Not far from the little town of Ashord, WA, the Mount Tahoma Trails Association operates and manages the largest no fee Hut-to-Hut Trail System in North America for cross country skiing and snowshoeing.
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Get Outside, Rain or Shine
"Apparently the best way to get through bad weather is to talk about it incessantly."
Pintrest presented me with this quote and I instantly laughed and related. Weather is cursed at least once a day now that summer has sadly said goodbye.
Honestly, one of the fears I wrestled with when I moved from Hawaii to Washington was how I would survive the dark and cold months.
I was doubtful that any season with temperatures below 50 and that rarely provided sunlight was not a season I wanted to become familiar with. However, one thing I noticed immediately was that weather does NOT hold people back here.
Unless you want to be a hermit for 4+ months, you can't let the weather dictate if you get outside or not.
Lucky for me, my first winter in the Pacific Northwest was mild. I remember thinking, hey this isn't so bad! I can handle this season stuff. Turns out it was a fluke. Locals called it unusual. It was a dry winter with an abundance of sun and an equal abundance of peeved skiers.
I'm heading into my 4th winter now and I've become one of the locals who disregards weather to be outdoors. While I still and will always prefer to be out and about when the sun can kiss my skin, I will absolutely go stir-crazy if I'm not getting outside and inhaling sweet fresh oxygen.
Which is why today, after a week filled with 5 days of grey and rain, a few friends and I decided to just embrace it and get out. Equipped with new Stanley Brand gear , we ventured to a local park to enjoy a delicious food spread and test out my new Stanley brand Happy Hour System.
Because when the sun won't keep you warm, hot toddy's will.
We used Stanley Brand's Classic 1.1 qt vacuum bottle filled with piping hot water (it keeps beverages hot for 24 hours!) + the Classic Flask filled with Westland's Single Malt whiskey and combined it all using the Adventure Happy Hour System (which includes a citrus reamer and 4 double steel rock glasses). This is an all-encompassing cocktail shaker with 7 pieces that nests within itself, making it easy to pack and store. More often than not I will choose beer over a cocktail, but I will admit that whiskey, lemon and honey felt just right on this overcast day.
Winston was interested in Stanley Brand's Classic Stein. Sorry Winston, beer is not for pups! Check out all of Stanley Brand's outdoor gear here.
Do you experience all 4 seasons where you live? Any other people struggle with Winter? How do you embrace the changes and what keeps you content (or at least sane) until Spring? Share with me in the comments below.
**Disclaimer: Be responsible and ALWAYS have a designated sober driver.
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How I Met My Badass Adventure Friends
Summer was full of planning and executing weekend trips out of the city and into the mountains.
My writing didn't keep up with my adventures, but one notable trip this summer sparked a flame that has manifested some amazing opportunities and highlighted the positive impact social media can have on community and forming intentional relationships.
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Fall backpacking trip at Ancient Lakes, Washington
It began when I was scrolling through instagram and saw a posting on She Explores for a Pacific Northwest meet-up.
I happened to be out of town the weekend it was occurring but I stalked (yes, stalked) the gal who was hosting the event and found a quick connection with her positive posts and nature photography. I direct messaged her instantly and the following week we were getting to know each other over a beer.
Fall backpacking trip at Ancient Lakes, Washington
Fall Camping Trips to Ancient Lakes Washington
Fall backpacking trip at Ancient Lakes, Washington
Less than an hour into the conversation I was committed to a weekend camping trip in Oregon with her and 3 other girls whom I had never met.
The weekend of the trip approached and I was picked up by one of the 'strangers' that I spent the next 4 hours getting to know as we battled Seattle traffic, crossed into Oregon, and settled at our campsite with the others. We all quickly bonded over our collective love for the outdoors, photography, adventure and s'mores. We cruised through the weekend, completely changing the itenerary of our trip and headed to Oneonta Gorge and Hood River instead of traveling to Portland for an outdoor expo. As our weekend came to a close, we started devising plans for our next trip. I was excited, but at the same time questioning whether our future plans would come to fruition. It's like a first date where the other person says they had a great time and they'll call you, but you're left wondering if they actually will. Thankfully we were all genuine in our desire to continue pursuing friendship and fun and we promptly had out next adventure weekend scheduled.
