September 2014 – Trailing the blonde

Hi everyone!!!!

Can you feel fall in the air?! I Can!!! The mornings are getting very chilly and crisp here and i LOVE it!

So unfortunately i do not have an unlimited budget, actually after my shopping day my accounts are pretty much empty lol, but i will hopefully have some income coming in soon. I am not going to lie, i needed new jeans (that don’t have holes in them) and then i saw a cute shirt and jacket to go with it, that helped break the bank not just my trail stuff. But anyways, on to the good stuff……what i got for the trail:

Our sleeping pads! Mom and I got the same pads, most people on the trail that i have been reading about have used these sleep pads. I took the pad out in REI and laid down on it, it is suprisingly comfy for something so thin, i am happy with it.

Merino Wool socks! I got them on clearance at REI 🙂 Mom and i are heading to REI every week or two to shop the clearance racks, don’t judge, i told you i am broke, so clearance and sales are my best friend.

A great sleeping bag liner. it will add 20 degrees to my sleeping bag which means i am good to go even if i get stuck in a snow storm in the Sierras or Washington mountains. It feels all furry and warm inside it, i like it and am excited for it.

I found my desert pajama top!!! It was on clearance at REI and it is bug repellent!!!! I love the idea of my shirt repelling bugs while i sleep, hopefully i will sleep a little sounder know this. The sleeves are mesh-like so they are nice and breathable and it is a very thin lightweight shirt. Ill let you know how it holds up.

T-shirt for the desert! It is sweat wicking which is a vital compenant for the hot California desert. Got it on clearance at Sierra Trading post, it is very silky and comfy. You will notice i am not posting pictures of me in these clothes yet…..this is because i am nursing a most unfortunate muffin top and i am buying my shirts to be tight so that they will still fit as i loose weight. They are not so tight as to be uncomfortable but they are not the most flattering at the moment. I do plan on losing 10-15lbs before i leave on the trail and i know i will probably lose another 10-15 minimum on the trail.

Last but not least we have the meager beginnings of a first aid kit, very meager:

Mostly it is blister care, there is still so much more to acquire but slowly but surely i am getting there.

I have got about 7.5 months to get everything else. I can do it!!!

Talk to you soon….

Hi Everyone!!!!

Hope everyone is enjoying the coming of fall!!!! I sure am 🙂

So, as you saw in my first training hike, the wild horses are out and about here. Last night I get woken up at about 1:40am by a noise outside my open window. I hear snorting and the bushes shaking and gushing liquid. I am freaking out, since I just woke up I am a bit over the top in my thinking. I go to sleep with a playlist going very quite on my ipod, it must have been on its last song because I hear faint music, so my two thoughts are OMG there is someone about to jump in my window with headphones in and I can hear there music (what kind of person would break in with headphones in, they couldn’t hear anyone sneak up on them) then when I realize that I think OMG a wild animal like a coyote (which we do have) or a wild boar, because of the snorting (which we don’t have lol) is about to jump in my window through the flimsy screen and maul me.

In my defense I had just woke up so I was a bit still in la-la land. I laid there frozen, afraid if I moved the animal (that I could only hear and not see) would realize I was there and attack me. I even tried to calm myself down because I reasoned that the animal could smell my fear (nervous, scared sweat is actually supposed to smell much stronger). After about a minute I crawled slowly, quietly out of bed and ran to my moms room like a scared 5 year old hahaha. She comes back to my room with me and looks out the window and low and behold there is a giant horses butt less than 10 feet away from my window.

I knew the horse wasn’t going to jump through my window, they were trying to get the water coming out of the sprinkler, but I totally still closed my window to only be open an inch instead of the foot it was hahahaha.

After all of this, the thought that entered my mind is…..oh shit, if a wild horse scares the crap out of me (at night) when I am safe in my house, how the hell am I going to manage the wild animals on the trail? This was the first time I really thought, “what have I gotten myself into?” Hahahaha.

This will be very interesting…….