HELLO!

Planning for the Hayduke trail is really fun. There are all these little bits of information all over the internet on things like water/resupply/caching/routes/alternates and one must gather them up and make some sort of sense of them/choose one’s own adventure. Basically I am going to get to walk through/sleep in/look at/take pictures off/eat snacks off of/climb all over/get scratched up and banged up by/LOTS OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL DESERT THAT THERE IS. It’s going to be freezinghot and there’s going to be quicksand and windstorms and intense vaporizing sun and the alkaline water will give me diarrhea. My pack will be heavy with layers/water/food and my feet will be wet/dry/covered in mud/sand and my cheeks will be windburned and my ass will chafe. I’ll be forced to scramble on slickrock and I won’t fall to my death. Everything will lend itself to hyperbole forever and I’ll be happy and strong and sleep each night beneath the desert sky cozy and warm because I’m bringing a new two-pound sleeping bag which is going to be glorious.

If you’d like to get pumped about the Hayduke along with me, I’m reading Buck-30’s trailjournal of his 2013 thru-hike. It’s a hoot. “Nothing is as good as the Hayduke” is an actual quote Buck-30 said to me yesterday when I was harassing him for route info.

Other cool things on the internet right now!

Jenny Bruso is a friend and queer comrade. Her hiking blog is superb AND dabbles in intersectionality, which is a rare and wonderful thing within the world of hiking blogs. Please there need to be more hiking blogs that acknowledge the larger human world and how it intersects with/informs the experience of walking in nature!

My hiker friend Melissa “The Bobcat” Wyld’s adventure memoir is free on Amazon right now! Only through tomorrow! Get it!! (If you’re seeing this post after Friday, I’m sorry. You should buy a copy anyway b/c she’s a fantastic writer!) And if you do get a free copy, read it, and love it, a good way to say thank you for the free book is to leave her a review. As a new author on Amazon, the number of reviews you have helps determine your visibility on the site. So leaving her a review helps other people find her book. Do it!