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Fall backpacking trip at Ancient Lakes, Washington
The transition from Summer to Fall was happening and with the prospect of sun, we traveled East to Ancient Lakes (where all the pictures in this post were taken) in hopes of warmth and clear skies. Less than a mile on the trail, we concluded that none of us had ever done an all girls backpacking trip.....which felt pretty ironic because female powered adventures is what brought us together in the first place! We're excited to bring our meeting full circle and expand the opportunity for other outdoor loving females to connect by co-hosting out first event in collaboration with She Explores Saturday October 29th. For more information and to RSVP, head to the She Explores website.
Oh and quick moral of the story? Social media can be incredibly useful for connection, education and inspiration.
If you follow someone that positively influences you, don't be afraid to reach out and let them know. You never know the adventures that may come from it! See ya on the trail!
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Joining the Dirtbag Darling Team
Almost 3 years ago, I created a section on this site called "Modern Muse" that would focus on women's inspiring stories of living creatively, setting and crushing goals, sharing advice and living a life of passion and commitment to their purpose and dreams.
Johnie from Dirtbag Darling was one of my first gals I reached out to. I had been an avid follower of her inviting and down to Earth blog that focuses on getting women stoked on pursuing outdoor activities. It's a "friendly, happy, come out and join us approach" as she put it.
I felt a kindred connection with her as I read her answers to my earnest questions and learned more about her what supplied her with stoke, words she lives by and her motivation to lift up females in the outdoor community.
Flash forward 2 years later and now I'm on her website! I recently became a contributing writer alongside some badass adventurers and I'm excited to be a voice with so many creative and courageous women whose common love is the outdoors.
Check out my first two articles and let me know what you want to read more about!
Meditation: A Habit Worth Cultivating
My alarm goes off. It's 4:45am. I have a choice and a short amount of time in which to make it before habit or my thoughts take over. My heart may say "meditate", but is my mind in agreement this morning? There is approximately 1 in 3 chances that my body makes it to my meditation pillow. The options that run through my mind are as follows.....
a) "Absolutely!" I then commence to lighting a candle, setting up my station and starting the timer. Huge win for the morning.
b) "Eh, I'm pretty tired." Coffee sounds better than sitting down and potentially falling back to sleep in the upright position.
c) "Nope, not even close to happening". And then there's the rare occasion where I actually go back to sleep until 6:30am or so and just tell myself that I needed the extra rest that day.
By nature + habit, I'm an early riser. Morning has always been my favorite part of the day and I don't typically find it difficult to wake up Monday- Friday at 5am. J and I have a little rhythm that I delight in, a routine that I look forward to waking up to when my head hits the pillow every night. 5-6am is reserved for coffee, journaling and reading. 6-7am is movement- swim / yoga / or run. 7-7:45am get ready for work and then we're both usually out the door.
Trying to fit meditation into this schedule, I often feel the need to sacrifice one of the things I'm in the happy habit of doing, OR commit to waking up before 5 every morning. I said I'm an early riser, but I would rather not be awake in the 4am range. So more often than not, the sacrifice is my meditation. I've had a few rare days that I decide not to exercise/ stay home and find I'm really challenged by it- which makes me think I probably need to do it more often.
It's easy to pick the physical practice. My body finds joy in movement and the days that I do get up and sweat I find that I am more focused, calm and confident during the day.
But I have to admit that I feel similar feelings when I commit to working on my mental practice.
Mental practice meaning focusing on my breath, expanding mindfulness, seeing with a clearer and higher perspective, working through my own thoughts of limiting belief and connecting with a greater power.
The same thoughts appear every time after I'm finished, "why don't I do this more often?!" The statistics and studies are all out there on the interweb that remind us that meditation decreases stress, depression, anxiety, insomnia, etc but it's a practice that you can't just take others words for. If you're new to meditation I suggest doing some research and looking for a teacher or class in your community.
There are many different techniques and styles so you'll want to find an approach that speaks to you and will help establish a base. I found it incredibly beneficial to have a teacher, and was lucky that MY teacher's teacher (Paul Muller-Ortega from Blue Throat Yoga) came to Oahu while I was living there to do a Meditation Initiation. Even when I fall off my practice, I feel solid enough in my foundation that I know my mind will get back into the rhythm when I decide to sit on my pillow.