Adventure Is Out There!

So. Here it is, a blog! In an effort to keep family and friends up to date on my adventures and what I’m up to, I thought I'd start a blog where I could share stories and pictures. My backpacks also started an Instagram account if you'd like to follow that as well, ksuesbackpacks

 

So, for post numero uno I guess I'll start with my motto "Adventure is Out There". I wanted that to be the website address for this blog, but not surprisingly, it was taken :( My motto is from the Pixar animated movie Up. If you haven't seen it, I recommend it. The movie is about an adventure. And I like adventures. And I have started this blog to share my adventures with you.

"Adventure is Out There" is a simple motto. And I've found that it really speaks to me. I like adventure and I like going "out there" to experience it. My adventures mainly consist of things out of doors, like rock climbing and hiking. The best and most memorable adventure I've been on thus far in my adult life was a trip to Yosemite Valley last fall. That adventure consisted of climbing with some necessary hiking added in. If you have never visited Yosemite, I hope you get the chance sometime in your life time. It truly is a beautiful and magical place. Overcrowded, yes, but it's easy to get away from the crowds by putting just a few miles underfoot. And no matter where you are in the park whether it's atop Half Dome, driving in the car or eating lunch at a picnic table, you are surrounded by gorgeous, unforgettable views. The picture that makes up the background of this blog was taken as David and I were starting our hike down off of Half Dome. You can see that the view is endless. Granite domes and cliffs for days. Beautiful. We marveled at all the unclimbed granite and the endless potential that all of those cliffs had. Wouldn’t it be cool to put up a route of our own on one of those cliffs? Wouldn’t it be such an adventure to find a route out there?

I remember telling my parents and others that my trip to Yosemite was “the coolest thing I’ve ever done”. I remember thinking that to myself on the trip as I was climbing Nutcracker. My toes and feet hurt so bad from too-small shoes that the pain took my breath away and nearly brought me to tears, but I would look around at the amazing views I had of the valley and think about what I was doing. I was rock climbing in Yosemite Valley! I thought to myself “this is the coolest thing I have ever done!”. I thought that many times while we were climbing Half Dome and again while on the summit of Half Dome. So. Cool! I am SO lucky to be doing this!

Anyways, Yosemite is amazing and the short time I spent there intensified the solidity and important role that nature plays in my life. I want to be “out there”.

After our Half Dome adventure, we took a much needed rest day and I purchased a guidebook for hiking the John Muir Trail (JMT). By default, we hiked the first 6ish miles of the JMT when we did Half Dome and I was super inspired. I was so taken by the beauty and the views of the Sierra Nevada that I “decided” I wanted to backpack the whole JMT, before I really even knew anything about the JMT. So on our rest day, I sat in a rocking chair on the porch at Curry Village, eating literally non-stop, replenishing lost calories from the previous day’s adventure, and read the ENTIRE guidebook, cover to cover. I was all in. I wanted to do the JMT. When could I make this happen? David, would you like to do it with me? Of course he did.

Some friends that David went to college with, Bear and T, hiked the JMT a few summers ago and had an amazing trip. After David told me of their adventure I had said, “Wow, that sounds incredible! I wish I could do something like that!!” Prior to visiting Yosemite, these were the only two pieces of info I knew about the JMT: Bear and T did it. The trail starts in Yosemite and is kind of long. That’s all I knew until I decided to do it and read the whole guide book :)

From the moment we returned to WI when I had some paper to write on, I started sketching out a plan for the JMT. And oh my is there a lot of planning to do! The logistics of doing a thru-hike are pretty impressive. From traveling to and from the trailheads, to securing hiking permits, to food and calories and gear, to trying to shave off weight in our packs. All in good fun! We have created spreadsheets, read countless blogs and books, and have done our own at-home experiments with gear, packing, food prep etc.

David and I will be hiking the JMT mid-July through mid-August. We have about 28 days planned (including a few rest days!) for the 240ish miles we’ll hike. We won’t be setting any speed records, that’s for sure! We want to be able to take our time and enjoy ourselves. Everything in life feels rushed! We don't want to rush through this hike.

We are taking 2 full months off of work for our Summer of Adventure, so in addition to hiking the JMT, we’ll be making many stops along the way to and from Yosemite. This is the 7th or 20th revision of this list, but as of this moment, here is the list of places we'll visit/climb/hike:

 

1. Devils Tower, WY- we’ll probably spend a day climbing here

2. *Grand Tetons National Park, WY- we’ll spend a day or 2 hiking here

3. Yellowstone National Park, WY- we will drive through the park on our way to Glacier

4. *Glacier National Park, MT- we will spend a week or so hiking here

5. Portland, OR- we will visit Bear and T, and my cousin Alani and her boyfriend Mitch. We will drive along the coast on Hwy 101/1 to Yosemite!

6. Yosemite Valley, CA- our trip is centered around Yosemite. We will start our hike of the JMT here, come back after we finish the JMT and spend at least a week climbing in the valley. Maybe 2 weeks!

7. Death Valley, CA- we will drive through here on our way to Zion (we will have been on the highest and lowest points of elevation in the US!)

8. *Zion National Park, UT- we will spend a day or 2 here climbing and maybe hiking

9. Rifle, CO- we will spend a day or 2 here climbing

10. *Rocky Mountain National Park/Boulder, CO- we will spend a day or 2 here hiking, maybe climbing? and visiting friends from WI who have recently moved here (Brian and Amy, Alex and Ashley, Kevin and Kim!)

We’ll be heading west the last weekend in June and will return to WI and to work the day after Labor Day! We’re basically driving in a giant circle, heading northward on the way to Yosemite, and staying a bit more southward on the way back.

I will write many blog posts about our Summer of Adventure and our JMT adventure and will go into more detail about planning, food, gear etc in later posts. All of you know I enjoy planning things and have a knack for it, so you can imagine how much fun it’s been to plan this trip!

 

 

*I have always dreamed of visiting these National Parks! Can't wait!