The Trekking Titanium

Baltimore to cleveland JUST cancelled

Bilbo finished his GREAT ADVENTURE at Baxter State Park - sooo proud of Bilbo!

CELEBRATING BECOMING A CERTIFIED INTERPRETER GUIDE!! We hiked about 18 miles or so in the last couple days - enjoying fall break at Cuyahoga Valley National Park and then MalaBar Farms - spectacular Fall days!

This soooo awesome!!!!

Digital Date Night on iFit- 8th episode in Hiking to Basecamp on Mt Everest - absolutely amazing story of original Malory’s 1920s expedition to map out route up Everest. “Hiking” to Kuhndu Monastry. Learning about the culture and history of Nepal makes is so I can’t wait to have a little work out. Beats the oppressive humidity we’re having.

Going back to school is a BLAST!!! I met another mom of a son with traumatic brain injury (from car accident) who is growing MONARCH BUTTERFLIES! Another teacher has a LAVENDER FARM AND HOMESTEAD. The great thing about agricultural tech schools is the excitement students have for their field of study. It’s not too expensive and there’s no age limit! This morning was walking around the amazing gardens identifying plants we will memorize over the next week. It sounded terrible until I realized it is 100% and we’d be spending 2 classes a week outside - HANDS ON! OSU-CFAES College of Food, Agriculture, Environmental Science

https://youtu.be/IraxZd8HecY

Virus causing record number of bear attacks in North America? Bear attacks have been on the rise for the past couple years. There have been a record number of grizzly attacks and fatal bear attacks in North America this...

If we all don’t LEAVE NO TRACE they will continue to close parks down. If we bulldoze through nature, it will not be there in the future. This is a super tough thing. We must be WISE STEWARDS. People have been so bashed over the head with the heavy dramatics of the Global Warming religion it’s easy to tune out and not care. We mustn’t let FANATICISM pull us off course from doing good with the beautiful world God has entrusted us with. Help by picking up trash. NEVER BLAST MUSIC ON A TRAIL - ever. Wear earbuds and LEAVE NO TRACE https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/08/22/appalachian-trail-crowds-roller-coaster-hikers/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=news_tab&utm_content=algorithm&fb_news_token&fbclid=IwAR3Tuf3y9cjJQTwhEKCFjpu9-f769YpdQgBlPz7mh_uDuYQxp30Z_Ve3T8o

Ruining the Roller Coaster: Can the Appalachian Trail survive its pandemic popularity? Hikers have overrun parts of the 2,200-mile Appalachian Trail, including a hilly stretch in Virginia known as the Roller Coaster. Other national parks are also struggling with crowds seeking to escape the pandemic.

Something told me to not consider going back to the trail this fall - it’s too close to hibernation. It’s very sad - but this is reality. This is the area I would need to work on next - Gatlinburg up to Hot Springs. This whole process is “Environmental Science” - the specialization I will be working on - STARTING TOMORROW! YIKES! It’s all about diagnosing and treating and managing that delicate balance of mankind and our stewardship with our natural resources. There is a lot of exploitation and corruption that goes on in this field - people who exploit natural resources to manage the humans and vice versa. Especially the political predators. They are the people who create policy that pretends to care about “Mother Earth” and then “backhands ‘her’ in the smoke-filled back room political cabals. https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/experience/america/national-parks/2021/08/20/great-smoky-mountains-national-park-bear-attack-patrick-madura-autopsy-results/8208113002/?fbclid=IwAR0OooPgA0OQ0Tt95hp-gXQccqbs9x9dpmpFS9xYUjcC_Ti8-I889FOuW_k

Autopsy: Camper likely killed by bear attack in Great Smoky Mountains National Park A backcountry camper found dead in Great Smoky Mountains National Park last year likely died of a bear attack, according to autopsy results.

Great news! I have been accepted into the Ohio State University Environmental Science program to maybe get another Bachelors in Wildlife, Fisheries and Forestry. I’m no spring chicken, but my goal is to teach and share my enthusiasm for nature with students, campers, farmers.

