mountainFrugal Journal

[mountainFrugal]

I can start to see the WL7 lifestyle as system - system as lifestyle in the distance, but I am not at unconscious competence by any means. Here is another post further refining some earlier ideas. I hope these are helpful for people to see someone work through their own examples and spend many hours grappling with it.

The way to level up here is figure out what a consistent life philosophy that includes goals leveraged on top of the foundation that I have already built. The difference now is that I have been able to draw inspiration from many journals and threads on here and combine that with some deeper work connecting the pieces into something more coherent.

see WL 6-7 thread for other discussion and examples. viewtopic.php?p=243079#p243079

One theme in this thread was about illustrations of webs of goals that were not just spaghetti diagrams. The question I am trying to answer with this post is what would an entire lifestyle designed around these components look like? How could I keep the consumption/creation ratio balanced in favor of creation? Basically, what content would mountainFrugal both love to create and consume? I am a scanner damnit, I want to scratch all the itches and serve all the muses! As a first pass, here is an example of what it would look like with the most synergistic components prioritized into how I would spend my time. There are many secondary connections I am leaving out for clarity.

mountainFrugal Freedom-To Motherfuckers!



Simplest working philosophy:
Be Kind. Be Curious. Be Critical. Have fun.

The creative product would be a lifestyle blog that incorporates writing, images, illustrations, comics, stories, and musings on various topics that interest me and serve to increase understanding and connections between different parts of my web of goals. I love drawing, writing, coding, exploring etc. Life without these things would be sad, but life with ONLY one of them would also eventually be sad. A blog is a happy medium that can balance and combine all of these activities. Currently, the blog is operating in stealth mode on my laptop. The focus now is creating the content on a consistent schedule. The general vibe I am going for would be a mix between adventure travelogue akin to The Alpinist, environmental writing with illustrations like National Geographic, some data posts and analysis like fivethirtyeight (not sports or politics!), but combined into larger themes like nautil.us to look at things from different perspectives and have time to synthesize. The Conversation would be an upper-bounds of "academic rigor" (anything beyond this might as well become a sub-sub-sub-domain expert and write academic papers/reports/policy which is not too far off from what I do now). I still consider the ERE forum under the umbrella of "blog", but the part that deals with money, philosophy and meta-issues for lifestyle design so will continue contributing here for those topics.

mountainFrugal Freedom-To Motherfuckers! System leverages the current ways that I make money by doing research, coding and building models, writing up results, but changes the output to a much less formal blog as the final product. This makes up the THINK module. This new project incorporates my passion for art/illustration/storytelling as part of the content. As an example, most of the comics and painting I have done already have heavy environmental themes to them, so these sections can be combined in new ways to create blog content. Locally, around the mF crib, I want to do a deep dive into the local species lifecycles, habits, habitats and general ecologies in our watershed. Individually each species or their interactions can be sketched, observed, journaled about, recorded with iNaturalist etc. These field observations then feed into blog content or iNaturalist data creation with eventual analysis back to blog content. If the species has a hunting season, this could be considered "research". This would also include taking a backwards look at historical accounts of the watershed with forward projections of climate change and figuring out how to tell stories around this.

The EXPLORE subsection contains all the personal fitness goals as a "way to move freely in the mountains" and other wilderness skills "to remain safe and healthy while out and about in the backcountry". The fitness data is already part of my regular set of "quantified-self" data analysis package I am developing in R and C++. Eventually I will open-source the code when I have more non-work related coding time. Outside of our own watershed, I would like to explore (run, mtb, hike, ski, float, fish) all of the major drainages for the Western US heritage/native trout habitats (https://westernnativetroutchallenge.org/). I am starting with the more local ones and branching out from there. Each watershed would get a similar (but abbreviated) treatment of research, paintings, observations, etc. as other parts of the blog. The goal is not to catch trout in each watershed, but that would be nice. The goal is to understand each watershed and have a bases to compare to our own watershed.

