New Trail!

I got moved into my new place! Life is good! I'm not far away from Clinton Lake, and there are some spiffy trails around there. Went on a hike at Clinton Lake a few days ago with one of my friends. We went on the white trails but only went maybe four miles before we called it quits. It was fun, but I wish I coulda stayed out a bit longer. It was really nice out. A little hot, but a shit ton of big butterflies! They were huge and beautiful and I was happy. It was nice though being on a new trail. Kinda upped my morale. I was getting really bored of the same old places, so going somewhere new really made me feel good about hiking and stuff again. And I barely scratched the surface on these trails. So I still have a lot of time to keep on truckin'. A friend of mine is still interested in hiking together, which would be great since he has backpacking experience. He does ultra light backpacking, but I can still learn a lot even if he is doing something different from me. I'm hoping that once he gets moved in here that we can go on a hike and I can keep learning more. I feel like the more I get out and hike with people more experience than me, the more I'll learn. Its easier to learn as you do it than to read up on it and then try and do it. 

Clinton North Shore Map

Break in the heat!

Alright, fairly short update today. Just dropping in to mention that I got around to going on a hike today. I went out before noon, so it wasn't above 100 yet. It ended up getting a little hotter than 100, but I got out when it was only 95, so it was pretty good. I went out to the Governor's Mansion, as per usual. Didn't stay out very long, only maybe an hour. Still worked up a HELLACIOUS sweat. Oh my lord. Seriously. But it felt good getting out and working a bit. I enjoyed going out because I hadn't been able to in a long time. Hopefully I will get to go out more this weekend and next week. I have all of next week off so I can pack to move, so I should definitely have time to hike before I have to work on junk.

Short post

Laggin'!

I have not been hiking this last week or two. I had a friend visiting from out of town and we went on a short nature walk, but the majority of the week was a heat advisory, so it wasn't really a good idea to be out hiking much. This week I only had 2 days off (heaven forbid I actually have normal adult hours at a job!) and my brother is in town for a few weeks before leaving for Germany for a year. So, needless to say, I have alot of catching up to do this next week or so. The good news is that I'll be moving to my new apartment in two weeks, one room mate is a work out fanatic, and the other is an Eagle Scout, and we will leave within reasonable distance from Clinton Lake which has some neat trails I've been told. So things will be better soon. I just can't let myself get discouraged because I've fallen off the trend recently. Also, I forget if I mentioned this in my previous post, but I'm planning on backpacking in Yellowstone over spring break with one of my roommates and maybe two more friends. I've been talking to a lot of people to learn as much as I can. Trying to stay optimistic!

I'd really like to go on this hiking trip to Yellowstone. It'd be awesome because I've never been there before, and I'd be going with fun people and be learning a lot. My friends are being really supportive of my new found hobby, so that makes it really easy for me to keep going. Clinton Lake is close by, and has pretty extensive trails, so that will keep me busy. I felt like I was out growing the Governor's Mansion, anyway. Its such a small place and I've gone all over it as much as I can without getting bored of it.

The boots I got are working out great! They fit well and support my ankle the way I need. Its odd getting used to more bulky shoes since my everyday footwear is mostly moccasins and sandals. I felt like a total n00b a while back. I had been having some joint pain, been really tired and had headaches and had found a few ticks on me and automatically feared the worst. My mom's natural tendency to worry didn't help much either. We both jumped to the conclusion that I had Lyme Disease and I went and got blood drawn for a test...GOOD NEWS! No Lyme Disease for this girl!

All in all, I have been draggin' ass lately on getting out and hiking, so hopefully my schedule allows for more outdoor time this next couple days.

Clinton Lake North Shore Map

Keepin on Keepin on!

I've been going on short walks at the Governors Mansion every couple of days or so (working around my schedule). I went out and got some hiking shoes today. The tennis shoes I'd be ramblin' around in weren't really supporting my gimpy right ankle the way I need. My ankle is prone to rolling sometimes so I figured some mid-rise boots would be a good plan for me. I ended up just springing for some Cabela's waterproof boots. They felt awesome and the guy that was helping me out does a lot of hiking, and he recommended those right off the bat. I'm gonna try and get some time tomorrow to go out and try em out. Here they are.

