It’s no secret. I love oatmeal, all the ways. One of my favorite ways to have oatmeal is steel cut. I love the texture. It’s usually something I’ll eat when I find it at restaurants because I feel like it takes too long to make …
It takes a village to raise a child. That means multiple influences, lots of input, and lots of help to develop that precious being. How we develop even as adults can be the same, lots of influence helps us either change in a good way, …
Sleep is my friend. If I don’t get enough of it, every aspect of my life suffers. My house becomes more messy, my kids become a little wilder, and productivity creeps to a crawl. Not only do those things suffer but so do my health routines. If I don’t get enough sleep it’s like pulling teeth to get myself motivated to workout. Also, did you know that when you aren’t well rested your willpower tends to slide, which makes choosing junk food even easier. I don’t know about you, but I need all the help I can get with that battle.
Because I’ve been feeling extra sleepy lately, I decided to see what things I can do to help me sleep a little better at night. Apparently, food can have a huge impact on catching good Z’s. Since I love food so much, it seemed that should be the place to focus on. Do you have to cut any of the following items out too?
My kids will see this and think “What?!? Water is the cure for everything according to Mom!” Drinking a glass of water before bed is actually recommended. BUT chugging water in an attempt to get hydrated, before bed isn’t a good idea. Waking up for potty breaks defeats the purpose of a good night’s sleep. If you’re working on getting hydrated, which has many health benefits, try working it in to your routine throughout the day.
Salsa, or curry, are known to cause heartburn. Arrow to the heart! Laying down actually makes heartburn worse. I don’t know about you, but I like salty foods with my spicy, like chips. Sodium can also cause more bathroom visits. Sounds like Taco Tuesday may be best as a lunch date.
Have you noticed that I’m listing some of my favorite things first? It’s best to try avoiding chocolate later in the day. It actually contains caffeine and another stimulant called theobromine. Maybe instead of having dessert after dinner, you could try having it as your lunch treat. You could even try having white chocolate instead, it doesn’t have any caffeine in it. Or try substituting carob chips, be warned though, not all carob is created equally.
Decompressing with a pint of Ben and Jerry’s at the end of the day, is not only bad for your waistline, but it can affect your sleep and cause more midnight wake-ups. Saturated fats and sugar have been shown to result in less effective sleep. That also means if you’re a coconut oil fan like me, it may be a better idea to use olive oil in the evening instead. Bonus to switching to olive oil at night as it has been linked to better heart health.
I used to be part of the “I’ll have a couple drinks and konk out” club. #3yearssober While alcohol is a depressant, which means it can help make you sleepy, it doesn’t help you get into deep sleep. Deep sleep is where all your recovery happens, without that you probably won’t be waking up feeling well rested. People say some alcohol may be good for you, BUT the “health benefits” they speak of can be received by many other foods. Case in point, whole grapes contain reservatol, just like wine, but without the negative effects of a hangover or hurting your liver.
Drinking a cup of hot tea is my favorite way to chill out at night. It’s actually one of the most recommended bedtime remedies. Well, be sure that your tea is an herbal one. Chamomile is my favorite. Green or black tea contains caffeine, which not only can keep you awake, it is also a diuretic… Seems like the bathroom is very big on disrupting sleep .
Not only can foods disrupt sleep, they can help too. Try munching on some of these foods to help you sleep better at night.
These are amazing at killing a sweet tooth. Kiwi also contains serotonin which helps induce sleep. Two wins in my book.
Tryptophan is an important part of pumpkin seeds. Not only does it help with the depression fight, it helps improve sleep quality. Try using these as a topping on salads, or having them as part of your snack-time routine. I love eating mine roasted with a little salt, you can try my recipe here.
Going vegan was a tough decision. I love all the creamy pastas, creamy ice creams, and everything cheesy! Cutting out meat was no problem, although sometimes I still crave beef jerky. Thankfully I’ve found some tasty substitutes to suffice that. But the pasta sauces?!? I …
Looking back at those two weeks I can’t help but feel like it only lasted a minute. Sure some of the passes were grueling, and I wanted to give up, but it’s been four months since I got home. It seems like the time since …
One week done and I’m still alive! The fires sure made me nervous that we wouldn’t even make it to the trail, let alone this far. There was a bit of smoke from the fires during the first few days but its pretty well cleared up by our second week, I’m glad we ditched our masks at MTR. Last week was about getting settled into our mojo, this week, is all about the real struggles, the hurts, the bickering, and the boo-boos.
