Europe for the summer

 

a narrow street of Caceres. 

When we arrived in Lisbon we had few plans but a place to stay for several days. We mainly just walked around near our place and ate some good food, including the bathed in garlic sauce steak topped with an egg at Portugalia. From there we took a bus to Elvas which is a perfect small little walled town in Portugal, just near the border with Spain. It was mostly quiet, a few tourists but not too many, and easy to walk the whole town in a day, but we split it up over several. One night I heard live music wafting to our open windows from what seemed to be the town plaza. So out we went to investigate. 

It turned out to be an international festival where we caught stage performances of dance and music from a couple countries before the mayor gave a lengthy speech. We arrived at 10 and it went until midnight. People here like to eat dinner very late, often 9 or 10 pm, so this wasn't as late as it seemed to me. Also despite being mid August, it was a strangely chilly night and I shivered in  my seat through the show. It was the coldest it would be for our entire trip. Despite the temps, I enjoy just this sort of spontaneous magic. 

From Elvas we took advantage of our very compact way of traveling to walk to the nearby train station for a 2 Euro ride over into Spain. This took us over to Badajoz, where we spent just one night and had a nice riverside dinner, before catching the train north to Caceres for a week. This is another walled city, this one quite a lot larger and grander than Elvas. and filled with many more tourists as well, especially by day. They even have a little Tuk Tuk tour called Tuk y Go that goes around town. At first I laughed at it, but by the end of the week I myself took a little ride. I would say it is really only worth it for those who would have trouble getting around. It's better to walk to things if you want to go inside. 

This whole week was amazingly hot, and the stone reflected the 95 plus degrees back at you during the day. But we got out often enough in the morning or evening and at night. It's a beautiful city. 

From here we took another train, this time to Madrid. Madrid is a very large city. Probably the largest the two of us have spent any amount of time in. And the place we found to stay was really lovely, right down on a street that is effectively New York's Broadway, and we had a rooftop balcony where I loved to stare down at the busy street at night. 

We visited the extensive Prado art museum, spent time wandering the gardens in the area, and walked the town at night. We took the time to eat some churros with chocolate sauce, the traditional way in Spain, at the traditional spot, San Gines. It's a restaurant over 100 years old that claims to have served nearly a billion of the sweet treat. Much like donuts it's considered a staple breakfast food, but it's an anytime treat. 

As we plotted our next move, we decided we'd take two weeks for more of a traditional vacation. Up until then, we had been more "living" in Europe. spending time in the apartments we found, reading, relaxing, and doing simpler things around town, mainly walking about. With a few of the big must see items scattered in. But this trip wasn't just a wind down from hiking the Appalachian Trail for five months, it was also our 25th anniversary. the "real one" from when we first started dating in high school. So we opted for a cheap flight to Crete Greece. We had been thinking of using trains to get to France and then eventually Barcelona, but this plan we scrapped as Greece was much cheaper, and we'd be able to rent a car and explore a new to us part of the country. A part we had long wished to visit for it's older than Greek civilization, the Minoans. 

So we booked tickets and took ourselves on a very long walk to the airport. We walked through the city some distance, had a lovely lunch at a restaurant which turned out to serve burgers, not the Pizza! that was advertised on the tables, but were good anyway. I love Europe most for it's outdoor dining along streets and courtyards. From there we took the metro to the closest stop to Parque Juan Carlos. This is a vast park, filled with large open spaces, sparsely planted trees along the many wide carriage lanes, and lots of small hidden surprises tucked inside. It was almost completely empty, feeling like the apocalypse on an odd weekday. Thankfully the heat had abated this day, and it was a bit overcast which really made a perfect day for us to take advantage of our distance hiking skills and still have plenty of time to take breaks and enjoy the park. Finally exiting through another quaint neighborhood, one we'd visit on our return. We managed to navigate the no man's land that was the outlying parking lots, and found ourselves at the terminal and ready for our adventure within an adventure.  

More on that next time! 

After Leaving the Appalacian Trail

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What to do with myself after admitting I was through with my thru was a wide open question.  But since we had the car in Maine we decided, for starters to explore a bit as we slowly returned homeward. We visited parks and lighthouses and Steven King's home. From there we wandered home. We visited an art museum, rode a carousel and explored some gardens. Visited one place that had become a Wildlife Refuge with a place called Salt Meadow House two women lived in, and Eleanor Roosevelt visited. There is still an old stone picnic table there where she is photographed sitting. Of course the refuge is named after a man. We briefly stopped over in Baltimore to see the city park there, and then went home. 

By then we still hadn't figured out what we were doing with the rest of our lives. Not only was our house rented until the end of summer 2023, but we were also both FIRE retired now. We could go back to work, but we didn't have to. Not having anywhere to be and no plans, we bought tickets to Portutal for 2 months. We would go live and travel there, and try to stay on our "retirement" budget, with a small boost to monthly housing thanks to what we cleared from renting our house. But before leaving we made a list of the things we wanted to while at home. 

This involved driving by the house a million times to check on it, and wandering bookstores and world market. We saw a few friends, family. Got our hiking stuff packed away and realized we both felt like we needed next to nothing to travel now. after 6 months of depending on a single change of clothes and little else, We can fit all the necessities in a single schoolbag. and a smaller day hiking pack we threw kindles for reading and other nonessentials. 

We found out last minute it was the last days of a nearby county fair, so we went. We even rode rides which I haven't done in a long time. It was a real boon because we thought we'd miss our local county fair being on trail. Then when we went to Maine we thought we'd finish Katadhin in time to do to a fair up there. Then when we quit early and came home, we found ourself missing that one, and much to early for my old hometown fair. So stumbling upon one we could go to felt like such luck!

After all was said and done, I felt ready for our flight. Although I was definitely feeling the common post trail depression, I planned to get in lots of walking and exercise, in Europe, and we were going to get rooms with kitchens so we could get back to cooking for ourselves. I hadn't really lost weight on trail. Only about 5lbs in the end though plenty of muscle gained. So I had quickly gained that back plus a little. Not feeling the best. The exntended heat in the US and the costliness of hotels really drove us to Europe. There were better short term housing options for less money, much more walkable. So at the begining of August, off we went. First to Lisbon. 

It's been nearly two months now and it's near time to head home. It's been wonderful here and we've seen so much and rested a lot. I will share more about that soon. Probably once I am back stateside. 

