Jenny and Erin

This has been a magical trip thus far. We’ve managed to pack a week’s worth of adventure into three days and walk the entire 21.1 mile/33.9 kilometer, Gitchi Gami trail. As we drove to our first destination we found ourselves slowly rising into a sea of fog to overlook treetops, waterfalls and brief glimpses of Lake Superior below.

On our first night some friends graciously invited us to stay at their home in the woods. It was a wonderful evening sitting around laughing and talking while they planned the next day for us. So decisive we are… We were in bed by midnight and were up and walking by our usual 5 a.m. Thanks to the wonderful planning of our hosts, the first morning trail conveniently led us to the steps of a fantastic donut shop.

The days have been crazy leap frogging from one portion of the Gitchi Gami trail to the next. The Gitchi Gami is comprised of 5 trails, ranging from 1.0 mile/1.6 kilometer to 13.1 miles/21.1 kilometers. Early on Erin and I had debated a bit as to how to handle the offshoots and extra trail loops. I thought she was nuts for her insistence on walking every tiny portion of a trail, no matter how far the drive or how short the trail was. Funny enough, despite my misgivings, I have loved every single one. On the other hand, Erin has found herself slightly frustrated at all of these little detours. My favorite has been the Tofte Segment. Starting down the trail I felt like we were transported into a scene from Alice in Wonderland, surrounded by huge white birch trees with striking white mushrooms growing from their sides. Above us was a bright blue sky, waterfalls cascading down cliffs, songs of birds and multitudes of monarch butterflies fluttering by.

There have been lots and lots of hills, small bridges leading us over rapids and breathtaking views. Oh, and animals. We’ve seen deer, including a newly born baby fawn being nudged forward by her mother and a fox running alongside the very trail we were walking.

We saved a small portion of the trail for this morning, a crowning vista overlooking Lake Superior. As luck would have it, as we topped the cliff, the skies opened, and pelted us with rain. Not a nice sweet sprinkle, but a cold rain that left us looking like we jumped into the lake itself after three minutes. Did that dampen our spirits? Nope. Well, honestly it almost did until Erin yelled, “Look a cleansing rain!” It was enough to break us into laughter. We decided to take our time at the top, despite the rain, enjoying the solitude and looking down at the islands and beaches below.

Well, it is still raining. However, we are warm, dry and ready to start our next trail tomorrow!

Our shoes are shined, my field guides packed and Jenny and I are ready to walk. Tomorrow we are embarking on one of our longest walks this summer, over 90 miles, 145 kilometers in 6 days. Pending nothing goes wrong (which would be a first), we will knock off at least 2 more state trails. If you are wondering why we spend our vacations walking through blankets of mosquitoes and ticks, click here to read about a certain little dare.

I’m feeling pretty good about flexing a little muscle to show the dare-giver who’s boss and am delighted to be outdoors and spending a week hiking and camping. However, we still have one small hang-up. No, it’s not the mileage we will be covering or Jenny and I running out of things to talk about in the 170 straight hours we’ll be spending together – it’s the camping. You see, Jenny is more of a bubble bath, painted toenails, air-conditioning kind of woman. Sleeping in a tent, eating burnt campfire food and not showering for a week has little appeal to her. I’m not trying to say she is high-maintenance, she isn’t, but she is definitely not what I would call rustic either. Truly I’m still shocked that she agreed to this and a bit nervous that if I giggle at her one too many times she’ll call the whole thing off. This is going to be hard…

I must admit Jenny has had valid ammunition to call the whole camping thing off. In addition to a sizable fear of snakes and getting over the worst blisters I have seen in my life, she is still camping despite hearing about a little ‘mishap’ last week involving a sleeping camper and a bobcat a 2.5 hour drive from where we are staying. Click here to read the article. Keeping in mind tip #7 from Top 10 Tips for a Successful Business Partnership, if she becomes scared I will try my hardest to wear a reassuring face. That’s what friends are for, right?

So, for the next week we will be out on the trail. We won’t have much of an opportunity to tackle your comments and emails; rather we’ll be tackling the great North woods – bobcats and all.

We made it! We walked 21.5 miles/ 34.6 km of the Sakatah Singing Hills state trail in one day.

