Preparation for Life and the Trail, Part 1

It is with mixed feelings that I begin our story.  When I was first approached to write this, I thought it would be a great opportunity to share our experience, and potentially be a therapeutic outlet for me while he is gone.  Today, and this week, the hike has become very real. Today I am emotional, scared, and not interested in addressing what is going to happen in a mere 2 months. However, I that is not fair, and that is not what I signed up for.  So today is going to be a bit raw.

My fiancé and I met a little less than 2 years ago. We are the typical mid-30’s (okay, late 30’s for me) dating couple. We both come with our baggage at this point. That being said, we were very up front about our expectations from each other, based on that baggage. Kyle’s baggage (if you could call it that), was that he went hiking. And not just little strolls, or week-long adventures. No. Kyle did hikes that would take 4-6 months to complete. The option was to be on board, or don’t bother boarding the ship. For my part, I had been a single mom for 9 years. Having no one around was commonplace. Therefore, the idea of him being gone for long periods of time did not worry me. I could handle it. I had before, I can now.

Kyle and I have different ideas of hiking. I like to hike however I am more of a day tripper. I need a place with sound structure and running (hot) water to come home to. Kyle can sleep on the ground, shit in the woods, and go long periods of time without a shower. Hmmm. Ok. We had to meet in the middle. We took our first trip together about 6 months into the relationship. We went to Sedona, go an AirBnB, and proceeded to do a few day hikes out there. We did the typical Cathedral Rock, Devil’s Bridge, Doe Mountain, and Schnebly Trail. Every day we came back to civilization, and every day I got my warm shower, functioning toilet, and cozy bed.

In May of last year, we decided to go to Estes Park, Colorado. Again, we decided to stay at an AirBnB. This time, I branched out a bit. The AirBnB had no running water. This was a very big step for me. This was my first pit toilet, and my first time going days without showering. We hiked Emerald Lake, Alberta Falls, Loch Lake, and Estes Cone. During one of the hikes (I believe it was Alberta Falls), we managed to hit sun, a thunderstorm, and a snow shower all within the 8 miles. It is true what they say about this part of Colorado: If you don’t like the weather, wait 2 minutes.

We continued on getting to know one another, all while know the PCT loomed in 2019.  It seemed so far away, and not something we had to have in our reality, so we did not.

Eventually fall of 2018 came, and we knew we had to start thinking about things. He knew when he wanted to start, however there was the lottery to get through which ultimately determines your start date for you. I ended up doing the lottery for him as he was in Texas doing his desert training. While not the date he wanted, he ended up with May 7th. In hindsight, this was probably a blessing given the amount of snow that the Sierra have seen this year. Also, during this time, we started thinking about how involved I planned to be as the support person. I knew I wanted to send packages and be involved in making sure gear got where it needed to be, but I also wanted a bigger part. I wanted to know that I had a bigger influence on the comfort of his trip. I decided the best place for me to have influence would be over his meals on the trail. Interesting choice for me, as anyone can tell you, I am not a chef. I knew a bit of learning was in order, but we still had time…

This past Christmas, he asked me to marry him, and of course, without reservation, I said yes. Both of our rings the Mt. Whitney range. They were done by Cronin Jewelers out Colorado, and they are truly amazing. I will go into detail about the proposal in a different blog.

Stay tuned for Part II, adventures in planning and dehydrating!