Still, we only have a tenative plan to get us to New Years and then I still don't know what we are doing. I am open to suggestions from practical life goals to more irresponsible travel and decision making avoidance. Please send. 

 

The First Half of 2022

Me on the AT

 It's hard to believe it's nearly September. This year has been filled with so much adventure and so much unknown. January began with two unusually hearty snows for us in Tennessee as we finished up house projects and moving everything to storage so our home could be rented while we hiked the Appalachian Trail. 

I enjoyed the snow, and also seeing our long project list get shorter and shorter. In the end we didn't get quite everything done, but enough to count. The joys of being a satisficer. we took the end of the month to take a trip to the Florida Keys to absorb some warmth and relaxation before hiking. 

February I headed out solo to hike the 4 day section of trail that had been intended for January's long weekends, the weekends the snow came. It felt really good to be out on my own, and and very achievable, even though I was carrying more weight than I would have with Jake with me, and too much food. We still laugh about the dried coconut that lasted for a month on trail... 

That weather was fine, despite it being early February, a gift. we took a week see my parents, my mom I hadn't seen since 2019, and to finish up every logistical thing we could think of before heading on to trail together. that same weekend, our house rented, perfect timing! but instead of the 12 month lease we hoped for, they wound up signing one for 18. So we are really going to have to figure out our lives as "homeless" well beyond the trail. 

From mid February to the end of June, we covered about 1050 miles. skipping 99 in Virginia we might make up in fall. It was wonderful. Everything I wanted from the experience, and not as physically hard as I had worried. I never had back pain (except from a hostel bed!) and though my leg muscles ached at night,  the more chronic pain in my ankle and knee and hands improved. I was taking 1-2 aleve most dayst. I did have problems with my petellar tendons and had to work through that, and I did develop some carpal tunnel numbness in one hand, which I could only partially resolve on trail, and still hasn't quite completely gone away. 

But in the end, even after fighting through the "Virginia Blues" and making it into the easy part of PA, I lost interest. just when my legs were at their best they had been. I think it was mainly the heat that got to me, and the mindset of needing to go go. I'm not a fast hiker, starting at 1 mph and eventually getting up to 2mph, I was disheartened everytime another thru hiker blew past me. I loved watching other hiker's journey on Instagram, but it was also hard to see my classmates start in April and catch up to me. It was hard to watch people I knew early on get so far ahead. It was also hard to watch people I liked, or felt were more my speed, leave trail. 

In the end, I could have my best day on trail and  still feel like a failure. I could push hard for 15 miles, which many others do 20 regurlarly and even 30 sometimes, and feel like I had no time in my day to enjoy anything. I had had so much euphoria with burgeoning spring, summer felt like too much. 

So we took a break from trail to do more fun car camping, and also went to tropical paradise in Aruba, and I loved it. When we got home we drove our car all the way to Maine to try and continue on up there, hopefully away from heat, but honestly, it was hot even there. and I had 1.5 great days but felt my mind turn off in the same way to all of this. The outdoors are the love of my life. I grew up wild a little like Huck Finn, and as an adult am a naturalist and hike nearly every weekend. So this was a weird and confusing feeling for me, but I had to admit that I had possibly gotten my fill. That I was actually content and ready to do something else. It still feels like failure. and it's still hard to read others comments about their own hikes. "I'm not a quiter" "I'm strong enough to keep going" as personal digs. It's kind of stupid I know. I never even cared about be a certified "thru hiker" as an acolade. But when you get 500 miles in it does sort of get into your mind. So quiting was hard but also right. I hope I get out there and do another 1000, or more. but not this year. 

So after all that we still had someone living in our house for another year! what to do with ourselves? We'll find out more about that next week. 

Reminiscence Monday Labor Day Edition: Rafting the New

 

It's Monday (ok, actually it's Tuesday, happy Labor Day!) So here is a flashback to my old blog, as I move those old pieces onto this blog. Here I am talking about rafting the New River.  Have you been? how did it compare? Enjoy your week!

In Summer 2004 my husband and I went to Pennsylvania and West Virginia for vacation. On our last day before heading back home we went white water rafting on the Lower New river and had a great time. Before this we had only gone rafting on the Ocoee, which is fun, but not as wild as the New.

The company we went with was Rivers Resort. While I'm sure most companies offer a similar experience, that is the one we went with and the guides were very good. This is very physical, but also very fun. You should be a confident swimmer, but you will of course have a life jacket. The river offers from class II - V rapids, and they are mostly one after another, which is what makes it so difficult. The highlights of the ride were stopping to jump off a tall boulder into the water, and flipping the raft, more or less on purpose. Let me explain: after going over a particular rapid, all the rafts pull over to the side and wait their turn to "surf" the rapid. You come at the rapid from the side, and then paddle like crazy to get into the current between where the water goes down and the white water churns up. When you get there you can stop paddling and stay in the middle of the current. After a few moments the current spits you out, and sometimes that involves flipping the raft. So, we did this twice, pretty good, no flips, and were laughing at all the people who had flipped, but then karma kicked in I suppose. It flipped our raft, and I did bump my temple on a rock, despite my helmet. When I resurfaced it took me a while to realize I needed to swim to the side if I didn't want to go downstream alone. I swam sideways, until I was in the current that circles back up into the rapid. This is where all the rafts are floating and waiting for their turn. Well, the rules are supposed to be, if some one's in the water, pull them out, even if they're not with your group/guide company. so I get sucked up to the first raft and I'm like "hi" and they just look at me blankly and don't help me. At this point, I can feel my legs being pulled under the raft, and I really do not want to go under, because on the other side of them is another raft, and another, and another... I wouldn't be able to get back to the top... so I push off from them and try to make it to one of the Rivers rafts which, after being squished a little between some other rafts waiting for their turn, I finally manage to do. We get reorganized, I get back in a raft with my husband (who has lost his paddle) and the others from our raft, and we're on our way again.

Thankfully, we stopped shortly after that for a riverside meal, and we were all able to compare our scrapes and bruises. The meal consisted of sandwiches you make your self from huge piles of deli meat/cheese and etc., chips, and some Oreo Refrigerate-to-make type desert. By the way, have you tried separating pieces of cheese with a plastic spork? After the end of the ride, we went back to the saloon which is run by Rivers at their campsite. Everyone was given two free drinks, and we all watched the video, which had been shot along the way, on a big screen. So, of course, we bought the video for maybe a little too much, but how could we resist? Recorded on the video, in all it's splendid glory, is our flip. I'm proud of my husband because instead of going into the water in a jumble like the rest of us, he held on to the top of the raft until the very last. The drinks after were nice bonus, even though I was limited to soda, it being a few months before my 21st birthday.

