Into the Wild: Solo Trails, Group Trails, and Stories with Shannon Vaughn

Nature has a way of calling us back to ourselves — whether we answer that call alone or in the company of others. In today’s episode, my friend Shannon Vaughn and I dive into our own adventures in the wild, exploring the magic of stepping into nature and the very different experiences of going solo versus traveling with a group. If you’ve been craving fresh air, open trails, and a deeper connection with the world around you, and you want some practical advice to make it happen, this conversation is for you.

Transcript

Speaker 0:02

Hi, IANA Medina. Kagan. Welcome to B Fu. It's Time to Speak. This podcast was created to connect our community to others who are interested in exercising not only their physical bodies, but their mind, spirit, and soul as well. Listen to life experiences, themes, and topics that have taught us how to shed those limiting beliefs. Get advice from fitness experts. Clients, business owners, and other community members that have inspired us to embrace abundance and freedom in all departments of our lives. Be brave enough to borrow other people's courage until we find our own strength to blaze our own way in this life and know that you are not alone.

0:56

I got my girlfriend, Shannon Vaughn here from California, but is currently in Shalan or Manson visiting, and I'm so glad you were able to hop on this and do this with me'cause I've been wanting you to do this with you since we did Sian last time. Yes. Today we're talking about our hikes. We're talking about our group hikes and then our solo hikes because it was such. An emotional change, rite of passage, however you wanna call it, going up there by myself. Girl. The difference between those two, yes. So let's talk about s the. Oh, so beautiful. Right. So magical up there. And you grew up going there because you grew up in that area, right? Yeah. And so, remote up there, like the only way you can get in is by boat or by plane. There's not even a road to drive there. Isn't that crazy? And the service and is so low, you have to hop on the wifi yeah, no cellphone service. There only wifi. So talk about if you wanted to unplug, you really could unplug in Heon. That was last year, September. Yes. First week in September. The difference was that we went with a group, two other people with us as well. Yeah. And they went out first? And then you met with them and then I met up with you all and you had sent me a text saying, okay, we're gonna meet here at this time. You gotta be there.'cause there's no service whatsoever. That's right. I remember. We'll be writing notes to each other in the sand with. Sticks. Let's talk about that one too. I've been wanting to break that down because I was like, how would my friend communicate with me? And it was funny because when I met up with you, so I left here at four o'clock in the morning. Then I got to, it was Shelan, but it was Shelan the exit a little bit further up the river. Right. And then I hopped on that ferry, which took off, I wanna say a half an hour. Yeah. From the trip. So that was really interesting. And then I met up with you around 11 o'clock and Tom came down, and he said, what's the wifi? And I was like, there's a wifi. I thought you all said there was language, no service. So I had to go back to the ferry and ask what the wifi was. But that was really awesome. That was such a fun trip. Girl. Oh my gosh. Getting out there, and I didn't, for everybody listening, I did not grow up hiking or camping, or let alone backpacking. I just got into backpacking last year and you had invited me a while back, but I, it didn't really cross my mind, or I don't know, I just wasn't ready. And I had a girlfriend, Gretchen. Who used to work for REI, who I went on a first backpack trip with to the Olympic Peninsula, but that was a beach once. Totally different. Mm-hmm. But packing wise, it taught me a couple things and mm-hmm. Water wise, it made me take some water with me because there was no way in hell I was gonna drink tan and water anymore. You all were looking at me like you brought water and I said. Yes. I put myself in a situation I will never be in again. Yeah. Yikes. Poor girl. I know. And then the guys were borrowing our filter and yeah. So for everybody that is intimidated by that, the idea of going I, I just wanna. Make it more inviting by saying you can rent all those items. I rented my backpack the first time on that trip, and then I used the backpack. I rented. I actually purchased it from REI, which was lovely. I didn't have the pack anything, and you had packed our tent and talk about the items that you brought. You were like, okay, they're old, but. And mine, because mine were old and outdated a little bit, it all weighed a lot more. So that particular trip I had all my old gear when we went Toscan. It probably ended up weighing in about 15 pounds extra So that's quite a bit of weight when you're putting in the miles and adding some elevation. Yes. But the great thing is on that trip, we didn't have to bring a bear canister because there was bare boxes at the, that's correct. Yes. So that was nice. That was nice. That just went on some weight. Yeah. And the bulk, and the guys totally did it different. They didn't even bring their. Tent poles, right? They're hiking poles. Yeah. They're hardcore. The guys are that way. I was like, I wanna be comfortable. I brought a chair and a pillow. The inflatable pillow for every, no, exactly. And its thehe. The challenge was that you could only get the shuttle. At certain times and then it stops. Which is very interesting because you would run into so many of the PCT hikers doing Right. Finishing up the through hikers. Yep. The through hikers. And they also had fires there, so they had. Shut down a portion of Leavenworth Togan. Yeah. So people had to hitchhike.'cause we talked to a few