My Quickly Approaching Start Date

 

In less than a week I have graduated from high school, packed a total of fourteen resupply boxes, gathered my last few pieces of gear and now I am finally on my way to Maine! Currently my mom and I are in Massachusetts, which is just about halfway between Rochester and Katahdin.

I am Finally Packed and Ready (fingers crossed)

Yesterday  I took my last trip to REI to pick up a wool beanie (lets hope I don’t lose it!) and one last dry sack. I also wanted to see all the lovely people working at REI one last time before I left. I think I have everything. I don’t know about anyone else but every time I was at a store hoping that I was picking up what I thought were the last few things I would need for my hike, I would find myself repeating something to the effect of “I think I have everything, really, I think I have it all” like a broken record. This happened at REI probably the last three times I went and at the grocery store, literally every time I was there.

 

High School Graduate = Professional Last Minute Project Finnisher

I finished packing my resupply boxes at eleven thirty last night -yikes! I suppose I became very efficient at finishing projects the night before they are due as a result of the many high school assignments that I finished only minutes before the period they were due. Packing resupply boxes proved to be much harder and more time consuming than I anticipated. Nonetheless, I am thinking that the boxes will be worth the energy in there low weight and fun caloric makeup. It also gave me a way to understand how real my trip is and how incredibly fast it approached.

Leaving Friends and Family

As excited as I am for this wonderful adventure I would be kidding myself and everyone else if I said I was nothing but excited. I am undeniably enthusiastic about what the next six months and 2000 miles hold for me, but I am also a little nervous and sad to leave the people that I love so much. High school was not my thing and I am beyond thrilled to be done with that chapter of my life but I love all of my friends so much and will miss them an incredible amount. I am also going to miss my family, especially my sister.

Leaving RaChaCha

In addition to all the people that I will miss I have also fallen in love with the city I have called home for my entire life – Rochester NY. If you have never been, you should go. Though not without its faults, it is lovely and artsy and a place that I have come to appreciate immensely. The photo above features a wonderful friend and a garbage plate from dog town (they make very yummy veggie options). Though not the thing I am going to miss most, mostly because garbage plates are a fairly new-to-me cuisine, they are quite symbolic of Rochester and eating one was part of my Before I Leave Bucket List – which I accomplished most of!

On to the nervousness…

Whether my parents or I am nervous for this hike seems to be everyone’s biggest question. I can’t speak for my parents, so I will address your biggest question in regards to my feelings. I am just a tish nervous – I think that anyone who is embarking on a thru hike should be! I am about to spend more time away from home and family than I ever have. I am going to be testing my body in ways that many cannot imagine. Much of the time I am going to be without the ability to talk to friends and family. All of those things are a little nerve wracking, and they should be. I am confident in myself and the excitement that I feel triumphs the small amount of butterflies in my tummy.

Don’t let a little bit of fear get in the way of doing amazing things!

Love ya!

 

P.S. My approximate starting pack weight for the 100 mile, including food and water, is 32lbs.