Change of Plans!!

Okay…. I’ve been MIA for awhile now. I know this is nothing new!! I’m coming on the end of my studies so I have been very busy.

My PCT plans have changed a little… I was planning on doing a NOBO hike in the summer of 2015 after I graduate. I won’t be graduating until May so that kind of throws that plan out the window. I am also going to Ghana in September of 2015 for 4 months. I was thinking of just hiking a NOBO hike when I return in 2016 but I am not sure yet.

New plan: So my dad is now retired from the Army and has been getting into camping and doing things to keep himself busy. He mentioned that he would be interested in doing the PCT. I think we are going to shoot for a SOBO hike in June/July before I head to Ghana. We are thinking of doing all of WA and ending at The Bridge of the Gods. We live in WA so this would be perfect for us…and a bonus is with two people we can spread our gear out!!!

I’m excited about this new idea and I think it will be a perfect father/daughter bonding trip!!

I’ll keep you posted

Back At It..

Well, I haven’t really posted anything since Jan…. I guess I haven’t really been up to much since then. I’m in my final year of graduate school and my PCT plans have changed a little. My first goal was that I wanted to hike the PCT in 2015 after I graduate. As it turns out I wont graduate until May of 2015 and I have to take another class that will go until July. So, that pretty much threw a wrench into my plans to hike in 2015 since the ideal time to start the hike is in April. This really upset me because I didn’t know what I would do for a year before my hike. I didn’t want to find my dream job because then I didn’t know if I would ever get on the trail. I have found my solution that will give me job experience but allow me to hike the PCT in . This solution is with a company called UBELONG. I plan to spend 6 months in Ghana volunteering in a hospital. I plan to be in Ghana from September 2015-March 2016. This will put me back in the country for about a month before I start my PCT hike.

I have started to get more gear for my hike, so I plan to have most of my things before I leave for Ghana, so that way when I return home I will only have to prep my resupply boxes. I have my pack, tent, stove, sleeping bag, shoes, and some of my smaller items. I plan to update my gear list soon.

I’m excited about my trip to Ghana because I have been researching it and there are a lot of parks in the country with amazing hiking trails. Hopefully I will be able to do many hikes while I am there.

 

I will write another post soon with more info about the gear I have purchased and my Ghana trip.

 

Shay 

Indecisive… LIFE

As you may know from reading my blog I am in grad school right now for my Masters of Public Health. My plan was (is) to hike the PCT in the summer of 2015 after I graduate. I still really want to do this.BUT  I’m now looking at continuing with school for a 2nd Masters degree in either communications or public policy/government. My main career goal is to be a Public Health Advisor for the Department of Health and Human Services in D.C. 

With this I’m not sure if I will be able to hike in 2015… I’m applying to NYU, John Hopkins, and Georgetown after I am done at OU. Hopefully starting in the Fall of 2015. So, It may or may not put off my trip depending on when I graduate and if I get into one of those schools..Hopefully Georgetown!! 🙂  Ahhhhhh… Life decisions, I may have to settle with a section hike or do half of it then, and finish the rest at a later time.

First PCT prep hike

 On Sunday January 19th I set out at Greenleaf Lake to go on my first long PCT prep hike. I woke up at 6AM and drove for almost 2 hours to reach my destination. My goal was to hike the south loop which is about 10 miles round trip. I thought that this would be a good first hike with my backpack. I only had about 10-15lbs in my backpack for this day hike.  I had 1 gallon of H2O to get me through the day. It was about 30 degrees when I set out on the trail and there wasnt a cloud in the sky. It was BEAUTIFUL. There are not very many hiking trails close to home so I looked on the All Trails website to find some that were within 2 hours of me. The Greenleaf trail is about 18miles round trip if you take the north loop.

I was going at a very decent pace at about 20min miles. at mile 5 I stopped to take a break and eat lunch. I thought that since I started at the official trail head which is a mile from the unofficial trail head that I needed to turn around at mile 6… Boy was I wrong! As it turns out I missed the turn-around and I didn’t come to this realization until I was at Mile 8. So I just decided to finish out the whole trail because by turning around I would have had to hike the same amount that I would if I just finished the whole thing out.

I saw only a few hikers on the trail but I saw a TON of armadillos. They would jump out onto the trail as I was walking up and scare the crap out of me. They were pretty cute lol.

Around mile 10 I lost the sight of the trail markers… I ended up getting lost in a sticker bush field. NOT FUN!! My legs are so scratched up, It looks like I got attacked by a cat.

At this point in the day I had had enough. I just wanted to get back home so I could watch my Seahawks play and go to sleep. I ended up doing 18.16 miles in 8hrs and 46mins. In the end it was fun but very tiring and I need to practice a lot more before I even think about doing the PCT. I’m excited to get out and try some more trails.

