NICHOLE YOUNG aka KARMA ~ THRU HIKING GEAR & TRAIL WISDOMS
“(When a member of your tramily chooses to leave the trail) It just does kinda make you think and double check and make sure “Yeah, I really want to be here. This is the place for me right now.” Which almost kinda makes your resolve even stronger to keep going….then you know, if you never question it.”
GEAR
• Nichole’s Before and After Gear List & Review
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MISC
• Mini Triple Crown
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• Long Trail
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• Colorado Trail
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• John Muir Trail
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• Hayduke Trail
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• Pacific Northwest Trail
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• Water.org
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• Epsom Salt
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• Serial Podcast
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• Tough Girl Podcast
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• Hiking Thru Podcast Episode #36 - Sarah Williams aka Tough
VIEW
• PCT Permit Rules
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• AWOL Guide
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WISDOMS
THRU HIKING
• That lead up that’s a little bit nerve wracking, but then once you start moving you’re like “Oh right, that’s all it is. It’s walking. I can handle this. It’s not so bad.”
• When I did hitch, I felt safer if I kept my backpack with me on my lap in case I had to jump out of the car or something quickly. I always took a picture before I got in the car and if I had service, I tried to text it to somebody. And I always sat, you know the drivers in the front left, so I would sit in the back right.
• If you’re going to hitchhike, be smart. 99.9% of people have good intentions and
genuinely just want to help a hiker out.
• (When a member of your tramily chooses to leave the trail) It just does kinda make you think and double check and make sure “Yeah, I really want to be here. This is the place for me right now.” Which almost kinda makes your resolve even stronger to keep going….then you know, if you never question it.
• I would hope that now, even three years later, that I kinda still have some of that perspective.
I’m definitely more of a minimalist now. I just feel like I don’t need much stuff.
And what I do have doesn’t have to be perfect because it’s good enough.
• Coming back to the real world where everything is just so easy for us. It’s just like things could be so much harder, why are we making a big deal out of this minor, modern world inconvenience.
• Life is actually pretty good and pretty easy, so I really don’t have anything to complain about.
• Why would we complain about how easy our life really is?!
• Make a list of everything that you’re scared of and then also a list of how you’ll deal with those.
• The most planning and prep that you can do I feel like is how you can set yourself up for success. Because it’s when you’re facing all these sort of unknowns and you’re not prepared for them that you panic and retreat to your comfort zone.
• I think the most difficult days were the ones where I was bored.
• The lack of service, although some people might argue its safety hazard, I think it’s a really, really good thing when you’re out hiking. It just makes you disconnect.
• I think when it felt pointless, that’s probably when I struggled the most as opposed to when it was hard.
• Some things that helped (with hiker hunger) were adding olive oil into my dinner. So you add in a couple tablespoons of olive oil and it adds a few hundred calories.
• I also think that the boy scout motto of being prepared and bringing lots of stuff just makes you more likely to rely on the stuff and less prepared in your skills.
• I met the people that I met when I met them and it all worked out.
• Anybody can strap a backpack on and walk for 2000 miles,
but that doesn’t have to be what your challenge is.
• As you expand your comfort zone, the things that are possible also expand and before you know it you’re a whole new person with a whole new set of possibilities.
• Be afraid and do it anyway!