What I Learned in School

Well my attempt for returning to school was a fail. Or perhaps I will chalk it up at a learning experience. Which it was, really. I learned how to decipher my vision - as in what 20/750 really means...yes, I am blind without some artificial vision device. I learned about the wondrous world of the super duper tiny things in life - microbiology is truly fascinating stuff. In fact, I learned I would rather be a microbiologist that a nurse. But I really don't want to be either. I learned that, too.

The most significant thing I learned in my university quest is that I should embrace my wonderful skills and talent for wanderlust. I'm good at it. I certainly have a knack for it. So I will pursue it!! YES, I've finally figured out my life - HA, not. Ever-changing and lifelong - this thing we call figuring out life.

That being said, I have a one way flight booked for New Zealand for the end of October with a 1 year work visa. Wow, it feels good to have a new goal. Another thru-hike is in the works. The Te Araroa trail combines both the North and South Islands of New Zealand and covers 1800 miles. My heart craves that simplistic, living out of what's on your back lifestyle. That will be five-ish months. After that I will work wherever I can (probably a ski town in the service industry), and also work on getting a TEFL (Teacher of English as a Foreign Language) certification so I can continue to better my wanderlust skills in other lands.

Long story short, I'm ready ready ready. Ready to see my family in October, too. It's been long overdue and I miss them tremendously.

My potential future...back to Alohaland!

I'm ready to be active again - like really active. An unexpected turn of events had left me confused about my future (rejection is never fun), but I have concluded that I actually will be in Salt Lake City for the winter and plan on taking full advantage of what the chilly season has to offer and hanging out with family and friends. I also really really REALLY want to do a winter Xterra race, and there is one in Utah in March!!

By springtime, I should be ready for a good long thaw and plan to move back to my favorite home ever, Hawaii. My main goal is to re-establish residency again and make myself a worthy candidate for nursing school. Yup, another degree at UH Manoa is in the works. I can't wait!

I had met so many different types of nurses throughout my trail journey. I never really gave nursing much of a thought, but through discussion and research, I have concluded the profession has so much to offer for the lifestyle I would like to live. I still have more research to do and plenty of questions because I really had no idea there were so many different avenues for nursing. But it does feel good to finally have that direction. And I won't have to work a 9-5 day after day, week after week, year after year! Excellent!

Those who know me well know not to believe me entirely when I tell them plans about my future. I understand that because I do change my mind often. But I would go nuts if I didn't. I definitely take to heart this quote by Leland Thomas:

"At every crossroad, follow your dreams. It is courageous to let your heart lead the way."

I first saw this on a card I received for my high school graduation and it rings through my brain whenever I am in a transitional place in my life. Often, it is rather difficult to decipher the messages of my heart, but enough digging and I usually can figure it out. I know when I have made the right decision when I feel like 400 pounds of weight has been lifted off my shoulders, and when my mind is no longer is a state of confusion.

Right now, I'm at peace. An hour/day/week/month/year from now, I may not be at peace with my choices and I have to go through the process all over again. And that's perfectly fine with me.

Appalachian Trail via wheels!!

It's for real this time. Officially official. I am done living out of a bag officially for a few weeks, at least. My mom, sister and I arrived back in Suwanee, GA after nearly 2 weeks on the road from Maine. From Maine til about New York, we were more or less traveling the trail again. Except southbound, and by motor, and wheels. A little faster and perhaps just a bit more pain free. Just a tad bit.

We stopped by the White Mountains and I got to check out Pinkham Notch again. We walked the trail a bit so my momma could hike the AT in New Hampshire. Unfortunately, Mt. Washington was clouded over, but not so much that we couldn't see the SNOW that dusted the lower half of the mountains. Geez, it was a beautiful sight mixed in with the glorious northeastern fall foliage. I'm so looking forward to another fall in GA...awesome two falls in one season. excellent!!

We also stopped by Harper's Ferry again before heading to NY to visit my sister, Katy. She took the train from Brooklyn for the night and we got to go to the hugest apple festival ever in an itty bitty town. I ate some Polish fried mashed potatoes and cheese. I forget what they are called. (And for the record, my appetite is slowly dying down, but I would probably still eat a bus if you put it in front of me). I probably shouldn't be eating fried mashed potatoes much longer. (and they aren't french fries..it's more like an empanada, but the polish version). yummy.

We went apple picking after the very big, busy, brain stimulating festival. Katy, the visiting sister, is gonna bake a couple apple pies with her newly picked goods.

Another stop we made to the ATC headquarters in Harpers Ferry and they were able to process my "2000 miler" patch and certificate. So I guess that makes it officially official that I hiked the entire length of the AT. Like a wacko. Not that I need a certificate to prove anything. But it is pretty.

I was super pleased to visit a covered bridge. There's loads in the northeast, yet I never took the opportunity to see one on the trail. I felt like I was time-traveled back to the olden days with monstrous dresses and horse 'n buggies. not really. I felt like I was in the present looking at a cool old bridge, actually. But it was built in horse in buggy days.

We also visited a pretty gorge in Quechee, NH (I think), and ate at the Delaware Water Gap diner again in PA.

More of the southern half coming soon...

