Month: April 2020

When starting out this blog my plan was to dive deeply into my personal philosophy and ideal system. What I am finding is that with current events this blog has shifted more into a journal. I am including ways I am bettering myself and how I am working on my mental health. In some ways this is developing my personal idea on life and I am finding that writing these post is helping me organize my thoughts in a world that is very hectic.

So I decided to do a part two of my planning for my hike once the semester is over. This process has really helped me to take my mind off of the current situation and is giving me motivation to keep working.

So back to it. Now that I have my bag weight and water filtration system all set I have begun focusing on food. For some this is the most enjoyable part of planning and I am personally having fun meal prepping and coming up with calorie rich and varied breakfasts, lunches and dinners. When hiking there are several things that need to be considered, food needs to be long lasting, durable, able to be stored in outdoor temperature, filled with calories and nutrients and easy to make with limited cooking ware.

Here is my planned meals for each day

DAY 1

Breakfast: Two Oatmeal packets, Dried Mango, Tea. Snack: Granola Bar Lunch: Peanut butter wrap with Bananas, Peanuts, Apple sauce Dinner: Rice, Spam, rehydrated vegetables, Rice crispie

DAY 2

Breakfast:Two Oatmeal packets, Apple, Coffee. Snack: Protein Bar Lunch: Ramen noodles, Apple sauce, Granola Dinner: Chikerina soup, Peanut butter and apple, Snickers Bar

Day 3

Breakfast: Two Oatmeal packets, Dried Mango, Coffee. Snack: Granola Bar Lunch: Rice, Dried chicken. Dinner: Ramen, Beef jerky, Avocado, Chocolate and Peanut Butter.

My breakfasts are meant to be very simple and quick to make requiring only hot water for cooking. This is important to me because I like to get right on the trail in the morning and lingering too long means I will most likely get cold. My snack every day is a bar of some sort, they are easy to eat on the move and often the best form of calories to get you through to lunch. Lunch as well as breakfast should be easy to cook so I choose rice and ramen barebones without any extra proteins because they are quick to make. I don’t mind making dinners that take long, they tend to be my biggest meal and its very important that I have protein in them so I can recover from a long day on the trail

The great thing about all of these meals is that the ingredients are small and able to be put in a compact bag. I don’t have to worry about stuff spoiling and I am getting a huge amount of calories for minimal volume. I have another few weeks to tweak the meals if I want but so far this seems like the most efficient diet. Planning this has definitely been a good way of relieving stress and keeping myself looking towards the future.

Something new that has helped to keep me moving through these final weeks of the semester is planning for a three day hike on the Appalachian trail. Hopefully a week or two after the semester is over I will set out to hike about 45 miles of the Massachusetts section of the trail, seeing mountains, forests, rivers and lakes. This activity is giving me the drive I need to continue working through this time.

But before I can hop onto the trail there are several things that need to be planned out for the trip. I have been taking stock of all the gear I have and am considering ways I can make my trip more efficient and enjoyable depending on what I bring.

The first thing that must be considered when planning a back packing trip is your base weight. This means how much all of your equipment and bag weigh, excluding food and water. The average goal for most hikers is to carry only 20% of your body weight. This means I want a base weight that is around 30 pounds at most.

My list of Gear

• Back Pack
• Tent
• Sleeping Bag
• Tarp
• Pot and Mug
• Utensils
• Water filter/ Bottle
• Lighter
• Clothes
• Head Lamp
• Map and Compass
• Power bank
• Phone and charger
• Book

All together my base weight has come out to be 28.6 pounds. This is pretty decent but I am currently looking for more ways to lessen the load. Because the less weight I carry the easier the hiking is and the more miles I can get under my belt. One of the best ways I have found to reduce weight is getting a lighter tent. Often poles and multi layer tent fabric carry a lot more weight meaning they take up more space in you bag and make it a lot heavier. I have opted for a lighter freestanding tent that should be able to take a pound and a half off of my base weight.

Another thing that needs to be considered when planning a hiking trip is water filtration. Especially during this pandemic health and safety are on the top priority of my list. My past way of purifying water was with iodine tablets and boiling water. But with this new pandemic I have taken a look at my old method and see that their could be issues. I recently purchased a new filter called the Geo Press that is able to handle the rigors of water from even the most contaminated sources world wide. It is able to take lead, bacteria, bugs and more out meaning that I can drink without worrying. The new filter also comes with the benefit of quick access to drinking water meaning i don’t have to carry as much with me lightening my load. My old method required more time and more water for me to get enough clean water to cook and drink with, but by being able to filter water in only 30 seconds I can speed up my whole trip.

For me planning a trip and working on ways to make it better has helped me put a goal in my future that can keep me focused during these last couple weeks of the semester. I would suggest that everyone try and make a short term goal so they can stay on track.

Why wake up with the sun? Your probably gonna feel tired, It’s cold, nothing is going on. You might even doubt your ability to even wake up that early, I know so many friends whose sleep schedules are destroyed because of this pandemic and being back at home. It seems like everything around us is changing and something staying certain is hard to find. Personally I struggled for the first couple weeks, adjusting to being back home then having surgery and now catching back up on missing two full weeks of school has really thrown me through the ringer. But recently I have been trying to find ways to get back on track and take control of my habits so I can stay motivated and efficient, especially with only two more weeks left in the semester.

My new strategy has been focusing on when I wake up and when I go to sleep. As of last week I have been going to bed only a few hours after the sun sets and waking up right before the sun has risen. That means I am asleep hopefully by 10:00 pm and awake by 5:45 AM.