The LIVE section contains our house and van as the large need to be maintained subsystems. The house provides the footprint for optimized creation at home, comfort, food prep, and over the longer term, an edible landscape. It also provides our small garage workshop for maintaining equipment, working on the van, working on our permaculture system.
Technically this project could all be done back/bike packing and removing the Van, but I am not willing to do that yet as the travel time between watersheds would be prohibitive (e.g. Alaska). We are close to having it completely dialed for longer term remote work coupled with the adventure activities above for both of us. As a recent example, the option that it provides to escape when it is smokey here is also a good thing. The obvious downside is the fuel consumption (offsets?), but once venturing out into these zones they are mostly USFS or BLM land to use as a jumping off point for longer human powered exploration. This links nicely with explorer fitness and skills.

I suppose there is more accountability with posting all this content publicly from the start (not linked on here for obvious reasons), but I am not sure I care about that yet. On the flip-side feedback is can be a great way make ideas clearer if also willing to deal with the BS that comes with the wider internet. There is no need for this blog to make money because freedom-to, but eventually making some money could be a nice side effect to offset costs of independent healthcare and travel. Alternatively, it could be a way to sell more art prints for work that is already done. This could be rolled together as my "art business" from a tax perspective. I like tinkering with things like this, but money would not be the first order goal just a welcomed side effect. TBD.

A longer term side effect of all of this theoretical and firsthand knowledge of watersheds would allow me to become a badass motherfucking backcountry fishing guide... if I wanted to.

I have just over a year left on my contract. I can work on this mF-FT-MF project on the side and refine some the data blogging side of things as this is part of my job already for our sub-organization. I think that I could start adding some illustrations in there and see what the feedback is to get slightly closer to a true prototype. The content is different, but the methods would be similar. .

Anyway thanks for reading. I am STOKED for this vision!

[mountainFrugal]

I have a growing list of connections between modules. As a visualization here are some of the connections operating under the hood of the mF - Freedom To - Motherfuckers! Diagram in the previous post above.

Horizontal connections between submodules:
Comics (C) <--> Homestead (H)
Watershed (W) <--> Van (V)
Blog (B) <--> Movement (M)
Data (D) <--> Trout (T)

This can be expanded for all connections between each of the submodules or expanded to 3 or more. There tends to be too much redundancy in the exercise after 3 or more because the overall vision is already fairly integrated.
-----------------------------------

Comics (C) <--> Homestead (H)
How to - maintenance comics creation.
Yields and flows visualizations into/out of the homestead.
Recipe comics creation and experimentation in the kitchen.
A physical place to do deep work that is set up for productive art time.
Potential tax write off for art studio sq footage for art business.
Production of wall art and interior design.
Designing permaculture layers for our 0.25 acres.

Watershed (W) <--> Van (V)
Van as transport to outerlying edges of watershed and to visit DW's ashes scattered in a neighboring range.
Van as shelter, adventure quiver storage (under bed), sleeping system, cooking system, work system, and water system.

Blog (B) <--> Movement (M)
Exercise and skills related blog post content.
Planning, results, and review as part of various periodization programs and learning more about human physiology enough to write about it.

Skills and blogging are a perfect partnership. See 1, Do 1, Teach 1 as a way to build skills quickly.

Data (D) <--> Trout (T)
Various environmental data layers on top of trout sub-species distribution and overlapping trout food distributions to fully understand watershed context. Combine this with in the river observations of insect activity and can more effectively match the hatch. As a longer term question, how might these watersheds change with predicted climate models? Imagination of what that would look like on the ground/in the river through maps and sketches.

I can take all the on the ground observations as part of iNaturalist and analyze them over time or by comparing watersheds.

These are just a few examples.

--------------
In other news, diagramming things out like this has my partner excited about some collaborations using her photography and fiction writing skills. Seems like this will be a great way to create something together.

[mountainFrugal]

Similar to the last post but diagonal connections. I ran out of time to write up a detailed key. Up next is the social layer.



Comics (C) <--> Van (V)
Lifecycle diagrams for various inputs/outputs/flows, pollution, impact etc. The structure of the van provides a mobile studio and work space.

