it was still nice to … Continue reading
There was a moment in Ethiopia when our good friend Matt Ahlert made an observation that has stuck with me since. Optimist and I lived a bit differently in Ethiopia than other foreigners. We rode the public transportation, we bought bread and vegetables from the local stands, and lived in … Continue reading
Before Optimist and I even stepped foot on the trail, I was scared as hell of the animals that we could possibly encounter on the trail. My fear actually prevented me from even reading the guide book about what animals we might see on the trail, as it simply made … Continue reading
I know you’re out there. You’re a woman (or maybe a man, but most likely a woman) who has questions that are a bit too personal to just flat out ask another female hiker. Well, some women we met on the trail weren’t afraid of getting too personal, and they … Continue reading
One thing that kept me motivated was trail magic. There was nothing more inspiring than absolute strangers helping us out along the way without any conditions or expectations of something in return. Before I recount some of the amazing trail magic we received, let me explain how I came to … Continue reading
Early on in the hike, Tatu Jo aptly named us Team Sherpa, because we tended to have big packs and carry lots of stuff. While we did carry a lot of stuff, we trimmed down our packs over time and re-named ourselves Team Sherpa Lite because our packs, while still … Continue reading
…A dangerous question to ask a hiker There’s a reason we were named Team Sherpa, and it’s mainly because of our resupply strategy, but that will be explained in a second. Coming into the hike, we actually planned on not planning a resupply strategy, as we felt confident in ourselves … Continue reading
Optimist and I are a bit late on the journal entries, but we refused to make journaling a chore while on the trail. Many people that we met along the way usually whined about having to write in their journals, so we decided we’d rather use that time to eat … Continue reading
