Living in Maryland means my life is void of mountains—sad I know! As a native Californian I live for the outdoors, and it’s something I’m not ready to give up. Of course, we do what we can in Maryland such as hiking the trails that do exist near our home. Aside from that I’ve given up any hope of finding real mountains or ideal camping conditions though it hasn’t stopped us from trying. Needless to say, when we travel and happen to end up in a place with either a beach or a bad ass mountain range we gravitate towards that.

On my first visit to Washington there wasn’t enough time to visit any of the many state parks. This time around I began reading about the different parks and my fiancé and I decided on the Camp Muir Trail. At a first glance, it looked both beautiful and terrifying. Hiking on a snow field attached to a mountain? (Yes, please!) Balancing taking photos of the breathtaking mountains while keeping an eye out for cougars and black bears? (Thanks, but no thanks!)

Not to mention I wasn’t sure my body could handle it, as even though it is only 4 miles to Camp Muir it is an astonishing  4640 ft in elevation gain. Yikes! Recently I’ve had much more physical pain than normal, well normal for me anyway. I started physical therapy a day before the trip for the excruciating pain I’ve been having with my sciatic nerve. Regardless of this, I’m the type of person who will think of all the reasons I can’t do it will be even more determined to accomplish something. I have to prove to myself, lupus be damned, that I can do anything.

The actual hike summary coming up next!

Live.Love.Thrive.