This is definitely worth doing if you like rafting, but this probably shouldn't be your first trip. The upper New is milder. The Ocoee, in South East Tennessee is good, and I'm sure there are many others.

Some advice: make sure you bring extra clothes, and make sure you eat a good breakfast. I'll give this an A, and I'd do it again, brain damage and all.

Reminiscence Monday: Incredible Aquarium

Mondays around here we're going to be revisiting some old blogs from my prior site. In this one I talk about the Georgia Aquarium when it was still relatively new. These days they also have manta rays and a new shark exhibit.  Read and enjoy!

Originally posted April 2007

My husband and I were first drawn to the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta shortly after its opening in late 2005. On that visit, we were astounded by the Whale Sharks most of all, but also impressed by the quality of the many other exhibits, and so we returned in January of 2007 to introduce some friends, who, though local, had yet to visit. And while the dynamics have changed as the tanks have matured somewhat, the Georgia aquarium remained an incredible experience. It is hard to believe I have not yet made it back in all these years. 

The aquarium has several touch tanks, with sharks, rays, sea urchins, starfish, and anemones, and the best part is everything feels you back! They have a wide variety of animals, including a sea otter that seems to have a bad habit of sucking his thumb. Even the fresh water tanks are enjoyable, though I have seen a lot of them.

There are a few major areas: the cold water exhibits house the belugas, sea otters, urchin touch tanks, penguins and more. The fresh water tanks have exhibits from around the world. There is a also tropical exhibit and the whale shark exhibit, which I discuss below, and there is even a kid's play area.

This isn't just a bunch of fish tanks. This aquarium is designed with a real theatrical flare. Each of the main areas of the aquarium has a passage that you follow in a loop, which leaves and returns to a main lobby. The lobby has a soaring ceiling, and a snack bar, which has prices to match the ceiling.

When you enter the tropical exhibit, you walk into a dark and narrow hallway, drawing attention to the many tanks filled with brightly colored fish and sea creatures. Then, you walk around a corner and suddenly, you find yourself standing fifteen feet under the ocean looking at a beautiful tropical coral reef. Magical music floats through the air, and you are faintly mesmerized. Just as you are almost over the initial awe, the surf crashes onto the beach which is just out of sight above and behind you. You'll just have to see it for yourself to understand. At least, that was my experience the first time. The second time the wave machine had been turned off and there was a largish fellow in a wet suit dusting the muck off the corals. A somewhat less magical experience.

But the tropical exhibit is nothing compared to the whale shark exhibit. The pathway for this exhibit simply loops around a single massive tank. A tank with 100,000 fish. A tank with currently 3 whale sharks, hammerheads, leopard sharks, groupers, and schools of rays. It is fantastic. This display is as well directed as the reef exhibit. You walk around the tank, at first being given only small windows to peer through, that mask the tank's true size. Then you come to the tunnel, which is truly impressive. the light shines down through the water like a dozen suns, the school of rays soar overhead like graceful birds, and a grouper, with an entourage of yellow fish surrounding him goes by. After this, there are more windows, of many shapes and sizes, all giving limited views of the tank. Finally, you arrive at the main attraction: A single huge window. It is larger than a movie theater screen. Just as with the coral reefs you are suddenly actually there, underwater, gazing at the fish from the ocean floor, only now you are much further under the surface. .

I wish I was still sitting on the floor my face practically pressed to the very thick acrylic and just watching ocean life play out right in front of me. On my first visit the tank a single school of fish was the most dominant feature. They were yellow and smallish, about the size of your hand or smaller, and they were REALLY schooling. They were like a whirling tornado, spinning and swimming, and turning as one entity. The whale sharks circle the tank, which is so large they sometimes disappear into the depths as they reach the other side. If one of the sharks swims through the school, they feed on its back, and as the shark emerges it pulls a golden finger of the fish away from the main school with it. The rays go by like birds migrating, and the smaller sharks circle the tank, or lay on the sandy ocean floor. The dynamics of the tank had changed when I visited in January. The yellow fish are mostly gone, and there are more large fish about. There is music here also, which could not be more perfectly epic. This is worth the trip, and the cost. Plan to pay for parking and tickets for adults are $37 per person w/tax. I only have 3 suggestions: bring a camera; you'll be sorry if you don't, as I was the first time I went. Eat before you go, you can't bring food in, and it's really too much inside, though the deserts are tempting. And finally, if you live within range to visit more than 2 times a year, buy a pass, you'll be wanting to go back every day. 

Do What You Can

We had  hoped that November seventh and eighth would be the days we hiked the remaining miles of the Maryland section, giving us our first completed state. But with Jake's hip hurting, we didn't want to get 5 miles in to a 10 mile hike and realize he couldn't make the remaining distance. Fortunately some of the next section was crisscrossed by several roads making a few short sections we thought we could tackle during the work week. 

Since Jake is working remote right now, and I'm reserving some time off from dogsitting to make this possible, we were able to spend the week in the area. After a full day of rest, we headed out on Tuesday to try our first tiny section: an almost half a mile, up from a small side road to the parking lot of the Maryland's Washington Monument. This monument actually predates the DC version, although it's not nearly so tall. Since that went well with no pain, we followed up with a one mile lunchtime section that connected with the portion we had hiked on Sunday. Then he took a couple more days off to heal before the weekend. 

On Saturday we filled in some gaps and hiked a total of 5.1 miles over 3 small sections, repositioning our cars in between. This was to make sure we had to opportunity to stop if things were hurting, and meant we didn't have to carry much with us. The longest section was the 2.5 miles from the Washington Monument up to Boonesboro road, which connected the two midweek hikes. 

While moving the cars we had to use earplugs riding in Jakes car, because one night the preceding week we had left it for several hours in a Walmart parking lot and gone to a nearby McDonald's to stress eat fast food and distract ourselves from the election by streaming some shows using their wifi. During that time, someone came to Jake's car, and, despite the fact that it was parked near the busy grocery entrance, they got under his car and stole the catalytic converter. This meant that our exhaust was disconnected from the muffler, making the car exceptionally loud. Luckily, this wasn't something that affected our ability to drive the car, so we resolved to wait to fix it until we were back home, away from the area. 