It took me about 4 days for my blistered feet to stop hurting and for my legs to not be sore anymore. My pinky toes are black and blue and I think I may lose the nail 😦 But other than that I am ready to get back out for another trail.

M.I.A.

So I haven’t posted since Christmas… I actually haven’t done much since Christmas 😦 It seemed that I had one nice day while I was home over the holiday, so I only got one good hike in. I’m back in OK, and last weekend it was 69 degrees!!! WHAT! I did go on a quick 4 mi hike, but I didn’t take any pictures(same place I went before…not very exciting). I started my 2nd semester of grad school this week and boy it’s going to be a lot of work this semester. My mission is to find cool hiking places within an hour drive of me.. I need to branch out of Tulsa if I am ever going to find decent hiking places. I’m thinking Sunday I am going to try to get up early to go hiking somewhere new.

I left my awesome hiking shoes at home in Seattle… I didn’t notice this until I went to put on my shoes and I put my feet into my hiking boots.. There is no need for boots on the trails here in OK. I’m lucky I have the BEST mom in the world and she is shipping me my shoes and she even paid extra because she knew I would want them by the weekend.. What a great mom!!

In other news, I applied to a new job in the laboratory here in Tulsa. It will be more hours and more work BUT a $10 pay increase.. That will help BIG time in funding my trip. My goal for 2014 is to pay off my credit cards by June and then save the rest of my money for my trip.. I’m the WORST at saving money but I need to try. At least a few hundred a paycheck should help. I’m really aiming to get my tent and sleeping bag and stove by this summer so I can go on a few overnight trips.

Well, i’m signing off.. Just wanted to give a quick update

Home Sweet Pacific Northwest!!!

I’m home for Christmas here in the PNW, visiting from Tulsa. It’s good to be back home for a little while. I just finished my first semester of grad school with a 3.3 gpa. Not bad I guess, 2 B’s abd 1 A. I’m glad to be done with this semester but I’m kind of looking forward to going back to school.

My second day home started off pretty gloomy out but I was determined to go for a short hike. I’m SO glad I did, it turned out to be a BEAUTIFUL day. I went to Point Defiance Park located near downtown Tacoma, just a short 20 min drive from my house. I did the outer loop called 5-mile drive. It goes along the outer edge of the park and has some cool trails leading down to the beach. I just did a quick 1he, 3mi hike, with a short trip to the beach.

Here are some pictures of that beautiful hike.

There was an eagle flying overhead

Love the beach

Christmas

My family was good to me and bought some items off of my PCT wishlist!!!! I didn’t get my tent or sleeping bag like I really wanted but I got some smaller items. I’m forever grateful to them for supporting me on this adventure I’m going to take.

So excited about my PCT calendar!!

Now I really need my bag and tent lol kind of useless without them haha

Camp stove is needed next but at least I have my sporks

First and only injury of Christmas, cut my finger on my knife

Tattoos…

So I have been thinking a lot about my up coming PCT hike (2015). I have a tattoo on my arm of birds and I have been planning on adding to it, just not sure how.

 I knew I wanted to add things about my hike once I hike it, so I’m thinking of adding to it with different aspects of each place I stop along the way and with anything that really makes an impact on me during the hike and just make it a very unique piece. I know for sure I’m going to add a compass rose and I want to add a half of a sun at my wrist with ‘wanderlust’ written in the sun to signify the start of my journey.

Finals..

I haven’t been able to post or go on any hikes this past week because it is the dreaded finals week…Eeeekk

 

I’m headed home to WA in two weeks so I am hoping I can get some good day hikes in. It will be cold but so worth it because the views in WA are WAY better than what I have here in OK. For Christmas the only things I have put on my “wishlist” are camping gear! My family must think I am crazy.. Usually I’m the clothes and shoes type, but not any more! I’m hoping that I get my tent and sleeping bag. That way I will have most of my big Items for my trip. Now that I have a good feeling for how school and work are going I have a better idea on how to plan training sessions. I also need to be better at just working out in general, I have been slacking on that part and it is making me feel like crap.

When I did my BA I was active duty AF and completed it through an online college. It was easy and I always joke that it wasn’t a real school. That is why I knew that I wanted to go to a “real” school for my Masters. I was in shock when I was accepted into the University of Oklahoma. Boomer! My dad went to OU for his BA and MA, so it was very exciting to be able to say I went to the same school as my dad. It’s tough getting back into the swing of school. Studying is not my strong suit, I know that it will benefit me in the long run, it’s just hard to look that far in the future when I have classes now 😦 Next semester will be my tough semester because I have to take Biostats and I HATE math. I’m going to have to work extra hard at that class since I know that me and math do not get along.

