The Beginning May 1, 2009
New Mexico border north…nobo

The Triple Crown….Not just a horse race. As many of you know Mike is currently about the business of fulfilling one of his life’s goals and that is to hike The Triple Crown. What that means is he is now hiking the third long distance trail, The Continental Divide Trail. Ever since his completed the Pacific Crest Trail in 1999, and the Appalachian Trail in 1990, he has been talking about this third trail. Not knowing what this really meant I figured it would pass. We got busy with life but he never stopped saying “when I do the trail” and “when I get back from the trail”. I distracted him every way I could . We did hikes together for several weeks, he would go hike the state of Maine and he was still talking about this trail. We built a house, renovated a house, lived, worked, played and he was still talking about the trail. I finally realized this was not going away and the best thing to do was to embark on this together while he is still young enough to enjoy it. I have to admit that I was concerned about the reactions of friends and family, thinking it was fool hearty. But to my joy the reaction was a unanamous ….about time! I have since read accounts of other wife’s and partners of thru hikers…its either one trail or three, never two.

Mike left May 1 for El Paseo and started hiking in southern NM. He is currently in Pagosa Springs, CO and continuing north. He is hiking an average of 20 miles a day and hikes for 4-5 days before he getting off the trail to pick up his resupply. The trail will finish at the Canadian border in September. The weather, lighting storms mostly, have been the biggest challenge. He has meet many others on the same quest. The website postholer.com is a place where many doing various trails post their travels. There are two hikers on the trail that Mike knows and often is with them. To find their journals go the the home page of postholer.com and on the right side of the page there is a drop menu where you can pick a trail. Pick CDT and click on “find journals” and you will find Ellie who writes about Cape Cod Mike, and Out of Order(trailname). If you poke around the site there is alot of interesting information.

My home front story I’ll tell another time, but lets just say I am learning alot about the USPS system, GPS tracking and other things I didn’t know I needed to know, but now do. I will keep you all posted and will send the photo link in the next email.

“The AT is your undergrad, the PCT is your graduate degree, and the CDT is your doctorate. The CDT is not easy. In fact its brutal. But it’s also the most rewarding hike you’ll ever experience. It teaches you things you can’t even image. You will be humbled every single day. You will wake up every morning a better person, stronger physically and mentally and with the more resolve than you believe possible.” journal entry from a thru hiker

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