This is about REAL CONSERVATIONISM. This stewardship relies on 2nd Amendment Rights to safely manage over populations. Visit North Olmsted and Medina OH and see poor deer overpopulation policy.

We had our water tested, and our village water facility only cleans so much. Our water has incredibly high levels of arsenic. (We have a filter now) This is from Ag Runoff and poor policy. I relied on mostly mountain water, but Ag runoff in rural areas is a real thing.

Wild boars are a DEVASTATINGLY DESTRUCTIVE process in many rural areas and forests. This is not about “Climate Change the Religion.” I have taken extensive Geology courses and find the work of Michael Shellenberger most helpful in sorting out myth from reality. From my own study, many changes are of the natural processes of the earth.

This is about “being wise stewards of the land.” I saw both smart protections and disgusting destruction on the Appalachian Trail by the exact same policies claiming to preserve it. I also saw nonsensical implementations of policies like “handicap accessible privies” in the remote backcountry of the Smokey mountains and whole mountainsides covered in human excrement and TP because one state couldn’t bother BUILDING a privy because it DID NOT MEET handicap standards.

All of this and mostly all the wonderful things about living a bit HikerTrash and Hippie Nature lover - by extricating ourselves from the intoxicating lure of political insanity to re-attune our souls with the divine in the wild is a Holy endeavor. It’s all about that.

It’s been a little while - but I may be having amazing life news - Monday or Tuesday - after watching Rudy this week, it’s time to pursue some dreams. The trail has wrecked me from an all-day inside desk job. And since JM Smucker decided I was “not qualified” to mow lawns… (imagine studying abroad in Iceland?!?!) https://senr.osu.edu/undergraduate/majors/natural-resource-management

Natural Resource Management | SENR A major in Natural Resource Management (NRM) promotes an awareness of the connection between environmental systems and the social sciences. Coursework will help students understand how decisions are made regarding the use or protection of our natural systems. In a combination of classroom and hands-...

My new logo on some shirts I can wear on hikes or events I participate in. I love to share my story of overcoming adversity with whoever will listen. I got the BIG Titanium on my 46 Climbs charity hike. Well be going to Via Ferada - or “way of iron” in West Virginia. We will be climbing up a rock face using iron rungs and clipping on with a harness and hiking. The only curious issue with the logo is the placement on my tank tops - not too sure what people will be looking at - lol - yikes!

I invested in my branding today so I can spread the Titanium message

HIKING TO MT EVEREST! Digital world hiking series or Digital date night with Brian tonight. We are treadmilling the iFit series “Nepal: a Trek to Basecamp” an 18 part series. Tonight was Lukla to Phandling, Khumbu Valley, Nepal. We’ve got our backpacking gear shelved. (We plan to tread through movies as well.)

This is probably my best hiking distance in my recent history… I was mentioning to a friend how hard it was to believe my improvement over the last - I guessed around 8 months. Then I counted up how long it’s been since I began the AT. The reason for that is that I really had not been very physically active for a year or two before that… turns out it has only been 3 months! I was in pain with my back SO MUCH MORE, my joint pain… you name it… and add a pretty whiny attitude. All those those aches and pains have DISAPPEARED! What I took as “injured bits” were really from a terribly WEAK CORE, loose ligaments and poor strength around my knees, ankles, feet and neck… the truth is LACK OF USE PAIN is OFTEN CONFUSED WITH INJURY! After my 7 back surgeries, I can testify As living proof. Remember, many doctors make more money keeping us sick and on the sidelines or fear the risk of lawsuits. We won’t know, truly, what we can do or not until we try. Being a life SPECTATOR causes as much damage or even more to our souls and bodies as getting out there and being a PARTICIPANT.

Cross Country - Salt Run - Langes Run 12mi Loop Check out my activity on AllTrails.

And so… Brian’s back sprain, the heat and Ben is just north of us with asthma/bronchitis. The mom instinct just kinda knew he was going to get too sick. I’ve got the prednisone he needs. Trail Angel Mary (our shuttle driver and AT legend) just **happened** to get a cancelation this morning. No sooner had we gotten back to the car, that Ben calls and the coughing is affecting his ability to keep food down… he has some other health conditions that make stress - like HEAT, sickness, etc more complicated. So we are on a Ben rescue mission now. It’s fine. Don’t ever take this for granted (see picture)- lol - another mom thing going on is that this boy really needs his mom at his summit in Maine next month. I’ll never get that chance again. It’s all good.