The adventure started out a bit rough – at 4:30 am we met, groggy, but ready for the drive to the trail. It was sprinkling and Jenny and I were both simultaneously agreeing it wouldn’t slow us down. It was halfway into our drive that Jenny realized she had forgotten her walking shoes… After reading Jenny’s post on Friday I know what you’re thinking, I may be hardcore, but I’m not that hardcore. So she turned around, drove home, and picked up two pair of shoes. I’m not sure why she got two pairs, maybe she was operating under the law of averages, from zero to two averages out to one. Regardless, by sunrise we were officially on our way.

The first 8 miles / 12.9 km of the trail were great. We saw birds – egrets, pheasants and turkeys – and flowers – columbines, salomans seal and nodding trillium – to name a few. We chatted and laughed like we were sitting over a cup of coffee on a Sunday morning. We had passed our tests - we didn’t stop because of the rain and had been calm about Jenny forgetting her shoes. Well, shit happens. It felt like nothing could stand in the way of completing this trail.

The Sakatah Singing Hills trail is a beautiful trail that meanders through farmland, state parks, nature conservancy land and small town USA. We passed a church advertising a potluck with “homemade hotdishes”, a postman delivering the mail decked from head to toe in American flag clothing (no official postal service uniform for this guy), and a few small bait and feed shops. We were having just a lovely time.

Then the next 8 miles / 12.9 km came. Our feet were starting to react to the walking, our muscles making their presence known, but in all nothing was too bad. When we started the walking challenge Jenny set the rule that we couldn’t complain, but instead could state the facts. So, this section of the trail had plenty of fact stating; “just to let you know, my calves are cramping” and “I am stating the fact that my right foot has a blister,” and as the trail continued, “I don’t think we can stop, if I sit down, I don’t know if I can get up.” There were moments when the pain would disappear and we could still enjoy the trail.

We were getting tired and a bit hungry. After some faulty estimates we agreed the trail should be pretty close to done and began planning to stop at the end for a nice dinner. We estimated that we only had about 3.0 miles / 4.8 km left. You see, we had decided not to carry a map, as the reality of how many miles we were walking was daunting. We thought that as long as we were going to walk the entire distance it would be easier to keep our spirits up by not repeatedly examining a map to measure how long we had left. We were wrong. It would have been nice to know that we had 7.0 miles / 11.3 km left, instead of the 3.0 miles / 4.8 km we both estimated. Good to remember, knowledge isn’t the enemy, ignorance is (hah, hah).

Needless to say the last 7 miles / 11.3 km were never-ending. To be honest, I don’t remember much about this portion of the trail, just the sheer determination we both had. We were tired and hurting. Jenny learned to silently “walk through the pain” as her blisters popped and reformed. I struggled with my calf muscles cramping mysteriously at random intervals. The need to share facts was no longer a distraction we could afford. The one heralding moment was when we stopped at a fast food restaurant (yep, on the trail) to get a cheeseburger. I can now say that it was one of the worst burgers I have eaten. I ate it anyways, happy for the protein and any complaining, err fact stating, would have only make it worse. And anyways, what would be the point? It still would have eaten it and then the mirage of it being tasty would have been gone.

When we finally reached the car we smiled and kicked off our shoes. Gasp – even with the liberal use of moleskin, Jenny had a blister the size of a small country. It was so big in fact that we took a picture as a reminder of why we made the next decision: the remaining 17.5 miles / 28.2 km will have to wait for another day. To push through and finish the trail on Sunday would have seriously threatened our ability to complete all of the trails. So, I guess there was a lesson learned, sometimes it’s important to push through the pain to reach your goal, but others times the real wisdom lies in knowing when when to stop, rest and regroup. And funny enough neither Jenny nor I feel we failed.

Jenny Reporting the Day Before we have our Biggest Walk to Date:

Sometimes life tests you. Sometimes you test yourself. It’s really bad when they both happen at once. The preparation for the Sakatah State Trail has just about unraveled our summer plans of walking and blogging. Erin is mad at me and I’m mad at her, and we’re both being rather unforgiving of everything!

This trail is ridiculous. To date, the furthest we’ve walked in a single day is 9.3 miles. The last few miles of that trail were painful and we took the following day off to recover. This weekend we are planning to walk two consecutive days totaling 39 miles. Plus, we have absolutely no agreement over where we are staying, parking, or the other miscellaneous details. In fact, we’ve had very little agreement about anything this past week.

In addition to feeling more than slightly overwhelmed by the trail:

Also, the weather this weekend is supposed to be hot so we are trying to figure out just how early to leave Saturday morning (amidst the not talking) to get started before the heat hits. Right now the magic time appears to be 3 a.m. I have to wonder are we trying to fail? Let me add that neither of us has been getting enough sleep, drinking enough water or keeping a particularly positive outlook.