Watershed (W) <--> Homestead (H)
Learning about native pollinators and plants to devote a portion of our garden for the OG locals. At the same time, figuring out what we know about the climate and microclimates to better understand what to plant for food production. This includes information on composting and the direct source of our water based on a combination of snowpack and springs.

Blog (B) <--> Van (V)
Can think about an ongoing series of post that are self reflective about energy use and externalities as part of the project. This is also where I want to understand different ratios of consume/create look like as they approach 1. Regular maintenance on the van can be completed and then methods are sketchnoted for future reference. I think that there is also some interesting things to explore about the road and fueling station network infrastructure that we take for granted.

Blog (B) <--> Trout (T)
One of the main reasons I want to work on this is to take field notes, sketch, paint, take photos, collect data etc. in all these cool environments. There are endless ways to frame the content creation. One that I am most excited about is making an overlapping species distribution lifecycle hatchchart for the various hatches for each drainage. It would also be interesting to incorporate commentary and reviews of various literature written about the area (similar the @theanimal for his Alaska project).

Watershed (W) <--> Movement (M)
As fitness levels increase, the radius of adventure per given time can increase to further reaches of our own watershed. The more skills and knowledge that I acquire, the less I will need to take with me over time. This will also expand the range for individual trips. Specifically I am thinking about discovered (to me) resources like black berry patches or small springs to fill up water etc. Keeping all of that in my mental model of the geography as I explore in different modes that dominate each season.

Data (D) <--> Movement (M)
I have already written about the benefits of detailed fitness tracking for periodization of fitness goals. It would be an additional challenge to start tracking calorie inputs/expenditures as I generally just eat when hungry. Delving deeper into what types of wood are good for what stage of fire based on density as an idea. Over the past few winters I have been tracking snow pack over time following potential weak layers through the season down into the snow column to know where dangers might lie, but have not formalized the data collection as much as I could. I did fire starting competitions as a kid, but it would be cool to try for various fire starting techniques like a hand drill.

Comments and ideas welcome in this idea phase!

[mountainFrugal]

Social Layer for the mountainFrugal Freedom-To Mother Fuckers! Project.

Each new layer for the mF project is an ideation.
This will be the final personal layer and then I will try to start generalizing what I have learned for other threads after the ideas marinate longer.

My approach is similar to making a permaculture design project map. Breaking down the complexity into layers that are then built back up again through connections.

Further discussion and information here for social capital:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=11998

Ideas that are already being actively worked on are fully outlined in black so this is not entirely theoretical. Also labeled as (*) below.



Just a listicle. I am tired!

Comics (C)
Make posters for local events.
Create comics with my partner (*)
Online comics communities and ERE forum (*)
Local natural history and "local legend" comics/zines

Watershed (W)
Make local chapter of a Nature journal club (have to check facebook if there already is one, but I do not think so)
Make a local nature guide with the Nature Journal group as a project
Trail building (*)
Trail Association (*)

Homestead (H)
Permaculture harvest dinner (5 years into the future?)
Seed collection and storage of varieties that work with instructions that work to give out as gifts.
Temporary house friends and relatives in studio flex space (*)
Volunteer at county fair/farmers market/garden clubs?

Van (V)
Organize meetups for working friends. (*)
Family reunion housing for us (*)
MTB shuttle runs (*)
guest bedroom during peak covid (*)

Blog (B)
Guest posts from local artists, land managers, guides etc.
Interview local guides
Interview land managers (*)
Build collaborations with orgs/people (*)

Data (D)
v1.0 release of exercise R data package
v1.0 of trout data package in Python
Open-source data conference talk
Teach climate change or other ecological topic in after school program or at community college (would have to drive for this though)
Open code, data, tutorials (*)

Movement (M)
Volunteer for local endurance sport events (*)
Archery/bow hunting group
Running Crew training and support for races (*)
Primitive living skills rendezvous or meetups

Trout (T)
Open content for reuse by wildlife or conservation orgs (*)
Donate water colors, prints, or NFTs for environmental fundraising
Organize trips to other watersheds based on race events.
%$ earned through any of these activities directly back to trout or conservation orgs

[theanimal]

I don't have anything constructive to say but I wanted to chime in and let you know that I am following along and admiring the output on your Freedom-To project! I love the detail. Keep creating that vision! I can only imagine how excited laying this all out must make you for the future.

