Author: Ariana Peters

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…….

Howdy!!!!

So excited, my PCT handbook and maps have arrived!!!!

I have ordered Yogi’s PCT handbook.

Hikers swear by this book, i can’t wait to dive in and get some words of wisdom!!!

I also ordered Halfmile’s PCT maps.

This thing is heavy!!! I will be splitting these up until sections and mailing them in my resupply boxes. I will also be downloading Halfmile’s app to use on the trail.

With the kit i ordered i also got a few little fun tidbits:

10 PCT post cards

Town resupply cards, so much great info!!!!

And somewhat oddly a bright orange spoon………..

Now that i have gotten these i can start the intense planning of about how many miles per day and my resupply stops. I will do that over the next month and let you know when i have my resupply stops planned and the approximate dates.

Talk to you soon!!!!!

Good Morning Everyone!!!!

Two days ago my mom and I did our first “training” hike together (she has been doing small laps around the block by herself before i got here). Now when i say training i mean we got up at 5:45ish and were out the door around 6:10 and did a 1.5 mile loop around the neighborhood twice, for a total of 3 miles. We walked at a medium pace so it took us about an hour to complete.

We also stopped to talk to two neighbors and watch some wild horses 🙂

I wore my hiking shoes to get used to them again, i will definitely need to break them back in. I am hoping these hiking shoes will last me about 400-500 miles. Normally with new shoes you hope they will last you about 700+ miles, but i have had these shoes for about 5 years. My shoes have gone to Costa Rica and Peru with me and have done local hikes in Nevada and Oregon, so my fingers are crossed for 400-500, which means………its a woman’s favorite thing (well one of them)…..i get to go SHOE SHOPPING soon 🙂 hahahaha.

This will be the first of many training hikes because we need to get mom (and me) used to hiking higher milage everyday with packs on our back full of weight. As our hikes get a little longer and more difficult ill post some more 🙂

So i leave you will another picture of beautiful wild horses

Yes, this was later that day out of my car window lol

Talk to you soon!!!

Here is a great video for everyone who thinks that i am crazy for doing this 🙂

I found it on Navigating the Surface‘s blog.

Hello!!

Just a little FYI

So i made a little video yesterday to experiment with doing videos on my phone and getting them uploaded. I couldn’t get it uploaded and it took me a full day to figure out how to upgrade to videopress like it said i had to do in order to post video’s from my phone…..oh wait it $60 to upgrade to videopress for a year.

Fear not, you will see dorky, awkward videos of me (and mom) on the trail and before hahaha. You just wont see them until the Feb/March time. I am going to wait until then to purchase the videopress upgrade.

🙂

I found this awesome video on Lady on a Rock’s blog and loved it! I had to share it

I cannot believe i will be doing this in 8 short months! Time is going to fly by!!!

Hola!!!!

Now comes a big step in this crazy journey…..The lease is up on my apartment and i have given notice at work. I am moving back home to live with my mom so i can save the money i would have spent on rent and utilities and instead buy better quality gear that could be potentially life saving…..especially in the snow equipment area. The only possible hitch in this plan is finding a halfway decent paying job back home lol….wish me luck!!!!

Now due to the joys and bureaucracy of apartment complex living, they screwed up my move out date……in all honesty i also made a very naive move, i went into the office and verbally confirmed my lease end and move out date because they had given me conflicting paperwork…….my thick blonde skull (who is living in her first apartment ever) figured that confirmation was all that i needed, NOPE!

So i am here about 3 weeks longer than anticipated, but that is ok, live and learn baby.

I have been slowly packing

My mom fit all of this in her car last time she was in town and since then i have been doing a box a night hahaha

Good thing i don’t eat in the dining room LOL

As of now i have about 4 more boxes packed and mom is coming into town tonight. We will then be packing like fiends due to the fact that i had planned on moving out August 2nd so the Uhaul is already reserved and will be being loaded on Sunday. For 2.5 weeks i will have clothes and a blow up mattress and nothing else hahaha. Let the first part of the adventure begin!!!!