of them on the ferry. They had to hitchhike and make it to Leavenworth and then finish that end. And then they opened it while we were there. So those. People came back to finish that they did that section that they'd missed. That's, I know that's hardcore, but that's awesome. I know. They're like, there's, I wanna do all of it. They didn't wanna cheat. And there's, so there's different types of people going out on these things, right? They were out there for, one guy was there for what he said six months, right? Yeah. And he lost like 40 pounds. Yeah. And he was from Europe. A lot of these people were also not from the area. They came from Europe and South America and of these portions just to do Japan. Yeah, Japan. Yeah. But that's a consideration too, like the 40 pounds loss. Like you're, know your limits when you're going into something like that. And think about your age, because if you're at a age. Where it's, if you're older, it's gonna be harder because you're older to get that muscle back that you're gonna lose and that density that you're gonna lose. So those are considerations. Like even Tom, he's worried about what he's gonna lose and have a hard time getting back because of his age. Your friend Tom, how old is he? Tell us He is. 70. Yeah, he's 70. But don't be fooled people because I follow that old man and he spanked me. He kicks our butts. Doing this is impressive. Yeah, super impressive. We got up there. I love that. The way we did it was also different too. So when I got there, we had a couple. Hours to resupply you, you all were resupplying. And then we caught the ferry over the bakery, which was an awesome, delicious bakery so he can, and we stayed there for, oh, that was the shuttle. We took the shuttle there. The, we took the shuttle and there was only certain times that the shuttle runs, so we took that about. Half an hour out. What do you think? Yeah, that's about it. Yeah. And then we stopped for about 20 minutes and then we got to the end of the shuttle line, and then we hiked, what would you say, like a mile or two miles to get to our camp site. Yeah, a couple miles, I think. Yeah. To get to our camp site. And then we set up camp and then we decided this is where we're gonna. Camp for the three days, but we are going to, yeah, that was our base camp. And then we were gonna do all these mini hikes in between from there. Yeah. The long hikes, which is nice.'cause then you're not carrying all your stuff here, there everywhere. You're able to, relax a little bit and actually enjoy and get a harder hike in. Since you don't have all the equipment on your back. Yes, and I didn't know any better, so I was just like, oh, this is great. We'll camp out here. For somebody who had Yes, a really heavy pack and all, she's pointing to herself because she had all the stuff. I didn't wanna, I didn't wanna carry that pack and stuff anymore, any further than I had to. And this is what you do. I remember you were talking about this is what you and your mom did, were Tom. Up through hiking. So he ends up going to different areas and then camping and then moving everything along. Yeah, every time. Yeah. Hence, that's why he doesn't bring that much and he is very light efficient. Exactly. He's very efficient. So just having, not having the bear canister. And having the bare box saved us some room and then the rain. So yeah, that was a factor. Hey, my little old tent actually hung in there, right? Yes. But you were like, never again. Let's go to the Sierras where it's dry as bone, because Washington, it always rains. So it rained, which changed our plans, and we ended up doing the longer hike the last day. Then we were on a time crunch. Yeah. Yeah. Trying to get back and Exactly. Yeah. And everybody kind of decided, okay, this is what I can do. And I love the way you were like, this is the boundary. I'm gonna go as much as I can. I wanna have fun. I'm not gonna go up to the top. Im gonna turn around and I'll meet you guys at the bottom. And I was like, I was kind of like. Okay. I'm gonna see where this old man's gotta go. What you got? What you got, dude, what you got? And I followed him with his long legs. He's like six. Two, six foot? No, no, he just seems really he does have long legs. Yeah, he is. He is probably like 5 10, 5 11 right in there. Five, yeah. Five 11, probably five 11.'cause he seemed tall and his one step were like three of mine. So I had to bust the move a little bit to catch up to him. He's like the Sasquatch out there. Yes. And then his friend, so Jason. Jason, that was it. So Jason so we all started McGregor at the same time. That la that third day we started together and then we. We were gonna turn around at our own pace and meet us down at the bottom because we had to catch that three o'clock shuttle. Yeah. We still had to pack up our stuff because it had been wet. So everything was still set up because we were waiting for the sun to come out and dry it while we were on our hike. So our tents had to be packed up. Our sleepy every, everything had to go into our backpack. So all that still had to be done. Mm-hmm. And I'm one who cleans up. Everything, the, when I put it in my backpack, like my tent and everything, so that if I don't pull my tent out the rest of the season, it's gonna be okay. It's not gonna be mild dewy. It's not gonna be like, I want it taken care of because I want my tent to my equipment to last. So that was the other, consideration for myself. Like I, I need to get back and have time to, I don't wanna just be jamming it, you know? Yes. Trying to jam pack my pack and Right. Yeah. Which is good. And you said it. You said, this is what I'm gonna turn around and I'm gonna go. And so I followed Tom and Tom went up almost to the peak. It wasn't quite the peak. So we only, I think, which I'm amazed'cause that man is known for summiting everything, freaking and I to not summit that