The other two sections we did connected farther south, although we hiked everything in a northbound direction. I still generally want to get the NOBO experience, and don't want to find myself avoiding hard climbs by switching up directions. The other two pieces we hiked Saturday connected from the Reno Monument up to the half mile we did just below the Washington Monument. 

Yes it was quite a bit of hopping around. I will write more about the thru hike options and names (NOBO, SOBO, flip flop, leap frog) another day, but I think our sort of random but generally nobo sections should be called Quantum Leap. 

Jake was feeling good, but the next section of trail was over 6 miles road to road, and a lot of elevation gain. We both thought a flat section would be a better idea, and since we weren't camping, we could drive closer to home at night, and split up the return trip a little. So we chose a section along a ridge that ran beside the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia. We covered the 6 miles of trail easily in terrain that looked dramatic with brilliant sassafras leaves in the clearings and full fall colors in the valleys below, but was warm enough for t-shirt and shorts, and gently rolling land. We went really slow, took a long lunch and paused in the middle of the second half for a sun induced nap among the leaves. 

Overall a lovely weekend, but one that left us with 16 miles yet to do in Maryland, and one very loud car.  

Halloween on the Appalachian Trail

At the end of October, we headed to Maryland for two weekends of hiking, hoping that we could complete the 40 miles of trail there over four days. On the first day, Halloween, we headed out from Wolfsville Road and hiked up to Pen Mar, just below the Pennsylvania state line, where I had hiked north from in September. We traveled up with two cars so we would not need a shuttle, and left one parked at Pen Mar before heading down to Wolfsville and heading out. It was a beautiful, relatively warm day. There was still a broad mix of leaves on the trees, with some turned deep red, and yellow, while others were still mostly green. We spotted some interesting fungus and kept up a good pace. 

The trail had a couple good rises to climb, but the trail was mostly rock free and easy walking except a portion coming down from the High Rock overlook, where it was mostly loose rock and picking our way over the rubble pile. But compared to what we had done earlier in Pennsylvania for miles and miles, I barely remembered it by the next day. The weather was clear, bright, and warm, promising summer rather than winter. We started later than I would have liked, because I prefer to allow myself the option of going a mile an hour, and finishing before dark. I am usually faster though, so we were able to keep up the pace and only had to pull out the headlamp for the last twenty minutes on trail. Fortunately by that time, we had reached a wide carriage lane, or old logging road, and the trail was level and clear of any major tripping obstacles. 

It was lovely since it wasn't too cold, to finish Halloween walking pleasantly along and having the full moon come up. As we came up to the park, there is a large covered shelter that overlooks the valley below, and we went up to look at the view, and spooked a couple of cats relaxing there. Then I turned off the headlamp and let the moon light us along the paved pathway to the parking lot where our car was waiting. A good hike, 10.78 miles.  

The next day we hopscotched south and hiked north to Wolfsville road from the Annapolis Rocks trailhead near I-70. This was an uphill climb into heavy fog and sporadic, light rain. All flat and easy along the ridgetop except for a brief Rocksylvania type section. It was a set taken directly from Sleepy Hollow, and spoke Halloween in every way that Saturday's sunny hike had not. It was silent and wonderful. Not a world or weather I would want to live in, but dream like to wander for a day. Along the trail we met a pair of women with wet hair and damp clothes, disoriented from missing a trail turn off. The weather was 50F, but in those conditions risky. We helped, along with another hiker, point them on the way to a trail out. They were in phone contact with a family memeber who was driving to pick them up, and although we offered some food and a hot hands said they were good and comfortable to hike the extra miles. A friendly reminder to bring a map, and some emergency weather gear. We are hiking with guthooks on one phone and Alltrails on the other. a compact rain jacket or an emergency blanket can be life saving in what might seem like mild weather. After that, our day was uneventful, and the fog finally cleared towards the end of our hike was we climbed through a small rocky pass and started the descent to the road where the extra car was parked. This is where Jake's hip started to hurt him with every step. So we had to go slowly, and tried some side stepping and backwards walking where flat to ease the strain. It seems he likely has some bursitis in his hip, so we'll have to give it rest for it to heal, and also work on better stretching and strength training at home. The last half mile took us an hour, and I am so glad he made it through most of the hike first. 9.7 miles total. 

Reintroduction to Backpacking at Cloudland

 So, it's 2016 and I decided I was definitely gonna do this thing. Our plan was to start doing an overnight trip every month, beginning in March, and by 2017 we'd start doing two weekends a month and increasing our miles so that we could comfortably do 10 to 15 mile days. General advice for thru hikers is to start the thru doing  8 or 10 mile days, and build on that to more like 15 to 20 miles a day as your legs adapt and you find your rhythm. I felt being able to put two 15 mile days together on a weekend would put me in a better spot to hit 10 miles daily out of the gate, again, I'm a slow hiker and don't want to count on my ever really pulling off multiple consecutive 20 mile days. 

We are centrally located in Tennessee surrounded by good hiking, including a reasonable drive for a weekend in the Smokies. But, it being March and still pretty chilly, South to Georgia where it might be a bit warmer seemed like the logical first choice. 

A name like Cloudland Canyon seems destined for a story, and so it is a little part of this bigger tale. I chose light and easy to measure my strength. First a short little day hike without packs as a warm up, then a one mile jaunt into the woods to camp. The site was picturesque: fir and rhododendron, a stream, and a great stone lined fire ring. There was even a picnic table and a pit toilet. We spent the evening reading outloud by the firelight.

The night turned out to be a lot harder than I expected. We had just upgraded our old standard very basic rectangular sleeping bags, purchased years ago at walmart. The two new bags weighed less and took up less room together than one of the old ones. They were three season bags, and were rated down to 40 degrees for comfort or 30 degrees overall. They were more of the tappered mummy bag style, although far from the high end ultralight options, and the filling was polyfil vs. warmer down. We were unlucky in that temps were dropping right to freezing that night, even though daytime temperatures were reasonable. I had never slept in a mummy style bag. 

