I agonized over whether to write this blog or not. Given the fact that I am trying to get better at valuing myself, I’ve decided to put it out there.

I spend at least eight hours a week if not more writing and posting the blogs. I carry a mini iPad with me to be able to write and post them, which weighs about a pound and a quarter. This next hike I am doing is going to require that I pare down every ounce as much as possible. There are food carries of well over 160 miles. There is a town I will go in that doesn’t have electricity and so I may not be able to charge my devices. The trail is not well marked and I will be needing to use my GPS more frequently, which really runs down the charge on my phone. There will be some sections where I’m completely bushwhacking through really thick vegetation. I might be lucky to make 6 miles in a day which again means carrying more food and using the GPS more often. There are big sections where there have been fires on the trail, making the trail too dangerous to walk on because of falling trees. I have to find ways around the fire closures which could mean more than 100 miles on a route I piece together. There will be class 2 to 3 rock scrambles at times requiring the use of my hands. On the coast there will be about 80 miles of walking in sand and as you probably all know, walking in sand is hard enough without a full backpack on. I’ll have to be aware of the tide charts because if the water comes in while I’m on the beach, I can get washed away. Because of this there are ropes hanging down over the cliffs so if the water does start coming in, I can try to pull myself up the cliff on the rope. In addition, I will be walking for almost the whole trail in bear country, including much of the time in grizzly bear country. As a result, I will carry heavier, bear proof food containers, as well as 3/4 of a pound of bear spray when you include the can.

I knew that to be really safe with my phone and GPS I would need to buy a second power bank and also have a small back up GPS device. As a result of the weight of these items I felt I could not carry the iPad I have which would put an end to my blogging. Then I realized that if I got a new iPad that had cell capability, which the one I have does not, I could use it as my back up GPS device and it would eliminate the need for the second power bank because if my phone runs out of battery power in the long stretches between towns, I could use the iPad as my back up GPS device, probably giving me four more days of power which should be sufficient.

If I had an iPad with cell capability, I would still be able to blog along the way without adding a full pound and a quarter to my weight just for blogging. It would only be about 8 ounces because of no longer needing the extra power bank or GPS device. And it fits into the ultra lightweight hiking rule that most of what you carry has multiple uses.

So here’s the difficult part for me. Would anyone out there be willing to pitch in some money to support me in being able to keep blogging? I know some of you have very little and I don’t expect anything from you, but others might feel you have money to spare and would be willing to support me in my writing so that you can keep reading my blogs. Whatever I get would be put towards buying the new iPad and if there was leftover, I would put it towards paying to stay a night here or there in town so I had the time to do the posting. I don’t expect there to be very many trail angels who will let me stay with them on the Pacific Northwest Trail and it really does take a zero day in town to allow me time to post the blogs without being overly stretched resupplying, washing my clothes, showering, and doing all the necessary chores while in town.

If you can’t or aren’t willing, that’s fine and if you can, I’d appreciate it. I’ve set up a Venmo account and I’m open to figuring out other ways to transfer money. As a bonus you’ll get a signed copy of my book.

And whether you can or can’t support me financially, I would appreciate it if you found at least one other person to follow my blogs. The reason for this is because when I get done this trip, I’ll be seriously working on getting my first book published. The more online presence I have, the easier it will be for me to get my book published by a larger publishing house. Anything you do to encourage other people to sign up and read my blogs would be much appreciated.

There will be a few more blogs coming out about the Arizona Trail and then there may be a short break while I am driving up to Glacier National Park where I will start the Pacific Northwest Trail sometime around the end of June, depending on how quickly the snow melts in the northern mountains.

I’m currently working on getting my food drops and supplies ready. You can go online to the Pacific Northwest Trail website to learn more about this upcoming hike. I hope to finish it by late September. Then if I can work it out, I will hike the Florida Trail this winter. While that trail will be much flatter and less remote there will be a number of weeks when I will be walking in water that could be up to my waist. And in that water along with me will be alligators and a number of kinds of snakes. I don’t know which is more daunting, hiking alone in grizzly bear country, which I have done before, or sharing camp spots with alligators and wading with poisonous snakes.

If I get those two trails completed, then I’ll only have one National Scenic Trail left to do. If required, I will break the Pacific Northwest Trail into two years, but after doing the Arizona Trail, I feel more confident that I can accomplish it this year as long as my body holds up and the weather cooperates.

If you want and are able to support me in purchasing the new iPad with cell capability so I can keep blogging, you can text me at 802-505-1566 and we can figure out the best way for you to do it. I thank everybody for supporting me by reading these blogs. And thanks for your kind words and likes. There were many days out there when that support is what kept me going.