mountain. That's impressive. I'm like, wow. He's really grown a lot out there. And he went up further.'cause once we stopped for lunch, I was like, alright. And his friend met up with us. Jason got up too. Jason was like I'm a little slower than you guys, so I'm gonna go ahead and head down. I said, I am getting a little cold, so I'm gonna finish up and then I'm gonna head down. And then Thomas said, well, I'll meet you at the bottom. I said, okay, we gotta catch that shuttle or we gotta make it down. So I gotta bust the move. So Jason left. I caught up with him and on towards the bottom, so he was really hauling. And he's like, where's Tom? And I said, well, he kind of stayed up there a little longer and he is like, are you gonna wait for him? And I said, you're gonna, he goes, I'm gonna wait for him and then I'll meet in. I said, I'm gonna run because I'm gonna meet my friend. She's going. And I actually ran a little bit and made it down and thinking, how can we communicate? We're on the same wavelength. And I remember getting to the campsite and looking at the floor and seeing your. Note on the three o'clock shuttle back to Stehekin. I said, okay. And we were actually excited to go to the dinner part. So you had said, yeah, I'm just gonna go to Stehekin. Where? Yeah, I was gonna catch the shuttle to go to the only restaurant that was there at the ranch house or something. Yeah. That. So I told them,'cause Jason made it down towards the end and he's like, how do you know she made it? And I said, look at the bear box. There's a note right there. He's like, I totally would've missed it. And I said, that's why we're friends, my friend. We know how to communicate. I wrote in the sand, right in front of the bear box with the stick. Exactly. Tell that's telepath right there. Thank goodness. You know, I saw it because I was thinking in my head like, how would my friend communicate with me? There's no cell phone, there's no line. This is how, and so I was looking for a note or a message and I met, I went down to the ranch house. I missed, I went down to the shuttle and I missed it. So I had to walk the. Three. Three more miles. Yeah. With all your stuff. With all my stuff, which I would've been cursing you if I had been with you. I'd go like, rah, God, that I went on and did my own thing. Thank God. Yes. Thank God you made it. And I was kind of nervous because we had already seen a baby rattlesnake on that path. And then. A bear. We had heard that there was bears out, so there was no way in hell I was gonna rear off that road. I went pee right in the middle of the road. Make lots of noises. Hey, that's right. I'm not gonna get eaten on this trip. And I finally made it, and then the guys made it and we had dinner, and then we caught the last shuttle back over to the town. Right. Which there was not even a guarantee about that shuttle. That was the other part of it. Why I wanted to leave. Because the guy couldn't really for sure say, yes, there's a shuttle. No, there's not a shuttle. He's like, well, it depends on how many people are coming back. I'm like. Oh my goodness. This is just too much. What ifs, you know, I'm just gonna do it. Which is good because I kind of rode the what if. Yeah. I was like, I'm hungry, I need like some real food. After three days of dry, it was food, dried food and, and the food there was amazing. So. Mm-hmm. That was good. Yeah. Yes. And then we met up with you and then we ended up. It was so dark. You also didn't wanna pitch a tent in the dark, right? Yeah. So we ended up staying in one of the building, well, it started raining again, so we, we kind of didn't have a choice and oh, because of all the, through hikers, the PCT people, all the campground was completely full and it got, it got dark and it was starting to rain. Scoped out that little shelter place that you're not really supposed to sleep in, that was right on the lake. And I said, I think we can just ditch our stuff there and sleep there for the night. And that's what we did. Thank goodness that was so perfect, because we got outta the rain and we didn't have to set up our tent. And I had this squeaky blow up mattress, was like, so did Jason, who is, that was really loud. His was really loud. And then we got up super early in the morning at six and got out of there. So before anybody Yeah. Told us was Yeah. Got, yeah. Got out of there before everybody saw us and then, yeah. We didn't have to hang out that much longer before we took the ferry back, so. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Which was fantastic because that was like the group setting and this time around we were gonna go. Hiking over in the Sierras, right? But something happened. I can't, I think you're friend, right? There was an incident that happened with one of our members yeah, so we called it, it was, and we weren't gonna go to the Sierras, we were gonna go to, it was either an all or not Yosemite. It was like if one can't go, then we all aren't going. That's what we had decided. Because he got the lot lottery to go to Yosemite and do Right. To do the John Muir trail, the JMT. Mm-hmm. Oh no. Oh, he still heartbroken. But I also knew that, hey, this. This is the long haul of life. Yeah. And it's not worth it. You have to learn how to say, listen, medically I'm not Okay.'cause what ended up happening was Tom got in a bike accident and Yeah. And yeah, had a pretty bad head concussion. Concussion, and a brain bleed. And Yeah. It took him several weeks even just to get out of the woods of all that stuff. So, yeah. Yes. I'm glad he called it. I really am because yeah. It saved us. Well, he called it for himself and I called it for the rest of us, so, yeah. Yeah.'cause we'd wanna do it with him. He is, he's got a wealth information. Yeah. Well, he was gonna do the whole thing and we were just gonna do a section with him, so we were gonna do like five days, and he