"May the sun shine warm upon your face."

When life gets busy... it gets REALLY BUSY! Thanks to my friend Anna who reminded me that some people follow this blog.


We had a good Rogue River hike and I am excited to share the information in an upcoming post along with pictures, but it does have to wait! 

Life has a strange way of taking twists and turns, forcing you you scramble over land slides, hop over rocks, climb over felled tress, and wade through cold water. Sometimes these obstacles are small and sometimes they are seemingly insurmountable. Just like when you are on a hike and you look at the trail in front of you and decide if the obstacles are worth the accomplishment; in life you weigh the outcomes and decide if you want to continue or turn back.

This last hike did not lack challenges and we did decide to turn back and head home a day early, but I will document that journey in the next couple of weeks. 

 
My life has recently taken some strange turns and as I address those I see this trail ahead of me, I can only make out a few feet before it turns a corner and is out of my line of sight. It doesn't matter how hard I try, until I can move around that corner I do not know what the trail looks like. Soon I will be walking forward and taking that turn in the trail and from there I will be able to better take the next steps in my journey, in my life.

 
Yes, I am going to leave you wondering what I am talking about! But I will buck up and make lemonade out of these lemons, so don't worry.

I will leave you with one last piece of information and a couple of pictures from our recent hike, Owee still wants to hike and I still want to go with her.

I leave you with this old Irish blessing...

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.  

"What's for dinner?" aka "I'm starving!"

 What's for dinner mom?

Another thing I obsess about with the hike is food. Food should be savored and enjoyed; it should nourish the soul and the body... tell that to any person who has hiked for several days at a time without civilization! When you are doing a long thru-hike you want tolerable, filling, and light weight food. It needs to be easy to prepare, reliable in flavor (no new recipes!) and preferably should not leak or become damaged in our packs.

There are some easy backpack meal items that are light weight and inexpensive, such as oatmeal, instant rice, instant potatoes, and ramen noodles. Mountain House products are easy and light weight but they can be expensive when you add up three meals a day for several days! Ultimately, the lighter the food the lighter the pack and this is very important for a small girl like Owee.

Our goal is to only carry sporks and a light-weight kettle. All of our food should be able to be eaten raw or cooked with water... this has challenged me as someone who enjoys eating and cooking! It is important to know that everything will be cooked in freezer Ziploc baggies; freezer baggies can take boiling water without melting!

I have been testing out some recipes I have found online and I have been experimenting with some dried products I have found at Winco, Trader Joe's, and other random locations. For example, at an Asian grocery store in SE Portland I found dried coconut milk, this immediately prompted me to consider making some kind of curry! Some green curry paste, dried coconut milk, and a package of Oriental flavored Ramen later: I have green curry ramen noodles. At the same grocery store I found some dried shitake mushrooms; Owee hates mushrooms so these will just be for some stew or something for myself. With sun dried tomatoes from Trader Joe's, bacon bits, Parmesan cheese, and instant grits I have created a savory breakfast "polenta." I'd love to get some of the fabled instant polenta but have been unable to find it! Today at work I have tried out a version of mac&cheese ramen with mushrooms... It is edible but I did not use enough of the cheese powder I bought from Winco... maybe three scoops next time; of concern is that my bag had a hole in it, this made me think we should bring a couple extra bags just in case.

I was just noticing the length of this post... I have barely touched on the subject of food and I have already made a huge post! I am dismayed! I have probably spent 20 hours per week thinking about, shopping for, planning for, and preparing food for an upcoming 40 mile hike for three people. But I worry, as a mom, about Owee. I will not rest until I know that her tummy is filled and her body is nourished so she has the strength and energy to complete her goals... I dread those two words... "I'm starving!"

If I can't master this or come close during this short hike, how will I do when we are going hundreds of miles! I have to break this post into two parts... stay tuned! In the next post I discuss more recipes, my inventive multipurpose insulated food warmer, and fuel for my fire! The next hike is soon and I am running out of time!