August 15, 2018: Day 8- Everything hurts…
Fish Creek/Silver to Bear Creek Trail
Miles: 14
Everything hurts… My toes, my ankles, my knees, my hips, my butt, my shoulders…I’m sure I missed something else… are all sore and tired. We made it even further today than yesterday. I can’t really say that I enjoyed today. We even got rained on once. Our total mileage was at 16.5 miles. We hiked over Silver Pass and another hill that, in my opinion, should be considered a pass. There were so many switchbacks!
The upside to those bazillion miles is it gave me a lot of time to think. I pondered on where my happiness lies. Thought about a lot of good times and some not so good times. Time here is short. Made me realize I need to spend more time with those I love. I’m grateful to be hiking the JMT with Natalia, she understands the need for quiet time. I’m not sure I could spend this much time with many other people. As painful as today was, I really do enjoy being out in nature. It’s refreshing to be in the quiet and not have a bunch of responsibilities, just carrying my own weight and getting to and from where ever I need to be. Much to continue thinking on…
JMT Lesson #8: When you’re hurting, deal with it now, don’t let it fester.
August 16, 2018: Day 9- Soaked!!!
Bear Creek Trail to Camp past Muir Trail Ranch
Miles: 16.9
Soaked!!! Today we adventured to MTR (Muir Trail Ranch)…it definitely lacked excitement. It was cool to be able to dig through the hiker buckets. There was lots of good stuff left behind, crazy how many batteries there were. Makes sense though, I shipped batteries for my headlamp at each resupply and tonight was the second time I’ve used it.
If there’s one thing I’d pass on to anyone prepping a resupply at MTR, it is to be there early. We were there around 4:30 and that wasn’t nearly enough time to get our buckets sorted, repackaged and ditch the extra stuff. Our canisters are packed full, and we have two odor proof bags of other things like sunscreen and bug spray. We are curious to know what VVR’s (Vermillion Valley Resort) resupply is like because everyone here seemed so grumpy.
Today we were anticipating around 13 miles but didn’t count the mileage to MTR or the mileage to our camp spot. We finished the day at 16.9 miles. I was feeling it before MTR but after it started dumping rain, all I could think about was how wet we were getting. Setting up a tent in the rain is not fun, definitely felt the added weight in our packs too. I’m looking forward to resting on Saturday.
I’m starting to feel a little homesick. Miss my family, miss my pups, my couch, my shower. I’m glad we are about half way done with the miles but still have quite a few days left. I was bummed there was no cell service at MTR, I was hoping to call the kids, get a dose of their craziness, call Troy and get my fix.
Almost forgot to share that we had our first barefoot river crossing of the trip, and I fell in…I’m not really sure how it happened but I got a bruise on my foot and shin, and a scrape on my knee and forearm. I fell on one side so only part of my pack got wet, and my shoes got wet. All of that happened after I watched Natalia cross and jokingly told her I might have to rescue her. Lol. I’m just glad it was warm so everything could get mostly dry and I wasn’t cold.
JMT Lesson #9: Plan for the worst so that when you get there it isn’t as bad as you expect.
August 17, 2018: Day 10- Halfway…
MTR to McClure Meadows
Miles:12
Halfway… We made it to camp at 5 o’clock! Just enough time to settle in and eat some dinner with time to spare before going to bed. We hiked 12 miles today, even though we only anticipated 10.9 miles. We are a little bit past the McClure Ranger Station, Natalia found us this great spot a distance from the trail. It’s set up like it’s a group spot, even has little log benches around a fire pit, and it’s close to the water. I may get to swim tomorrow!
We almost skipped our rest tomorrow because we weren’t sure we could make it for our resupplies, but we were able to pack in the miles the last few days to do so. I’m sore but not as sore as I anticipated, maybe God has something to do with that? This trail really can get to a person, so many thoughts going through my head. Just today’s canyon was really impressive, makes me realize how small I am and how vast this world is. It’s hard not to feel connected to something Greater than I out here.