was doing the whole thing, mm-hmm. And that's the, again, through hiking. Yeah. You're going to, yeah. Each spot, every, yeah. So I'm glad, which led us to our solo. Yes. Woo. Which was awesome. Which, yeah, which was interesting because yeah we literally did them like a week apart from each other, so that was cool. Yours was of course in Washington. Mine was in California. Where we live. And where did you go in California? So I went up to the High Sierras, but I went not as far up as where we were gonna go, out of Yosemite. I went up outta Bishop. And if you go west, there's some lakes out there and I went out of South Lake and hiked up to backpacked up to Long Lake, and that's where I did my backpacking and camping. That's true. Two nights. The both of us did two nights also. You know, isn't that funny? So I went to Snoqualmie Pass and I went to it's just right. Probably two hours away from Seattle. And I had asked one of the Rangers,'cause girl, there was like, so much fire, so many fires here. Yeah. I tried to go to Ross Lake up by my place too, but it just cleared like literally a few days before I went up there because I was trying to decide where am I gonna go and where can I avoid the fires? Where do I feel comfortable going? Where do I know areas, stuff like that. Mm-hmm. I went to the ranger station over at REI. I picked up some dry food and some supplies and I was asking him, what do you think? And so what we, what he got me looking at was the wind. Yeah. Because he said, you could still go, but if the wind is changing you, you are safe or you're not. Right. So we looked at like SROs Lake, which was no go.'cause the wind was mm-hmm. Coming from the west. Right. And then we looked at. The Olympic Mountains, but I didn't really wanna deal with the tides. Right. And then the enchantments was smoked out and the, I think it was Crystal Mountain was also. Smoke. So, Rainier, I was like, oh, mm-hmm great. Where am I gonna go? So I ended up going to Ross. Ross or not Ross. I ended up going to Snoqualmie Pass and the Pete Lake was the first one that I did. Oh yeah. And then I did Spectacle Lake, but what I did was I tried to bring as much as I could, I could not find Bear Mace. Do you have Bear Spray? No. No, you don't with that? No. I just clap my hands and I have a clicker from like the criterions, from the bike races. I have a clicker that I keep in my hand and will click that, or I'll just clap my hands. And I also always carry a whistle around my wrist. And I'll blow that once in a while too. Clear play. And then I always call for Mr. Bear because I figure if I say Mr. Bear, then he won't come. Yeah. And it's kind of scary. I mean, you think about it. I, that's why it was a rite of passage for me, because as a woman you're going by yourself. Right. And we went in the middle of the week. I went like a Monday to a Wednesday. And I think I saw six people. Coming down and two people up at Spectacle Lake. Nobody at Pete Lake. So I ended up like I know, pretty remote. Yeah. Yeah. Hiking in the, around three o'clock. So I got there around four or five. It was starting to get a little bit. Dusk, dusky. And then I set up my tent got right by the water. It was so awesome. And I did have a bear canister as well, like a smaller one. Yeah. Yum. So I try to pack so much in there. All my toothpaste, all my deep water. Yeah, everything. Anything that smells. I've heard too many stories and I've seen, I had seen a girlfriend who had just seen a bear. So she did be ready for that. I was like, okay. And you had the SOS on your phone, right? So you can communicate with your mom? Yeah. My iPhone, I I had started using that over the summer and so that I was comfortable like using, put in SOS mode and making calls or texting and mm-hmm. It's quite easy. I was surprised how easy it was, and it's free. I just went without, you can't reach me. Don't call me. Don't. Mama's gotta go to the mountain, which in case of an emergency, it is good to have that outlet if you need it. Yes, it is. And it was just nice. I mean, seeing like all the. The mushrooms over here, girl, that we, I seen like two Nita mascara. I seen the Chicken of the Woods. Oh yeah. A lot. All the beautiful colors. Yeah. Yeah. You guys have all that moisture? So you guys have all those mushrooms? We have none. No mushrooms whatsoever in the high Sierras. Yeah. Isn't that crazy? It is, it is. I, it just seems so. Magical in so many ways and you could just think and solve problems and get perspective and. The first night I was a little scared. I made my, yeah, I listened to audible on my phone. Yeah. Because you don't need you don't need any service cellular. Yeah. So I had the series of books that I've been listening to for the last couple years, two or three years that Rick McIntyre wrote all about wolves and Oh, you were telling me about that Yellow stone part. Yeah. He's literally been following Rick McIntyre, Ws Yeah. For four decades. Some of those years in there have been literally every day for like years on end. Without skipping one single day, which is just crazy. But anyway, very fascinating. Talk about learning the ins and outs and you, so it's basically like just journaling about these, all these different packs of wolves and, You just, learn so much about'em. So it's really interesting. So that's, so I was listening to, so I, that's what I just put on my audible at night and listened to that. Yes. I, because then I didn't feel alone'cause I had another voice and, and I had something to listen to that kept me, my mind from going any, you know, it was able to just concentrate on the story. And I did a little bit of both'cause I have Apple Books and so I have some books on there that I was listening to that I like going back and forth. And again, you don't need any service for those either. But it was nice just to hear my breath and just to walk and just to listen to