Happy New Year - 2026

I know, it’s been a minute. I guess I went on an unplanned sabbatical. Life just…happened. I don’t think there has been a day in which I didn’t think about writing or finding a new trail or how I want to proceed. Not only with hiking and the blog, but with the direction of my life in general. I often wonder if I’m the only person who thinks about that at my age; what I want my life to look like. I guess I feel like most people have their shit figured out while I’m still wondering what I want to be when I grow up. There is a song lyric that would suggest not knowing yet makes me interesting – hopefully that’s true.

Interesting or not, I’m back. I honestly don’t know if I’ll make it out into the wilderness each week. I mean, I get to commune with nature every single time I walk out the front door. Every home and business in the area has some kind of view of Mount Shasta, so I get to pause and admire a snow-capped mountain even when I’m just running errands. And I’m the kind of person who will make a dead stop in the middle of a bustling sidewalk just to admire how the leaves of the tree whose roots are creating a tripping hazard in the concrete (has anyone else worked in the Insurance industry?) contrast against the blue sky above. That’s the long way of saying that I admire nature wherever I am. Even when the only signs of nature are the warm, golden rays of the sun peeking between skyscrapers.

I read a quote recently (well, hundreds of quotes, actually, but this one really stuck with me), “May this be the year you look back upon and realize you have lived an entire lifetime within it, that the person you were at the beginning is not the person you find at the end.” That definitely sums up how 2025 went for me. Isn’t it interesting how some years are somewhat mundane, not mundane as in boring just without a lot of changes, and other years alter your life in ways you never could have imagined? Maybe that all depends on your outlook and how you choose to respond to what life throws your way.

Whatever the Universe brings in 2026, I plan to learn from it. I will embrace the difficult times, acknowledge all of the emotions, be grateful for every experience (I mean, not immediately – sometimes you have to get through the pissed-off phase and practice deep breathing first), and grow through it all. I plan to honor who I am at my core and continue to live my life out of love. And I intend to create a life of adventure so that, when people ask me to describe myself, adventurous is one of the first words to pop into my head.

Whether I’m walking down a city sidewalk or a mountain trail, listening to the rush of traffic (obviously not in southern California, traffic doesn’t “rush” there) or the gurgling of a river, I hope you come along. I hope you find at least some of my adventures interesting. I hope you find something to laugh at, or even something to inspire you. After all, life isn’t just about the journey, it’s about the people you meet along the way. I hope 2026 brings you many great people and I hope you already know you are one of them.