This morning I received the following email.........
The subject to the email was:
A Humble Suggestion.

And we all know I am VERY humble.

Anyway, you might want to let your loving readers know you're not going to be posting on your blog as much, now that you are in intensive pre-hike mode. We miss your stories and photographs, but will understand.


Shame on me. I've been so into finally taking action on the planning and training for my upcoming backpack trip, I've totally neglected this blog and all of you. I remember how frustrated I was when I was daily following my favorite Adventure Journalist's blog and she'd let days go by without a word, and then later, when she stopped maintaining her blog all together because she got a "real" job.

I apologize for not having given you a head's up on what I have been doing. I was wrong to not have taken the time to briefly let you know that I wasn't able (as the title of my blog says) to "daily" making entries. I will continue to write in my blog until I leave on the backpack trip, even if all I write is...."I'm here, but swamped."

What I have valued most in keeping this blog is enjoying how many of you follow along with me in my life. It means a lot to me. I feel your love, your interest and that I am important to you. Well, YOU are important to me too. I want to show how important you are to me by continuing to write until I leave on my trip.

Now, reflecting on what my thinking was that I hadn't explained my lack of blog entries, I see that it was all about me and how I'd look if I simply wrote a simple sentence saying something like, "Sorry, I'm into planning and training my hike and won't be posting as often." I was afraid I'd look selfish and self centered! Ha. Well, what I feared, I created.

Selfish self centered....that is the root of our trouble. p.62

I'm back and I'm never too swamped to say thank you to my loving readers.

p.s. Photo of me yesterday crossing the "raging" (tee hee) Whitewater River while on a hike with the Hiking Group. Not to make an excuse but...taking on being the facilitator takes a lot of time (especially the way I take on the commitment). To encourage continued participation and interest for those who haven't signed up yet, I write hike day information emails, take photos during the hike, post the photos later, write an after hike writeup. Here is yesterday's writeup:

Hi Hikers,

What a great hike today. Thanks to Ginger, Jaqueline and Joe for making this hike so nice.

I wish more of you could have been there. Temperatures never rose over 84 degrees. The wind kept us from being too hot. Flowers galore!

Our hike began from the parking lot at the Wildlife conservancy (The old Whitewater Trout Farm). Robert, the manager, was there to welcome us. I've talked to him a couple of times and he now knows me and our hiking group. You see, the facility isn't open for another 2 months or so. But they let us park inside their close gated parking area.

As you will notice from the photos I’ve uploaded to the MHCC Hikers album, we crossed the Whitewater River a number of times. What troopers everyone was. No complaints - just laughter.

We hiked along the south side of the river bed for about 1.5 miles. We then crossed the river for the third time and climbed another mile to the ridge.

After a short break we headed back down the flower filled canyon switchbacks. It was on the way down that Ginger spotted an orange and black beetle on flowers. When we looked closer, we noticed there were orange and black beetles on ALL the flowers in this one area. It’s mating season and they were into it big time. I do intend to go back when it isn't windy to get some good macro shots of these beetles.

There was more talking on the return hike and I enjoyed getting to know Joe and Jaqueline. Ginger is a regular MHCC hiker and I always love when she is on a hike.

Jaqueline led the way through the trail less river bed.

Then Jaqueline ran across a rattlesnake making its exit into some bushes off the side of the trail. I think Jaqueline said that she only saw the last foot of this huge rattlesnake before it was out of sight. Once I realized what she was excitedly pointing out, I gently put the tip of my trekking pole on the rattle that was barely visible under the brush. Mr. Snake was a big one. Mr. Snake let us hear his distinct rattle letting us know he did not want to be disturbed. We respected his wishes and hiked the last ½ mile back to our cars.

This hike was a little sampling of what life on the trail is like for the through hiker. Everyone said they had a great time and enjoyed the hike.

I know these hikes require a big time commitment, but the flowers won't be out the way they are now for long.

So save the date……..Next Saturday, March 29th there will be another PCT hike….

We will repeat the shuttle hike we did two weeks ago when we hiked 7 miles through the back Mary Poppins-type flower filled hills. We will change up the ending of this hike though and go a different way.

Hike: Moderate

Time commitment: 6 hours.

Meet at Pavilions, near the WAMU bank parking.

Meeting time: 7:30 am!! (It's getting hotter.)

Bring at least a quart to quart and a half of water.

Look forward to seeing you,

Linda Jeffers

p.p.s. Maybe you know this already, but in the top right hand corner of my blog there are 3 small photos. These photos change as I update my flickr.com online photo site with photos. I have a folder on flickr for the Mission Hills Hikes and Hikers inside my Dayhiking folder. Here is a direct link to my Dayhiking folder: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gottagolinda/collections/72157603498143009/