a few months after i had graduated college, a friend of mine asked me if i wanted to climb a mountain and i said yes because it sounded like a cool thing to do. i had never done any real hiking before, and i would come to learn that the mountain we would be climbing was mt marcy, the tallest mountain in new york, after having not really prepared for this hike at all.

it was really hard, i ran out of water on the way back down the mountain, and i felt like dying afterward, but something about it hooked me. i’ve been hiking pretty regularly ever since, did tour du mont blanc last year and planning another trip soon.

My parents…when I was a kid. We went the whole upgrade cycle, from tents to camper to trailer to giant motorhome.

Then I spent decades not camping or hiking.

Then I had kids, and a decade later I was leading Girl Scout and Boy Scout troops, and camping and hiking many weekends and weeks during the summer.

Now the kids are out of the nest and I can enjoy it on my own.