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Paper Trail

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We are a hiking and backpacking family now. (The boys are still homeschooling and using the same curriculum.) I started a journey to better health on January 1, 2013, and this year I have walked and hiked over 750 miles.  This summer, we bought ultralight backpacking gear. Kelly and I have been on three backpacking trips with more planned. The boys went with us for two of the trips and will go with us on most of our trips.  They like backpacking now that their packs are lighter than their first trip.  They also like being able to camp on our hikes instead of hiking back to the car to drive home.

I am completely obsessed with hiking. I have stayed up late researching gear and trails. I have spent many hours training on the local and not-so-local trails, gradually increasing the difficulty of our hikes until I could carry 28 pounds on my back on steeper trails.  My Fitbit does not track “flights of stairs” but I wish it did.  Maybe this Christmas I will get the upgrade. The miles are fun to watch pile up on my stats.  Kelly is far ahead of me. He has over 1000 miles this year because he walks at work too. The Fitbit has been a huge motivator for me, and, of course, the incredible views in Oregon leave me wanting to see even more.  The best part is that our family is in pretty good shape now. The boys and I are able to walk fairly long distances. The most we did together in one day was 11 miles with day packs.

This is me on The Bridge of the Gods in February of this year. My friend, Janna, and I went to the ALDHA-West Ruck and learned a ton about ultralight backpacking. It was also one of my biggest hiking mileage weekends to date. We hiked a beautiful section of the PCT and hiked up to Dry Creek Falls.

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Our family has always enjoyed nature study and nature walks. Walking along with young children does not require much fitness and I was able to get by. Young children go slow and check out everything along the way. Hiking more challenging trails is different. It feels great to be able to do the trails that once had me doubled over, gasping for air, and wishing for death. I can now climb the trails that I could not summit in my mid-20s but can now.  It isn’t body size and shape, it is strength.  My body looked better by society standards in my 20s but it wasn’t strong. Now I am stronger and I look like an older mom. I am very happy to say this and to post this picture from the top of Mt. Pisgah. It is not the tallest mountain but I did not climb it in my mid-20s when I had the opportunity.  Now I can.  In April, we took the longer, steeper way up.

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This is me and Kimberly Moore meeting in person for the first time in July. She was here from New Zealand and visiting her relatives in the U.S. We enjoyed hiking at Mt. Pisgah together. Chandler and I were thrilled to meet the creator of Arithmetic Village, a math curriculum that we loved so much when our boys were younger.
Me and Kimberly

Last summer, the boys and I camped by ourselves in a drive-up campground. Kelly was nursing a shoulder injury and could not go. I remember setting up camp was easy, but breaking camp by rolling up air mattresses and stuffing sleeping bags in their compression bags made me out of breath. The more I did, the easier it got. Now I carry a pack and climb over and under logs, balance across rocks and tree roots, and walk through streams if I have to with my trail runners. I finally understand why people love to exercise or run. It is a natural high.

This blog will now be a digital paper trail of our adventures for my future use. I plan to document trails, weather conditions, and gear, along with our success and failures. This might also be a nature study blog as I do like identifying plants and animals that we see in the woods. *Wonder* in the Woods is alive and well.  Follow along or unsubscribe. I’m not even looking at who is following.  Comments are always appreciated.

Happy Trails,
Cori


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