Man, it feels good to be on a long trail again. And to be writing about it again. Opening the WordPress app for the first time since last summer gave me crazy amounts of dopamine and adrenaline. Like the years of masquerading as a real adult in between thru-hikes can be shed for the summer …
Friday, July 7, 2023 In reality, the clouds that I use to justify my decision not to hike Ben Nevis today are probably very temporary, and indeed later in the day they part and reveal a perfect morning, but the fact is that when I wake up, I simply to not feel like hiking. So …
Continue reading Ireland and UK Day 17: The Jacobite Train and Post-WHW Reflections
Ireland/UK Day 16 July 6, 2023 16 miles hiked It’s the last day of the trail, and I’m not ready for it to be. I think that’s why it takes me so long to get ready this morning, or perhaps that’s just because of how I am as a person. In any case, I enjoy …
Ireland/UK Day 15 July 5, 2023 21 miles hiked Getting ready to leave the bunkhouse is a little bit of a struggle. I knock my water bottle off the bed, wrestle with the duvet cover and fitted sheet, try and fail to remember where and how I pack things, and eventually get myself passably together …
Ireland/UK Day 14 July 4, 2023 13 miles hiked The best bit about staying in a bed and breakfast is the breakfast. Ours is large, filling, and very Scottish; I think I consume an entire day’s worth of sodium in the bacon alone. There’s also homemade marmalade and preserves, which the owners make themselves. As …
Ireland/UK Day 13 July 3, 2023 14 miles hiked Breakfast is yogurt and porridge in the restaurant. I stay there writing for a while (just like the PCT, it’s really hard to stay on top of this… but worth it) and finally go back to the room, pack up, and help Mom work out her …
Ireland/UK Day 12 July 2, 2023 15.4 miles hiked Despite feeling like absolute death last night, I feel pretty good this morning—after stretching anyway. I guess this achilles thing is just going to be for life. I need to make sure I do better with doing all of my stretches every single day, before and …
Ireland/UK Day 11 July 1, 2023 19.3 miles hiked I’m out of practice with getting ready for a long hiking day. I fumble around with the coffee maker, pack some things, forget some other things I was going to pack, have to repack, mess up the Nespresso somehow, the simplest coffee maker ever, have to …
Continue reading West Highland Way Day 1: Milngavie to Balmaha
One whole rotation of the sun ago, I stood at the monument in Campo, California, and started walking north on the Pacific Crest Trail. I wanted to write a long, meandering, weepy reflection on this day like I tend to do, but I don't think I have it in me. I really should be grading. …
I thought of it in the desert. I started it in September. I've been teasing it for months. And now it's finally available: Absolute Creatures: A Zine About Thru-Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail.
Sarahmarie Specht-Bird 