Long time, no see!

Hi everyone! It’s been a while. Too long, I’d say! In September and October, I had some trouble with my energy levels. When I wasn’t teaching or hiking, I felt very tired and slow. I think it’s just a typical pattern for many people, and I’m slowly recovering back to my regular motivation levels :)

I went on a few hikes, so I think I’ll post about them now!

On September 14th, I went on an overnight hike. It was a 12-kilometer path, which was much shorter than I was used to!

The first part of the path was very easy. It was a dirt path that used to lead to a small town. However, a bad storm damaged it a long time ago, so the town was abanadoned, and in the woods and on the coast, you can still see pieces of the old homes!

There was a cool suspension bridge that connected the north part of the East Coast Trail (a part I haven’t hiked yet!) with the trail I was about to do. I went on it just to experience it.

Below the bridge were some seals! It was so cool to see them so close!

From here, the actual trail started. And almost immediately it was pretty tough! Some tough climbs led into the forest that became a little bit easier.

By the time I got to camp, I was quite tired. Pikachu was having a good time, though!

First thing was to find a suitable spot to set up my tent. All of the tent platforms were very broken, so I couldn’t use any of them. Luckly, there was one patch of flat, soft ground that was almost perfect for my tent, so I got it set up quickly!

In that picture, on the right, you can see my river water container and the filter that I use.

And on the left, I used my sleeping bag holder to store all my food, and hang it high in a tree! (I used my hiking poles to put it up there.) I’ve never seen any bears while hiking, but I have seen signs of bear, and I know they’re around. So I wanted to be safe.

Speaking of food, this was my first hike where I could use a type of food called an MRE - “Meal Ready to Eat”. It’s a type of military food, or emergency food, that has a filling meal inside, even a dessert! It’s not luxury food, but the taste is actually not very bad at all!

Pikachu is hungry, but she needs to wait! There’s a chemical inside the plastic pouch that reacts with water to heat up the meal pouch that I place inside. It doesn’t need to be cooked, but it tastes much better when it’s hot!

Hmmm, high-class dining in the forest! It tasted pretty good, even though it didn’t heat well. I’m still learning how to use it, and these MREs are old, so I think the chemical isn’t working correctly.

After eating, I was able to relax, and sleeping on the grass in my tent was actually pretty comfortable!

The campsite was only about 4 kilometers away from the town, so it was a much shorter day to get to where my husband would pick me up. However, as usual, I was very tired on my second day, so I didn’t take so many pictures, but here, the shore was so beautiful I had to spend a moment to capture it!

Look at how happy I am after a long hike!

I made it to town and relaxed for a while until my husband picked me up!

This was a longer post than I expected, so I’ll finish for now!

Next week, I’ll post about my hike two weeks later, much longer and much more difficult!