Day 1 
Thrasher Cove to Camper Bay
Thank our lucky stars that the rain stopped!  However, it rained for the previous 5 days so the theme for today was MUD! 

I am finally going to tell you some of the WCT highlights.  Wow, when I get out of a routine I really get out of it!  I am back at the blogging as my Feb. resolution.  Sadly, I failed with my Jan. resolution to drink more red wine with friends but I resolve to keep working on that one.
Here is a teaser picture of the trail, ladders, ladders, everywhere!

Do you remember the old commercial where pizza guy says "ever heard of origami?" Anyway, every time I see these dishes I want to say "ever heard of origami?"   These camp dishes are amazing.  I was told about them then found them on ebay in the UK then 2 weeks later "origami!"

I made you look!  I found these Dirty Girl Gators online.  If these don't give me energy and a laugh on the trail then the chocolate will!

My dehydrator has been running almost every other day for the last month.  I must admit I'm not doing it in the most efficient manner possible, I figured if I waited until I had a grand plan then I would never finish it all in time. I get an idea, cook it or buy it and then dehydrate it.  The most annoying part has been that by the time I can load up my dehydrator it's late in the afternoon or evening and there's no way it's going to be finished by bedtime, solution by Dennis - a timer!  Usually by about 5:00am the trays are done and then when I get up the food is cool and it's ready to be packed.  I have also found that it's better to start the process outside when the food releases most of it's cooking odours, then I bring it in before bed and set the timer and voila!

I have been called a "Gadget Girl" by more that one person in my life but frankly I can think of worse things to be called.  One of my newer gadgets is my dehydrator which I purchased under the guidance of my friend and expert hiker/tripper Dan.  When I purchased this gadget, hiking the West Coast Trail (WCT) wasn't even close to being on my radar, I just bought it for fun and healthy food experimentation.  ( I am a Holistic Nutritionist so store bought fruit roll up is only an option for decorating the birthday cake) When Dan found out I was going on this big hike and that I was just going to buy those foil food pouches he told me I "just had to" dehydrate my own food.  I knew he was right, but really, when was I going to prepare and dehydrate food for four people for 8 days??  Well there is never any "extra" time to add another thing to the list, so without a grand food plan for the 8 days but knowing fruit would awesome; plus Helen (a hiker) and my niece were over, we just zipped through two bags of apples in no time and plugged in the dehydrator.  Twelve hours later and several pictures emailed to Dan and our apples were declared dry and delicious!

I confess, I went back to the store and bought another pair of boots to try for a couple of weeks, I just kept having second thoughts.  One guy says "oh, you can wear running shoes", then another guy says "oh, you need a full shank."  Who's a girl supposed to believe?  Well this girl did a lot of research and tried on way too many pairs of boots and then finally decided to believe her own feet and judgement and went back to her first pick!  Oh, I also went to my cousin who's a pedorthist in town at BioPed and she helped me decide, it never hurts to go to a trusted source for more information.  She also made me an amazing pair or orthotics so if you need new ones, check out what Danielle can do for your aching feet.  So to all you people out there, trust your gut and your own feet but don't hesitate to drive the sales people crazy with your indecision.  Then go ahead and wear the boots outside!  I did it, I married my boots!

Today's picture is of the three books I'm using for research, along with the good ol' internet and my friend Dan who knows everything about camping.  

The three of us are trying to think of a name for our little hiking group and one name made the 10 year olds laugh, Women with B. O. (Boots On).  I must say it made me laugh as well.  After trying about a dozen pairs, I'm happy to report that I have finally decided on my boots, I think!  
It's scary to think that I will be living in these boots for 8 days while hiking 75 km with 35-40lbs on my back.  Suddenly I can feel every little touch of a boot on my foot or ankle, suddenly I am terrified to buy boots!  All the sales people are about 20 and have hiked all over the World.  I find myself feeling old and inadequate.  I told one 20-something sales guy that deciding on my hiking boots has been more difficult than choosing my mate, he looked at me like I was mental, and maybe I am?    One guy rolled his eyes and actually yawned when I told him what I was doing so I found myself telling him that I cycled The Camino de Santiago last summer.  I felt like I had to prove that I was worthy of buying his hiking boots, what am I, 17?!  Today I drove an hour each way so I could try on more boots, just so I could be sure I love mine but I still haven't committed enough to wear them outside.  I will wear them in the house and to work for three more days and then I will make a decision... maybe.

I couldn't decide If I wanted to do a 28 day or a 30 day cleanse, so I did a modified 30 day cleanse, classic indecisiveness!   The evening of the 28th day I went to a gathering with friends,  okay I'll admit that I'm a Scrapbooker, and the snacks were yummy.  I brought an extra digestive enzyme and indulged in some fresh fruit salsa and chips but managed to pass on dessert.  The really hard part for me was avoiding the candies, I love candy but it doesn't love me.  Would I wake up with a headache if I indulged?  I really didn't want to find out and I think I'm finished with late night candy.  After you finish a cleanse like this you really need a plan for how you'll finish and how you'll incorporate what you've learned about yourself and what foods work for you.  I am planning to follow The Wheat Belly next but Dennis was just so happy to be finishing that he made plans for a sushi feast.
Now, I have learned that a sushi feast following a cleanse is NOT a good idea.  I already knew that I should slowly introduce more food but I wanted to go along with Dennis and I wanted sushi.  I was fine that night but the next morning I had a troubled tummy, cramps, bloating and a general unwell feeling but by the afternoon I was fine.  I'm still working on the small projects around the house as 30 days wasn't nearly enough time to get my act together, baby steps :-).
We finally went to the stone place and picked out a top for a beautiful cabinet we had made several months ago.  I wanted to find an environmentally friendly solution, Dennis wanted rock, so that's my excuse for why it took me so long to make this final decision!  For the kitchen we will look for a different option.
I'm still working away at my accounting but I now have the help of my friend Sylvia Cook, yippee!  Check out her services at Making Sense.
My next step is to write this cleanse as a proper blog, so please look for it and join.  Once I finish publishing all the old posts then I will get to work on The Wheat Belly Blog.  Thanks for following, to be continued, because our health is worth it.  

I've decided to hike The West Coast Trail this summer!  I have two friends who have always wanted to hike this trail so the three of us are diving in.  One friend has lots of experience, one has minimal experience and I'm right in the middle.  So here we go again, another adventure, another epic that starts with baby steps.   
I figure the best place to start planning a hike is with your feet. The last time I went officially hiking you just wore wool socks or whatever socks you had around, did you know they make socks just for hiking?  So here you see a picture of my new $23 dollar hiking socks, seriously?!  
Now to get in hiking shape.  I have already done my dietary cleanse so I'm feeling pretty good on that front, but now I need more muscle.  I exercise regularly but since the hike is a big challenge I decided I need to shake up my routine.  The idea came to me while talking to my plumber (who's awesome BTW), I need to try P90X!  I have 90 days before the hike so it's a perfect fit.