At first, everything was fine. I slept on my side, face partially turned down the edge of the bag helping to trap heat near my face. But in the course of the night I turned to the other side, and the bag twisted around my torso. I couldn't get it to cover my head the same way, but I fell asleep again. I woke up cold a while later. I had tossed more in my sleep, and now the bag was wrapped too tightly around me. I struggled a bit. I stilled myself and reached for the zipper. I could not pull it down. I thrashed. I am not clausterphobic. I sort of liked to crawl into small spaces as a kid, and I still find it comforting. But in this moment I was clausterphobic. I felt trapped. I tried hard to stay calm, telling myself I wouldn't die. I shimmied some more, tugging at the zipper. I was afraid I was going to break it in my panic. Fortunately, I was not alone. I kicked to my left, waking my husband. "Help", I hissed. I tried to lay still as he worked at the zipper. And then I was free. 

So, these bags could be zipped together. I had thought separate would be better for warmth, but after my panic, we zipped them together, and I found out I was wrong about that. We stayed cozy and I had the extra leeway I needed to sleep on myside without getting trapped. All was well; I slept and did not die. 

In the morning, we broke camp and returned the larger pack to the car. With the other to share between us, we embarked on the Bear Trace Trail. I carried the pack for the first half, and Jake for the second. It was a short start, but it felt hard, and I was tired at the end of the day. But we were one day closer to our goal!  

That's enough for now. Thursday I will share about this weekend hiking some more AT miles, and will have more about our "years of planning and prepping" in future posts! If you have asked a question, I will get to some of those soon, too. Thanks!  

A Long Walk, A decision

It’s one of those things you talk about doing: a great adventure. You read a book about it, and it inspires you to dream. For years, it is talk. Then one day, you set a date; You will do this thing. You will walk this path. Since I was a teenager, I have wanted to put a boat in the river near my house and float with it all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico. The book to thank for that was Huckleberry Finn. I still haven’t set a date for that one, but it is on my list. 

But this is about the Appalachian Trail. Real knowledge or desire for the trail didn’t come to me until about 2011, when I read the book that so many people have, Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods. People who complete the AT are known as 2,000 milers, although the trail is longer than that. It travels the mountains from Georgia to Maine, and those with a will can follow it, walking north with the warming weather. Along the way people acquire a trail name, trail legs, and often a trail family, or tramily. They lose  weight, no matter what they eat, because it is hard work. 

Yet, it’s a mental challenge more than physical, everyone says. I don’t know. For me, it seems natural to spend all of summer in the woods. A joy and a dream to live and wake with the sun, walk in the rain, sleep the sleep of exhausted bliss. The real challenge will be to cover new ground each day, and never linger. A surprising number of people learn to camp and hike so they can do the trail. A few just try jumping in cold turkey. But for me the trail represents a socially acceptable opportunity to live the life of my heart.  I already love camping and hiking. I yearn to do it with wanderlust of an explorer, a vagabond, a nomad. 

We picked the year 2021 in 2016. It seemed far enough away to allow for some planning and learning. but not too far. Jake’s 40th birthday would be a fun milestone to celebrate on trail. And it would allow us plenty of time to have money saved to take the time off of work, too. 

I am an avid day hiker. But I am also a slow one. I could easily do a ten mile day, or sometimes more, but also don’t usually get up early enough, and ready soon enough, to fit that in. A typical day hike for me was four to eight miles. I had backpacked a handful of times as well, and had the basic gear: a ten year old backpack, worn low tech boots, and a tent big enough for two (assuming you really loved each other). Unfortunately, it had been years since we had done it. Lots of car camping though. 

Our plan then, was to start taking monthly overnight backpacking trips with the gear we had, and figure out what we needed and upgrade some things once we got much closer to our start date. And hopefully get our bodies used to carrying the weight. 

Next week I will share about that first return to backpacking, and how the intervening years went (not as planned!) Thanks for all the support, and liking/sharing these posts. Gearing up to get on trail again shortly!

A Woman Hiking Alone

Dissatisfied with the current pandemic safety risks with getting an Uber to shuttle back to our car, for the second weekend of our Appalachian Trail soft start we decided to provide our own shuttle by hiking separately.  One of us has longer legs, and therefore naturally hikes faster. That isn't me. So, the most reasonable way for us to avoid Jake having a long wait at the trailhead, I would drop him off at the start of our hike, and drive to the other end, park, and hike towards him, then after swapping keys midway, he would drive back to the starting trailhead and pick me up, probably getting there before me. We decided to do these as day hikes, rather than doing an overnight, where we would only meet each other in camp. 

The first day we hiked eight miles from the park at Pen Mar to the Rattlesnake Gap road, just past the Old Forge Picnic Grounds. I dropped Jake at Rattlesnake to hike south, while I went to Pen Mar and headed north. It was far too many days after this when I realized that Pen Mar is like Texarkana and is a blended name of the two states we straddled on this hike. My mind was on other things. Mainly, hiking alone. 

It's not strange to hike the AT alone. according to The Treks 2019 Poll over 60% of long distance hikers start out that way. The advantages are everything that appeals to the rugged individualist. The solitude to think. Setting your own pace. Stopping and listening and hearing nothing at all. Smiling at the little secret things that only you will see, the leaf falling in the path, the birds head half tilted to watch you, a bug scurrying across the trail. And for that I was excited. I have, by my own estimation, never hiked such a distance completely alone. I often volunteer at a local trailhead, and typically walk it to check its condition, but that's just a few miles. I definitely wandered the rural area around my childhood home, but probably never walked more than 4 miles in a day. So it felt good, deeply satisfying, to just get out there be on my own. 

Of course there is a flip side to this. Hiking alone has risks. Geographical, Animal, and Human.  Thankfully I am not a novice in the woods. I reflexively check for blazes to stay on trail and am attentive and intentional when stepping off trail for mother nature. Animals aren't too high of a risk in this region or this time of year. Bears are mainly a risk in camp, snakes at other times of year. So that really just leaves the human component. We all know people are generally good. But we all know women have a particular concern anytime they want to go anywhere or do anything alone. We have basically taught men that rape is the natural act of a man against a woman who does not sufficiently protect herself. Men don't typically have to deal with this. Men who weigh less than me, they hike with impunity and never think about these things. They pitch tents, despite being all alone, near other, bigger, stronger men. They climb in, change clothes without thinking, and sleep without a knife at hand or any defensive plan. 

