The hike started off like any other, one foot in front of the other. However I quickly had to turn around as I had left my hiking poles in the car and this being the longest of the hikes I was worried of the knee pains. Thankfully the problem was noticed quickly and along the trail I went. The trail wound through a farm of maple trees with tubes stretching miles, literally, to collect the sap.

The trail was well maintained and walked up a reasonable grade. It wasn’t flat, but also not a staircase. The maple trees turned into birch trees and eventually as elevation increased into evergreens. The Jerusalem Trail ended at a junction with The Long Trail which remained on the ridge line. This is where I saw the first hikers of the day, passing by the opposite direction, likely thru-hiking the long trail.

Preparations began the night before, placing the rain jacket, snacks and other gear into the day pack. Batteries charged, camera ready and clothes set aside. I needed to do all of this the night before as the trailhead was two and a half hours away. I woke at 5am, and trudged down the stairs to the car, hopped in and began the journey.

In the car I ate breakfast and watched the sun rise along the side of the highway. A long while later I arrived at the trailhead. A couple of hikers just began their way down the path so I took my time getting ready, preferring to leave a little space. I extended my poles, tossed the pack on my back and walked around the car, ensuring the lights were off and the doors were locked.

This adventure starts a bit differently as I have been challenging myself to push the envelope of my comfort bubble. The simplest things to other humans on this planet challenge me and make me extremely nervous, anxious and uncomfortable. Something as simple as a drive-thru fast food pickup, or a new store/location. Recent life events put a target on how I remain deep in my comfort bubble and frankly I am embarrassed about my past and am pushing to be a me I can be happy with in the future.

I posted about the trip on a slack server for Vermont techies listing the start time in case anyone wanted to join. I had to wake very early to make it to the trailhead on time, before the lot filled up too much. I left with plenty of time for the two hour drive, until I met up with traffic. About an hour into the trip a tractor was driving along the road, slowly. It had a long queue of cars behind so I’m not sure why it never pulled over, but eventually I made it around.

I woke early to drive over an hour to the trail head. The night before I had found there was a Renaissance Faire in the area which led me to swapping my plans from Mount Abraham, the smallest 4000 footer of Vermont, to Mount Mansfield the tallest! I didn’t really intend to go for the tallest first, but the 2.5 miles from trailhead to peak seemed reasonable.

I drove through Smuggler’s Notch, first time in my life, and that was really cool. It felt very short compared to other scenic routes, but the road went from two lanes to strange shared lane sometimes wide enough for two cars, and sometimes wide enough for just one. A few switchbacks with tight turns and a grand cliff looming above.

One foot in front of the other. An act many people across the world do daily without even thinking about it. Today I took a walk in the woods along a path weaving through the trees, winding up a mountain. One step to a time.

This summer I plan to climb as many 4000 foot peaks in the north east as possible, there are 5 such summits in Vermont, 14 in Maine and 48 in New Hampshire. The New England 67. There are also 46ers of the Adirondacks in New York. This should keep my weekends busy for quite a while.

Today was meant to be the smallest peak in Vermont, about a 2 hour drive away. I was warned about the trailheads getting too full by 10am, and I didn’t wake up early enough to be confident I’d get to park. So plans changed. Instead I did a small loop that Dizzy and I took Indie on several times through the winter. We never visited this without snow and I wanted to see how it was. This was a 1 mile loop and had a few spots to look out into a bog. Not the prettiest of views, but nature is healing, I guess.

Earlier this year, _way back in early June,** **_I took my dad on canoe trip through the Allagash Wilderness Waterway. This is a 92 mile waterway stretching over several large lakes and going down the Allagash river until you reach a little town near the top of Maine. After traveling by road for hours, including hours on some well used dirt logging roads we unloaded the truck, loaded the canoe and set off on the water. This was my

• Keep at $2000mo for student loan payments. (on track to surpass)

• Read at least 6 books, cover to cover. (have read 3 books, started 2 larger text books)

  ]]>