Two years ago, hiking 2,000 miles was some super-human feat that OTHER people attempted. Then my boyfriend Andrew convinced me that I could be an OTHER people! So here we go.
I will turn 30 on the trail, at which point I will have spent only 10% of my life as a backpacker. I turned to hiking as a way to experience Montana when I arrived in 2009, when I was sure the state held nothing but buffalo, endless mountains and fly fishing. Backpacking showed me that those are all GOOD things (I've yet to warm to fly-fishing, though I appreciate what comes of it). I was hooked, and meeting Andrew just cemented my conviction that a trail is a place where you feel everything that's good about the world, concentrated into an alpine sunrise or mountain goat sighting.
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| Andrew, the best hiking partner ever and wearer of enormous shoes |
So we're starting from Kennedy Meadows, when everyone else will be buff and glowing from the first 700 miles of trail. You'll know me as the not-so buff hiker with clean-smelling gear and wide eyes full of anticipation. And anxiety; I won't even begin to list all the little fears I've collected about what could happen on this trip. Andrew has already experienced the AT, the CDT and half of the PCT, so with him at my side (or 100 yards ahead of me) most of those fears are squashed.
Still, what should I expect? Will my pack be too heavy? Probably. Will I get tired of eating rehydrated leftovers? Definitely. Will I give up? Multiple times, I'm sure. Will this trip change who I am and make me question everything I have planned for my life? I sure as hell hope so.
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| A long-ago solo trip in the Scapegoat Wilderness of Montana |
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| My longest solo trip to date, 6 days in the Bob Marshall Wilderness |
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