This makes me think a lot about home. Especially about James and how much better of a job I could be doing with him. If I’m supposed to help raise him to be the best he can be, I need to start working harder on that. I’ve become so engrossed in becoming my best self, I’ve left some of the most important people in my life to suffer. Not saying taking care of myself should be set aside, but I definitely need to re-prioritize. #thoughtsofahiker Enough of my inner thinking, I made it through a barefoot crossing without falling in again. Today has been a good day.
JMT Lesson #10: There’s value in everything, even the tiny creepy spider. You just have to look for the good.
August 18, 2018: Day 11- Rest day number 2…
McClure Meadows
Miles: 0
Note to self: You can still get sunburnt on your rest day. It was nice to have a low key day. Spent most of the day by the creek, Evolution Creek. Just soaking up the sun, listening to classical and Christian music, along with the flowing water. We also got destinkified. It’s amazing what a little shampoo can do for a girl’s spirits.
It was also the perfect day to get laundry done with how warm the sun was. We, mostly me, were definitely smelling ripe. We haven’t been able to do much laundry with all the rain we’ve had the last couple of days. It was nice to be able to fit almost all our things into the bear canister again. Natalia has been making sure we eat, and eat, so there’s room.
JMT Lesson #11: Patience is a virtue. Not really a JMT lesson but we had two baby deer and their mama close by. Natalia patiently waited so she could get just the right shot.
August 19, 2018: Day 12- Are we there yet???
McClure Meadow to Starr Camp
Miles: 14.7
Are we there yet??? Today we hiked 14.7 miles. We thought there were only 11.8 miles to hike so when we hit 11 and still had even further to go it was quite a disappointment. We hiked by Evolution Lake, Sapphire Lake, and a few others but I think by far Wanda Lake was the prettiest. The water was so blue, wish I would have gotten a better picture.
We made it over Muir Pass today and got to check out Muir Hut, which was pretty cool. I really appreciate brick work, it’s neat to see something someone put together one small piece at a time. It was crazy how much water there was today. Tons of crossings but even most of the trail was a small creek, thankfully it was shallow so we didn’t have to get our shoes wet. We are both counting down the time till we are done. The scenery is beautiful but the up, then down, the sleepless nights, are really starting to get to us. I’m glad we aren’t the only ones who feel that way though, another hiker asked us if we were over it too.
JMT Lesson #12: Don’t forget to look behind you, sometimes the view is pretty amazing. Don’t get stuck there though, you’ve got to keep moving forward.
August 20, 2018: Day 13- We are half way up, just kidding…
Starr Camp to Palisade Lake
Miles: 15+
Just a zillion more steps…
Golden Staircase…has been our toughest day yet. The climb up to Palisade Lakes just kept going, and going! It’s so frustrating to think you only have 13.8 miles and at that mileage you haven’t reached your destination. We hiked over 15 miles today and it honestly made us, mostly Natalia, want to quit. She is hurting everywhere, and I feel bad that she’s getting dragged along feeling the way she does. I almost want to tell her to go home at the Onion Valley resupply. I don’t know if I’m brave enough to hike the last bit alone though. It’s actually pretty encouraging to see so many single women hikers. There’s by far more single women than men on the trail. We thought we would be alone most of the trip but there’s an average of 40+ people we see everyday. I love that almost everyone is so positive too. Eight sleeps left.
I wish I could say that our camp spot was epic after such a long day. Yes, it was beautiful but there were no bathroom options. Thankfully there was no need to go number two because there were absolutely no trees to hide behind.
JMT Lesson #13: Don’t get caught up in the numbers. You might miss the beauty of the waterfall on the Golden Staircase.
August 21, 2018: Day 14- Accuracy, yes please…
Palisade Lake to Lake Marjorie
Miles: 13
Accuracy, yes please… Overall today was a decent day. We hiked over Mather Pass, it was tough but going down the back wasn’t nearly as bad as some of the other passes. We love the dirt trail, rocks and gravel make for sore knees and ankles. It was weird, the side we went up had trees and looked pretty. As soon as we got over the top, it looked so desolate, there were lakes and other mountains but almost just dirt and rocks, no trees.
We’ve been trying to do our laundry on our lunch breaks, which has proven to help with drying time, but also means our lunch breaks have gotten longer. I also try to get a swim in a lake but today was too cold. Natalia told me I looked like an Eskimo, I probably would have been fine had there not been so much wind. The mileage for today was 13 miles, and we actually only hiked 13 miles! The last bit of the day was uphill and tomorrow we start the day going up Pinchot Pass. I’m glad we ended up at Marjorie Lake like we had planned.