all the sounds. It's so. Quiet, but I still seen planes. Did you see any planes? Oh yeah. You could see'em. You hear'em? Yeah, absolutely. I was kind of surprised. Yeah. And the moon, it was a full moon. And the stars, the moon was so bright and gorgeous. It was unbelievable. So when I picked up in the morning, it did rain a little bit, but my tent is really good. I have a one man tent and I'm gonna, I'll put some notes on the. On the podcast as far as what you seem what are some of your necessaries? And then as far as like tent, the pack sleep setup, stove, I use a jet boil. Um, me too. Water filter, bear canister and food bags, trash, tp, everything that you need to stuff back in. And a shovel. One of my girlfriends. Said, gave me that idea. I was like, oh, yeah, so a little garden shovel, so if you, oh, so to me that's extra weight, so I just use a stick or a rock. You're hardcore sticks or rocks are great for digging and then that's one less thing you have to carry around. Yeah. But I had also like bags. I had my, I gotten, the food that I bought had the packages. That were resellable. That was very helpful. So you can put things inside each other and make more room. Yeah. My tuna packets weren't resellable, so I had stuff in there, but it was a great way to like get a little bit of protein. I bought another one that was fantastic it was the good to go breakfast hash that was just veggies. And I was like, all right, veggies, little tuna perfect. But my fresh fruit finished right away. I only had like an apple and some dried fruit I had. Yeah. But when I got up to the top it, it's beta. So I got up in the morning. And then I did another six miles to up to Spectacle Lake. And they had, oh, you could see the burn from all the prior fires and all the new growth, which was really cool. Yeah, that's cool. And the water was beautiful. I didn't even swim the first time in Peat Lake because I was cold. But when we got up to, when I got up to Spectacle Lake, because it's mostly rock the sun. Warmed up the rock and the rock. Oh yeah. Warmed up the water and there was nobody there, so I actually went naked swimming. So skinny dip in dip. So easy. I know. You just love just laying there like there's nobody around and I, well, it snowed on my trip, so I was not doing any skinny dipping. In September, right? Yeah. Wow. Yeah, that's the difference. No snow, I seen snow on the peaks in front of me, right?'cause you could go up a little bit higher, but not where I was at. So that was great. And I actually moved my tent because as people came down the mountain, I asked them if they had been to Spectacle Lake and what. Tips they had. So it was great because one of the two, these two gals that were going together told me, don't be afraid of going to the west side because there's plenty of spaces, but it is a little windy. So you decide how much you can take out of those three. There's like. Five different spots just right there on the rock. But it's beautiful. The view is beautiful. So I got there and I went directly to the left and I found what she meant, like the camping spot. Oh, nice. So I had set it up, but it really was too windy. So I went over to the other side and then pitch. Yeah. A little sensor. It was great. Yeah. I could just pick up my tent, and then just, yeah. Take it on over. That's the beauty of it. Yeah. I never stake mine down, be between my, using my equipment, everything. I always stash everything in my tent. That anchors everything down. It anchors it down. Yeah. It's great. I had read about some people losing their tent at that spot too, so Yeah. And I did bring comfy shoes, so I had my hiking shoes that had the. Track on the bottom. Yeah. And I brought my slip in shoes, just if I was in the water, which is nice. Also, if you have to get up in the middle of the night to not have to put socks on and shoes, or shoes with no socks or whatever. It's nice to just be able to have something to slip on. In a pinch. And there was actually a bathroom, like, I mean, you had a hike, a good. Half a mile to three quarters of a mile to get to it, but I had seen it on the way up. Oh wow. I was able to come back to that bathroom the next day. So funny. Oh wow. Nice. You do all this like dried food and everything doesn't move as quickly, but you're like glad it doesn't move so quickly. Yeah, no kidding. For sure. I'm a too much information, but I'm a two a day and I was glad that I was only a one day a mess. All that water. That's funny. Oh my gosh. And the water filter. So I brought a three liter water pouch mm-hmm. In my backpack underneath my stuff. And I re was able to refill at two different spots.'cause they had water sources everywhere. It was so clear. You could just look right through my. My water filter. It was incredible. Yeah, that's the best. Yeah, I could not believe that. I don't think I wrote that down. What do you use for your water filter? Yeah. I use a, it's mine's just a water bottle that has a filter that sits in it. So you fill up the water bottle and then you just put the water filter on and put on the lid and it's just a water bottle. Okay, so it's awesome. And then you can just you can even, like, if you wanna use that water and anything, you can just pour it in, whatever, just right through that filter. So yeah, I refilled my pouch. So I had three ounces. I had three liters, and then when I got to the waterfall there I refilled again. So I used the B free and it's one liter. And it, but it does take some time to refill. But that, that was fine. This takes no time at all. Literally dip it in, put the filter in, put the filter in it, put on the lid, and that's it. And you drink it from there directly? Yeah. So do you don't have an extra water pouch? No. No. You just, because I just keep filling that thing up. Yeah. Okay. Good to know. Yeah, see, everybody does this. There's tons of water up in the high