So last night we had our tent near a porcupine family. Reports are that family nuptials and ensuing behavior was going on earlier in the week. Thankfully there was this bizarre singing one did to another at 3 am. Today we hiked over a BEAVER DAM! It was MASSIVE. The whole area is now allowed to flood. And tonight, coyotes are pinging nearby.

Tonight we are “stealth camping” at a lively site under some spruce trees and out tent on soft pine straw. We passed mass Boulder glaciers. Some ridges we balanced and walked down the spines of these great behemoths. Because of mining, and heat, the water sources up on this next section are sketchy or stagnant. We had to haul up tomorrow’s water too. One liter of water is 2 lbs. with the heat we need 3-4 liters a day with lots of electrolytes. One trick is to cook our dinners next to our water sources so we don’t have to haul our liter needed to make our mashed potatoes and dehydrated lasagne. It worked! And helped us get up this mountain to this site with stone recliners next to the fire pit.

I’m listening to the story of the first woman to hike the Appalachian Trail - Grandma Gatewood - also from Ohio and blind as a bat without glasses. She was 66 years old.

Grandma Gatewood's Walk Check out this great listen on Audible.com. Emma Gatewood told her family she was going on a walk and left her small Ohio hometown with a change of clothes and less than $200. The next anybody heard from her, this genteel, farm-reared, 67-year-old great-grandmother had walked 800 miles along the 2.....

Happy July 4th Everyone!!! We’re trying to fall asleep to fireworks in the valleys on either side of the ridge we’re camped on. What an a amazing country we live in!!!

Getting water today sucks. It’s 300 steps PLUS a steep trail down 300ft to this little stream. Yup… definitively going through a “re-initiation.” We’re a little disappointed we can’t crush more miles in a day yet - but “Dorothy, we’re not in Ohio anymore.” Tuesday’s temp will be 96. So every days hike revolves on reliable water.

Quite the first day back in Rockslyvania!

Okay… it’s the night before the trail. Here’s what planning meals for a resupply look like. 5 days til resupply. Just another layer of thru-hiking 7-dimensional chess planning

Congratulations to GADGET (Ben) for making it HALF-WAY through the Appalachian Trail!!! Way to go!!! He’s allergic to dairy so here’s a pic of his “half-gallon” challenge

I should be making my final gear decisions….but… Brian and I are a bit nervous. The heat and humidity in PA along with the rocky trails… oh and one of the shelters we might stay in is the scene of a murder of two people back in the 90s… oh and cicadas... and my foot. Let’s just say PA in July is a TOUGH thing. Our Buddy Ni**od says these are the “nerves” athletes feel before a big competition. It is VERY hard to see myself as an “elite endurance athlete.” That will take time. I did order our own personal “shady spot” that we can rig to attach to our pack straps. For only 1/2 lb it won’t take any wind, but steamy summer rain or blocking sun - it’s amazing. I’m going to put a water bladder in the pack sleeve for extra water safety, 50+ deg sleeping quilts, quickest dry clothing possible since nights will be around 80 deg. UPDATE: I’m seeing on message boards people are having to get off trail cuz of dehydration. Yikes.

“Stop making excuses and go for your dream!” Encouraging words from Dixie - https://youtu.be/E1PQGViXIE8

Who Can't Hike the Appalachian Trail I thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail in 2015 and aim to accomplish the PCT next year! I hope to encourage folks get out on the trail and enjoy nature. Thanks ...

Soooooo true!!! I’m reading up on hiking in big heat and my cahones are shriveling and picturing sweating so much the trail will look like someone’s carrying a spilling water bucket. I hear you should take extra Litre water containers or water bladder because people start needing 3-6 L /pack instead of 2

WHAT 800 MILES DOES TO SHOES (Left) Ben had a shoe resupply today in Harper’s Ferry.