#at2018

This is my fur niece, Blair. She’s basically a dog in a cat’s body, but just really enjoys her sleep. She also makes the greatest expressions with her face that I have turned her into a meme amongst my family.

Submission from @at2018

I NEED Meghan to wear this Khaite coat at some point this year.

Submission from @at2018

She wore a full blown cape! Never mind a cape dress!

Meghan wore a cape dress, Jess! Bless her heart.

How GORGEOUS was Meghan’s CAPE dress!!!??

Meghan’s in a caaaaaape dreeeeessssssss

not only is meghan wearing a cape, she’s wearing a color!!

Meghan is in a full length cape gown that’s an actual color!!!!!

Have you seen the caaaaaaape?!?!?! I know that if there’s one foolproof style for you, it’s a cape dress!! I’m dying to hear what you think about it!

Meg’s in a cape 😍😍😍😍😍

OH MY GOD MEGHAN’S DRESS! Jess, it’s a cape, I repeat, it’s a cape!!! She looks uhhhhmazing, the colour looks beautiful on her! *hearteyes*

9 April 2018

I’m heading back to the Appalachian Trail! In less than a week I’ll be taking off from Springer Mountain in Georgia to hike as far as my legs feel like taking me.

I first set foot on the Appalachian Trail in 2015 with absolutely no backpacking experience. My mom and my aunt drove me to Amicalola Falls State Park and I began the approach trail with a 42lbs pack. Needless to say, with three summers of long distance hiking under my belt, my approach will be much different this year. For starters, my total pack weight will be under 25lbs with food and water. I also won’t be hiking the approach trail this year. As thankful as I am that I did hike the approach trail on my first AT hike, I’m in no hurry to do it again. The falls are beautiful, but after that it’s straight uphill for 8 miles with minimal water sources. Some things will remain the same, however. My mom and aunt will once again be driving me down to the start. We’re all pretty excited about this and it’ll be fun to reminisce and sing Simon and Garfunkel in the car.

(Amicalola Falls. 604 Steps up) This week I’m tying up loose ends and putting together some of my resupply boxes. While mailing your resupply isn’t as necessary on the AT as the PCT, I like that I don’t have to worry about grocery shopping when I’m in town. My pack is all set and ready to go. I’m hoping to do a post on the gear I’m taking with me this year.

Time Travel from the Diary of J Wiggles - The Worst Day On Trail Edition

Aka the day I hiked a mountain, hurt my knee, and then got the stomach flu in the woods.

This photo is from when I was lying on the cold earth staring up at thy sky wishing for mercy.  

April 8, 2017 Day 4

BAD TURN OF EVENTS. Norovirus. Me and Jake and Jonathan. So we camped at that other site last night, hiked Blood Mountain and got to Neel Gap. I was feeling fine till then, and almost immediately started feeling kinda bad. Continued to hike and I was feeling awful - SUPER exhausted, like every step was sludging up hill. Started feeling chilled, light headed, seriously like I could pass out or just keel over. But we kept going ... 6.7-ish between camp and Neel Gap, and then another 6 or so to some camp site. As soon as we got there I was dizzy, lightheaded, needed Jake to help me up. Thought maybe it was the sun / heat / dehydration?  But I felt SO awful ... and then it hit.  Soon after both Jonathan and Jake started feeling bad so I thought PLEASE GOD CAN WE GET A HOTEL I WILL HIKE TO ANYWHERE ... looked in the book and by some stroke of divine intervention I not only had service but also found a hotel that would pick us up from the crossing 1.7 miles further. So we packed up camp and hiked feeling AWFUL ... And now we are at this GORGEOUS cabin feeling super crap-tastic.  Jake is baking out the bed and I’m sitting on the front porch shivering but feeling okay for now.

What a CRAZY 4 days.  It seems like the trail is really testing me … like it’s throwing all these huge obstacles and my biggest fears in my fucking face boom boom.  It sucks because today I feel like FUCK IT BYE HAD ENOUGH but I don’t want THIS to be the end of it.  I think I just need to recover and then think about it. Of course while I’m feeling awful I want a warm bed and a warm boyfriend and to never spend another night in a damn tent. But when I feel better I would regret making that decision in that state, weakened, vulnerable, sad. So now it’s just a waiting game. Get over this thing, move on.  But the misery of waiting to get over something like this! Ugh. Just like, put me under anesthesia until it’s done. Teleport me. Distract me. Anything. I guess THIS is what I needed from the trail, this particular challenge. Well played, AT.  So to recap today, not sure how many miles but something like 14.  Difficulty 8/10 cause DAMN. Emotions 2/10 cause DAMN. Weather, gorgeous, 60 and sunny, beautiful. Overall, sucks bigtime.  

Maybe this virus is like that dream I had, maybe the trail is exorcising the trauma, the fear, the pain, the doubt out of me.  It’s working damn fast too, through worst-case scenarios, crazy therapeutic dreams, and literal purging. Even though it sucks, this is exactly what I NEEDED in my life.  I hope sincerely that I can get through this literal and metaphoric purge and get to the part where I feel connected to Nature, alive, accomplished, powerful. Where I can connect to my truest self. I have a fear that this experience will break me, that I’ll slide right back. That my healing will halt, my preparation be for naught, my dreams get crushed.  I can’t handle that now though, even though I feel like a spring tightly stretched just wanting to bounce back.  But I can’t do that.  I need to learn to find comfort in my new shape. Old Meg - small, tight, limited.  New Meg - open, connected to the universe, ready, unlimited.  

Such a rough day, but a learning experience I wouldn’t trade for anything. On this day I learned strength, I learned that excruciating pain and discomfort is an experience that passes with time, and I learned how to not give up when all I wanted to do was give up. It’s like I’m witnessing the birth of Wiggles, the transformation from Meg --> JW.

Time Travel from the Diary of J Wiggles

April 7, 2017

10.9 miles, +1.1 off trail to a campground Weather: low 50s and sunny.  Chilly but beautiful. Finally dry. Emotions: Positive, confident, though pretty sore tonight Difficulty: 7/10 - more tough uphills but lots of gorgeous ridge walks.

Today was a lot of fun. Beautiful hiking, not too tough. Some really gorgeous views. Missing the kitty babes and home today, mostly just comfort. My outlook has remained pretty positive - I knew there were gonna be some hard days and bad weather days, but the first two were extreme. Lightning, thunder, torrential rain, getting soaked, snow flurries, and a freezing cold night last night.  Today being 50 and sunny felt miraculous. I can only hope for some warm days to keep my morale up. Today I am pretty sore, my left knee was hurting on the last big downhill, but I think after a good stretch and some Aleve I should be fine. Found this campsite 1 mile west at Jarrard Gap - Lake Winfield Scott reservation. Super car camping-esque. But the facilities were closed so no bathroom / shower / running water as we had hoped. Tomorrow we hit 2 milestones, Blood Mountain and Neel Gap. Got a package at NG to pick up though we packed WAY too much food.  

Many emotional ups and downs today ... mostly questioning if I can do this, if I will succeed or fail, if I will miss home too much.  We’ll see in good time. 

Other memories from Day 3:

Meeting and hiking all day with Jonathan aka Fib

Feeling like I was the slowest hiker in the whole bunch

Really enjoying going slowly, looking around, not being wet or cold

Realizing exactly how out of shape I really was, how difficult the gentle climbs were

People still asking “Did you do the approach trail?” and feeling smug if they had (myself included)

Feeling like we had gone SO FAR even though we had only gone about 27 official miles