She who hikes and climbs

Our Pacific Crest Trail trip......I was starting to get nervous and anxious about it around 4 weeks before we were to depart. This is in part because I felt under prepared, scared that I might not be able to do that many miles (100) or days (13), and petrified of the blisters I knew I was going to get, the trail closers from the fires, and the air quality due to the fires, also played a factor in how I felt.   Then the weekend came and my friend L who we were supposed to meet at the junction of the North fork Sauk trail and the PCT (she planned this whole thing) had a family emergency and was not able to come along with us. I thought that B and I would cancel as well. But he insisted that we go. On Tuesday when we were supposed to be leaving I tried my hardest to convince him that we shouldn't be goin on this adventure. After much discussion and I mean lots of discussion, we loaded up the car with our gear, the kids, my in-laws, us and proceeded to the trail h...

My husband and I decided that we would try and get one more hike in before our backpacking trip and before my brothers wedding. We both knew that things were going to get busy and we wouldn't be able to get away/find the time. B decided that we were going to do a more difficult hike for me to train on....if I am honest all of the hikes that I had done previously weren't that difficult, and he wanted me prepared to hike lots of elevation gain while carrying a heavier backpack. So Vesper Peak it was. We left earlier in the morning to beat the heat, but it was still warm when we arrived at the parking area. Side note: There is a pit toilet but it is disgusting, I almost threw up walking into it. Also there is no area to get water, except for some places a long the way that you can collect and purify the water. Shortly after passing the "toilet" there is a river crossing, in fact there are 4 river/stream crossings if I remember correctly and the distance between...