[mountainFrugal]

Keep creating that vision! I can only imagine how excited laying this all out must make you for the future.

Vision creation is easy when you are actually motivated and in control of the output. I am stoked and so motivated! Thanks for the encouragement and leading an inspiring life. If things work out well with this Native Trout drainage project... I will be up in Alaska as part of it. Hope to meet up. What has been most interesting is trying to inhabit this narrative I am building. Before I saw myself as a technical person/scientist that could do creative things. Even outlining this project I am taking on the inverse narrative that I am a creative person first and these other things fall in line to serve that vision. Create first, edit later. I feel alive!

[Western Red Cedar]

+1 to the animal's comment. It is really cool to see you present your vision, especially with the accompanying sketches. It is particularly interesting to see how you are balancing the nomadic and root-based goals because that is something I've been pondering for awhile now.

Before I saw myself as a technical person/scientist that could do creative things. Even outlining this project I am taking on the inverse narrative that I am a creative person first and these other things fall in line to serve that vision. Create first, edit later. I feel alive!

It is amazing how we can create labels for ourselves, that drive certain internal narratives. It looks like you are challenging that narrative, embracing the renaissance ideal, and running with it.

[mountainFrugal]

Thanks @WRC.

A few guiding thoughts for folks following along this development of vision.

Visions are unique to everyone and I think that creating some sort of detailed future fiction that has you as the protagonist is an underutilized technique. The vision should be so detailed that you can smell, taste, feel the texture of the trail mix you are going to consume on some random Tuesday while enacting the vision. Detail a personal story as if you were journaling about it after just experiencing a random moment or day of your future life. Of course this is with the caveat that the actual future will be very different from your vision. Detail will help overcome the mental biases of going after abstract things thinking they will bring fulfillment, when true lasting fulfillment can only come out of appreciation of the little things. So how would an actual week in your vision play out? Starting with an outline of I am doing X at Y time until the 24 hours of each day is filled. Then fill in the details incorporating all five senses and also the discomforts experienced even if subtle. If you were an anxious person before, that is not suddenly going to go away in the future, so what is your future self anxious about? (as an example). Your poop is still going to smell when you are WL10, but it will be the smell also associated with future vegetables, etc. This exercise can liberate thinking and also provide a more realistic picture of what your life will look like, even though the actual lived details of your future self will be different. Building up unrealistic expectations by not focusing on the seemingly mundane details of lived experience as part of a life change is a good way to feel disappointed, remain stuck or revert. I think this is common within the general FIRE community and less so on the ERE forum, but still present. No judgement, just observation.

I do not think this is a solution for everyone, but it sure has lit the fire of possibilities under my ass.

[mountainFrugal]

mountainFrugal Freedom-To Motherfuckers! adventure quiver edition.


I have spent the last 25 years slowly growing and refining my adventure/exploration kit. Here is a sketchnote of the major items. In general there are running, hiking, backpacking modules on the left for increasing daily distance or decreasing daily minimum temperature. All of these items are used for bike packing with the exception of bike shorts (not drawn). The ski section also uses the running/hiking gear as the lighter layer base, but adds some snow and avalanche terrain specific safety gear and snow pack observation tools.

I have a few different fly fishing poles, but the most common one I use is the Tenkara telescoping rod (95% of the time). It is a Japanese style rod that is extremely light weight, compact when not in use, and simple (no reel). I go trail running or bike fishing with it all the time. The pack raft allows exploration of alpine lakes and rivers (see @theanimal for ACTUAL hardcore use). The raft can be loaded internally with gear and act as a dry bag. The bow of the boat is designed to attach a broken down bikepacking bike. Bike, raft, bike combos. Fun, Fun, Fun and more fun. Most of the year I wet wade for fly fishing if the water is above 55F. Anything lower (i.e. next to a dam, winter , etc.) I use waders.