So why are we letting ourselves be defeated by walking a trail, all based on a light-hearted dare? Erin and I have been working together for four years and have never acted like this. We’ve been through lost checks, theft, massive contracts, living in different states and driving hours for meetings. We have taken turns being the calm, sane one and have always emerged with grace. But this time it’s different. When I try to figure out why the only conclusion I come to is because this is the first time we are both scared. Crazy contract negotiation, no problem for me, I think it’s fun. Living up to the terms negotiated, no problem for Erin, she is a master at planning and implementation. This time we’re both completely out of our comfort zone and acting like 5 year olds!

So why are we letting this break us? Is it the fear? Is it the unpleasant inborn sense that we don’t want to let ourselves succeed? I don’t know, but whatever it is, it is hitting – hard. Life is just like this sometimes. Not everything you want always comes easy. The most rewarding goals are those you toil and sweat for. Sometimes it’s nice to be reminded of this from watching someone else’s life, not your own. When we finish the trails I hope this serves as a reminder to Erin and I of what it took to complete the trails. Watch and see, Monday the world will be new and good, the trail will be completed, and Erin and I won’t hate each other, or at least that’s what I’m hoping.

I had some paradigm changing realizations while walking Gateway State Trail. It’s funny to me how often I don’t really understand a learning until it is grounded to a physical reality. Although I spend a lot of my life “in my head” all of my biggest understandings can be tied to distinct physical events sealing them forever in my mind.

First Section, 8.7 miles – April 1, 2007:
Erin and I were about 7 miles into walking the first section of the Gateway Trail and it was absolutely beautiful, the early sprinkles of rain and dark clouds were gone, no one else was out, there was a light breeze and the sounds and smells of being free. I mentioned to Erin how great it will be to have completed all of the trails; I pointed to a building about 200 yards ahead and said, “Can you imagine when that is all that is left of the trail, won’t it be a great feeling?”

The words left my mouth and I realized when we’re walking that last 200 yards it will be a little sad, definitely anticlimactic. I thought about how stupid it is to save all of the joy of accomplishment for the last second of the journey or goal. Why wait until the day your biggest goal is met to enjoy it? So, if your goal is to make $1 million dollars by 30, are you unhappy with $750,000 at 29 because it’s not a million? Or do you just generally hate what you have to do to reach your goal? It was that instant that I realized if so, something is wrong, really wrong.

When it’s right it’s the doing part of a big goal that is exciting – the nervous questions about can whether or not I can succeed. The enthusiasm for the challenge, the excitement tied to small victories. The days and nights of being tired and worn out but still “walking the trail” refusing to stop because it is the right trail after all. I’ve never really understood this to my core before and I think it was because I was choosing goals that didn’t truly resonate with me, deep within me. I desperately wanted the outcome but the paths I was picking to get there were crappy to me, not to everyone, but to me. So, I’d “win” and make my goal but I didn’t feel changed, didn’t feel all that much better.

Thoughts that had been rustling deep in my mind came to the surface. What good is anything in life, even unbelievable success if deep down it is destroying you (only taking energy, not giving it)? In that moment I understood how sad it would be to walk all of the trails only concentrating on the last one, on how fast each one gets finished and feeling no sense of accomplishment as the pieces are slowly chipped away bringing me closer and closer. What good would completing the trails be if all I had to show for it was a new thing to boast about? And the saddest part is this is exactly how I have gone about meeting my goals for most of my adult life.

As the last couple of months of walking have passed and the first trail is ½ done I know that this “realization” got a little brighter each step, each day (even the preparation days!) it didn’t just appear on the trail. These days when I was preparing are also the goal, not just the bit stepping stones and certainly not the day and minute your goal is reached. The frustration, the doubt, the pain, being tired is okay. It’s just another part of growing better, stronger, learning to really and truly live.

This realization has not left me in the weeks since. In fact, it’s only grown stronger as I’ve become surer that it is essential to do what you love. Choose goals that are fun along the way and you will be okay.

Second Section, 9.3 miles – April 29, 2007:
When you’re walking there is a lot of time for thinking. Today this thinking time got multiplied, as this section of the trail was all uphill, no, not just parts of the second section of the Gateway Trail, all of it. I was feeling comfortable until I started trying to do a lot of talking. It was then I had to decide between a nice walk where I could breathe easily or a talkative walk in which I would struggle the entire way. I choose to be mostly silent and listen to Erin talk. She eventually started running out of things to say (for the same reason?) at about mile 7.