Today was the first time I actually got “mad” at Natalia. Silly to think about now but when you’re tired, and ready to be done, have to pee, emotions tend to be heightened. All is well though. She had been really struggling with the hike today, so I told her to sit down and relax while I set up the tent. The wind blowing it around proved that my stubborn/grumpy self needed help. It helped me to resolve the anger and along with talking it out and explaining what frustrated me to begin with. Communication is definitely something I need to be working on more at home. James gets so angry without trying to fix the problem, I need to help him with that. #BeabetterExample. I’m learning a lot about things I need to work on out here…
JMT Lesson #14: Don’t get so caught up with the big things that you miss the small things. Little flowers are pretty too. <3
Guess what that means? I’ve only got one week left on the JMT, and of course, the juiciest, or biggest TMI moments, would have to be saved for last. Lol! Seriously though, I’m a little embarrassed to be sharing about them. Hope you’ll check back next week to read about my final days.
Two or three years ago I watched a movie called “Mile, Mile and a Half.” It was about the experience of a group of friends backpacking the John Muir Trail together. The scenery and challenge called to my inner adventurer, BUT, I didn’t have anyone …
My sweet tooth is colossal! Sometimes I feel in control of it, sometimes I binge on the sugary goods for days, or weeks, at a time. When I was in high school, my mom would give me lunch money. Half of it would buy …
This year has been a year of self discovery. And sharing about this adventure is LONG overdue. It all began with a “Why not?” And an unexpected friendship after such a long time searching for a friend that would do the things I’d been dreaming of but hadn’t done yet. I had the mentality that I was strong, thank you Spartan Race, but still had a defeated mentality in other aspects of my life.
I found out I was pregnant six months after I graduated high school. I became a mom at 19 years old. Sure, there are women who became moms younger than me, and they’ve reached for their dreams and made them happen. We are all different though, and we all come to realizations at different times, that’s the beauty of being human. When I was eight months pregnant with my son, my name came up on the waiting list for the beauty school program I was hoping to get into. Needless to say, going into my first term a week after having my son wasn’t realistic, and I passed up my spot. I thought I was placed back on the waiting list, but never heard from them again. I settled with being a waitress from then on, as it is difficult leaving a job that guarantees cash in your hand every day. (Still is tough, but I’m getting there.) That’s one of the reasons I decided I wanted to do the JMT. I needed to get out of my normal, do something to help me find the drive to push for something new. Something bigger for myself, something to help me find MY identity. Yes, I am a mom, yes, I love fitness, but I was struggling to find my happiness outside of those things. While I believe exercise is going to be an everlasting part of my life, my baby bears are going to move out some day and then what?
Getting into backpacking this year was a huge game changer. I had never been backpacking until I jumped on the JMT 2018 bandwagon. The John Muir Trail (JMT) is 220 miles of trail that starts at Yosemite and ends at Mt. Whitney in California. There are ten major mountain passes, and a few more that aren’t major but feel like it. The fastest trip through the JMT was finished by Darcy Piceu, it took her 3 days, 7 hours, and 57 minutes. Of course, that’s not the average. I ended up taking 21 days to complete the hike with my friend. Where am I going with all of this? Well, I had to be ready. Getting ready means training, trial and error, and deciding whether I’m really ready or not. Trial and error started on my first inch of the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail).
My new backpacking buddy, Natalia, lives in California, and I live in Washington so we decided if we wanted to train together, we had to meet in the middle. I drove down to Ashland, Oregon to begin the adventure. Have I ever mentioned I hate driving in the car? Nothing a little radio karaoke couldn’t help with though. After we met up, we drove my car to the trailhead and worked on getting our packs ready to go.
At the trailhead we had to divide up all the food we brought and made sure we had everything we would need for the JMT. We wanted to know with all certainty that we could hang carrying everything we were planning to bring on our big trip. After what seemed like hours, we were finally ready to get hiking.
Even with sharing a few items, my pack ended up weighing 46 lbs!!!
