This picture has absolutely nothing to do with my life lately.  I haven't stood on this mountain in Vermont or any mountain for that matter in quite a long time now.  Well, unless you count standing on the side of a mountain on the PA Turnpike, but I don't!

I was just wondering the other day as I was walking through the Target parking lot in the cold wind, whining about having to scrape my car windows to go home what this place looks like now, covered in snow.  I hate the cold, but someday maybe I'll go check it out and see what it looks like in the winter.  MAYBE.

I neglected to do a goodbye/hello reflection for the beginning of the new year, since I was in New Jersey for my grandpa's funeral.  Honestly, in the midst of everything I didn't really think too much about the New Year... I spent it with my family in my grandpa's house watching Abby and Nick do the "Gangam Style" which was quite different than my usual New Year's but interesting none the less.  (Those kids are crazy!)

So, 2012 passed behind... with its ridiculous 5 jobs in 12 months, 400 miles of hiking in Arizona and a trip to the belly of the Grand Canyon that was beautiful and hard, nearly 500 miles of hiking on the East Coast that were lonely but AMAZING, being annoyed and entertained by my family, and making fun new friends while holding on to my friends who have endured my crazy antics.  In 2012 I learned how to succeed at things I didn't plan (like The Long Trail) and fail at things I planned on (like the Arizona Trail).  I learned what makes those Starbucks baristas so happy all the time (unlimited free caffeine) and what Target is like after its closed (creepy!).  I learned how to live without planning more than a few weeks ahead and how to make plans for the future without knowing what is coming.  I learned what its like to live with your heart in many places and how to love a place I didn't know I missed.

2012 was nuts sometimes, but mostly just happened... with its craziness and unpredictability.  2013 is just as unpredictable and I'm excited to see what's ahead... cause I have NO idea what is next.  

Simple. Christmas. Joy.

I've been thinking a lot lately about simplicity. I'm a pretty simple girl, I tend to appreciate things that are easy, uncomplicated, laid back. Working retail this time of year definitely has me appreciating the simple things even more.

I really love Christmas. Not in the way most people do though. I love Christmas Eve and the beauty of candlelight and celebrating with my church family. I love the decorations, lights, and cookies! But what I really love is Christmas Day, after dinner, when everyone has gone home and the house is calm, the tree is lit, the rushing is done and I can just enjoy the simple beauty of Christmas.

Maybe I'm nuts (likely) but after all the craziness and over the top celebrations, I love to be reminded that its really all about a simple, quiet story and hope in an unlikely place. Simple joy.

(This may be one of my favorite gifts this year- although it's also my first one- a simple nativity made by my friend Kim and her daughter Maya.)

CRAZY..

Yesterday I was getting ready to head to Target for another Thanksgiving weekend marathon shift... 11 hours of finding all the delightful things that our 'guests' leave all over the store and putting them back where they belong, digging popcorn out of places I didn't know popcorn could get to... Folding the same pile of shirts 14 times (no exaggeration) and cleaning up shattered snow globes. Yay, I love working retail at the holidays!!

None the less... I was heading to work and checked the mail on my way to the car and what did I find? A big envelope with a certificate and patch... My end to end packet from the Long Trail!! A happy reminder of an amazing, beautiful journey... And many surprising, important journeys to come. I am blessed.

A few months ago (sometime in the summer) I got this envelope in the mail.

I didn't open it.

Partially because I remember getting it when I was rushing through the house and partially because I pretty much knew what was in it and I wasn't ready yet.

See... (because I am weird) I had wanted my name on the list of AT thru-hikers for 2011.  That's when I did it really, that's when my friends walked... 2011 was a pretty great spring/summer/fall on the trail.  BUT I really didn't do it all.  I had skipped about 490 miles (ish) in Virginia and then 105 miles in Vermont.  After finishing I went back to Virginia... but it got cold and lonely and started to snow, so I went home.  Leaving about 275 miles still left undone.  So, TECHNICALLY I wasn't a thru hiker.  However, my trail friend Mojo told me that I was a thru hiker if I had the "essence of the trail"... 

But me, being me, I sent in the application, got my name on the list (you can check it out on the Appalachian Trail Conservancy website), and got this envelope in the mail... but refused to open it until I really had finished.  SO this fall after doing 200 miles in Virginia and 105 miles in Vermont, I am STILL 75 miles short, but it was finally time to open the envelope.

Which I couldn't find.  Because I "put it away somewhere" and didn't know where.

Today I was sorting some papers and found it.  Inside is a letter and a certificate and this:

Cause I really have walked TWO THOUSAND MILES.  INSANITY!!

Now I'm just waiting for my End to End certificate for the Long Trail... then I'll be a legit hard core hiker... or at least I'll tell myself that!! 

Pics...

Today... I saw people I haven't seen in ages.  