The nature journaling module has a minimalist version with a small sketchbook and a mechanical pencil/eraser that is stored inside of a fanny pack (used for running/cardio plus nature journaling). The more expansive kit contains a larger watercolor sketchbook, water colors, tracking tools (binoculars, ruler, jewelers loop). The bushcraft module contains some paracord, fire rod, bow and arrows, and my bushcraft knife.

The only items added in the past three years besides the ones that fatigue quickly with regular use (shoes, socks, clothing, bike tubes, etc.) are compressible water bottle with integrated filter, binoculars, nature journal kit bag, MTB specific pack, take down bow, and snow saw. Additionally, I have headlamps, a cutting tool, and a first aid pack specific to each activity. These items live in the pack as part of the safety system. I used to have one medic pack that had all of these components that would switch between activities, but there were two significant backcountry instances where I forgot it. Less likely now. Many of the items are 5-15 years old. As an example, I bought my Simms Guide Waders and boots used in 2012. I have repaired them by fixing leaks countless times, but they still work great and are only necessary in very cold water.

My old bow was a used 1974 recurve. It shot great, but the takedown option is just so much more flexible for transport during these other activities. I was actually stopped by the police with the old bow unstrung (legal) running over to a friends house where we had a range setup in the backyard. "Where you going with that bow in such a hurry at 5:45 am?". "I am running over to a friends house for a sunrise shoot". "O carry on then". #privilege

Other than just listing things out which is boring, a few items I am especially proud of owning: custom high-carbon steel bushcraft knife, flytying vice, MSR pocket rocket stove, avalanche shovel and probe, snow saw, binoculars, and takedown recurve bow. These items are as close to buy for life as they come. A full tang high-carbon steel bushcraft knife can carve, chop, be used with a fire striker, and split smaller pieces of wood as the major functions. .

In order for items to make it into my kit they have to be durable, serve multiple functions well, significantly increase the range of ground/environments covered, or magnify my senses in someway to enhance the local experience and observation capacity of that environment.

[Western Red Cedar]

What is your average pack weight for backpacking? Any strategies to keep weight down?

[mountainFrugal]

I think between 15 and 20, but I have not weighed stuff in a while mainly because the overnight kit (assuming this is what you are most interested in) changes quite a bit depending on weather and other trip objectives. The last few seasons have mostly been hybrid trips where I backpack/ski into some zone, set up a camp, and then also have running/fishing/ski gear for day trips out of the base camp. As an example, my trail running fitness is pretty good so a trip that I would normally take three days I can do in 1 day. This would be something like a half day hike in on a Friday afternoon, sleep, and then leave camp for a 20-30 mile day with time for photos and sketching, come back to basecamp early afternoon with plenty of time to sketch, relax and make dinner, and then do the same thing on a different trail section the next day. I have come to prefer this over trips where I carry everything all the time. Especially if the running parts are out and backs or lollipops, you actually get to see the area more and at different times of day/sun angles. I think if I were to ever "complete the PCT across a few seasons" I would try it in broken up sections like this. Although I see the appeal of the thru-hike, the PCT connects all these amazing wilderness areas that you only get to spend a short amount of time in if you are thru-hiking. A younger mF would have preferred the span over depth though.

In general I find the members on ultra-light backpacking threads on various outdoor forums spend an order of magnitude more time discussing the perceived edge case benefits of some expensive piece of gear rather than spending time in a local park. Weight wienies I think is the term. It is easy to get caught up in that. haha. As a specific example, everyone swears by the neo-air thermarest because it is the lightest. I got one for my partner and have used hers exactly 1 time. It is light, but it noisy as hell from the plastic it is made out of and very slippery when fully inflated. I found myself waking up when she was sleeping next to me, or when I used it having to partially deflate it to prevent from slipping off thus causing cold spots. The point of this is part of the "sleep" system is to have restorative sleep by being insulated from the ground. I am fine with not to shaving off a few more ounces by using my beefier pad that has a much better R value and can also be used on snow.