On this day I saw very few people. I had good cell service and checked in every mile to two with Jake. We crossed paths at my 3rd mile, his 5th (hey I did have to drive!). On the second day, we hiked a shorter distance and I spent most of it listening to an audio book and saw even fewer people, although I didn't have cell service for the most part. I never felt unsafe. But when a lone male hiker tried to get chatty in passing and stopped and took a step closer, I took a step back. He was only my size and a smiling, grey headed, fit grandpa type, something like Mike Pence, if he were not obviously a robot. People tend to think of this as "being afraid". You can't live your life in fear, say people who don't have to. But it isn't really fear. It's caution. You check for ticks and wear boots to protect bad ankles, and get vaccinated. Your pulse doesn't increase, your hackles don't go up, you don't struggle to sleep at night afterwards. You're taught to do it, or you learn, and then it's just part of your life's routine.

It's dumb to feel this way. It's dumb that things are this way. The odds are low, and that is true. But while 60% start out on the AT all alone, only 20% finish hiking most of the trail that way. People who don't start with a family member or friend usually pair up with some of the hikers they meet; they form a tramily. Companionship and safety in numbers. And while The Trek Doesn't break down these categories by gender, I would guess that women are more likely to start with someone else, and less likely to do the whole thing mainly alone. On top of that, only 40% of the long distance hikers in 2019 were women to begin with. The trail has other diversity issues. I can't speak to them personally. But it is silly, and wrong to assume people aren't on trail because any grouping of people "just don't want to" There are other factors at play. There probably always will be. 

So what is the takeaway? What can we do? On trail, really simply, we can respect people and give them their space. We can drop our egos and not take it personally. That man on the trail, when I stepped back, he stepped back, too. He might of thought I was maintaining my 6 feet, or he might have understood then, how it was with me. He didn't get mad, he didn't try to intimidate me. He didn't try to suggest he wasn't or couldn't be dangerous. He didn't hey baby/sweetheart/honey, he didn't make a face. He just stepped back, and smiled genuinely and told me to enjoy my hike and went on. 

 Ultimately, I loved both of these days, but my goal is not to be one of the hikers that does it all alone. I am happy with myself for getting out there and having a lovely weekend, but I do hope to hike most of the trail with my husband. For our next adventure we hope to take two cars and set them up at either end of whatever section we tackle next.  

Next week it's all about how I came to the decision to do the hike, set a date, and my "easy" first backpacking trip towards that goal. 

Socially Distanced Trailhead Access on the Appalachian Trail

 

Last month I logged my first official Appalachian Trail miles in our Covid adapted 2021 thru hike. One of the biggest challenges to doing the hike during a pandemic is simply how to handle getting on and off the trail. This is especially true as we do a soft start, and are likely only going to do weekend or simply day hikes as we are able through the winter, until the weather warms up a bit again. 

Even during a traditional thru, hikers needs to get off trail and into towns for food resupply about every week. They also take advantage of civilization's modern conveniences like heating and air conditioning, showers, and fresh vegetables (beer is a vegetable right?) This is normally accomplished thanks to a great trail community, whether people who offer paid shuttle services, a willingness to pickup hitch hikers, cab services, or uber/lyft. 

While some of these folks are still out there operating, it was something I wanted to avoid. It's too close, often for too long for my own comfort levels. I don't want to get sick on trail, and difficulty breathing with a lengthy recovery of months could be a deal breaker. 

Still, our first weekend out, we did plan to try it out. Full disclosure, despite a fair amount of travel in a lot of different places, we've never used Uber or Lyft or similar. We had downloaded and set up Uber once, but never used it. We settled on parking the car at the start of our weekend hike, and having only Jake Uber back to the car. This would minimize the interaction, and ensure he could sit as far from the driver as possible.

In the end, we decided to actually call an Uber Saturday night rather than camping overnight. It wasn't that I was too worn out or that we weren't prepared to camp (we both hiked with full gear). It was mainly that I didn't realize the shelter was just half a mile onward from a popular trailhead parking area and I was afraid the shelter area itself would be full of people, combined with the fact that we'd left our car parked in a high traffic spot, just right off an interstate exit on a major highway (not my favorite situation), combined with the additional and important fact that it was gonna be 39 degrees that night and I'm a giant baby when it comes to the cold. Our sleeping bags are not new, and are comfortable to 40, technically. So we called an Uber Saturday night and Sunday night. Both times Jake rode behind the passenger seat, and everyone was masked. The first driver kept the windows partly down and didn't talk much. The second driver was chatty and windows up. Overall, it felt risky to me. And there were other drawbacks. Both times, the wait for the driver, trip to the car, and Jake's return took about an hour and twenty minutes. And of course, Uber isn't free. Between both trips with a decent tip, the total was about $40. Not ideal.

So for the second weekend, we thought we might rent a car instead, so we could hike from our car to that car and ride back together. This was a lot more expensive than I wanted, nearly $150 for a Saturday AM pickup and Sunday PM drop off,. Not at all sustainable to do regularly. And not likely something that would always be doable depending on our locations and distances, and especially if we do a multiday hike. Add to this, we still had to do a fair amount of extra driving to the car rental location. We went ahead and reserved free online, but when we showed up, there were a lot of people, employees and customers, sort of scattered everywhere, social distancing, fortunately, and waiting their turn, but, having spent months in major isolation, it felt overwhelming to me. So, instead of picking up the car, we cancelled the reservation. Which was also a financial relief. This option is likely never going to work for us. 

So what else could we do? We only had one car. We do hope to hit other, closer to home sections by driving two cars and parking at either end, but this weekend, that wasn't an option. 

So what we decided to do instead is what I will call crosswalk, until someone wants to tell me an actual term, if there is one. We hiked separately from opposite ends of a section, and met in the middle for lunch and an exchange of car keys. I feel overall positive about the experience, but there are definitely limitations. I will share more next week. 

If there is an alternative method to do this you can think of, let me know in the comments! I am all ears. 

Georgia To Maine

This past month of September my husband and I began our soft start to thru hiking the Appalachian Trail. We have long intended to hike the trail "eventually" and in 2016 we decided that 2021 would be our year. Jake's 40th birthday year, it just seemed like a great fit. Since then, he had toe surgery, and I had a very nasty ankle injury that led to arthritis, in my knee too. Recovery over 2019 had been slow, but we started out 2020 feeling pretty good about our goal, with a likely start mid March the next year. 

