Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Where is the time going?

It's hard to believe that in a little over 2 months I'll be on trail!  It has been a fair few years since I've had the opportunity to really book it with a pack on my back.  My last trip in the woods in a tent was honestly our OCC trip to Chapel Bluff when I returned to Warren 2 years ago.

As the winter keeps poking its icy finger in my ear, just to make me uncomfortable and be annoying, I get more and more excited to be in the desert in New Mexico, feeling the sun on my Chicago pale skin.  I'll be sure to be sunscreening heavily at the start because I can only imagine how harshly that UV will be to me this year.  Our summer in Chicago was almost entirely a long-sleeved summer, which means, even then, I did not have the opportunity to add some color or vitamin D to my life.

So what does it mean to be in New Mexico in April?  Welp, you may think that it'll just be hot, being the desert, but I'll be in the "high desert," at elevation, which means very cold nights and scorching days.  So, I'm keeping my pack extra light for this stretch and am going for running shoes, thicker bottomed because I have a fear of giant cactus spikes maiming me.

It's an amazing community so far.  I have been staling some blogs of people preparing and of people who have hiked the CDT in the past.  It's all coming so quickly!