Have you ever bitten off more than you can chew? That’s pretty much how I live my life.
Case in point:
Wilderness Heals. A three day hike in the beautiful White Mountains of NH for a cause that means a lot to me.
It’s a fundraiser for the Elizabeth Stone House (please donate HERE), an organization that supports women who are experiencing abuse, homelessness and/or addiction.
I love the wilderness. I love hiking. I love the opportunity to be part of a solution. Sign me up!
Understandably all participants need to do at least one training hike before the three day weekend.
I signed up for three hikes. Then my dad unexpectedly passed away and, well, you know. Anyway, I was only able to make one.
I was told it was a more challenging hike than the other two but hell, I’ll give it a shot. How hard can it be? Famous last words.
Ten miles. Four thousand feet up. Four thousand feet down. While carrying a gallon and a half of water and other necessities in a back pack. Holy. Sh*t.
Kudos to the other women on the hike who seemed to breeze through it as I was having an epiphany: “life is challenging enough. I don’t need to make it any more challenging.”
We completed the task. Made it out of the woods alive and unharmed. And though I couldn’t sit on the toilet for two days afterwards because my quads hurt so much, it was worth it.(?)
And I’ll be ready for the three day in a couple weeks. Though I did request the least challenging hikes for all three days. I’m hoping there is such a thing.
Here’s a few pictures:

This is a sign at the parking lot before the hike begins. It made me feel empowered! YEA!

A lovely view somewhere along the trail.

Another lovely view.

Oh look. Another view. I think this was from one of the summits. We hit two….though for me, one would have been sufficient!

At this point, I’m quite sure I was delirious.

Post hike dirty legs. Because of course it rained. And the already muddy trail was more muddy…muddier, as it were.

My new boots. One of the team leaders kept telling me to just walk through the mud and I wanted to say “but these are new boots! I don’t wanna get ’em dirty just yet!”. Oh yea, and it’s a good thing they’re waterproof because….we walked through streams. My feet did not get wet.