Then 2020 developed and those plans were looking very questionable. the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) which protects and manages the national scenic trail, closed the trail, to the extent they are able (the trail land is owned by a variety of entities, and travels through multiple states after all) and stopped issuing the numbered thru hiker permits, an often coveted souvenir. Many hikers left the trail. Some did not. But what does that mean for 2021? Practically everyone across a variety of forums wanted to know. But whether it would lead to more crowding next year, or whether it too, might be canceled, is anyone's guess. 

All we really had were a lot of what if scenarios. Hiking a 2200 mile trail, over a course of 5 months, would require us to leave our jobs, hopefully rent our home, and maybe at some point, you know, shave my head. Not small decisions, nor easily reversible. Add to that complexity, Jake had just changed jobs, starting his new position in February, and on a contract basis. how long would it last? what would happen to the economy? Was it reckless to voluntarily leave a job next spring? 

So, after a lot of back and forth about potential ideas, including just putting it off until possibly 2022, we finally settled to move forward as flexibly as possible. Which leads me to a soft start in September. 

We are mainly able to work remote, except I do babysit dogs regularly. Did I want to abandon my clientele if this turned out to be a no go? Not really. So, instead, we resolved to start blocking weeks that were unbooked 4-6 weeks ahead, and getting on the trail in those downtime weekends. Jake could still work thanks to the magic of wifi and mobile hotspots during the week. 

So on September 19th we got on the Appalachian Trail and spent 2 weekends hiking, one at a section at the top of Pennsylvania, and one at the bottom. Spending most of the midweek car camping in a nearby state park with good cell signal. Technically, a thru hike is just doing the whole trail in 12 months, so, if we finish next year by September 18th, these could count towards a thru. It wouldn't be traditional, but the hiker communities favorite refrain is HYOH: Hike your own hike. And this is mine. 

Of course if everything goes swimmingly and we start full time, just when we want, in spring with the blessing of the ATC, then we might well just rehike these sections. but if that is delayed, hopefully these miles will help us reach our goals. And worse case: there is no better place to train than on the actual trail, and we'll gain the experience and muscle for a traditional go in a later year. 

There are lots of topics I want to share, and I will blog about them soon, Gear, social distancing logistics, Rocksylvania, food, cold season hiking plans and more. If you have any questions or ideas, let me know! I have spent far too much time reading about the Appalachian Trail over the years, so I'm ready to answer your questions. 

In the meantime, check my posts and highlights real over on Instagram for too many pictures. 

#Vanlife Obsessed? See My City Destination Recommendations.

I've been spending a lot of time on the road recently, and did a little roundup of some cool cities to spend your #vanlife living and working, like Lake Havasu City, pictured below. Check it out, and let me know what you think!

The 7 Best Cities to Live That #Vanlife

Fun Fact: It was about 110° F when this picture was taken. 

Love Animals? Check out my newest piece!

Head over to Livability.com  to see my newest piece,


8 Cities With (Surprisingly) Easy Access to Wildlife

See if your home made the list, and learn about some fun new places to check out. You could be playing with penguins, petting a rhino, or watching wolves this summer! While you're at it, check out their list of the Top 100 best places to live. 

Official Semi Nomads

Are we verbing Montgomery here?

I am excited to announce that a long time goal of mine is finally being realized. We are embarking on a semi nomadic style of life. I left traditional work nearly four years ago, and ever since my husband has been trying to move to a position where he can work remote more often.

So finally, we are going to be able to work and travel from the road about 50% of the time. We have already made a few trips to places in the south like Augusta,  Myrtle Beach and parts of Alabama.

In between weekends filled with exploring new places are evenings spent driving, and work days spent at libraries, coffee shops, and fast food places. We do what we have always done when traveling the US, as lucky white US citizens. We sleep in the car a lot. we camps some, and we occasionally spring for a cheap hotel room. It makes a huge difference in cost, and it has rarely presented a problem. For right now, we are keeping the "work remote life" strictly domestic. There is a lot of country to explore (and some favorite places I can't wait to get back to) but we do still plan to take some actual vacations internationally.

We also eat some cold meals, and have a portable butane stove to make some hot ones. We definitely are trying out the restaurants that make a place unique, and patronizing wherever we find good wifi and an electrical outlet.

So, this isn't quite the #vanlife you have heard of, at least not yet. We do aspire to get a Dodge Caravan, for the coveted in floor storage space that removing the Stow N Go seats will give us, while keeping MPG a lot more reasonable than most travel or camper vans popular with #vanlife, at the expense of not having a full in van kitchen with live edge counter tops and recycled pallet paneling. The Dodge will be a more stealthy camping option, but allow us a bit more room to organize, and a more comfortable sleeping arrangement than the Prius we drive today.

Another current limitation, and one we are still figuring out, is how to travel with our very aged puppy, who will soon be celebrating her sweet 16! She doesn't deal with heat too well, or cold, so we have to find places that are mild enough in climate for her to spend time outside with us. So if you have any recommendations for pet friendly locations, we would love to hear about them. She's too old to walk, so she get's her own little carry bag that we take her around in. We have found some places have very accepting beaches, parks, gardens and restaurants, and some... don't

Thanks for reading! I plan to talk about specifics more eventually, but if you have burning questions, let me know! 

10 Days in Bali with a side of Taiwan

We spent a wonderful 10 days in Bali in early October, along with a 24 hour layover on the return flight in Taiwan. Bali has a familiar Southeast Asian Feel, combined with that more relaxed island vibe.

We rented a long term scooter delivered for the airport, and after an overnight and half day in the capital of Denpasar, we headed North to Candidasa for a day of temple exploration and a day in the water,  before heading inland to Mt. Batur. From there is was due north to see the coast,and back down to Ubud, with a few waterfalls mixed in.  After relaxing in Ubud, and accidentally almost going to a royal wedding,  we had our scooter picked up, and then were taken to a ferry for a few days on the small islands (Nusa) of Ceningan and Lembongan. After Snorkeling and exploring, we returned to the mainland for a final day to see one last temple and the local zoo, before flying to Taipei.

A quick 24 hours in Taipei involved a late night walk through one of the night markets, and  a full day of touring some national parks, before the long return flight(s) home.

