hikes and health
Sep. 6th, 2006 12:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chelidonMy partner and I are about to go take a nice 4-day backpacking jaunt in the White Mountains, first doing some day hikes (Arethusa Falls, Mt. Avalon, Kedron Flume, etc), then on to the Appalachian Trail to climb several of the peaks in the Presidential Range -- Mt Webster, Mt Jackson, Mt Pierce, and if we feel really ambitious once we're up there, Eisenhower and Franklin as well.
We used to do a lot of hiking -- our very first long trip together in Fall of 1985 was a week-long cross-country backpacking trek with some friends up and over Bear Creek Spire and other nearby peaks in the eastern Sierras. And the first trip we took up to northern New England back in college, when we first fell in love with the area, was a backpacking trip in the eastern White Mountains, then B&Bs along the Maine coast. We rather unwisely planned that trip for early May, figuring that's Spring, right? Not always, up in the mountains of northern New Hampshire and Maine, where we found ourselves at one point sloging through knee-high snow with a torrential rain pouring down and all of the trail markers having been washed away by the recent snowmelt...live and learn, and it takes more than a wee bit of hypothermia to discourage us ;>
But with child-rearing and all, while we've kept up with occasional short day hikes to nearby mountains and other lovely spots, it's been many years since our last real backpacking trip, even an overnight. And with one thing and another, it's been...well, I can't remember how long it's been since the two of us had a vacation together that wasn't a family or household thing. We're determined to have at least one vacation each year from here on out that's just the two of us, and that doesn't include any camp teaching or other work-related trips.
And this is a leap of faith for my partner, who underwent cancer surgery and radiation treatment over the last several months. So we're going to go climb mountains together. We joined the Appalachian Mountain Club, who run a series of "huts" (really, lovely solar-powered full-service hostels) along the New Hampshire portions of the Appalachian Trail, which means that we won't have to carry most of the really heavy gear and food this time around, reassuring for my partner who is concerned about how hard she'll be able to push herself barely 10 weeks past radiation and being completely hypothyroid. So we can make it as hard or as easy as we want to, depending on how it goes, and there'll be a dry bed, breakfast and dinner waiting, serious luxury backpacking! And a lovely way to celebrate life.
We used to do a lot of hiking -- our very first long trip together in Fall of 1985 was a week-long cross-country backpacking trek with some friends up and over Bear Creek Spire and other nearby peaks in the eastern Sierras. And the first trip we took up to northern New England back in college, when we first fell in love with the area, was a backpacking trip in the eastern White Mountains, then B&Bs along the Maine coast. We rather unwisely planned that trip for early May, figuring that's Spring, right? Not always, up in the mountains of northern New Hampshire and Maine, where we found ourselves at one point sloging through knee-high snow with a torrential rain pouring down and all of the trail markers having been washed away by the recent snowmelt...live and learn, and it takes more than a wee bit of hypothermia to discourage us ;>
But with child-rearing and all, while we've kept up with occasional short day hikes to nearby mountains and other lovely spots, it's been many years since our last real backpacking trip, even an overnight. And with one thing and another, it's been...well, I can't remember how long it's been since the two of us had a vacation together that wasn't a family or household thing. We're determined to have at least one vacation each year from here on out that's just the two of us, and that doesn't include any camp teaching or other work-related trips.
And this is a leap of faith for my partner, who underwent cancer surgery and radiation treatment over the last several months. So we're going to go climb mountains together. We joined the Appalachian Mountain Club, who run a series of "huts" (really, lovely solar-powered full-service hostels) along the New Hampshire portions of the Appalachian Trail, which means that we won't have to carry most of the really heavy gear and food this time around, reassuring for my partner who is concerned about how hard she'll be able to push herself barely 10 weeks past radiation and being completely hypothyroid. So we can make it as hard or as easy as we want to, depending on how it goes, and there'll be a dry bed, breakfast and dinner waiting, serious luxury backpacking! And a lovely way to celebrate life.
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Date: 2006-09-06 04:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-06 05:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-06 06:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-07 03:03 am (UTC)Here's to healing from scars! And besides, scars are a mark of character...I don't trust anyone who doesn't have a few scars ;>
no subject
Date: 2006-09-06 04:54 pm (UTC)I really enjoy hiking trips.
My partner hiked the John Muir Trail and Mount Rainer during a three week trip back in '98.
Have fun!
Swan
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Date: 2006-09-06 05:11 pm (UTC)