a trail to self discovery...

“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...

  "Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try." As I woke on Monday morning, I laid in bed contemplating the day ahead. If I really wanted to complete my August Grid and my third round of the 48, I would have to get my ass into gear. Mentally the thought of hiking one mountain and coming back to my car, driving then to another mountain to hike is exhausting. I hit the start button on my coffee maker to get motivated. I took my time drinking my coffee and getting my pack ready to go. As soon as I was up and moving the motivation just came. My legs still tired from the day before, I just reminded myself to take it easy. Cannon is 4 miles round trip from Kinsman Ridge Trail. It's a steep 2 miles up and 2 miles back. But I knew it was doable. The forecast had showed clearing skies for the entire day. I arrived at the parking lot around 8:30am. I jumped out of the car and hit the trail. The day before on Isolation was quite cold, windy, rainy and frankly, brisk. It f...

  " And when it rains on your parade, look up rather than down. Without the rain, there would be no rainbow." Sunday evening we packed our overnight bags and changed our plans a bit as a tropical storm was heading our way. We were going to get rained out on day 2 of our overnight. We decided we would try and hike Macomb, the 3 Dix, and Hough in the first day and leave early the next morning to beat the down pours. I checked the forecast on many different sites. It said Sunny on the higher peaks on Monday. Light rain starting at 8am Tuesday morning and heavy by 11am. We got to the trailhead around 7:00am. We drove as far as we could to drop our packs so we didn't have to carry them the entire 2.5 mile road walk. (The road was closed due to COVID-19)  We geared up and decided to take our bikes the 2.5 miles to the trailhead where we would proceed to stash them in the woods and hike 2 miles into camp.    Once at camp, we set up our stuff and swapped out to smaller Sea t...

  "The Wild Woman has a deep love of Nature, A love for the Ancient Mother, though possibly misunderstood, it has always been in her. When she goes into the wilderness, a part of her is Soul is going home." Friday morning, I dropped Rickypup off at his boarder for the upcoming days. Laura and I had been planning a trip the first week in August to the Adirondacks for the last year. This time, we would stay 5 days. We met up in Vermont at a Park and Ride where we would leave one car and carpool the rest of the way. This always makes the ride a bit more enjoyable. We arrived Friday afternoon around 2pm to our place of stay. For the first time we decided to take it the next step up. We booked a room at the Rooster Comb Inn. It's a shared space, but it was quite frankly, really nice! As we pulled in we met the owner who was a sweet polish woman. We brought all of our gear in to plan for the days ahead. The plan was to hike the Lower Great Range in a single day. A long day, but...

  “The great revolution in the history of man, past, present and future, is the revolution of those determined to be free.” We woke early at camp on Fourth of July. Our plan was to meet Laura and John at ADK Loj by 5:30am. We were concerned about getting parking and boy was it close. Ryan and I, always punctual and don't mind waking early left a few minutes before Laura and John to grab breakfast sandwiches and coffee on the way. We figured get to the lot early, pack, eat, and have coffee there. It would ensure us the parking spot and we could hit the trail when we were done. When we left camp we were driving down 86 along the Ausable River and happen to catch an amazing sunrise in our rearview. We obviously had to pull over and take some photos. Once back in the car we headed towards this little corner mart Laura had recommended for breakfast sandwiches. We stopped here picked up 4 sandwiches and 4 coffees. Later to realize they were the worst microwaved breakfast s...