Date: 2015-06-01
From: Memory Lane

To: The Great Outdoors
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Hi everybody, this is CoMOMdo again. Just wanted to add a fun note to our now endearing AT Thru hike of 2013. We kept in touch with several hikers from our year but none more than Buddy Backpacker and his family. Since we were moms with kids on the trail Sherpa and I got very close. I eagerly followed their 2014 PCT hike, hoping to glean pointers from them when I can finally do it. After hearing about Buddy's disappointment in being pulled from the CDT this year we decided to cheer him up and join him on the Colorado Trail. Badonk is overseas...yes, life goes on. After being around each other 24/7 I feel like I'm missing an arm. Cub and I feel incomplete without her but are happy she is adventuring out in the wider world. Whoops is backpacking with her around the world too. Beast is teaching outdoor skills and my nephew SnakeEyes earned his Eagle Scout and is preparing for college. And so back to the Buddy bit...Cub and I took a leisurely drive up to Colorado via the St. Louis arch which is the best way to launch an adventure into the West. We took about a week to reach Buddy, Sherpa and D. They met us in Denver. We drove around and hung food buckets in trees so that we could keep our weight down. It also gave Cub and I time to acclimate. Being Floridians at that sea level is hard enough but we pushed it even further by visiting the lowest spot on the earth, the Dead Sea, the week before. Needless to say we couldn't sleep, eat or poop. We finally kinda adjusted so decided to start hiking. We reveled in smelling the residual AT funk of our equipment as we gleefully hiked again. Returning to any trail is euphoric for us. Sadly our bodies didn't feel the same...toenails throbbed, turned black and raised in the Croc top scrapping kind of way we forgot about, our muscles screamed, "Oh no! Not again!" but we persevered and focused on the beauty surrounding us. The trail is what we called "pillows" on the AT, which means it is soft, few rocks or roots, etc...very easy. If we hadn't been sucking in air like a recently jumping goldfish lying next to its waterbowl it would have been a cinch. The weather was like Maine, so that felt like home...it changed every 15 seconds. We had snow, hail, floods,heat and dry spells where finding water was a challenge. The wildflowers were out in full color, astoundingly dotting the horizon in a flame of beautiful color. We hiked a bit over 50 miles and had to get off per rangers' strong suggestions, as in signs blocking the path, etc. The flooding and snow were just too much for the kids. Buddy and his family plan to hike all 500 miles when the trail clears up. We were sad to leave but happy to have spent the time together. Buddy is so much bigger but still curious, full of information and ideas and still loves being on the trail. He still laughs every night and morning, so happy to be in a tent with the two people he loves the most as they tickle him and play games and now listen to him read to them. On the PCT Sherpa hiked with them, which they all loved.She will join them on the CDT next year. Buddy will Triple Crown by the age of 8! Many times we hikers talked about the immediate connection we felt towards each other. I am here to confirm that it can last a lifetime. We are forever connected to the class of 2013 and will hope to see many of our hiker friends in the future.As for me...Life is really awesome. It all took a shift for the positive after the hike. I felt like I came home with a renewed passion to really live life to the fullest. I know that whenever life pulls me down I can just escape and heal in the great Outdoors. In spite of my best efforts I did put the pounds on...sigh! I thought it was a myth but apparently not. I left at 118 lbs which is too thin for a 5'9" woman but now I'm packing my largest weight ever...144lbs. I like to think it is hiker muscle but the little muffins that reappeared on my back show otherwise, haha. Just gotta get a long distance hike together again. Cubby wants to actually attend high school now, go figure, so I will be sticking around until she finishes, with some summer and holiday hikes thrown in. I keep telling my husband, Blueberry, that he better get ready for retirement on the trail. So thanks again everyone for your support. I had a guy write the other day. He googled "AT" and "kosher" and we were the only thing that came up...so we got that going for us.