Overall? Bali is vibrant and gorgeous, with everything you would expect from a tropical volcanic island paradise, and a culture that adores art, color, and dance. The worst thing I can say is I got a little bored with the local food, and found myself to resorting to more western meals, something I never do. That said, we didn't put a lot of effort into choosing meal locations, so it could be bad luck, or that my hopes were Thailand and Cambodia high.

Taipei is a well organized city, and feels immediately comfortable, The day we visited it was moody weather, and had that Coastal California feel. The food here was everything I wanted it to be.

As with everywhere I go, I wish I had more time in both places. Even 10 days in Bali is too short partly because it takes time to get around on the smaller roads, and partly because the beaches and bungalows are almost too good to ever leave and see other sites. 

Australia and New Zealand sites and sounds

If you have been hoping for a fun travel video about a few spots around New Zealand and Sydney Aus, featuring fun musical selections, here it is!

Come for the whales and platypus, stay for the sad penguin

A Week in the Canadian South: Thoughts

I've technically been to Canada a few times before, although not for long, and never to really get out of a given city. But this year we were able to take the first week of July in Ontario, venturing as far north as Agawa Canyon in the west, and Finlayson Point in the East, both of which are commonly refereed to as being part of northern Ontario.  This distinction I can understand, given the population center is around Toronto, but looking at a map, it's strange to see such a huge geographic area included in the north, while only a tiny part is considered southern.

But Ontario really is the southern province of Canada, and the weather was pleasant by our standards the week we visited, although a little hot to the locals. In the South, From Toronto down to to the U.S. border at Detroit, we were struck by how diverse, and seemingly integrated, the area is. This was apparent during musical celebrations downtown for Canada Day (July 1st)  and also in the myriad of dining options. In my two visits to the Toronto area I've had pretty authentic pub food, ethiopian, dim sum, lebanese, and even some Portuguese custard tarts. That's barely the tip of the iceberg. No other city comes to mind as having quite such a diverse populace.

Heading farther north, we visited the popular Georgia Bay Peninsula, Manitoulin Island, and Provincial parks across the rest of southern northern Ontario, before visiting Algonquin on our return to Toronto. We will have to return another time to see Ottawa, and other spots farther east. The northern areas are much more rural, fluctuating between the rolling farmland in the eastern half of the U.S. and the granite, pine, and moose terrain found in parts of the western US.

We spent most of our time camping in provincial parks, hiking, kayaking and swimming, combined with a fair amount of driving. It's a beautiful area, dominated by cottage lined lakes and more Canadian flags than people. The provincial parks only provide limited access to what is still a largely wild place. To explore farther, we would need more time and a boat. The provincial parks are geared towards stay in place vacations, the summer camping experience, rather than the Great American Roadtrip. Still, we found plenty to do, and were able to check off
a list of iconic wildlife, from geese, loons, and cranes, to beavers, porcupines, bear and moose. 

An Amazing Two Weeks in East Africa

March 2018, after nearly 8 years, we finally returned to Africa, this time to the east African countries of Kenya and Uganda.  Here's a brief overview: 

We first headed to the Masai Mara, visited a Masai village, then went on a game drive with a highlight of seeing a pair of giraffes "necking" 

The next day was a full 12 hour game drive where we spotted 4 cheetahs, a nest of 9 sleeping lion cubs, even more lions, antelopes of all kinds, 2 leopards, hyenas, hippos, and so much more. Highlight: coming upon that second leopard, who had been resting in tall grass right by the road. Our driver/guide momentarily thought his tail was a snake in the road. And when the large male got up and moved to a termite mound just feet away, we had him all to ourselves. 

A visit to Lake Nokuru. This used to house massive flocks of feeding flamingos, but the water level has gone up, making most of the lake too deep for feeding. But it is still easy to see quite a bit of wildlife here, and smaller flocks of flamingos. Highlight: mom and baby rhino in the far distance, lone male rhino right up close, and Rothschild's giraffes close to the road as well.

Murchison falls national park:  Cruise up the river, to see the base of this massive falls, then drive to the top for lunch.  Highlight: Chimp trekking elsewhere in the park, we found a family group and watched a juvenile strip branches of blooms. 

Nile River Sunset Cruise: Jinja. Water levels have changed here too, this time due to a dam. However, the river cruise between 2 dams proved to be fantastic birding, as we were able to see many shore, wading, and water species we hadn't seen elsewhere. Highlight, a troupe of red tailed monkeys

Lake Bunyonyi: beautiful mountain lake, smaller wildlife, and a pleasant accommodation. We even saw an otter here. A visit to the displaced pygmy village was not educational to their culture or history, however, the people depend on such visits as they appear to live in total poverty. 

Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. A visit to see mountain gorillas, which you can see nowhere else in the world but this and one other park. We joined a family of 4 (silverback, 2 females, and a year old baby) for an hour. They seemed almost completely unconcerned by our presence. Beautiful, and a little smelly. 

Norway is here

In between more current activities, I've been giving a photo tour of our trip to Morocco, Spain, Portugal, and Gibraltar on my Instagram, tracked by the not too creative or lyrical #MorSpaPorGib. I'm happy to announce that trip is officially done, so it's time to move on to something new, our February 2016 trip to Norway!

The main driver for this trip was seeing the northern lights, with a side of traditional Sami culture and viking history to boot. Over our 12 day trip we took in Oslo, Tromso, Bergen, Flam, and Trondheim.

We had a fantastic time. Norway has great walkable cities, even in winter. We bundled up as needed, and enjoyed seeing the old stone churches, exploring museums, and even dining outdoors thanks to sheepskin blankets and warmers. And yes, we did see the northern lights.

Follow me @desirafu on Instagram for more, at the no more creative but a little more lyrical #DesiraInNorway

We are about to enter the last portion of our fall 2015 trip, which ends in Gibraltar. so i thought it would be a great time to finally kick off our early 2016 trip to Norway. spoiler; there are northern lights ahead. Here we are flying into Bergen, at the same time a boat was arriving. #norway #travel #wanderlust #wonderlust #wanderwoman #letsgo #adventure #europe #travelgram #womenwhotravel #tourism #ilovetravel #visitnorway #traveltheworld #explore #seetheworld #theworldupclose #neverstopexploring #traveljunkie #wander #NorwayNotEU #snow #aerial #imonaplane #beginings #scandinavia #Bergen #DesiraInNorway

A post shared by Desira Fuqua (@desirafu) on Apr 26, 2017 at 3:40pm PDT