I am ecstatic to say that I will be reuniting with my PCT trail family at the end of this month to finish the last 200 miles of trail that were closed last summer due to fires. I have been giddy with anticipation, so all my excitement has bubbled up as word vomit!
Brief recap of my past year:
I moved to California. I miss Colorado, but have been enjoying the beach life! Grad school fills 99% of my time. With the other 1% I do exciting things like sleep, eat, and explore southern California.
Recently I ventured back into the Sierras to the Rae Lakes and 60 Lakes Basin areas. Obviously, I am now pumped for getting back on trail. The one unfortunate aspect of grad school is that my exercise habits have been tossed aside for vending machine meals and late night coffee benders. My crew is setting an admirable pace of 25 mile days, so we will see how my body holds up. No time like the present to get back into shape! Anyways, I am packing my food boxes tonight to ship off tomorrow. And by the end of next week I will be standing in Seattle, making final preparations before hitting the trail. The plan is to meet up with my hiking companions in Seattle and then ride out to Skykomish together. We will take the trail running and zoom up to Canada. This will be my last summer jaunt through the woods before cracking down on some research goals and preparations for my new adventure to Antarctica this fall. I cannot wait to see my trail family and be back outside! My brain and body need a vacation from laboratory life.
This is all you get until I cover some ground. Stay tuned!
Elizabeth Erickson 