On the weekly zoom family meeting, I announced “1 month until we leave for our backpacking trip!” My family members proceeded to ask, “so does that mean you’ll be sleeping in a tent?” I quickly realized; many do not have the opportunity or experiences to understand what “backpacking” truly means. If you had asked me ten years ago, I would not have. If you had asked young me, will you sleep outside? “No.” Will you sleep outside for a month? “Absolutely not.” Will you carry all you have to stay comfortable and alive with you while you do this? “What is wrong with you?”

Ten years later, I now know, you have to be just a little bit crazy to say yes to any of these questions… the good kind of crazy.

We all do it for different reasons and it is no one’s place to try and understand why or what that craziness stems from. For me, it is to slow down and stop thinking.

I have just graduated 21st grade. This includes college, a masters and medical school. I will be entering residency in a few short months, and the biggest lesson I have learned through all this schooling is that we are all still people at the end of the day, and we all need a moment to “stop thinking” so that we can continue on in our daily lives.

During medical school I found this through running, a lot.. and far… but if running 50 miles was not crazy enough, I decided hiking for a month straight was.

My partner and I set off on our first (of hopefully many) thru hikes in one month! We will be headed NOBO on the Arizona Trail. We cannot wait to meet all you other crazy’s out there and share some “quiet.”

Keep hiking until you don’t. Scoot