Maybe @sky , @stasher or @hanasolo for more specific choices and tips as I think they do more backpacking and bikepacking?

[edit] also @theanimal... but the guy is an animal... so expect next level advice

I have two book recommendations that are a few years old now that you can likely pick up used.
Backpacking the Light Way by Richard Light (clever eh?) - discusses weight gradient of backpacking subsystems from traditional to minimalist and corresponding tradeoffs.
Ultralight Winter Travel: The Ultimate Guide to Lightweight Winter Camping, Hiking, and Backpacking - The authors completed the first winter PCT ski/snowshoe/hike. A wealth of practical knowledge, extreme gear abuse, and improvisation all for this cool adventure.

[Western Red Cedar]

Thanks for the book recommendations. I'll keep an eye out for them. 15-20 pounds sounds pretty light. I think I'm usually closer to 25-30 pounds, but that includes food and water weight. As you mentioned, it also depends on the season and particulars for the trip. I'm always curious about strategies and thoughts on backcountry gear. I think you mentioned somewhere earlier that if you didn't wear every piece of clothing you brought you probably overpacked

In general I find the members on ultra-light backpacking threads on various outdoor forums spend an order of magnitude more time discussing the perceived edge case benefits of some expensive piece of gear rather than spending time in a local park. Weight wienies I think is the term.

I've definitely noticed this. A few years after getting into backpacking I made a conscious decision to stop worrying about gear and just focus on getting outside more. I've slowly picked up lightweight gear at REI garage sales or when something is in dire need of replacement. I almost pulled the trigger last month on an ultralight tent to replace my 20 year old tent that probably won't make it another season. There was a sale and by the time I researched the available tents, my top two choice were sold out.

I've also started gravitating towards a "basecamp" approach with day trips from camp. It kind of depends on where I'm going though, and what the options look like. It is definitely nicer moving through the mountains with a light daypack, and easier on the knees and joints as well . I'm still a sucker for a scenic loop though, and those are often my first choice for multi-night trips.

[mountainFrugal]

15-20 pounds sounds pretty light. I think I'm usually closer to 25-30 pounds, but that includes food and water weight.

If water is involved then closer to 25. I have found that integrated or inline water bottle filters like katadyne collapsible and sawyer inline drastically reduce the need to carry a lot water if it is likely to be found on the trail. I mostly eat fatty nuts and trailmix. If I have a stove, breakfast is mF rocktane fuel (nuts, oatmeal, and freeze dried coffee slurry). Calories, hydration, and energy that you can hike with in a cup. Non-watered down oatmeal makes it harder to clean the cup/bowl. I generally wear everything too at some point. I would rather be slightly cold sleeping than hot.

[AxelHeyst]

… If I have a stove, breakfast is mF rocktane fuel (nuts, oatmeal, and freeze dried coffee slurry).

We should probably be friends.

[theanimal]

A suggestion to "boost" the insulation value of your sleeping bag is to wear all your layers to bed. You can then take a higher rated (lighter) sleeping bag/quilt and be just as warm. It's worth experimenting with before heading out.

Ability to select good campsites can also lighten your load. If I'm able to find an area that has dry ground and is soft, I can use a closed cell foam pad without issue versus needing to use an inflatable pad on some hard gravel bar or dirt site.

[mountainFrugal]

We should probably be friends.

Let's!

A suggestion to "boost" the insulation value of your sleeping bag is to wear all your layers to bed. You can then take a higher rated (lighter) sleeping bag/quilt and be just as warm. It's worth experimenting with before heading out.

Both great tips! I have used my backpacking bag to stuff my feet into on an unexpectedly cold fall trip. But the suggestion to prototype in the backyard is a good one that I have not done enough.

Ability to select good campsites can also lighten your load. If I'm able to find an area that has dry ground and is soft, I can use a closed cell foam pad without issue versus needing to use an inflatable pad on some hard gravel bar or dirt site.

I have used the closed cell foam before. They are cheap, very durable and can be used for other things like splint padding and a camp seat.

