This past summer I ventured to accomplish something out of my comfort zone. I have always been a fan of the outdoors, and after the birth of my son I feel a little more like Wonder Woman; so I thought, "why not!" So I signed up for a 6 day 5 night backpacking trip with the fabulous hiking guide-my husband. 2 friends, my husband, and myself drove to New York where we took our chances on the Appalachian Trail.
So our first day we left from My aunt Patti's house (who happens to live 1 mile from a trail head), and we set out. We were walking out of her neighborhood, when I hit my first wall. We went up an incline that made my calfs feel like splitting hot hogs. I am sweating, matt already had a tick bite, the sun is beating on us, the weight of my pack is making it hard to breathe, I am drinking almost all my first canteen of water; and I look to my right and 2 people are sweeping cut grass off their driveway trying not to make eye contact with us.
So needless to say we were off to a great start.
Our first night was near a luxurious shelter house. We set up tent and had a great night's sleep. Met a lot of interesting people, one of whom had been living on the trail for months.
So now it's day 2 of hiking. I am already popping Aleve and it's not long before I I am making threats to Matt that, "I am not doing this anymore!" After about 25 minutes of Matt saying, "Candice You're doing such a good job!" And me replying, "I hate this!" I start to get my hiking legs warmed up and my breathing is more steady. Needless to say we hiked 10 miles and I finished strong. Adrian was our chef of the trip. Most meals began with her saying, "This here could be our protein, and this is wonderful flavor, and this will be out fiber." And then she would stir the pot and WAM-O, some of the best amp food I have ever had!
That night we had day 17 of rain. I guess out of 21 days in June it had rained for 17 days. Pretty soon we and our tents are soaked. We are now faced with DAY 3 where we will be heading out for 2 days with no shelter.
There is nothing but rain in our forecast and instead of our destination looking more like this:
Bear Mountain State Park
It's now looking like we are done and leaving the trail after only 2 days.
Fortunately, even thought we feel a world away my family is only a 20 minute drive to pick us up- go figure. So my uncle came to save the day!
So after we came off the trail we did what anyone who ended their trip 3 days early would do...
We went to New York City after visiting more family in Yonkers.
I consider my venture my a success. And there's always next year to try and become the mountain mama I was looking to become. I think the trip really sums up who I am anyway.