Sierras, there's just water running everywhere all year round. All the time. Good. Yeah. Because it's scary.'cause when we were in the Olympics and there was like, yikes, my girlfriend's a professional. She does this all the time, but it was still brown. After she filtered it. I was like, oh, I looked at my other friend, Angelica. I'm not gonna do that. I'm not, I cannot do that. And so I made friends right away. I went walking down the beach. I was like, Hailey, do you guys know where there's a water? And it was three miles away, but I was like, I'm doing it. I'm going, I'm doing it. And Gretchen was so glad that we got that because I was like. But she's just like, it's just a little bit of tannin. I was like, I'm gonna die. Yeah. As far as fresh food, I take apples also, and I've been taking avocados because they travel well. So that's been good. And then also on my first day, I always take fresh food to eat for my dinner that night, my lunch and my dinner. So I either take like a sandwich or a burger or a burrito. Or the latest has been fried chicken. Ooh. I go get some fried chicken and I just wrap it in some tinfoil and I have some of that for lunch. And then I have the rest of it for dinner. And then if I have any leftover the next day, then I eat it then too. But yeah, the fried chicken was really, that was a score. Good tip. Good tip. Right? But just fresh food the first day, it's not gonna go bad just sitting, being in your pack as long as you're finding before I left cold or whatever. Right.'cause that way, like if you hike like longer than, you know, depends on how long your hike's gonna be that day, but then plus travel and whatever else. Sometimes by the time you get to your camp space and you're gonna set up your camp, it's already starting to get ti, get dark. You're already get, you're tired from the day, from everything, just getting to that point and you're hungry. And then to think about having to still, fire up your stove and, prepare your meal or whatever, it's like mm-hmm. It's so nice already. Just have something just ready to go. Yes. So that's what I do day one for sure. And then you do your meal. Do you buy the two packet, two meals, a packet one, or do you get the individual. You mean the dried meals? The dried meals. I don't do any of those. So what I, another thing I've been doing is I do, is I've been taking chili or any kind of canned something. Mm-hmm. So I use like the denison's chili or they have the Turkey chili or mm-hmm. I put before I leave my house, I open up the can and I just dump it into a Ziploc bag. Oh. And I, good at that. And I, and then I just take that with me so that's ready to go. Good idea. So then I just put that in my jet boil, heat it up, and now I've got chili. Mm-hmm. Yeah, because I find that the dried food and like some of'em are good, but they're really high in sodium. I know. And and they really, they can do a real, like if you're not used to eating that kind of food, they can do a number on your digestive system For sure. Hence, that's why I only went once a day. Yeah, exactly. And I bought three of those meals. It'll run through your system like so fast. You're like, whoa. Yeah, it's, yeah, it's not normal. It doesn't feel good. So no, I try to take as much just regular food as I can, or it's good. Can food or, yeah. And the chili's good. And then I take some crackers. I usually take like those rice crackers mm-hmm. Because they travel well and they don't break, yeah. They're sturdy. So I'll take some of those and I take different things like that. And then I take tons of trail mix. I usually go Me too. Trader Joe's. Yeah. I start with the mountain trail mix or whatever they have, and then, or their trek one. And then I add other things, like I add banana chips. Walnuts. Me too. All kinds of stuff. I, those dried mangoes, I take those. I take some beef jerky, sometimes I take salami. Yeah. So all those are great. Yeah. And like little hard. Yeah. I brought me too. Mm-hmm. Like those little ginger chews are nice and yes, hard candies are nice just to have the sugar a little bit and then, take the element drink mix. Yep. And electrolytes. Great electrolytes. Yeah, for sure. And I also bring the Costco brand too. Yeah. And then I take my tea or coffee or both or whatever. And then I take like beef broth, like from the evening or a herbal tea or something. Something to sip on at night.'cause it's cool. Yes.'cause it's cold and if I'm cold then and I don't have a way to keep myself warm and keep myself outta my tent or what, then I just go to bed and I'll, I'm known for going to bed at like, 7:00 PM which is great because it's dark already makes for a long night, which is good to have that audible. And then we get up super early. I slept so good. I think my sleep score were nineties there. It was so perfect. So I get you. But it was such a great experience. It's so funny that we did it. So I did it. And then you did it, and then, yeah. And I think like you were talking about, like the the anxiety of doing it by yourself, like just all the unknowns, doing a trip by yourself compared to going with people. And when you're by yourself, it was empowering, right? To do something like that. Oh my gosh. By yourself. Because your biggest fear is just being alone. Yes. It's just being in that, because you're outside your realm, right? Mm-hmm. You're in an unknown like territory. You're, in God's country you're not at your house, you're mm-hmm. In somebody else's home, basically. Mm-hmm. And you're exposed to everything. It's very raw and you're exposed to elements and all these things that come up that you don't even you know, you expect, you never expect it. Exactly. You know, it snowed. For me it rained for us in and, you know, so, you know, things like that happen. You think you're gonna be alone, but you're really, you're not. You're not, that's just it, right? You think, oh, it's