What did I think about today? Well, I now understand a couple of things – again from experiencing their reality, firsthand in a very physical way.

When you are first starting something you don’t know all of the questions you need to ask. You aren’t always aware of what is truly important and what isn’t (remember Circle of Concern from last weeks post?). You aren’t very good at prioritizing your concerns versus influences because you find the factors you thought mattered don’t nearly as much as another factor that didn’t even enter your mind and vice versa. For instance, we put a high priority on where we parked our cars and walking from the car closest to our return destination so that at the end we wouldn’t need to backtrack. Smart, we thought, less walking before the sun comes up and less driving when we’re tired. Only today, we should have looked a little deeper. Yes, it was less driving at the end of the trail, but we missed something more important and ended up walking the entire trail up a long, steady, hill. Although this uphill climb today wasn’t a disaster, when we’re walking 20 miles 3 days in a row these kinds of oversights will be the things that can make or break finishing a trail.

It was also clear there was no sense being mad at ourselves for not figuring this out before, heck we’ve never done it before, we’re learning as we go. We can’t be responsible for questions we didn’t even know to ask, we are responsible however for not asking after we know a question exists. It’s okay – that’s life – you learn by doing, not by making all the brilliant plans in the world. Plans are essential but will only take you so far because you don’t know what you don’t know.

If you’ve been reading Jenny-and-Erin this last month you know that Erin and I have accepted a dare to walk 15 of Minnesota’s 19 state trails by November. Let me begin by saying we are not a long distance walkers…yet. The longest I’ve walked in a day was 13 miles and that was because I got lost. By the time I arrived at my destination, completely wiped out, my boyfriend had started driving around looking for me. Oops. So, while I’m still not actually sure why we accepted this dare (okay, a little wine, a nice dinner and a lot of laughing were involved), we will find a way to do it. Erin and I aren’t exactly known for backing down from a challenge. Between you and me though (Erin, close your eyes for this) I’m more than a little overwhelmed and have yet to decide whether this entire thing makes any sense. Have we bit off more than we can chew?

Why are we walking only 15 of the 19 trails you may be wondering? We’re pretty crafty negotiators. After a little stalling and a quick glance at the trails we negotiated dropping 4 of them, each of which are each longer than 125 miles. With these huge trails off our list, we are still up against a very daunting task – the remaining trails total 554 miles.

The endurance portion of this challenge is key, and not just in terms of walking. Most of the trails are not close to where we live, a few requiring driving 5 hours just getting there. And after the drive there won’t be time for messing around. Nope. Straight to walking we go! Some days we will be walking over 20 miles a day, and a few of these with backpacks on. Three of the trails require backpacking for a week. Erin’s a camper, I am not. I like hot baths, air conditioning, beds with lots of pillows and toilets that flush. Instead I’ll be lying on the ground (after walking 20 miles remember), without a shower and surrounded by wild animals. Lovely. In my defense I follow a strict policy of no complaining once I’ve committed, ask Erin.

Okay, enough of the stuff that I’m not going to like, here’s what I’m excited about. My biggest excitement is the accomplishment. The very act of walking all of these trails, completing the dare and sucking up the parts I don’t like (camping, being sweaty and dirty and did I mention snakes?) will be life-changing. I am excited to see the beautiful scenery (one trail for instance has us walking through waterfalls), having time to think away from cities and getting in much better shape. Oh, and a nice tan and sun-streaked hair. My biggest hope is that this will be similar to other traveling I’ve done where we’ll meet a variety of interesting people on the trails and maybe walk with them for a day or two as company. And maybe have a few marshmallows over the fire. That is if they’re not deemed to heavy to carry. Well, Erin?

This week we are finalizing the details, making arrangements to be gone for lots of long weekends and a couple of entire weeks, finding people to watch pets, explaining to loved ones one more time why we’re going to be gone nearly every weekend, etc. Who knows, maybe friends and family will even join us on some of the shorter segments? Either way, we’ll keep you updated on our progress; what we’ve seen, where we walked and most importantly what we learn. Oh, and if you are hikers or campers and have any advice it’d be great if you sent it our way, either via a comment or email me directly at jenny@jenny-and-erin.com.

Wish us luck and good weather! Oh, and you can check our progress on the sidebar.