I’m so sorry for my long absence, but I needed to get my head in the right place after three and a half months on trail and a debilitating injury that required a lot of attention afterwards. I wanted to share with you my journal entries from my last few days on trail, but I haven’t been able to do so because I couldn’t look at them. I couldn’t read them without instantly being transported back to the Pacific Crest Trail in my mind and the longing to be back would become so great and my heart would ache and my emotions would put a damper on my present life. I couldn’t do that to myself. Readjusting to normal life was already difficult enough. I didn’t want to make it worse.

It has now been almost three months since I’ve been back, and I am ready to share my story. I am prepared to tell you how extremely saddening and disappointing my last few days on trail were, and how hard I tried to stay out there and not go home. I am also going to share my source of joy out there, even while hurt, and how I tried to hold on to it since–and have succeeded!

I have since had many more miniature adventures, and during the past week, I’ve relocated to a new state. I have so much to share with you all, but first… I’ll start off with what I wrote in my trail journal when I still thought I could successfully complete my through-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail in the year of 2016.