July 6, 2024
I walked a 4-mile circuit on my familiar trails at Taylorsville Metropark north of Dayton, OH. My loaded backpack gave me an illusion of walking on the AT. Ahhh. My favorite way to pass time. Walking in woods on a trail!
Love Your Gear: New Shoes
I need to update my list of 20 or so pairs of shoes I’ve worn since I started walking in service to others. It’s February, 2024, and I need bigger shoes! There’s a pun there, I know! Something about “those are some big shoes to fill”. Hmm. Maybe my own purpose is getting bigger, so I need bigger shoes?? Anyway, since that time walking on the Continental Divide Trail in 2013 when my shoes felt just too small and I bought a pair of used Reeboks with pink trim in a second-hand store in a trail town, my shoe size has increased again!
Oregon Coast Trail: Underway
August 14, 2019
Our first three miles of the Oregon Coast Trail is a shakedown for the rest of the trip.
The Fort Stevens State Park staff who registered us for the Hiker Biker Site said we could park our van there for the extent of our trip! They are really supporting us as hikers, including providing a secure parking space for the whole month we’ll be on the trail! As we wandered around the back lot behind the employee area where we understood we could park, a smiling park staff said, “Can I help you?” She excitedly pointed us to the correct spot, delighted to have Oregon Coast Trail hikers. She also answered our query about where to get a tide table, a necessity for hiking the coast, with directions to Bornstein’s Fish Market, “the place with the best tide table – and good food too!”
Journey to the Oregon Coast Starts Today!
August 10, 2019
We’re headed to Oregon!
Today, John and I will wrap things up in Ohio and begin our cross-country drive to Oregon. John has been researching the Oregon Coast Trail (OCT), learning that it’s quite different from the Eastern US trails we’ve walked!
- It’s relatively level
- It goes through or near towns frequently
- Many state parks along the way have sites for hikers
- It frequently follows a road
- It’s along the coast, which means beach walking!
We still have to choose our gear. We’ll probably take the free-standing tent rather than my all-time favorite tarp because it will set up more easily on the beach. We’re also discussing whether or not to take a stove. It could be difficult to find canister fuel, although the tiny stove itself is lightweight and easy to carry, so we might just have it in reserve. We’re counting on having lots of wind, so will be sure to have our windshirts or rainjackets. I’ll keep you posted on our other gear choices!
Thruhiker Celebrity?
“Thruhikers are celebrities!” I read that in a women’s hiking group and chuckled. I don’t feel special! I walked the Appalachian Trail from Maine to Georgia within a year’s time, so I am a thruhiker.
As a thruhiker, how I know about myself is that I fulfilled my dream of being able to say, “I walked the AT”. I feel true to myself, that I listened to my heart and did what it took to walk one day at a time – and keep walking! So, if doing that makes me a celebrity, great. More than fame, however, what I want to do is entice others to create their own walks wherever they are, on the Appalachian Trail or in the neighborhood park! I want to help you discern what your equivalent of the Appalachian Trail is and step into fulfilling that dream!
Deepening Practices
June 9,
In everything I do, I strive for deepening my sensory and spiritual experience. I’m pretty sure you do too!
I’ve picked up on some techniques from John Muir Laws (his real name!) through his Laws Guide to Nature Journaling. Two years ago, I launched a program at the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Visitor Center to provide a platform to practice what I’m learning.
Notice and Wonder is now a frequent listing in the Park’s Interpretive Schedule. In it, I offer five simple techniques to
Raingear Success
July 28, 2017
Rain pelted down outside Thomas Knob Shelter, high on the ridge near Mt. Rogers, VA. Redhat, my companion for the week, and I sat happy and dry in the shelter at one o’clock in the afternoon!
That’s pretty early in the day to settle in camp, but the continuing rain, predicted to persist until 11 p.m., made the dry shelter quite attractive!
We stayed. Redhat had changed into her dry clothes. Long johns and a shirt, plus a “puffy jacket” comprised her carefully stashed dry wardrobe. She also had a pair of dry socks. Everything she had worn for our five-mile walk in the rain was wet. She hung it out on various nails and hooks around the shelter, reveling in our luxury of space being the only ones there.
Connection
July 25, 2017
Is “connection” something that comes to us or something we choose to acknowledge? When the woman walking with me this week said, “I know I’m connected to God, but I just don’t feel it! Maybe when I feel that connection, I’ll feel more confident out here.”
As I walked th
rough the magnificent forest, then out into an open field, I pondered her quandary. “What if we are connected, no matter what, and at any moment we can say, ‘this is what being connected feels like at this moment?'” I wondered out loud. I invited her to walk for the next twenty minutes reflecting on the notion that being connected is constant and foundational. Simply noticing how that feels is the feeling of connection at that moment. I believe that we can choose to ignore, deny, or deepen that connection whenever we want.
Intown Ingenuity
September 12, 2106
I bought a backpack in Waterbury. It’s very cool, emblazoned with “I ♡ 1 Direction” and a photo of the boyband. “Whaaat?” you say!
Actually, it’s perfect…….because…
It has a zipper! My pouch needs a new zipper, and this backpack has a good one. I can cut it out and use it. And it only cost one dollar at the Bargain Boutique in Waterbury.
With my tiny swiss army knife scissors, stashed needle, and multi-purpose dental floss, I can switch out the failing zipper in my pouch.
Town Food
June 12, 2016
I can’t eat what most hikers eat! Here’s what we bought at Food Lion in Front Royal to rejuvenate and celebrate completing our first hundred miles of this trip.
First, we did step one of our three step Don’t- Buy-Too-Much-In-Town plan: go in and buy something to eat right now and leave the store. We bought and devoured:
A banana
Two peaches
Four apricots
Two apples
23 oz. Coconut water
Then, we took step two: go in and look and talk about what to buy (actually, we skipped this step this time, and went right to step three: buy food for the town stop).