A college student taking in the world around her. Becoming the person I want to be and offering advice, my experiences, and random thoughts with those who are interested. ~Started December 3rd, 2018~
August ended on such a good note with our backpacking / hiking through The Enchantments. This trip I got pushed out of my comfort zone on many occasions and was surprised at how I embraced the challenge and pushed myself beyond what I thought I was capable of. I also learned the importance of taking care of your body on this trip. Making sure you are eating enough and being hydrated were crucial.
With September here I want to carry this strength into all the workouts I do and try to push myself a little harder, knowing it will pay off. I haven’t been running since getting back from our trip. I pulled my achilles pretty bad and it’s still taking time to heal. Just walking around Green Lake made it ache/ hurt. It is starting to feel better, but I am nervous to run on it. Instead I have been doing low impact HIIT workouts and focusing on abs and arms.
A quick update on my plant based diet: All is going well! I feel great, I’m not bloated, and I’m always on the prowl for new recipes to try! I am really proud of myself for sticking with this new way of eating. I will admit I do have cheat days / meals. For example, there was one day last week where Alex and I impulsively stopped at Dicks to get burgers and fries. While this definitely wasn’t plant based, I didn’t notice a huge change in how I was feeling after eating it. I didn’t feel bloated or heavy. I don’t eat this kind of food often, but when I do I notice there isn’t a huge consequence. The fact that I’ve cut these foods out of my everyday diet has helped tremendously and in my mind makes these cheat meals okay.
Overall I am feeling healthy and like where I am at both physically and mentally. This is a combo between what I am eating and the workouts I am doing. It feels great to feel this way and I am excited to see what September will bring!
My body is pretty sore from hiking, so today was a much needed rest and stretch day.
August 25th- 15 minute abs
While still somewhat sore, Alex and I pushed ourselves to work out tonight. It was a little slower of a pace but it felt good to get back into it and start getting back on a routine.
One of our first views getting up and over Assgard Pass
A few weekends ago I got the opportunity to not only hike through the Enchantments in Leavenworth, WA, but camp there as well! it was an exhilarating, exhausting, and eventful 4 days and 3 nights trip.
We started the trip off at 2am – Alex and I getting ready, eating a quick breakfast, and driving down to his brothers house.
Testing / packing our bags the night before we left for The Enchantments!!
Waking up at 2 am, as you can tell we were both pretty tired after only getting 4 hours of sleep…
From here we carpooled over to Leavenworth with him. About 30 minutes into the drive we realized we forgot the parking pass and permits needed to be in the Enchantments and turned around to grab them. Finally after a 2.5 hour car ride we were in Leavenworth and ready to start our day hike up to Colchuck Lake.
Getting ready to start our hike up to Colchuck Lake! Man our bags were heavy
The 4 mile hike up to the lake was hard. We were each carrying about 50 lbs of gear, the sun was out, and we were all tired from getting up at 2 in the morning. This was my first time backpacking and I learned a lot! Once I got the weight in my pack situated correctly (i.e. not carrying all the weight on my shoulders but on my waist) the hike up got a lot easier.
We eventually made it up to Colchuck after many needed stops to rest and hydrate. The lake was beautiful and I couldn’t believe this is where we were setting up camp and calling home for the next 3 nights. Close to the lake we met up with the rest of our group and were told they had found the best campsite on the lake!
Sure enough when we got there and saw it for ourselves we also agreed this was the best spot. It had enough room to set up 6 tents along with a huge rock that went out into the lake. This is where we spent time cooking, swimming, and hanging out.
Views from our campsite while out on the rock
Peep Dragon Tail just to the right of Assgard Pass
This was taken our last day while we were making breakfast and coffee on our porch / dock overlooking the water
Assgard Pass, the view directly across the lake from our campsite.
The first day was filled with hiking up to camp, setting up camp, jumping in the lake, and hanging out / getting to know the others in our group. We went to bed fairly early: 7:30pm. We were all so tired from being up at the crack of dawn and wanted to get enough sleep before having to wake up again to hike up Aasgard Pass the next day.
I was surprised at how well I slept the first night, and every night we were there. The only thing that woke me up the first night was the strong winds blowing between the peaks. It went on for about and hour or so. The huge gusts shook our whole tent and the ground. I could hear the waves crash into the side of the lake from the wind. Once this finally subsided I was back to sleep and waking up the next morning to the sunrise!
Day two was our big hiking day: Aasgard and all the way to Lake Perfection for lunch. We hiked about 8.7 miles that day, which doesn’t sound like a lot but the elevation gain was about 3,600 ft. Most of which was done within the first part of the hike up Aasgard Pass. It was such a relief once we got up to the top. It was crazy to look down and see just how high we had climbed.