gonna be lonely. Will it be boring'cause I'm by myself And then that's when the fear comes and the, the anxiety kind of comes with it, but then you get out there and you're just like, you know, I did choose a place because of the fires. Also, I chose a place on a well traveled trail. Mm-hmm. That was also a through trail. That way in case fires did come if I did need to evacuate for whatever reason. There were two ways to get out. I didn't put myself in a place where I was backed in, you know? Good. And then I also stayed near a trail where I was visible, where my tent was just kind of below a berm. So it wasn't, that wasn't super visible unless you walked past it and looked back and you could see it. But anybody, because people were always looking for a place to camp, and it was an actual kind of, campsite, like established hikers would've seen, my stuff, eventually, or what, you know what I mean? So people knew I was there. So that gave me that sense of security, you know? So that was good. That's so good. What I did too was I used the All trails, so it let me know you're going the wrong LA lady. Yeah, yeah. All Trails works. Google Maps works out there also, but Yeah. Even without the service Google Maps. Yeah. Yeah. You can use it without, mm-hmm. Oh, I didn't know that. So I just downloaded it onto my phone so I had a physical Yeah, I love that. All trails. All trails is great and it tells you where there can be, but it doesn't tell you all. It doesn't tell you, it doesn't show you all the camp when you get there. There's more campsites than it shows on all trails. So I was glad. And the first night I was scared. The second night I was, or the second day I was walking up through that forest and I was like, uh, I'm, I'm by myself. Ow scream, right? And then somebody comes around the band is like, are you okay? I was like, oh, I'm sorry. I thought I was by myself. That's awesome. But it just gives you that confidence. I was so proud of myself the next day, like I did that. Yeah, I did that all by myself. It just builds your confidence and then it helps me train for that. So before this, I was rucking on the treadmill on with a 25 pound vest uphill so that I. I'm conditioned still when those times come. Yeah.'cause it is a lot of work to haul a 40 pound back. Yeah. Oh, you gotta get fit. So the second time when I did the solo, I actually rented my gear. So not all Reiss rent gear, which that's good to know. And where I lived, the closest place I would've been able to rent gear for myself was like two or 300 miles away. And I was like, that's not really feasible. Right. So I found a place in Tempe. Arizona called Lower, lower Gear Outdoors, and they're an outfitter. That's space and Tempe. They're open every day. The staff is incredibly nice and helpful. They have you can call them you can go online. They are www.lowergear.com and they have everything from tents to backpacks. Sleeping bags hit kayaks. I'm gonna put that on the notes. Yeah. And there and it really was reasonable. I rented a backpack a tent and a sleeping bag because I wanted something a little bit warmer and anyway and lighter. It came out to about a hundred dollars for my three day backpacking trip. And the shipping was only$15 to and from, so it was only$30. Okay, so for$130, I got all that gear dropped about 15, 15 to 20 pounds probably from my pack pack. From your pack, which that was huge for me. And they give you plenty of time. They give you plenty of days to receive it. To pack it, to get to your location and to get back and unpack it and get it in the mail. It was amazing there. Great. I would I, in fact, I ended up renting from them twice now because I did another trip after that with my friend. But anyway I would highly recommend It's so gear and so doable, expense wise, some of this. And the gear came really fast. The gear was at, at my house within two to three days of ordering it. It was amazing. Oh good. Yeah, that's it. Because it is expensive and then it's less of a commitment. So let's say you just go, yeah, you wanna use it just once and then you can do it once. Yeah, exactly. Yep. Good to know. Yeah, anything else that we can, oh, what was your luxury item? My luxury item? Something that, I don't know, I have to say my phone, I would be lost in the woods without my phone. And that's just the honest of goodness truth, because I use my phone for everything. I mean it, my, my gear list is on there. Mm-hmm. I have the maps are on there. I use, so I use my, that's not a luxury item, girl. That's a necessity. Use. I use it as a, I use it as a flashlight. Mm-hmm. Remember your phone, you can use as a flashlight if you need light. So there's things like that, people are like, oh, don't take your phone, don't whatever. Don't be in touch with anybody. And it's like, the phone actually does a lot more than just be in touch with people. It does. It does. I think that's a necessity. And you're right, it's more of a necessity than a luxury, but I did use it as luxury, you know, as far as any music. And Audible went so. I think for me I say that because when I went camping, when I went backpacking with Gretchen, she wouldn't quite say, oh, you shouldn't take that. She'd be like, well, how about you put that in the maybe pile? The maybe pile. Oh, and I also use my, I use the app on my phone to to look at the stars and see and pick out planets and start, oh, what's that app that at night also that, that is like so much fun. What's that app? That one is, let's see, It's sky, Skyview sky. View. View. Yeah. That would be awesome.'cause I always wondered about that. And you can, oh my gosh. And you can so clearly, you know, yeah. When you're sitting there and you're looking at the sky, right?'cause what else are you gonna do at night? And you're looking and you're like. I wonder what that is. Is that a star or is it a or? And you wanna know then