What’s good y’all? What’s new in your world? Anything exciting? Any of y’all get married? Shoutout to the Supreme Court on that one. Sonya Sotomayor, I see you, girl.

A little while ago, I went on THE WORST HIKE EVER, but sweet baby Jesus was it rewarding. The goal: to complete Gold Mint Trail, a nearly 20 mile (round trip) trail in the Hatcher Pass region of Alaska, in less than 15 hours so we could all be back at our 9-to-5s in time. I’m not going to lie to y’all, I ate a lil more stuffing around Thanksgiving time than I should’ve and I haven’t moved as fast as I should this summer. So when we had the idea to hike 20 miles in 13 hours, my mind was tellin’ me no, but my body… The trail starts out somewhat mellow for the first six miles or so, with plenty of amazing views.

Roughly 8:30pm.

After the first 3 miles the trail narrows, but you’re welcomed with a clear view of the destination.

9:30pm.

The (patent pending) Kimosabe Photo Stance, used to capture Forrest Mankins being his majestic self.

After the initial 6 miles into the trail, the remaining 3.5 are straight up – leading to a cabin just below the ridge of the mountain.

Around about midnight the cameras went away so we could focus on finding the cabin (which we didn’t) and avoiding death by mosquitoes.

After an hour or so of searching for the cabin, we gave up the ghost and decided to make camp here along a smaller ridge of the mountains to rest for a bit before heading back for the trailhead around 4:00am.

Yes, we were defeated, but I’m thankful for the ability to put myself in the mountains between shifts of my job. Nothing better than that.

And no hike would be complete without The Young Kimosabe in a red skirt.

Until next time, y’all.