a trail to self discovery...

  "A friend is someone who makes it easy to believe in yourself." Oh, the dreaded Seward Range we had heard so much about. Laura and I had planned a long weekend and decided lets go for this Range. We decided it would be best done in a backpacking trip. On my birthday we last minute invited Mik along, she got the days off and tagged along for her first overnight trip and first time hiking in the Adirondacks. We hoped we wouldn't break her. :) We all met at Lauras house on Friday evening to take off early Friday for our 6 hour drive over. We would arrive at the trailhead around noon. We then threw our heavy ass packs on and hit the trail for camp. We hiked in just under 2 miles to the designated camp where we would share the space with others who were already there. At least, for our first night in the wilderness. We set up camp, ate a snack, put all of our food in our bear canister and hit the trail with our trail running vests for Seymour. We brought our headlamps as we ...

  "Nothing perhaps affects man's character more than the company he keeps." Last minute plans came about to backpack on Whiteface and Passaconaway mid week. Daniel still needed these two peaks for his 48 finish, and I very badly needed to escape and sleep in the woods. I knew of a stealth spot just off the summit of Whiteface so the plan was to start later and head up for the night. We both met at the trailhead by 3:15pm. We took our time and our two dogs and headed up the 3.8 mile trail to the outlook of Whiteface. We went via Blueberry ledge Trail as he had never done this hike before, I felt it would be a fun one! We made it to the outlook at roughly 6:00pm. Unfortunately to find a very large group of campers with 3 tents all on the outlook. We continued a little bit to the stealth spot I knew of and sure enough no one was there, even though this spot is large enough for several tents. Once camp was set up we took a walk over to the outlook to see if we could see the s...

“Always believe in yourself and always stretch yourself beyond your limits. Your life is worth a lot more than you think because you are capable of accomplishing more than you know. You have more potential than you think, but you will never know your full potential unless you keep challenging yourself and pushing beyond your own self imposed limits.” A friend reached out and asked if I would be willing to car spot him. I agreed I would. Originally, it was to spot him on a Kilkenny Traverse. He last minute changed his plans and decided to go for a Kate Sleeper run. When he changed his plans, I thought this could be an awesome opportunity for me to try to set a PR on a solo Bonds/Zealand Traverse. I had been feeling anxious from not hiking in a few days since gridding out August, so I was due. I also had two goals in mind to complete before my 33rd Birthday. A solo Bonds-Z traverse and a solo Pemi Loop. The weather was looking to be gorgeous. perfect temps and clear skies! I asked Jared ...

  From trail runners, to day packs, to multi-day packs, and of course the packable day packs. Let's talk Backpacks! This will and always has been one of my favorite topics. Finding the right backpack can be an incredibly stressful and daunting experience. So many things to know when looking for the right one for yourself. Below I will share with you my most current backpacks I own and use. Each all having their own purpose and season. I know, I know, you're probably saying "does that mean I need more than one?" Well, yes. Sometimes that is exactly what that means. But not always. First, let's start with the different types of backpacks. I have broken them into categories for you. ( These are my own descriptions ) Trail Runners/Hydration Packs (8-15L) Day Packs (20-30L) Winter Packs (30-50L) Overnight Packs (40-70L) Let's start with the smallest pack you can purchase. The Trail Runners/Hydration Packs. These packs you will typically find anywhere from 8L-15L. T...