Anyway, ok I need to take the time and fill those of you in who are reading my blog on the information about the Appalachian Trail. I am sure I have a few friends and family members reading this who know very little about the Appalachian Trail. So what is the Appalachian Trail you might ask? The AT is a hiking trail that stretches 2,178 miles. The trail starts at Springer Mountain in Georgia and runs through 14 states ending on top of Mt. Katahdin in Maine.
It usually takes a person five to six months to hike the entire Appalachian Trail at one time. A person who does this is called a thru hiker. Oh, and it is thru hiking not hiking through. :-) Some people day hike the trail while other's decide to hike the entire trail over many years doing what they call section hikes.
Since I am still in the learning process about this whole experience I cannot give you the most in-depth information on the Appalachian Trail. However the Appalachian Trail Conservancy website is a great place to learn about the trail. Here is a link to the info page on the trail. Check this website out and read up on the trail.
Ok, another great website that I am reading ALL of the time is TrailJournals.com. This is a site that hikers use to journal about their hikes. I am following the journal of a girl named Windy who is hiking on the trail right now. You can find her journal here if you are interested.
The best journal I have come across so far is Certains journal. She hiked the entire AT between 07' and 08'. If you have free time and this interest you, you can find her journal here. :-) I highly suggest reading it. She hiked with another girl who has a journal as well so you might want to check that out if you enjoying reading Certains journal. I suggest starting at the begining of the journal and reading through. At the end of each days entry check out the photos in a new tab on your browser before moving on to the next days entry. Just a little helpful hint.
So that is a little info about the trail as well as some websites for you to check out. In other news, I did a little hike this past Saturday. I went to Watson Mill Bridge State Park and hiked the hiking/biking trail. It was two and a half miles long. I finished in about forty five minutes so I was very happy about that. I will definitely go back to that trail because it loops so I can just do the loop over and over to build up mileage. Rule of thumb in hiking is that it takes you one hour to hike two miles. This can change depending on elevation gain/loss, trail conditions, etc,. Since I just started hiking seriously I think forty five minutes for two and a half miles was pretty good. I am thinking about going back at some point this weekend and doing five miles. I want to go hike the Raven Cliff Falls trail which is five miles but it is over an hour drive from my house and I have an accounting test next week. That means I should study all weekend and do practice problems. Yuck! ... Back to my hike from last weekend. So this is probably the first hike I have done that I did not wear makeup. lol I know that is sad huh? I do go walk without makeup a lot but as far as going day hiking I usually wear makeup. I took a picture and I am going to make myself post it. haha Ugh!!!!!!!!!! Oh, and I wore my pink bandanna. WooHoo.
Here are a couple of photos... I made the photos smaller so that they do not take up so much room. I have tons more so maybe I will link to a photo album eventually. I have to make time to sit down and do that.
This trail was very pretty. Part of it runs right next to a river. It has a few up and down hills but overall just a good easy trail to start out with.
What else to talk about... You know sometimes I feel as though I am experiencing "grown up life" backwards. I got married very young and was divorced at 21 years old. I am now back in school full time with one year left for my bachelor's degree. I will be 27 in July and sometimes I feel like I have lived a lifetime since I was 19 years old. Should I feel guilty for wanting to take six months out of my life to hike? Shouldn't I want to settle down, get married, have children?? Well, I do think about those things but I believe we have to do things in our lives that make us happy. When I was in high school I thought by this point in my life I would be long finished with college and now working for a hockey team as an athletic trainer. It is funny how life takes you in a different direction than you had planned for yourself. I would have never made it through the science and math required for an athletic training degree so I guess that worked out well huh? ;-p In less than a year I will have a sports management degree. If you had of asked me six months ago I would have told you that I am going to law school for sports law. Now I am leaning towards a parks and recreation masters degree. I am not sure a desk job is going to work. There is so much more to life than sitting behind a desk on a computer day after day after day. Who knows where I will actually end up once my career gets started... maybe I will work for a hockey team, maybe it will be for a sports department at a University or it could be the National or State Parks. The one thing I know is that I will continue to push forward and make my goals happen. I have to focus on the things that make me happy and surround my self with people who make me happy. I have already lost to much time in the past with bad people, bad decisions and bad relationships.. I have to stay positive, stay focused, stay happy... God will guide me in the right direction and I have to trust in him and live the best life I can possibly live.
Oh, and let me take this opportunity to thank my Mom and my Dad for helping me and supporting me in my dreams and goals. If it was not for you two I would not be able to go to the University of Georgia full time and concentrate on school. Just wait... I will have a great job in a few years and be able to take care of you both. hehe ;-)
Alright... I am off to watch I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here. Sadly I am addicted to that show. Speaking of television shows has anyone watched Expedition: Africa on the History Channel? Pretty interesting show if your into that kind of stuff.
Next blog coming in the near future. As I am taking accounting this summer and must do well in that class I might not post a blog but once every week or two. I promise to post picture of my purple kitchen table soon. It does not match anything I have. haha
C
"The purpose of life, after all, is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experiences." Eleanor Roosevelt
I had never heard of "thru hiking" until I started reading your blog-so I'm glad you cleared that up hehe
ReplyDeleteI feel soo much better knowing that you wear make up when hiking haha I always do, although I feel silly about it.
Girl, you should not feel guilty about wanting to do this hike, I think it's awesome that you want to do this, and it will be such a rewarding experience for you. And then when you're done with school, you'll find a job at a national park in California and then we'll FINALLY get to meet hehe
Anyways, I enjoyed your blog as always...and I'll be looking foward to the next one :)
HUGS
Fi
Well, I have to say I think Fiona is right. You shouldn't feel guilty about wanting to take the time to hike the AT. I mean when you think about it, how many people actually want or get to do something like that in their lifetime. If I was younger, I might even consider doing it. I love the few hikes we have done together and it makes me really want to do more. I guess it really gets in your blood.
ReplyDeleteYou don't have to thank me for supporting yhou while you are in school. I wouldn't have it any other way. You have really made me so proud. I believe you go through the things you do to get you where you are today. So what if you did things backwards. You wouldn't be the person you are if you had not gone through any of that, even though some things are hard. God definitely has a plan for you.
Can't wait to see you for your birthday on July 4th and I can't wait until the next entry.
Love you, Mom