We decided to hike a piece of the PCT, the part that goes by Pilot Rock. Natalia found it on the AllTrails app, which has proven to be one of my favorite ways to find new places to hike. You can download the maps to your phone so you can still use them even when you don’t have cell phone service. This particular trail is 8.8 miles out and back. I don’t think we hiked that many miles because we didn’t actually hike up to the top of Pilot Rock since the weather was too crazy.
The day started out pretty nice. Blue skies and all! It sure was beautiful out despite the threat of rain. Even with the map showing the elevation changes, I wasn’t quite ready for all the uphill. Squats are one thing, but carrying 46 pounds for miles, and at an incline, is completely different. Did I mention our workout the day before was leg day? We had the GPS and the maps on our phones. They had a few water sources along the way so we were confident that we would have easy access to water before camp. We started to get a little nervous because all of the places that were supposed to have water along the way were bone dry! We ended up trying to conserve our water as much as we could to make sure we’d have enough water to cook our dehydrated foods for the day, and then tomorrow we’d scout for more water. In May, we went on a weekend backpacking trip with my family and a few of our friends. There was an abundance of water and the hike itself wasn’t nearly as difficult because our packs were so much lighter. This current trip was definitely more of the training we needed to prepare for the JMT.
We ended up meeting a couple along the way that was hiking the PCT in sections, which means they only do a section of the trail at a time instead of the whole thing all at once. After talking about how much our packs weighed and how little theirs weighed, we asked for their opinions. They agreed that we were likely carrying too much food. Just because the REI guide sheet says you need 6,000 calories a day doesn’t mean that you will actually need that much food. I definitely recommend getting out on a weekend trip to help you gauge how hungry you will be. The couple also told us about a couple of neat apps that would be helpful for when we do the JMT in August. We ended up getting to camp at a reasonable time and enjoyed a warm soup for dinner. We had a nice view of Pilot Rock and had planned to hike to the top the next morning.
Since we didn’t find a water source along the way to camp, we debated on whether we should hike further up the PCT to a possible water source that was listed on the new app we were told about, or to hike back to the car where we knew we had more water. We had some breakfast and decided to opt for going back to the car because we had a guaranteed source there. We were hiking for probably 15 minutes when it started to snow, and then it started hailing like crazy! I of course brought rain pants but didn’t wear them, so I ended up soaked from the waist down. Then as we continued hiking along, minding our own business, we came around a corner and there was a BEAR right in the middle of the trail! He was of course probably as scared of us as I was of him and ran off. But wow, that freaked me out. We ended up hiking back a little ways to catch our breath. We eventually decided to continue back towards the car, after mentally preparing ourselves, pocket knives and pepper sprays out of course. We decided after this experience that we were going to educate ourselves on bear safety the moment we got back home.
We made it to the car soaked and ready for a break. Along the way we saw there was a parking lot just off the trail and decided to drive my car to the closer spot so we could dry our clothes a little bit and warm up. Natalia found a puddle and filtered some water for us, while I took advantage of the bathroom. Once we got warmed up, we grabbed the water we already had in the car and ventured back to our tent.
Saturday night got cold. The night before we had put all of our bowls out to collect rainwater. We woke up to the water being frozen inside of those bowls. It sure was pretty with everything frosted over and sparkling in the sunlight.The sun was up and it definitely helped to cheer us up after the crazy day before. Even as hectic as it was, it made me want to stay out there longer. You’d think that snow and hail in June would make me hesitant about hiking more mountain passes, but it just fueled the fire even more. Seemed like everything in nature was more cheerful that day. I saw a deer walk through our camp, and the birds were chirping.
We ended up having breakfast and tearing down camp. I should mention that trying out different backpacking meals was an important part of our trial and error. We learned that some of the foods were delicious and worth eating again, some not so much. We wrote in our journals to help us remember the things we needed to eliminate so that we wouldn’t have so much weight and we’d be more prepared for the upcoming trip.
Less is more when you are backpacking. Knowing where there is a guaranteed water source is a must, and then a backup source, just in case. Too much food is not a good thing. And even though there are bears in the woods, losing sleep over them is not a good idea! Rest is important for the next day.
Have you ever been on a trip that didn’t turn out as planned, but it worked out and you had a good time anyway? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below!
I love fresh baked goodness. Especially when it’s sweet and tangy. I love that these muffins don’t require a lot of sugar and still taste delicious. Plus homemade always seems to taste better than the boxed mixes, maybe it’s because you get to put the …