Today

Walked 4 miles.
Biked 5 miles.
Huzzah!

Lots Done on Vacation Week

All last week, CJ and I were on vacation near Park Rapids, MN at my parents' cabin. With a week off, I was able to work on my 101 things.

First, CJ and I went on a bike ride on the Heartland Trail with friends. It was an 11 mile ride, and that goes toward my 1000 miles.

Also toward my 1000 miles were a couple hikes, including one at Itasca State Park. One more park toward my 20.

Itasca State Park has a huge Minnesota Tourist Attraction: the start of the Mississippi.
That's one more tourist attraction for the year, and a very cool spot. CJ and Jeff walked across the Mississippi, but my batteries died on my camera at that moment.

Another great tourist attraction we visited was one of the huge Paul Bunyon statutes in the state.
Pretty cool, right?

Additionally, I drank a few new beers and two new wines. I failed to eat a meatless meal last week. And I read two books. All pretty good.

Two New Goals

Quick update on my goals.

I removed 'Hike the Superior Hiking Trail' and added 'Go on 10 backpacking trips.'

I also added 'Attend a burlesque show' because it is something I always wanted to do and needed to add one more goal to get to my 101.

8 Miles

This weekend, I backpacked 8 miles. And they were the longest 8 miles of my life. Dear jeebus, they almost killed me.

On Friday, Tammy (whom I'd never met) and I headed down to Richard J. Dorer Memorial Hardwood State Forest in the pouring rain. After losing our way for a short time, we ended up at the Reno area of the forest where we met up with the Minneapolis/St. Paul Backpackers Meet Up group.

Luckily, they were much more prepared than we were. They had a large tarp set up. We were able to set up our tents under the tarp and then move them to their permanent spots. From there, we headed into "town" to the bar.

Our first campsite, in the morning after the rain. Photo by Tammy Ren.

I chose this trip for a couple reasons as my first backpacking trip. It was marketed as "easy", and "just a few hills" and "4 miles the first day and 2-3 on the second." LIES. ALL LIES.

In the morning, we shuttled some cars and started off on our hike. It had rained the whole night before and we ran into quite a bit of mud our first half mile or so. But what's a little mud? Nothing.

Then we came to our first "easy little hill." Yeah. 300 feet or so up hill. Up a steep hill. Up a frickin' mini-mountain if you ask me.

Then we did 3 more of them! I almost died like 12 times. I'm out of shape. Seriously out of shape. I would walk 20-40 feet up the hill, then need to rest. It took me forever to get up the hills, but going down the hills was almost worse. I was slower than everyone going down, but not by much, but my legs and feet killed as I went down. By the last down hill, my legs were trembling as I walked down.

But, it was all worth it. Here is one of the views we saw on the first day. Notice how high up we are, I hiked that high 4 times.

photo by Tammy Ren

When we finally made it to the campsite. After 5 hours of hiking, I was beat. I forced a smile, but 5 minutes earlier I was on the verge of tears and the verge of vomiting. I'm not joking.

Photo by Tammy Ren

Camp was great. By the time I got there, the fire had been started and people were just beginning to set up. I was totally beat, but got my tent set up. I was afraid I wouldn't get up if I sat down. We had lunch, then dinner and sat around and enjoyed each others company.

Everyone on the trip was awesome. People stayed with me the whole time, even though I was slow, and were very encouraging. I learned a lot of tricks and tips. Heard great stories of other places they have been and people they met. And learned some great places in Southern MN/Northern Iowa/Western WI I need to check out.

After a terrible night sleep, we were up again in the morning. I knew it was to be an easy day. One down, one up, and the rest down. Perfect. I knew I could handle it, even though my body was sore and I was tired.

The next day, we saw more pretty views.

Both photos by Tammy Ren

Total mileage was about 8 miles, technically. But that is as the crow flies. It doesn't count all the up and downs we did to get from point to point.

It was a great trip. I know I'll be doing a lot more backpacking because I had so much fun, even if the trail did kick my ass. I learned how out of shape I am, but also how far my body can carry me.

Due to this trip, I may change one of my biggest goals, which is to hike the Superior Hiking Trail. I know now there are so many wonderful places to backpack in the state, I don't want to limit myself to the SHT, which some points are up to 7 or 8 hours away from home. I've got to think on it.

*All photos used with permission from Tammy.

Read 4 Books A Month

The month of April has come and gone and I was more than successful in reading 4 books. I guess part of that was due to my new love for graphic novels. I read 6 graphic novels last month and one memoir.

Of the six my favorite was Blankets by Craig Thompson. It is the story of a boy growing up in a very religious household. It does a great job of portraying his childhood, into his teenage years. It is an honest look at religion, sexuality, friendships, and life. Really wonderful.

I also read The House at Sugar Beach by Helene Cooper. What a great memoir. Cooper tells the story of growing up in Liberia in the privileged class and having to leave for the United States when unrest takes over Liberia. It was interesting, emotional, and smart. I'm not one to like memoirs normally, but this one was truly excellent.

I have a few books ready for next month. I'm going to read Sigurd F. Olson's The Singing Wilderness for MNRead, a bi-product of MNSpeak. I'm part way through the bizzaro The Gargoyle. And sitting next to my bed is the graphic novel Palestine.