Author: Ariana Peters

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!!!!

Hi!!!

The clock is counting down and i have just under 3.5 months left! Thankfully the universe seems to be smiling on me and i have been finding some more great deals.

Got my down jacket at Costco for $40! I was just walking by and there it was!

Its super lightweight and packs into is own little bag.

I was checking out my wish list on amazon and noticed that the headlamp i wanted had dropped by almost $15. Between mom and i’s headlamps that is almost a $30 savings. We ordered them immediately.

Super Sexy huh? lol

I had been thinking solar panel to charge my phone but the more i read about it the more that seemed like a pain, especially in Oregon and Washington. So i started looking at battery chargers, or whatever you call them. I found one on an Amazon black friday flash sale for $30 that had great reviews. I bought that and like the look of it. I’m going to plug it in and test it out this week.

My last great find was rain pants at Sierra Outpost for $30! All the other ones i looked at were $100 or more; and these are super lightweight and store in their own pocket. Stoked for that!

The jacket is what i will be using for my rain jacket. I got it about 4 years ago for my Costa Rica trip and it worked on that trip and has worked for the past 4 years. I use this all the time and it has held up amazingly. I may throw a little waterproof spray on it just to be safe……since i may have thrown it in the dryer once accidentally which has resulted in a smidgen of the lining having come off…oops! But i have confidence that it will hold up.

Hi!!!

Ok so TMI isn’t really a thing for me and I want to be real about this journey. I know I had questions about what to do about that time of the month on the trail and thankfully one or two blogs i read addressed this subject so i will too for others.

Ill try to do it in broad terms though. I wanted something was was eco-friendly and easy to deal with. My friend actually told me about the diva cup a few years ago and i shuddered at the thought, but like most things i came around to the idea and ordered one this week. I figure i need some time to get used to it and work out any problems.

So there we go, that is how i will be dealing with that time of the month on the trail.

Hi!!

Last month mom and I took a little weekend road trip down to the Monterey area to visit my aunt and uncle. We had so much fun! Hit the aquarium, had a movie night, walked on the beach and had some amazing fresh fish. My aunt and uncle play golf so we got shown the #1 golf course in the world, Pebble Beach. It was beautiful.

It was so obvious i know nothing about the golfing world except the name Tiger Woods though lol. I didn’t even know what pebble beach was or why tourists would check out their bar or anything. It had to be explained to me that apparently anyone who is anyone drinks at that bar and you can almost always enjoy a celebrity sighting.

On the way home mom and i stopped at Boreal snow park to check out another PCT trailhead. Good to know that there are actual restroom at the boreal trailhead, mental note made lol. It is still a bit amazing to me that in a few short months the thought of a real toilet will be a treat like a spa day is now hahaha.

This was the first time that i had seen the sign for the PCT trailhead at boreal and i have driven that road probably more than 2 dozen times over the last 10 years. That shows me that you really never notice things that you aren’t looking for, time to work on keeping my eyes and mind open. I’ve been on the PCT twice now and am getting more and more excited! It is right around the corner!

HI!!!!

4 Months!!!!!!

So i think i have completed my resupply strategy. Ill be mailing myself 2/3rd of my resupply and buying 1/3rd along the way. The first group of food obviously my mom and i will leave with it in our backpack. My second one will be left with my aunt and she will bring it to me when she picks my mom up (she doesn’t know this yet, surprise Auntie Tina!!!! hahahaha) My 3rd one will be left with my Grandma, which my mom will get when she stays there and give to me when she picks me up for the hiker kickoff. After that everything will be mailed to me or boughten.

So i have had people ask about sending me care packages, below i will put places you can mail packages too, my estimated arrival date and how to send it weather USP, postal service or any.

Key facts to remember for care packages: Lightweight items are key! Things that are not too perishable, high calorie, and delicious!! Cash is much appreciated (though i wouldn’t send too much since it could get lost). Prepaid Visa gift cards are awesome. Pictures of you would be wonderful (I’m gonna miss my family and friends while i am out there!!!) Words of encouragement will help during those low days, funny cards, sudoku puzzles!! Oooh stuff to pamper myself with, like those single use face masks, bath soaks etc that you can get cheap at Wal-Mart and target. Surprise me!!!

Thank you everyone for your love and support!! I am so happy to share this adventure with you!

About April 29th 

Ariana Woodall C/O Big Bear Hostel PO Box 1951 Big Bear Lake CA 92315 (USPS)

About May 26th 

Ariana Woodall C/O Kennedy Meadows General Store 96740 Beach Meadow Rd Inyokern CA 93527 (UPS and USPS)

About July 8th 

Ariana Woodall C/O Caribou Crossroads 16242 Highway 70 Belden CA 95915 (UPS and USPS)

About July 18th 

Ariana Woodall C/O Ammirati’s 20107 Castle Creek Rd Castella CA 90617 (UPS)

About August 13th 

Ariana Woodall C/O Sisters Inn 525 W. Hwy 20 Sisters OR 97759 (any)

About August 23rd

Ariana Woodall C/O Port Marine RV Park PO Box 307 Cascade Locks OR 97014 (USPS)

About September 2nd

Ariana Woodall C/O Trout Lake Grocery PO Box 132 Trout Lake WA 98650 (USPS)

About September 12th

Ariana Woodall C/O Chevron Snoqualmie Pass WA 98068 (any)

About September 18th 

Ariana Woodall C/O Dinsmore’s Hiker Haven PO Box 374 Skykomish WA 98288 (USPS)

Also remember to mail it about 2 weeks before i am supposed to arrive there, put my ETA on the box and PLEASE REMEMBER TO TELL ME THAT YOU ARE SENDING IT SO I KNOW TO PICK IT UP 🙂 

Hey guys,

I went out for a short training hike today and took a short video 🙂

It will take some time for me to get used to videoing myself hahaha

Talk to you soon!

Hi!!! Whoa! We are at less than 5 months!!!! Planning and preparation are in full swing here!

I have all 123 of my breakfasts made (obviously not including the meals i am buying along the way) and maybe 13 lunches made. The counters are almost always covered in things to make our meals with..

In the fridge there are partial meals, bags where i have some of the ingredients dehydrated but not everything yet.

(in case your are curious this is what dehydrated salsa looks like hahaha)

My fabulous gift of a dehydrator is a permeant fixture on our counter

(along with scraps of parchment paper lol)

And i am taking over the freezer in our garage

This bag is stuffed with Niagara bars, which are actually pretty yummy they have; oats, flour, sesame seeds, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, powdered milk, oil, honey, vanilla and i added some dried fruit. They are like homemade granola bars. Such an awesome easy breakfast on the trail no cooking and no cleanup.

That is what is going on in our household right now, lots of food prep and organizing.

Talk to you soon!!!