I know that sounds kind of crazy and something that might be a little extreme for a lot of college students but I have found it to make a huge impact in my life. The first three to four days of this were tough, my body felt like I wasn’t getting enough sleep and getting out of bed took way more effort then it should have. It is so easy to just say to yourself one more hour, or just waste time scrolling through your phone while you are warm under the covers. But I was able to get myself used to getting out of bed right when I wake up after a few days.

Another difficult habit that has to change to make this successful is actually going to bed at a good time. Most people around my age have the same habit I do, where we lay in bed and scroll through instagram and snap chat or watch youtube. This actually is a huge culprit in why it seems like we are never getting enough sleep. By using phones before bed we are messing with our circadian rhythm. Our phones screens produce a bunch of light and staring directly at a screen before bed actually sends signals telling your brain it is still light outside. This makes it way harder to fall asleep. It also decreases that amount of natural melatonin your body produces, meaning the sleep you get is of less quality and more then likely you are missing out on valuable REM sleep. I have found that taking a melatonin supplement the first few days of starting a new sleeping schedule paired with a decrease in phone usage before bed to be very successful in helping your body get used to going to bed at a new time.

So the big question is why? Why should I wake up with the sun? For me it has given me so much time that can be used more efficiently. Because I have adjusted to the schedule, I now don’t have to use an alarm to wake up and my body naturally wakes me up right as the sun is starting to come up. I don’t feel tired and I begin my day before everyone else is up. My house has lots of distractions during the day  and by waking up early I get three undisturbed quite hours. I get to see a beautiful sunrise every morning. By the time everyone is starting to rise I have already got done the brunt of my work for the day, so I can spend the time when it is warmest outside enjoying nature.

For me waking up with the sun has put me back on track in a time where everything was pulling at me.

A five hour journey by car can bring about almost every emotion imaginable if you let it. The woods and mountain passes that lead you up and through some of the most gorgeous landscapes can bring a euphoria unlike any other. The liberating feeling that rushes through the mind when windows are lowered, and cold air and music mix, can set free a cacophony of pent up energy allowing even the most recluse of people to let their walls down. But travel isn’t always the magical thing you-tubers and social media influencers make it out to be.

Often the hour of endless monotonous traffic that is left out of their videos can lead audiences to expect a world of perfection and minimal inconvenience. But my goal in this blog post it to make a case for why life’s mishaps and imperfect moments are what make for the best of memories.

One of the best sections of my drive crazily enough was the hour long stretch of traffic. I passed hundreds of people all living their own reality, I saw dogs hanging out windows, people sining at the top of their lungs to cringe worthy songs, and families arguing. All together it amounted to a truly entertaining hour. When you take a moment to look around you and try to find the funny and beautiful things there are, tasks that can seem monotonous and boring can become fun and interesting.

Often while driving I can become lost in a mindset where I am just driving without really taking time to look around, this happens when I am just trying to get miles in, or I am almost to my destination. But when I realize that I have been so focused on just getting there I always try to look around and find the things that most people miss. Driving somewhere can be more then just a task, it can be a adventure.

Personally one of my favorite things to do is find places with great views or hidden away spots where my friends and I can hang. Just by looking around and keeping an eye out for cool sunsets and dirt roads that lead to who knows where, I have found many amazing spots that only my close friends know about. Take this picture for instance,I found this spot one day by  keeping  my eyes out for a small dirt road that I found  out existed  near the  lake and after driving for 20 minutes I found  a  small hidden  away  road barely  big enough to get a car through.  But it was worth the drive and the struggle to get out to the spot.  Now  this  has  become  one  of my groups favorite places in town  and  it only came about by taking a moment and looking for the small things. I think  now more then ever it has become important to find the time to look around and take in our surroundings.  Hopefully  it will make this trying time easier for us all.

You have to be careful when stepping out of your house. Paths and trails are like rivers which can sweep you off of your feet dragging you to new places and sights you have never seen. The road builds character and stories that will be shared for years to come. You can meet some of your best friends out in the strangest places and find people who’s way of life is unlike any other.

A trail name is a given name, often bestowed upon you by a friend. They normally relate to a story or trait of the person and is something the happens a lot on the Appalachian trail. Often people want to separate trail life from the real world and a trail name is a good way to break away from the norms of living in society. People find comfort in being christened with a new name it feels like a right of passage to being fully indoctrinated into the trail culture. My personal stories have given me two names that I am fond of and allow me to walk out of the woods with a little memento of my journeys.

The first one I got was from a friend who was in my hiking group. I had a habit of waking up early every morning before everyone else, to start a fire and make breakfast. Everyday I woke up with the sun and began moving around camp while the rest of the group slept in. I also had a habit of being very cloudy in the morning and kind of out of it. One morning I rose right before the sun came up and began the day by lighting a small fire to make coffee. My friend Jake came out of his tent a few minutes later probably roused by the smell of fresh coffee and greeted me at the fires edge. He said “good morning early eyes” and my new trail name for the group became Early Eyes.

The name sprang from nowhere and is seemingly inconspicuous and without meaning. But to me that name holds a story and a time spent with friends. I didn’t write this blog to convince everyone to adopt trail names or go on a five day hike. This blog was meant to remind everyone that great memories and times can come from small things. In this time where we are stuck at home with only family and work, it has become increasingly important to create these small moments that bring meaning into our lives. Stay up late watching a movie, read a new book, or enjoy a sunrise with a friend. By doing something of value everyday you can combat the feeling of being stagnant and fill your time with memories that will last after this pandemic is over. Search for the habits that bring you joy and stability in a world that is uncertain and depressing more often then not. Know that in time this all will pass and you will come out of it having grown and who knows some of you may have new nicknames to boot.