Well, I should get back to my studying….I would get an A in Procrastination if it was a class

Walking in circles…

It is the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I have the day off so I wanted to be as productive as I can be. My plan was to get up at 730 (haha) so I could go to the VA here in Tulsa and get set up with them so I could see a doctor. I was able to get up at 930 and be out the door by 11. Now, my frustration begins…

So, at the VA (Veterans Affairs) You have to have an intake appointment whenever you move to a new location. Doesn’t make much sense to me, but that is how the cookie crumbles.. So I have the day off and I decided to go down there and try to get an appt. Being that I was deployed to Iraq I am considered an OIF (Operation Iraqi Freedom) veteran. I served in the OIF war so it classifies me in a different category. Myself and all the other OIF/OEF (Operation Enduring Freedom) vets have to see a certain clinic within the VA. Now, You would think that since most the vets coming in the system today are probably OIF/OEF vets that there would be more people working in the OIF/OEF clinic. Well, that’s not the case…there is ONE, yes ONE person who can do intake appts for that clinic. So I was basically given some paperwork to fill out and told to fill it out then turn it back in and I would be contacted later… Did I mention that the ONE guy is on vacation. So, now I have to go back next week and take time off work to sit there and try and get an appt. THEN, after my intake appt I get to go back on another day and try and get an appt with a doctor………….AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

This situation frees up my day (good thing)! So, I decided to go to Turkey Mountain here in Tulsa and break in my new trail shoes. I also decided to wear my brand new Buff http://buffusa.com/sports?gclid=CN7Ek6rvhbsCFSRk7Aodp3EAJw It is a PCT Buff and I LOVE it. I was at Starbucks and the lady there said she loved it..     It is a cool crisp 35 degrees out today and not a cloud in the sky  Turkey Mt is a wilderness trail, not really a mountain, here in Tulsa. I had decided to do the yellow trail which was a 4.4Mi trail. Once I made it to the switch back in the trail I decided I wanted to go on the pink trail which was on the opposite side of the yellow trail.. I have all day so I figured that I would just walk along the trail till I made it back to the trail head. Here are some pictures of the beginning of the trail.    Once I crossed into the pink trail I was supposed to pass a small lake called Pepsi Lake, then make my way up to The Old Washing Machine. I passed what I thought was Pepsi Lake (mostly dried up) and wasn’t sure if i was on the right track to The Old Washing Machine. While I was walking I was just enjoying the scenery and the feeling of being out on the trail. I passed under this weird tree that jetted out across the trail (very cool) and I took note to that tree. I was going to take a picture but I didn’t. This tree would later help me realize my mistake. As I was walking along after the weird tree I got a text message from my brother so I stopped to look at it and well, me and technology don’t mix well… I FELL! I always fall when I go hiking, the PCT will be interesting.  It wasn’t too bad, just got a little muddy.. I laughed about it for far too long before I got up and started walking again. Anyways, after I fell I came across The Old Washing Machine; its a real washing machine lol  It had a quote written on the side and I thought that it was pretty cool.  I don’t know the history about this piece of equipment, and why it is out in the middle of the wilderness trail, but I will find out.  I love the way the bare trees look against the blue sky.

I decided that I need to start heading off the trail and get back to my car so I can continue my day. I’m walking in the direction I think is the way out, walking for about 15 minutes and I come across that weird tree again. Now that’s funny, I could have sworn I already passed this tree. Is it possible that there are TWO of these odd trees? I first think “shit, I’m lost and walking in circles” but then it doesn’t seem all too familiar so I press on thinking that it is just another weird tree. UNTIL I come across my skid marks of where I fell in the mud. Now I know that I am walking on the same trail I was just on. So up ahead is The Old Washing Machine. F**K!!! I’ve just gone in a complete circle and I have no clue how I did it. I’m officially LOST. It is now about 1.5hrs into my hike, I have no clue where I am and I’m starting to get worried that I wont find my way out (not really, I was more hungry). I’m walking, now running, then walking again just trying to make it out of this stupid pink trail. STUPID PINK TRAIL! I eventually find a main road and I just start to walk along the road in the direction that I think is the right way. At this point my phone has died. I walk on the main road for about .5Mi and I come to the old parking lot of the trail. At least I know I am going in the right direction 🙂 I can finally see the parking lot so I start to walk down the HUGE hill and I make it to my car. YAY!!!!!!!!!!! After 2 hours and 11 minutes I  am done with my hike and I have burned quite a few calories. I’m not sure the exact mileage I walked because my “map my run” app stopped working at .82Mi. BOO!!! I’m going to say at least 5Mi.

I’m pooped! I’m now sitting at Panera eating a Sammy and tomato soup! Yum! I’m going to go and get my oil changed then head to crossfit! Very productive day; minus the getting lost!

I’m happy that I was able to get out on the trail, I’m going to go again on Friday and probably Sat and Sun as well.

HAVE A HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!!!!!!