andy,
originally uploaded by cindigodotcom.

We’re leaving for Hawaii tomorrow morning at 6 am. This is supposed to be training for the PCT so we’ve included a hike to the summit of Mauna loa in our itinerary. Although it’s purposely at the end of our itinerary. Something tells me that hiking in the sunshine and snorkeling in the crystal blue waters of our own private back country cove may make hiking thousands of feet into the snow and cold something we may skip. Andy is and always has been way more into snow than me. If he goes, then I go. These things always turn out to be fun, but hiking in snow is not something I would do on my own.

The good news is, the packs are packed, and everything fit. It was a little stressful at first, but engineer Andy made it work flawlessly. Although we did have a differing opinion on tanning lotion in addition to sunscreen. Guess which one of us was for and which one of us was against the lotion. In the end I agreed Andy was right and made myself a minuscule concoction for my face. So many things to give up, and already, we’re the most minimalistic people I know.

Our base weight came in at just about 12 pounds and with food we’re right about 17. This is with warm and cold weather gear. We’re in the last stages of packing up the Element with our life which we’ve whittled down to about four plastic tubs and a few random smaller boxes.

I’m excited, nervous and a little worn out and it hasn’t even truly begun yet. We’ll be back Feburary 20th so I probably won’t be posting an update until then.