Welcome 2014!!!

It's that time of the year again!  Time to wipe the slate clean, to set our resolutions for the year, and to make positive changes with our lives.  For me, 2014 is going to be about me and my body, me and my relationships, and me and my career.

#1 resolution:  Fitness.  I want to run a half marathon.  I want to hike 10 miles in a day.  I want to bike to the local trail head, hike 3500 feet of elevation gain and back down and then bike back home.  I want to run a 7.5 minute mile.  These are my fitness goals for this year.  But mostly I want to feel strong.  I want to be able to go out and do anything I want and not be hindered by my lack of endurance or stamina.  I don't want to worry about asthma.  I want to push myself to my limits and then keep going, because that's how you become better.  So the first thing I'm going to do is the COUCH TO 5K program!!!

  

#2 resolution: Healthy Eating.  I want to regulate what goes into my body.  I want those foods to be natural and unprocessed.  I want more energy by eating the things that won't slow me down. I don't want to eat fast food.  I want to make all of my meals and know exactly what's in them.  I want to save money from eating out and spend more on what truly makes me happy.  So what will be my starting line?  100 DAYS OF REAL FOOD!!!

#3 resolution: Get Out!  This year I want to hike more.  I want to explore.  I want to test my limits and backpack solo.  I want to circumnavigate Crater Lake. I want to participate in a snowshoe walk for breast cancer.  I want to snowboard at least once.  I want to live in the moment and do crazy things.  I want to become a gear tester and a hardcore blogger.  I want to inspire people.  I want to lead people into the wilderness.  I want to become a guide for the Sierra Club.  How? by HIKING 1,000 MILES THIS YEAR!!!

 #4 resolution: Career it up!  I want to be passionate about my future.  I want the desire to study, to read, to write.  I want to ensure that my future is secure and that I have a chance to make a difference in the world.  I want to prove that I am worthwhile and that I'm special. I want to do well on my GRE.  I want to be desirable to my graduate school and show them that I can do the work and succeed without exception.  The plan?  READING, WRITING, STUDYING, NETWORKING.

 

SO WHAT ARE MY SPECIFIC GOALS FOR 2014?

~LOSE 100 POUNDS

~HIKE 1,000 MILES

~SCORE HIGH ON GRE

~SIERRA CLUB LEADER

~NETWORK WITH WWU

~BE GOOD TO MYSELF 

What I'm Loving Now: December 2013

I guess this is going to turn into a monthly occurrence, since it's about this time I really wish I had a few new gadgets!  So here's the next installment of the gear I'm craving at the moment.

The Tubbs Women's Wilderness Snowshoes. I've looked at a lot of snowshoes and these seem to be the ones I keep coming back to.  The innovative Fit Step Frame makes for smooth and effortless walking in all types of terrain.  From groomed trails to deep powder, these snowshoes can keep up with whatever adventure you want to tackle.  The Active Lift heel lift, the Wilderness aids in your steep ascents. Unfortunately this is the only feature I've read problems about.  People said that it was too stiff and that they couldn't lift it with their trekking poles life you're supposed to.  Where this may seem like an issue, I don't think I would want it to be easy to lift.  I would constantly be concerned with it falling back down when I needed it the most.  Maybe it locks in place or is sturdy, but it would always be on my mind.  But for $199 (or sale as low as $159) seems like a pretty good choice to me! 

Tubbs Wilderness Women's Snowshoes 

What I'm Loving Now: November 2013

I really wanted to write about some of the pieces of gear that I'm currently looking into getting.  A few of these are completely new additions to my gear rack and others are extra because I think they would be better in certain circumstances.  Or maybe just cause they are cool.

First , I found this stove on Amazon while browsing one day and I couldn't really get over the 750 near perfect reviews that it had. It is small, lightweight (3.9oz in the case), reliable, adaptable to almost any fuel source, and comes with a hard protective case.  So where is the catch you might ask?

Well, I found one.  It's $6.  Plus shipping and handling, of course.  Wait, what?!?!?!?  I know, right!  I was waiting for someone to pop out and tell me it secretly sucked, but no such Debby-downer showed up.  So I think I'm going to buy like ten of these.  Just in case there's a defect or I break one or to give out as Christmas gifts or maybe just because they're $6.  So, my suggestion is... Pick up one (or twenty) and try it out. Maybe it will turn out to be the best backpacking stove.  Ever.
Amazon Ultralight Backpacking Stove

Second, I'm kinda all about being very prepared.  I guess that comes with years of experience as a guide and my WFR training and being a lifeguard and a Girl Scout and a woman... You get the idea; I like to be prepared for every situation.  And one of those that makes me the most nervous, since it has happened, is being in the backcountry and having your filter die on you.  Especially when you know the water isn't the cleanest or the only water source is murky and gross (like most of PA in the summer), I would really love to start carrying a backup emergency system.  But these two items, can kinda be used just on their own.  I guess it just depends on if I like them more than my Platypus Gravity Filter (which is big for one person).  So without further ado, the Life Straw and the Sawyer.