I'm really starting to love the alone time I get when I go out on my walks. I mean, yeah, at first it was awesome, but I felt odd being alone, not bringing a friend with me. But now, I really enjoy it, and I would venture to say that I prefer being alone. I was walking and stopped and reflected on how lovely the nature around me was and I almost wanted to cry, standing there in the middle of a forest. And its nice having something that I'm doing just for me. But I worry sometimes that this is just a phase for me. I go through a lot of random hobbies and then slowly fall out of them. I really don't want to just give up on this, but I'm afraid that I'll never get to the AT. I worry that once I get my undergrad I'm going to have to jump right into a job, or an internship or something. By the end of my education I'll have spent thousands and thousands of dollars on preparing myself for a career, but my mom said once "Do everything you want to do now, because life settles into a daily grind and its very hard to get out of it". I don't know. It's just this awareness of how lofty a goal this is that intimidates me. I have never hiked or backpacked or primitive camped in my life, and yet I am planning on hiking over 2,000 miles? I just worry that I'm setting myself up for failure.

But I can do this! I just have to keep a positive attitude and remember that if this were easy I wouldn't want to do it. Just have to take the next step and roll on into the next moment.

Alone Time

Bah. The last couple days were kinda tiring mentally and emotionally. Finally found time earlier today to go out on a hike. Same trail as last time, but I didn't go very long. It was pretty hot, a little over 90 degrees, so I was sweating up a storm. It felt nice to go out and have some time to myself though. It really cleared my head to be out on the trails with no noise pollution or anything. Thats one of the things I'm really looking forward to about the AT; This is going to be something big that I have done myself, and I will be alone (potentially) so if I grow, its because of my own reflection and experiences. I really just want to have a defining experience in my life, something that my kids and grandkids can be proud of me for, or at least want to tell the story. I've mentioned my AT intentions to a lot of people so I feel more obligated to stick with it as a matter of pride, haha. Kind of a dumb way to motivate yourself, but if my hamartia is pride then I'm going to use it to my advantage.

First Hike!

To start things off, I'm keeping this blog to keep track of my progress towards hiking the Appalachian Trail. The A.T. is about 2,180 miles long and stretches from Maine to Georgia, spanning about 14 states. It takes 6 months to hike if done from start to finish in a thru-hike. Only about 1 in 4 hikers that attempt the trek actually finish it. I haven't ironed out any of the details yet, but I've got a while before I'm anywhere near actually hiking the A.T. I first fell in love with the Appalachians when I was a little kid. My family would drive from Kansas to North Carolina and pass through Virginia. The old mountains just captured my heart at a young age and held on to it for the rest of my life. I wasn't fully aware of the A.T. until a few weeks ago I was watching a documentary about it and decided that I had to do it. I really just want to do something that would define me, and I can't think of a better experience than hiking across 14 states in the most beautiful scenery that I have ever seen. I don't hike much, so I'm pretty much starting from scratch. I have time to prepare though. I figure I'll probably attempt it after I get my Undergraduate in three years. Thats when I'll have the ability to take six months away from everything.

So, today I hiked at MacLennan park (The Governor's Mansion) with my friend, Sara. It was a pretty short hike, but we started at 4:30 or so and finished up around 6:15 and I would say we hiked maybe two miles? Three? Its hard to tell. We kept a pretty good pace, I think. We saw a deer right off the bat, so that was kinda nice. The weather wasn't bad. It was in the 80's with a nice breeze so I had a healthy sweat going on! We ended up on the far side of the old Menninger's campus that is next to the Governor's Mansion, so it was a bit of a jaunt. We took a long and convoluted way there, but the way back was pretty direct and no nonsense. It felt good to actually begin the process of preparing! Hopefully I'll get to hike more this week. A friend of mine mentioned maybe going out to Colorado and hiking Pike's Peak. Fingers crossed!

MacLennan Park Information