Love how calm the water is. This was about 20 minutes into our hike to Assgard Pass. Our campsite is off to the left around the lake a ways.
Once on top, we stopped to grab some more water and food and set out to hike through the Enchantments to Lake Perfection. It was amazing how beautiful it is up there. The photos don’t do it justice. The day was overcast and windy, but it still felt like we were walking through a fairy tale land.
Perfection Lake – where we stopped to eat lunch and regroup before heading down Assgard.
After lunch at Lake Perfection we headed back towards Aasgard Pass and prepped ourselves for a hard walk down the pass and back to camp. The way down Aasgard was by far the hardest part of the whole hike. The ground was super soft and sandy – making each step a challenge to not fall. On top of this, it started dumping rain which made the descent slippery, cold, wet, and frightening. As we were coming down the pass we could hear rocks falling up ahead from the heavy rains. At this point we decided to move a little faster and get off the mountain. It was so surreal hearing rocks crashing, being soaked by the rain, and the adrenaline rush to get down safely.
Taken before the rain started. Us making our way down Assgard and back to camp.
After what felt like we hours we finally made it down from Aasgard and back to camp. At camp we gorged ourselves with food, changed into dry clothes, hung out for a bit, and went to bed around 8pm that night. We were all so tired and cold from the hike. It felt so good to crawl into my sleeping bag to get warm.
The next morning I woke up fairly sore. My legs were stiff and there was no way I was going to be able to do Aasgard again. There was talk of going up a second time, as some people in our group weren’t able to go up yesterday with us. I opted to go with the others who were feeling the same as me and hike down from Colchuck Lake to Stewart Lake. This was about a 9 mile hike round trip. It had about the same elevation gain we had the first day hiking up to Colchuck.
Views hiking to Stewart Lake.
Stewart Lake
Once we got to Stewart Lake we found a beach spot, had some food, cracked open a cold beer, and headed back up to Colchuck Lake. We got back to Colchuck around 3pm with enough time to swim in Colchuck Lake and hang out for the rest of the day. Once everyone was back at camp we ate dinner, socialized, and stayed up to star gaze. We saw a few shooting stars and a bunch of satellites. There were also people rock climbing down from Dragon Tail in the dark. It was cool to see their headlamps glow from afar and see the progress they made. We eventually called it a night and all headed for bed.
Dragon Tail as the sun was setting
Huddled up, ready to watch the stars.
Assgard pass as the sun was setting
The next (and final morning) camping at Colchuck was spent enjoying our last breakfast together and packing our backpacks to head back down to the car.
Best vegan freeze dried meals ever! These were awesome and I highly recommend. Some of them required cold water and were great for lunches on the go!
It was sad, but also it felt really good knowing we would be heading back home to fresh clothes, running water, and a shower. It took us about 3.5 hours to get down from Colchuck. It was such a relief to see the parking lot and cars at the end. We all piled into the back of Erik’s jeep and drove into Leavenworth. We got some food and beer in town then hit the road to head home and back to reality.
Us piled into the back of Erik’s Jeep – I had no idea Alex was feeling car sick on the way down, hence the frown 😦
Overall this trip was so much fun! We were able to get a bunch of hiking in and not be rushed to finish it all in one day. I’m so glad we were able to camp / backpack and definitely will not take the opportunity for granted. This was a once in a lifetime chance and worth every minute of the soreness, tiredness, and heaviness of our bags. Who knew you had so many tendons in your knees! This was the one part of my body that stayed sore a few days after we were home from the trip.
US huddled up after hiking up Assgard and being exhausted
We did it!!! We made it back down from Colchuck Lake. I bitter sweet ending to great trup.
As our backpacking trip draws closer, we have been easing back a little on our workout intensity. We don’t want to be sore for our trip and are keeping this in mind as we workout this week,
August 19th- 15 minute ab workout
August 20th- 4 mile hike up to Colchuck Lake
Today we headed over to Leavenworth where we will spend the next 4 days camping and hiking. I’m so excited and can’t wait to see what all the hype about the Enchantments is about! Our bags are packed and we are ready to meet up with the rest of our group and enjoy our backpacking / camping / hiking vacation!
August 21st- 8.65 mile hike through The Enchantments
Today we made our way from our campsite at Colchuck lake up through Aasgard Pass, and through The Enchantments to Lake Perfection. Overall it was a harder hike than I expected, but totally worth it! It took us 8.5 hours to complete and we gained 3,627 feet in elevation. It was a lot of fun and I am excited to talk more about it in my Enchantments hiking post!
