A day in the life

Here's what a typical day looks like for us on the trail:
5:00am - wake up, put on hiking clothes, do minimal personal hygiene, pack stuff up, take down the tent, eat breakfast (poptarts/oatmeal/Power Bars/NutriGrain bars, fruit leather/dried fruit, sometimes coffee depending on how much fuel I have)
6:30am - start walking
8:00 or 9:00am-ish - 20-30 min. break, shoes off, snack (something very junky, like a candy bar or cookies)
8:30am or 9:30am-ish - walk some more
11:00am-ish - second break, shoes off, more snacks
12:30pm-ish - break, shoes off, lunch (tortilla, salami/pepperoni/peanut butter/Spam/tuna, maybe some cheese, another snack)
1:30pm - walk some more
(one or two more snack breaks in the afternoon)
5:00pm - 7:00pm-ish - get to camp, set up tent, change shoes and socks, unload pack into tent, cook and eat dinner (some form of pasta, another snack)
8:00pm - write in journal, go to sleep

That's about it, every day. We stop pretty often to take pictures and look at cool things, and we seem to be on a slower, more relaxed train than some other hikers who've passed us. I prefer this strategy. One thing I've realized, though, is you really just have to keep going. If you come across something intimidating, you could backtrack a questionable amount of miles and erase all the hard work it took you to get to that point and try to find a way around it, or you could just give up and go home...or you can take a deep breath and move your feet forward. Whichever option you choose, you have to move. I've already faced a lot of fears (steep cliffs, narrow gravel trail, slippery snow) and there's a lot worse to come (the Sierra), but once you get past that minute (or mile) of hesitation all that is required of you is to move.