I walked 4 miles with my friend Betsie, and ran 3 miles on my own. (However, I still cannot walk down a flight of stairs normally.  Problem!)

I had lunch with Faye and went to Sonic happy hour with Dawn.

I looked for a job... Ya know... the usual.

What else I did today?  Looked at my pictures from the trail.  As you do... or maybe as I do!

Since I started back to subbing this week, looking at the pictures kinda makes me feel like wasn't all just a dream... 

a crazy, beautiful dream...

So... here are a few of my favorites.  You're welcome!

I REALLY love butterflies. (Even when they are likely just some form of moth...)

Dragon's Tooth near Catawba, VA.  Just one of the many amazing places I had all to myself.  Beautiful. 

McAfee's Knob.  The new ridge runner for this section took my pic, just a few miles from the end of my 21 mile slack pack.  About 10 minutes after I got to the road?  DOWNPOUR, lightning, the whole nine yards.  Me?  Slept at the Four Pines Hostel!  (Thanks so much to Four Pines... what an awesome place... if -by some ridiculous chance-you hike through Catawba, stop there!) 

Then... Vermont.  I just love this piece of an old car that was the trail marker near Manchester Center.  And I love Manchester Center, that's a great town, full of great people.  (Shout out to Odie, you made my day!). And I love Vermont... but maybe I have mentioned that before.... 

This is some mountain I climbed up between Manchester Center and Killington.  I remember thinking... this is a tough climb... I had no idea how much tougher it would get!  Hahahaha 

Rock cairns on White Rocks Mtn.  Most creepy, amazing thing ever.  There were HUNDREDS of them.  SO cool. 

Heading down the Bamforth Ridge, between torrential downpours.  As you do.  (or as I do!)

It really only really rained a few times when I was in Vermont.  When it did rain?  It POURED.  And this is what the trail looked like.  So I had wet feet.  My fave.  NOT! 

And I just have the prettiest feet to start with (nope)... This day I thought, my feet are SO gross I should take a picture!  Then 10 days later, when I finally took a shower?  They were about 100 times worse.  Hiker feet make me laugh.  So foul!

Looking back at Mt. Mansfield.  Lovely. 

Overlook from Spruce Ledge Shelter.  One of 2 nights I actually camped with anyone the last 2 weeks I was out... and there were 15 of us crammed in the shelter during the... rain!  Crazy. 

Then my camera died.

Then it was miraculously resurrected to take 2 pictures.  This is one of them, of the border line between Vermont and Canada.  Cause I walked to Canada.  SO cool. 

It took me a day and a half to find my way back to Williamstown, MA where I had left my car.  It was TERRIBLE.  Partially because of poor planning on my part (or no planning, but hey I didn't ACTUALLY think I would make it to the end!) and partially because North Troy, the closest village to the end of the trail is in the middle of NOWHERE.  Literally!

Luckily I got a ride with this guy, took three different buses, walked 3 miles, and got another ride with a nice lady from Cinci who lives in Williamstown (random)... and finally got back to the Saturn... where someone had left me some homemade cookies.  They were GOOD. 

I love hiking.

True.

"I went to the woods because I wished to live life deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life... and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."

-Henry David Thoreau

**Sunset from Rice Field Shelter, Pearisburg, VA

... My feets are tired!!

Currently: White River Junction, VT
Long Trail? 273 miles... Done!

This morning I was walking along, over a ridge, and suddenly? There was the sign. The same one (basically) I passed 21 days ago on the Massachusetts- Vermont state line... But this one? It says Northern Terminus... And it sits about 20 feet from Canada!! Then I skipped up over a big old rock and kissed line marker 592... I'm classy like that!

So, after 22 days I landed myself at the Canadian border... Surprising no one as much as myself. I may not be the fastest hiker, but I managed to haul myself over some big huge mountains, through some pretty tough terrain... And I did it all on my own. Crazy. Sure there were people who encouraged me, gave me tips and researched for me, and generally cheered me on (shout out to the Brown Sugar Boys, Florida Mike, Patrick, and the Antiques dealer in Jonesville), but I walked pretty much by myself. It wasn't easy (I'd even say it was MUCH harder than the AT), my shin is back in not good shape (but ice should help), my back is sore and my legs and arms are MESSED up from hitting trees, rocks, and roots.

But I'm proud of me! It was a bigger feat than I was planning to undertake, but it was AMAZING, and the leaves were beautiful! I've seen pretty things on my crazy hiking adventures... But mountain for big huge mountain, every crazy climb was capped with amazing views and beauty.

I am so blessed. As I head to Ohio soon and dream of journeys to come, I know this... These crazy, sometimes lonely, beautiful, rugged, hard weeks on the Long Trail reminded me that hard work pays off and beauty is always up the next mountain... And it's worth climbing!!

However... My feets are tired!! Who wants to massage em?!