Since I hiked the Appalachian Trail back in 2012 lots has changed. I moved across the country to the west coast and have been hiking out here. When I was a thru-hiker I used to make fun of the ‘weekend warriors’ who could only come out to hike on weekends. They all smelled fresh, ate real and healthy food, had more expensive gear than us and would always want to pick our brains about gear and how many miles we hiked each day. Welp, I’ve become one of them; a weekend warrior.

Though I dream of one day hiking the Pacific Crest Trail and reliving my glory days on the AT, in the last 10 years I haven’t put in nearly as many miles as I used to in an average day. As a weekend warrior I sometimes have a heavy pack, more gear than I need and always more food than necessary. I also look at high mileage hikes and think, can I still do this? Truthfully, maybe, but not quite as quickly or gracefully, and I’ll definitely be hurting more the next day. I do not miss that hiker hobble I used to get, when my whole body felt so tight and my joints took a few minutes to loosen up each morning I’d be hobbling around like an old person, why did I never stretch?? I would never survive without stretching these days.

I’ve also upgraded my gear. I value my knees and my back more and more as I get older so I’ve tried to lighten my load. I finally cut ties with nostalgia and bought a smaller and lighter pack, a very good choice, I shaved off about 4 lbs with just that upgrade alone. My lighter sleeping bag is so much nicer and my sleeping pad, well… it probably weighs about the same but I decided I needed a longer pad and the longer pads only came as wider pads so… I have an extra long and extra wide chubby sleeping pad. I can get really good sleeps with that set up. Sleep is so important on the trail because that is when your body heals.

Well the bottom line is, I’ve gotten soft… and I’m completely ok with it. I still get out into some pretty beautiful and wild places… on weekends.