a trail to self discovery...

"I just want to have a completely adventurous, passionate, weird life." My alarm went off at 3:00am, I was packed and ready to make an attempt on a solo Presi Traverse. When my alarm went off, something was telling me not to venture into the Presidential Range for the day. Later to realize I am glad I didn't. As a hiker, in order to be a skilled and smart one, you must go with your first intuition and gut. I tend to usually do this, most for the sake of living another day! I believe that if something just doesn't feel right, or if you have any doubts, it's just not worth it. Come back another day, when the feeling is right. That's Cannon Mountain I decided to hit snooze for a couple hours and hit the Franconia Ridge for the afternoon. I arrived at the parking lot around 7:00am, and was on trail shortly after that. I started with snowshoes on, then I realized the trail was incredibly packed out, so I stopped to take them off. I barefooted for a lit...

"Sometimes it takes a good fall to know where you stand." I had made plans to meet a friend and hike up Tuckerman Ravine Trail and ski out the Sherborne Skit Trail on Mount Washington. Looking forward to it, I got off work on Saturday night and spent my evening packing my gear. 1st time carrying skis on my back! You know that you have a little bit of a gear buying problem when it take you 45 minutes alone just to pick a backpack to use for your day. After checking the weather we both decided to push our meet time for breakfast an hour later than planned. The temperature on the summit of MW were supposed to drop to negative teens and winds sustained well above hurricane force gusting even higher. I knew it would be a cold, windy, but sunny day up there. I filled my belly with a great tasting sausage egg and cheese on one the the best bagels in town at Bagels Plus in North Conway! If you have never eaten there, stop in and check it out! Finally after taking our ti...

The world is big and I want to have a good look at it before it gets dark. -John Muir Lion Head 3/4/12 March 4 marks a very unique day in my life. If you have been following my blog since I started you will know why. If you have not you're about to learn. I briefly blogged about my first ever ascent of Mount Washington. It was a complete life changer for me. 3/4/12 Summit Stairs Three years ago, I was just coming out of one of the most unhealthy relationships I had ever been in. I was learning more and more about myself and how I needed to improve me. I spent 8 months in therapy trying to fix everything about myself I didn't like. It was probably one of the hardest things I had to ever face. There was one thing my therapist told me almost 4 years ago now that has stuck with me and was a huge inspiration to me. She said to me "Samantha, you must stop relying on others to be there and to always do the things you want to, you must learn to be independ...