Month: January 2015

Hi everyone!!!!!! So i stumbled across a tweet this week that intrigued me, i followed the link and was taken to a blog.

I read through the blog and was impressed with the idea, ok i was impressed with all his blogs i looked at lol, but decided to try this one out. So like i told you in my about me, i have never been a huge camper and the thought of sleeping outside without the bug and critter protection of a tent was a total no-no for me. I read this blog and felt inspired to really give it a try and challenge myself. I also thought it would be a great way to test my sleep system for the cold weather because the projected temperature kept dropping. By the time i went outside they said it was going to get down to 24 degrees F.

So i got everything all set up and stayed inside until about 10:30pm then went out, lit the fire, had s’mores with my brother, then he and my mom went inside to the nice warm house and i crawled into my sleeping bag.

Being able to lay down and stare at the stars was amazing! Very beautiful, saw a few shooting stars and just loved it. Then i started to hunker down and try and get comfortable. My feet and legs were a little cold so i added my silk liner to the bottom of my sleeping bag. My body was pretty much warm enough to sleep but i then either had to put my face in the sleeping bag, which didn’t allow enough new oxygen versus carbon dioxide for me to be comfortable or my mouth had to be outside my sleeping bag which was freezing and then made the rest of me be cold. It was a conundrum. Also i had just piled some clothes together to make my pillow, which was not comfortable and had to keep being moved around so i do need to get some type of small camping pillow.

So i ended up giving up and coming inside so that i could get a full nights sleep. The next day i was supposed to help my mom lay bricks and cement in the yard so i needed rest, also i didn’t have a full day of hiking under my belt to make me sleepy enough to fall asleep no matter how cold it is. This helped me work out some of the kinks in my sleep system that i can fix and try again in a few weeks. I am glad i tried and also glad to have piece of mind that my sleep system can keep me alive in extreme systems. If i was comfortable enough at about 28-29 degrees F than i know i can survive down in the teens and lower……i just wouldn’t sleep very well hahaha.

Are you going to take this challenge?

Talk to you soon 🙂

Hi Everyone!!

2.5 months to go and can feel the panic and excitement setting in.

I am still slowly plugging away at buying food to make all my meals. I just bought my last box of peanut butter packets for my lunches off amazon. I love that they are individualy packaged and they are all natural and yummy!

 

This morning my mom and i went out for a short walk, one of my first few walks since i got sick, i need to kick my butt back into workout gear. (Look for some hiking videos soon!!!)

Then I hit the local dollar store and totally scored. I hit the medical section because i didn’t really want to have the amounts that you get in a grocery or drug store and didn’t want to pay the prices so this was perfect.

In the grand scheme it wasn’t a huge shopping trip but a this point anything crossed off the list is a great day hahahaha!

Talk to you soon!!!!

Hi everyone! I hope everyone had a great holiday season.

 

My mom and i went down to southern California to visit family and friends.

The day we left my friend, who is in law school in another state, and i were able to get together for breakfast and some good conversation just before i left. She got to town right as i was leaving and we managed to have our paths cross for about 3 hours 🙂

In southern California We had a blast. Spent Christmas day with the family, had a fun white elephant gift exchange for the adults. That is where each person brings a unisex gift, you draw numbers and in order you pick and unwrap the gifts; the fun part is that you can steal each others gifts if you like what they got. I think ours took a little over an hour because we put a 2 steal limit on each gift, but it was a lot of fun. Another part of the day that i will never forget was my Uncle’s gift to my mom…..my mom is in love with the TV show NCIS and she loves Mark Harmon, the actor who plays Agent Gibbs. My uncle works at a car dealership and recently Mark Harmon came into the dealership, my uncle told Mark how much my mom loves him and that she loves the show. My uncles gift to my mom was an autographed photo to her from Mark Harmon with a note saying to thank her for watching….I think China heard my mom scream hahahaha. I admit i squealed little too since i also love the show. What a great memory.

I also got to see friends. I always forget to take pictures when i visit my friends because i am so caught up with talking and visiting with them. This time i actually remembered but only got 2 out of 3.

Not the best picture of either of us hahaha but Alicia and i have been friends since middle school! She is such a sweetie with a huge heart.

I also got to spend some great time with my girl Samantha and her family. We played some really funny games that her son got for Christmas.

this was actually a game called like Smash Mustache or something crazy like that. It was a totally weird game but oddly entertaining hahahaha. I also got to see her mom and her sister, we all went to a tea house together and had afternoon tea. This was my first enjoyable tea house excursion, my family tried to do an afternoon tea for the girls a few years ago and i ended up sick and running a fever during the tea barley being able to drink any tea. It is still a blur. But it was a blast with sam and her family, i think i had 5 or 6 glasses of tea and walked out hearing a sloshing in my stomach.

Samantha, my aunt, my grandma, my mom, my cousin and i all went and saw Wild together. I enjoyed the movie, i had read the book about 2 years ago so i knew what to expect and was pretty happy with how the movie followed the book.

After that my Christmas vacation took a turn for the worst and i got hit with the worst cold i have had in a good 4+years. We drove home two days later and i spent a good 10-14 days in bed fully recovering.

No matter how little time i get to spend with with my friends and family, whether it is just a dinner or cup of coffee or we are able to spend several days together, it always feels like we never parted. I am truly blessed to have these people in my life.

Talk to you soon!

Hi!!!!

So everyone asks, several times in fact, how i plan on protecting myself on the trail. I’ve been asked if i will bring a gun, what about bears, crazy people etc. In truth yes i am more worried about wild animals than people. But T don’t really think anything would save me from a true wild animal attack. I also think though that if i am aware and careful i can severely limit those chances. Even a gun wouldn’t stop a bear. It is a risk that i have knowingly chosen to take.

And oddly enough i am not that worried about crazy people. I haven’t found a single story about a murder on the PCT. Accidental death happens but none by other people. The PCT is pretty remote, that is a lot of work for a killer to go through to commit a random murder.

BUT i fully acknowledge that anything is possible. I found a small, lightweight key chain pepper spray on amazon that i have ordered to have with me. So everyone can chill.

It even leaves a UV residue so the police can identify the person if they get away.

Everyone sleep a bit more soundly please.

Talk to you soon!!!!