Yin and yang

If you've been sitting at home wondering, "Why don't I just quit my job and go hiking for 5 months?" I can tell you it's not all flowers and relaxation.

We're now 178 miles into our adventure and we've moved a level up in this game. We're currently in the San Jacinto mountains and experiencing some of the steepest sections of the entire trail. The past few days have been slower going, with terrifying rocky cliffs (totally safe, Moms), steep climbs up and down, and SNOW! That's right, here in the desert of southern California there is even snow (when you're above 8000 feet, like we were yesterday). During the last few miles yesterday on our way down to the town of Idyllwild, we even lost the trail a few times and had to search for several minutes to find it. Luckily, we had all the footprints of the people who had gone before us showing us a few options.

Two days ago, after a big climb to a spot just one mile short of our campsite for the night, my nose decided to turn back to its childhood antics and spring a bloody leak (I'm not trying to sound British, I really mean it was bleeding)...apparently they don't call it the "nosebleed section" for nothing. We sat and waited, and after a few minutes I just shoved a little piece of tissue in there and we kept on hiking. Of course, we came across the only other hikers we had seen that day during that short amount of time.

So far, every single person we've come across has been amazingly kind and helpful. We've gotten rides from people going out of their way just to help us. We've gotten discounts at several beautiful inns and hotels. We've gotten to search through other people's discarded treasures in the hiker boxes left all over these tiny towns we've gone through (and left our own discarded items as well).

Some days when my alarm rings at 5:00am (or even before, if we're preparing for a big day) I think "Ok, time to get ready for work," because my "work" is now walking. I am still loving it, though, despite the hardships. Nolan has been a great support for me (and hopefully I've been the same for him). I'm sure there's much more to come, both amazing and difficult.