Last night after getting home from work my father said he was doing a backpacking demonstration and wanted me to go along. Unfortunately I may have to work. But it got me thinking that there are few people like me. Have you heard anybody else say that they've hiked to the top of a 12,441 ft summit lately?

I often don't know how to react when people say I should be a Girl Scout. It has come up a couple of times in the past few days. It gets me thinking of how people see me. I don't know anyone else that wants to hike for 6 months straight just for the thrill of walking 2,000 some miles over some times rough terrain and dangerous backcountry. Or any girl that is dying to get out on the water for a day of kayaking as soon as the weather warms up. Or any who climb on real rocks and stratagize when their next outing will be.

I recently took a friend to Appilachian Outdoors in State College and she was amazed at the store. I has everything from everyday clothing to rock shoes, from hiking packs to skis and snowboards. I love being able to introduce people to something new and exciting and I hope that some of them stick with it until they simply can't do it anymore. I love talking about things I know so much about. And being able to explain something someone has never heard of before.

I was recently surfing blogger and reading several different blogs. It simply amazes me that there are so many different kinds of people in the world that are tied together by mankind. I am a follower of a 16 year old girl that is making a wonderful attempt to become the youngest solo non-stop circumnavigator, which means she is sailing across the world. I stumbled across an elderly woman's blog, she was 84! and blogging about her life, she was amazed at the blogging world. I was also looking at a blog of a woman in Alaska who is a cyclist and cycles in the most extreme conditions. I would never think to go bike riding in Alaska!

Well the 40 inches of snow we were supposed to get according to the atlas thing turned out to be just about that much in rain capacity. Hopefully the river goes down a little bit so I can finally take the kayak out for a trip. I got a kayak for Christmas and have been dying to use it.

Starting in Georgia and working our way up to Maine is our next "big hike". It is about 2,178 miles long. It takes roughly 5 million footsteps to travel the length of the trail. Hiking the entire length will take an average of six months, depending on the speed we hike. Approximatley 25 percent make it the whole way. 9,000 people have informed ATC (Appalachian Trail Conservancy) that they have finished the hike, whether in one trip or over the course of many years. Needless to say I am psyched to start planning this trip. We are planning on hiking this sometime in the next three years. Whoo!

``Why do large numbers of hikers venture into the wet, wild woods with biting insects and stinging nettles, on trails lined with roots and studded with rocks? There is something different and deeply appealing about hiking in the out-of-doors. The wilder and more beautiful the land, the better the hiking. Clearly, these experiences are spiritual. It is the deep, but bright, secret of hiking. Spiritual experience is essential to our well being, so hiking remains popular.''

--- Tom Thwaites