anyway, it has everything. It's incredible. Anyway, I love that. So again, back to my phone, I would be in a world of hurt without my phone on my trip with me. You brought some extra chargers, right? Portable chargers. I always bring my, always bring a charger. Absolutely. Yep. All ready to go and, yep. And earbuds, like I just use one earbud. Yep. Yep. I'll put both of them in sometimes.'cause sometimes it gets loud. Sometimes I've had a hawk. Coming through. I think that particular time I had a hawk come through that was really loud. It was like, that's so crazy. Okay. What's going on with this? Oh, and I had deer come through my camp one morning and that was a treat. Oh my gosh. It was a mom and dad and two babies. It was so incredible. Oh, I was, yeah. It's so all the unexpected gifts that you get out there, the snow. The rain, you just embrace it all because it is what it is. Right? You're visiting them. It's Exactly. So you have to just be open to all that and embrace it all, mm-hmm. Yeah. You can take, you can and you could use your phone to even journal so that you're not having to carry extra paper or. Yeah, you can use your phone. I did make some notes. I did see. And make some notes. That's a good one. Yeah. So the phone really ends up being quite useful, so yes, you definitely wanna take a charger with you. Yeah, take a charger. And then I also have like a little blow up light it's like a solar light. Mm-hmm. It's like, oh, me too. Yeah. That thing's really nice. Nice. I use that, put it on top of my 10 at night. And it has different things. It has an SOS on there in case you have to use it. Mm-hmm. There's an emergency or it has a red lamp in there. And I always bring a headlamp, check your batteries before you go and take some extra batteries with you. Yeah, just in case. But doesn't take up really, I don't even need the headlamp really much anymore. Unless you're gonna be doing some. Hiking in the evening, and you're gonna be on trails when it gets dark. Or you could then, it's smart to have a headlamp for sure. But I like to have it just in case I bathroom, like it's just so much easier. And then I have like my contacts, my glasses. Yeah. And yeah, it makes it easier to find stuff. It does. And my tent has pockets on the side so you can use it. Yeah. Yeah. My luxury item girl was my cot. Oh, you're caught. You're hilarious. I could stick stuff underneath as well, which was nice. Yeah, but it's small enough and light enough. It's no more than two pounds, but everybody's two pounds. That's a lot. I was like, listen. It's hilarious. That's my luxury Adam. Right? That's right. There you go. I don't know, maybe my fried chicken. That was pretty good. I know, but I felt like this is such a great, this a way to talk about it so that people aren't intimidated to do it and we can Yeah. Totally. People to get fit and feel good because sometimes it's really hard to, get on the same page with everybody with your schedules and stuff, and you really wanna go, right? And it's like, then go, right? Just release it. Yeah, just give yourself, okay, just go by yourself. Go. Don't be afraid to do it. Yeah. You're safe. You take some great precautions. I mean, it's totally do. And then you see people out there anyways, so Yes, you do. You run into people eventually or whatever. Yeah, it's just so rewarding and ask people what they use and what they like and everybody. Yeah. Tracking pulls. Tracking pulls too are another great thing to take. Yeah. I had those as well. Yeah. They're, they help with the backpack, especially going down on the downhill and they, and they help cross streams and stuff like that too. And I had to cross a couple of those. Yeah, same. I saw that and I saw that as a precaution, like you will be crossing a string. Yeah. So you, yeah. Yeah, for sure. Awesome. And take an extra pair of socks in case you get one pair wet because you don't wanna be stuck in which wet. Shoes and feet and no, it's not good having a pair that's start game blisters and all that stuff. So having a fresh pair of socks too is always, oh yeah, it's good. Yeah. Yes, absurd. All right, girl. Oh, you know what I also wanted to mention too is there was, it was huckleberry season and blueberry season up there, so a lot of somebody had told me, don't be afraid. Those are totally edible. Take look at the pictures, see what they're, oh yeah. And enjoy them. And that was a fresh. Treat that I had the last day. Oh yeah. I love that. That's good. Yeah. I'm just looking over my notes to make sure there wasn't anything else I wanted to add, but, and then leave your info if you want people to get ahold of you, like Sure. Whatever your Instagram. Shannon is a badass. She's done so many marathon. How many marathons? Oh, gosh, I don't know, like over 35. And then I half Ironman's and then iron Man. And then I'm like, yeah, this girl is crazy. Miss. Now I just backpack, snowboard, hike. I miss our bike rides. Every, I ride my motorcycle. Yes. And every time we go somewhere, we're hiking and we're we're hiking, although we're doing urban hikes and we're walking everywhere, which I love. Run. Yes. I remember in Brussels you had me running like six miles. I was like, how long are we doing? You're like, oh, just a little bit longer. I was like, yeah, that was 10 miles girl. Get outta here. But look how much we saw. That was a lot, and we tried to get bikes on the way. Oh back. We couldn't, so we had to run. Oh my God, that was a lot. Alright girl. It was so great to catch up, to process these trips, to get people inspired, to do a little bit more and see more out in Mother Nature and in this beautiful country that we have. Jesus, we live in the best part of the world. We do absolutely. All right. Love you. Take advantage. Love you too, sister. Take care, byebye. Okay, you too. Bye-Bye.

Speaker 2 48:53

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