I'm done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've officially ended my journey, as most of y'all know. We summited on the 28th of September on a gloriously foggy day in Maine. Not the ideal blue sky Katahdin pic, but it was beautiful all the same. There were ten thru-hikers total who summited on Sept. 28th. Lunchbox, Holdout, Hatchet, Hot Feet, Chewy, Goose, Creep, Ketchup, Pyrofly, and me.

Oddly enough, I don't feel like I'm able to fully comprehend that I've actually walked from GA to ME and lived on the trail for an entire 6+ months. Maybe it's not so odd. It almost feels like I was on a 2 week vacation. But then I have moments where it hits me and then I can't comprehend why on earth I'd want to do such a thing. An odd goal, really.

This is me at the summit - officially done with the thru-hike, 2178 miles. But I'm not really done because I still have to hike the 5 miles back down the mountain.

Pyrofly and me at the summit...the sign is a blowin' in the wind. It says "Pyrofly & Lucky Star Rocked the AT March-Sept 2009." Pyro's parents had the sign made which was totally awesome. Both his and my parent's (all of them) came to support us at the end. That was incredible.

This is the view we were offered once the fog lifted from the mountain later in the afternoon. The entire mountain was fogged over on our way up so we had no idea what the surrounding, incredibly difficult terrain looked like. We left the summit around 2 pm (still fogged over), and this view was probably about 1/3 the way down. The summit finally did clear by the time we reached the parking lot, but that was waaay to late to start descending at 5pm.

I guess I'm just gonna have to go back - although I won't be walking from GA again. That's not the plan, anyway. But who knows... :)

Chances are, I'll be posting more photos and entries about the hike itself, and about post-hike life. It's only the beginning regarding post-hike life and I'm curious to see how I've changed, developed, grown...

And over a week of not hiking, my feet still hurt. I hope they don't take a whole six months to heal!

Onto 100 mile wilderness...

Goodness gracious, hiking's been fun but hard. We're in Monson, ME. 100 miles of wilderness to come before the Big K...although it's not really 100 miles nor is a true wilderness - it just means we don't have access to resupply for nearly 100 miles.

Hiking has been TOUGH, man. I've been hearing how difficult the first part of Maine is, and whoever told me that certainly wasn't lying. And the White Mountains in New Hampshire weren't a piece of cake, either. I'm exhausted. I'm tired. I'm fatigued. I'm so happy to be out here and Maine is incredible, but I think it's safe to say that I'm sort of ready to be done walking for a bit.

Next time I write I will have probably summitted - as long as a moose doesn't trample me.

Oooooooohhh...we saw a big moose the other day. It had huge antlers. And I mean HUGE. One of the coolest things ever. It was walking super slow and it's antlers were so big they'd hit the trees as it walked past.

Weather's been wondrously beautiful for the past three weeks, at least.

Gosh, I'm tired.

Gorham, NH

We've made it to Gorham, New Hampshire after a challenging week in the White Mountains. Challenging it was, but beautiful, breathtaking and awe-inspiring as well. The further north we travel, the lower treeline gets, and many of the White Mountain peaks and ridgelines are well above treeline...meaning beautiful vistas for miles and miles and miles.

And the weather...one word. beautiful.

There is a hut system in the White Mountains run by the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) that provides a bunkhouse, composting toilets, breakfast, dinner and a nightly presentation about some interesting topic related to mountainous stuff...the paying customer will pay $84 a night - a little bit out of budget for most thru-hikers. BUT each hut has a crew of 3-4 people and can take thru-hikers in as a work-for-stay for the night and the hikers can feast on leftovers. The crew is generally not supposed to take more than 3 hikers a night, but the quantity of hikers is also at the crew's discretion, and because it is nearing the end of the season with lots of closing cleaning to be done, they ended up taking way more.

Pyrofly and I were able to work-for-stay at three huts. The work is generally about an hour long. I had line the innards of stoves, with aluminum, chip ice and organize freezers, place silverware for the guests, dishwash, and scrub bathrooms with soap and bleach. The first hut (Zealand Falls Hut) accompanied three of us - me Pyrofly, and Doc Redden. The second (Mizpah Springs Hut) took 11 of us in, and the third, Madison Hut, took 21 of us in for the night...it was so weird to thave that many hikers in one place - and set record for that particular hut. Mt. Washington was six miles prior, and that resulted in a bottleneck of sorts. It was quite fun. The last time I remember that many thru-hikers in one place, besides Trail Days, was probably at Fontana Dam just before the Smokies.

Maine is in 16 miles. Chances are we won't make it tonight, but defitely tomorrow. We've got Mahoosuc Notch coming up in a few days as well - known as the most difficult, or most fun mile on the AT. I'll report an update, but I'm pretty sure it will be the most fun - it a valley/gap/notch filled with house sized boulders that we have to climb over, under, in between, sideways, upside down, etc just to get through.

Time is precious right now...gotta get going. Resupply at the grocery store, hit up the outfitter for some fuel and a belt, and find a ride back to the trail to hike another 10+ miles before the day is over.

My legs are beat. My feet hurt. And my knees hate me. But I'd rather be here than anywhere else right now. New Hampshire rocks!