The LifeStraw weighs a mere 2oz, can filter up to 264 gallons of water, and it is a straw.  Completely idiot-proof.  Just stick in water and drink.  They are marketing it to under-privileged countries that have limited access to safe drinking water and for the price ($20) they should give one to every person in that situation.  Hell, I'll buy two and send one to a mother in the Congo.  So, another item I'm eager to buy and give a go.
LifeStraw on REI

The Sawyer Squeeze system can get a little more pricey than the LifeStraw, but it is just as fun and small.  First off, it comes with its own pouch water bottle.  Second, it screws onto most normal bottle tops.  Thirdly, it filters 1,000 gallons of water.  Fourthly, its $20-40.  Need I go on?  If only it came with a cleaning system...  Oh, wait... It does!!!  (Add to checklist for future gear testing...)
 Sawyer Squeeze Mini

Life Lessons: Laugh

“Laughter is the sound of the soul dancing. My soul probably looks like Fred Astaire.”     ~ Jarod Kintz
“If you wish to glimpse inside a human soul and get to know a man, don't bother analyzing his ways of being silent, of talking, of weeping, of seeing how much he is moved by noble ideas; you will get better results if you just watch him laugh. If he laughs well, he's a good man.”     ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky
“I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints.”     ~ Billy Joel
“The human race has only one really effective weapon and that is laughter.”     ~ Mark Twain

They all have it right: Mark Twain especially.  This world would be a much better place if we all took the time to laugh.  To forget our worries and forget our greedy ambitions and realize that we all laugh and cry and bleed, and that is our common denominator.  Those are our unifying factors.  These are the things that need to bring us together and we need to forget what divides us.

So start each day with a laugh, end it with a giggle, and make at least one person roar everyday until their sides split and their faces hurt from smiling.  If every person awoke with this resolve, the world's problems could be solved.

Laugh.

Life Lessons: Make Memories

You know the age old saying, "Take only pictures, leave only footprints"?  Well, I realized today, when someone asked me about my favorite adventure, it's not the photos that I remember.  It's not the images that I've printed or posted to Facebook.  It's not the albums I've made or the pictures I framed.  It's the memories that I remember the most.  It's the moments that took my breath away, the ones that made me feel invincible.  The smell of pine and the wind blowing against my skin.  Those are the things that can't be captured in photographs.  But it's what we take away inside us that really makes it memorable.  And no one else is able to feel what we do.  It's a personal and intimate experience.  And some moments aren't for sharing.  They're for our own telling; a way to keep the experience alive.  Because no one else is ever going to feel the exact same way you do.  And that's why those moments and those feelings and those memories are so special.  It's because they're unique.

So venture outside and create those moments that you will hold inside of you forever.  Remember the way they made you feel and you will always carry with you a gift of a moment that can never be replaced or repeated.

What I'm Loving Now: January 2013

I bought a sleeping bag today!  A Kelty Coromell Down 0!  I read a ton of reviews on this sleeping bag and it has mostly awesome reviews.  It's warm and lofty, the down retains its shape nicely and it packs small and its light!  Seems perfect.  Did I mention I got it for 50% off?  SteepandCheap have a 30 day unconditional return policy, so I'm going to take it on some serious testing runs.  Starting in my backyard.  And when the temp dips down to the high teens, low twenties, Ellensburg becomes the best place to start testing a new piece of winter gear.  If all goes well, it'll pass my tests and I'll be able to take it into the backcountry.  Up into the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, North Cascades National Park, or the Okanogan-Wenatchee Wilderness Area.  The bag even opens all the way and can be used as a blanket with its removable hood!  How cool is that?  Welcome winter world, here comes fun!

Life Lessons: Use 'Epic' as a Verb

I just got done re-reading an article Backpacker Magazine published about the Lake Tahoe Rim Trail.  It's 165-mile circumnavigation of the second deepest lake in the US.  The author starts the article this way:

My younger brother Robert is the kind of person who uses epic as a verb. Bare-chested and howling atop a 10,000-foot peak, cigarette in hand, flask at his lips, wearing what appears to be one of those undersized swimsuits favored by European men, he'll say, "We just epiced that mountain, bro!" And I'll pant, "Yes, brother, we did."

This got me thinking about the word 'epic'.  Webster defines the word as "extending beyond the usual or ordinary especially in size or scope".  I guess that's true...  An epic stands beyond the normalcy of life and encourages the extraordinary.  But it's so much more than just something abnormally large.  As the author's brother is able to understand it, it's a way of thinking and consequently, a way of doing.  When you conquer something new, you should bask in the glory of your accomplishment.  You gave all of your effort and then some and now you have your excitement and pride to show for it.  As long as we have the desire to conquer amazing things, we can surely do them epically.  SO next time you get that promotion, climb a new peak, finish a 5K, or bike up that crazy hill.  Stand on top of your imaginary podium, pump your fists in the air, and say, "I just epiced that!"