If I know the area will be relatively dry and has a lot of pines, I have made pine duff nests to sleep on top of (~3 feet/1 m). Nature's guest air mattress. A bit of time to collect the needles, but it keeps you high off the ground, insulates as you sink in for the evening, and just a jacket on top will keep you toasty. Clothing is necessary to prevent poking and scratching.

[Married2aSwabian]

Enjoying the discussion here, mF, along with your great artwork and backpacking and other outdoor activity systems planning!

Have you section hiked the PCT? That is something I want to do after hitting FI this spring. May not be until next year, due to getting our vehicle, gear and bodies in shape.

It would be awesome to have DW come with, so we want to target easier sections. I’ve read that Oregon and Tuolumne Meadows are scenic and not so difficult. Crater Lake is one place we want to spend time for sure.

Gear-wise, the biggest thing we need is a new tent. Our mid-nineties era Sierra Designs tent weighs 7.5 lbs! Eyeing their new version of same at around 4lbs (3 man).

Thanks!

[mountainFrugal]

Thanks @M2aS!

I think that @hanasolo has hiked: viewtopic.php?p=248051#p248051
and @WRC has section hiked and @Jiimmy is going to hike: viewtopic.php?p=250119&hilit=thru+hike#p250119

These might be better folks for PCT specific questions especially @westernredcedar because he has hiked a large section of the PCT in Oregon.

That said, I have hiked and ran sections of the PCT, but not in any organized way. Usually I was in the area for something else and then did some hiking/backpacking/trail running on one end of the trip. As an example, a few years ago some friends and I did a ~50k point to point trail run from Mammoth to Tuolumne on the PCT. It was beautiful and not too much climbing (1 pass up to 11000ft or so). It was a lot flatter after dropping down into the meadow. It was incredibly beautiful. There is endless exploring in the high sierra. The John Muir Trail Parallels and is the same trail at points in this section of the PCT.

As far as getting back into hiking, building up some training, and seeing if you like backpacking, REI stores are up and down the Westcoast and you could take clinics with them and rent relatively new gear from them as a way to test it out. If you are unsure your DW would be into it maybe starting with car camping and day hiking with the tent you already own to get in shape? Then from there you could dayhike/backpack/carcamp prototype where you have the car and a known campsite to come back to at the end of the day, but you carry everything and pretend you are backpacking. I would say that backpacking is not the most comfortable thing to be doing if you are not used to it. There is an upfront cost for going all in on backpacking gear so ease into it. Hitting the trail with your partner is the best so I think effort to make it sustainable will be extra worth it.

Another newly established trail that I would consider doing in its entirety is the https://oregontimbertrail.org/ bike-packing route. It runs the length of the Cascades through Oregon from Northern California to Washington. It is nearly all single track!

[RoamingFrancis]

Haha, we should also be friends I am digging the lifestyle you've created for yourself. And the drawings!

[mountainFrugal]

Sure thing @RF!
----
I picked this up this week and am already about 3/4 of the way through Nature and the Human Soul by Plotkin. I was only slightly familiar with his work. I think I read some excerpts from his other book Soul Craft ~2009 (?, will likely go back and read fully). Maybe I am primed because of my past personal growth reading choices, my vaguely Native American spirituality upbringing, my interest in outdoor adventure and nature observation, and/or the current life/vision that I am creating, but this book is EXACTLY what I need to be reading right now. His descriptions of the feelings side of the second adulthood/cocoon/metamorphosis/vision integration are spot on. It is almost scary to be reading his work for the first time right now and looking back on the deep work of the past few weeks above that had our culture been arranged differently might have happened much earlier in life chronologically. A lot to ponder and work through, but this is a highly recommended book and maybe even more impactful if you have already done some personal deep work for your life vision first. I now see why Jacob included it as an example of a WL10 book (not for the contents per say, but if you were to move beyond groking and become unconscious competent for all the exercises at all the stages and ideas outlined within the book).

More to come on this, but the hard ass work is paying dividends now and giving me the courage to leap into the depths of this next stage of development/life. Happy/terrified is how I would describe it.