August 2022 was my last post. That is kind of tough to say aloud. By the way, “aloud” is one of my good starting words on Wordle. 😀 Anyway…I am calling this embarrassing pause my gap year.

Did I stop hiking? No.

Did I stop leading hikes? No.

Did I lose motivation for writing? Well, sort of…I still write in my journal, but it is mostly bulleted lists or drawings or a few sentences here and there. Case in point, my last entry in my journal was “June 30 – July 1: Led a backpack to kick off July 4th weekend with Trail Dames” and I put a Shenandoah National Park sticker next to the entry. Unacceptable! Not a fail, but definitely D-level submission! 😂 I did better on Instagram and made a Reel…oooooo fancy! And here is a pic of some of us at the Rock Spring Hut. FYI…the spring is WAY downhill, but it is an amazing spring…lovely water source!

With blogging, I kept saying “maybe I’ll write about the next hike” over and over and the blog just sat here waiting for me to notice it again. And today, I did!

To inspire myself, I actually Googled “why I should write” … yep, this is where I am. 🤦‍♀️

And I thought about it. The more I thought about writing about hiking I kept coming back to two comments I got from Dames who came along the backpacking trip I led this weekend.

1. “This trip surpassed my hopes! It was wonderful and I enjoyed every moment. Thanks to Kylena for organizing it and to each and every one of you for sharing your stories and your backpacking knowledge“
2. “What an amazing trip! Thanks for welcoming me so warmly into this group. I loved getting to know my fellow adventurous Dames. A huge thanks to Kylena for her mad organization skills that made this trip a reality and for encouraging me to attend.”

If I were reading my blog, what would I want to take away? This blog holds stories of hikes and people that have shared the trail with me along the way. Now, I feel a need to level up and be, oh, I don’t know…more entertaining and inspiring. To assist in some small way in making the outdoors more enticing and welcoming for everyone. I want everyone feel like Queen V looks standing atop Little Stony Man cliffs (also from this weekend)!

Hard truth – when I start actually thinking about writing, instead of just doing the thing, anxiety and procrastination set in. To be honest, thinking does me in EVERY time. If I start thinking about doing something, it becomes thinking forEVER and I never get to the doing of the thing. 🤯

So, fuck it, I’m writing. I am going to set a schedule, because I love schedules, and when my Google calendar tells me it is time to write, perfection be damned, I am going to write!

And for all of you who “think” your way right out of hiking, or walking, or just going outside…I personally challenge you to stand up and do the thing. Get up, open the door, take a step, then one step more.

🥾🥾

Hike on!