August 22nd- Colchuck lake to Stuart Lake
Today we hiked about 9 miles in total down from Colchuck lake to Stuart lake. Here was soaked up the sun, ate some lunch, and headed back to Colchuck lake to swim. It was a great day for an easier hike, as we were all fairly sore from Aasgard the day before.
August 23rd- 4 mile hike down from Colchuck lake
Today was our last day camping / hiking. We woke up, packed up, and headed down the mountain towards Leavenworth. We ended the hike with lunch in Leavenworth then headed home to Seattle to get ready for work tomorrow. Sad the trip is over, but can’t wait to reminisce and write about a blog post about it!
Back in July Alex and I woke up at 4:30am and headed to North Bend, WA to hike Mt. Si. This is the first hike we have done in almost a year. The goal is to start training for the Enchantments backpacking trip we are doing at the end of August. We brought some of our new gear to try out, which ended up working great!
Below are a few views from the top. I didn’t want to share too many early on, but I thought these two were pretty cool. The pandemic photo made me laugh, as it seems so fitting for what we are currently dealing with.
Here are a few views from the top! So glad it cleared up to enjoy the view.
The hike started off fairly flat, but as we started to climb, so did the elevation. The last few miles from the top had some crazy elevation gain. According to my watch, the overall elevation gain for this hike was 3,813 ft. We were cruising up the mountain through, with roughly hitting 29 minute miles. The trial was fairly quiet on the way up, we only passed a few other groups! We got to enjoy a late breakfast / early lunch at the top with a pretty awesome view. The animals were crazy aggressive when they say we had food. The chipmunks were not afraid to get up close and personal and the birds flew low and were perched right next the rocks we were sitting on. It made for some great photos!
Berries with a view!
I wasn’t the only one eyeing these berries! The birds and chipmunks were just as interested. This food made good bait to capture some cool photos. After the photos were taken I quickly finished my snack and enjoyed the view – hoping the animals would leave us alone for bit. Luckily this worked and we were able to rest without having to look over out shoulders and guard our food.
This little bird was so cute! Super inquisitive and patient to catch any crumbs we may have dropped.
Our other little friend! He was super hard to catch on camera, they move so fast…
On the way down, the trail was super crowded. We were pulling off left and right for groups to pass going up. I’m so glad we got to the top when we did to avoid the crowds. I may have put up a little resistance when the alarm went off at 4:30 am, but I’m glad Alex got me out of bed! The views were totally worth it!
Mt. Rainier from the top. This photo definitely doesn’t give this view justice, but I thought I would share anyways. I couldn’t believe how close Mt. Rainier felt and looked.
Overall, this hike was a lot of fun. It was a lot harder than we thought it was going to be and both our feet and legs were killing us by the time we got back to the car. We were both so tired we ended up showering and taking naps for the rest of the day. It was a great first hike of the season to do and I’m hopeful we will get a few more in before the Enchantments at the end of August!
Alex and I at the Mt. Si trail head! So lucky to have a hiking buddy
To make a change in my eating habits or not… This is the question I have been contemplating lately and doing A LOT of research on.
I’ve been doing a lot of research lately on the possible benefits from eating a whole food plant based diet. This includes everything from feeling more energized, building muscle faster, a healthier gut microbiome, and lower likelihood of getting certain cancers and diseases. As mentioned in my July post, I have already been trying to get away from eating processed foods and turn to plant based options instead.
Although I have been trying to stick to a clean eating diet by avoiding processed foods, I have the urge to push myself further and try cutting out meat and dairy as well. I think some of this push stems from being content with my workouts and my body. I feel like I am starting to achieve my goals related to my physical strength and how I envisioned my body to look from working out. To say the least I feel confident in my body! This is something I didn’t realize I was missing, but once I found this confidence I didn’t want to stop improving it, hence the urge to change my diet.
What I thought was called a vegan diet actually turns out to be a whole food plant based diet. I order a couple cook books of Amazon and am excited to try this new eating style. The main difference, to my understanding, between the two is as follows as well as outlining my reason for going plant based vs. vegan.
Plant Based Whole Foods Diet
Vegan Diet
– Food from plants, avoiding processed foods
– Not necessarily focused on cutting out processed foods
– Animal products are not off limits, but often not a huge part of the diet
– No animal products, avoid anything to do with them. This includes food, clothes, accessories, etc.
– My purpose: To get away from processed foods and improve what I put in my body to fuel it.
– Not my choice: I personally am not interested in cutting out meat to protect animals, but to better my own personal health.
I officially started this new way of eating on Monday June 29th, 2020. This included creating a week long meal plan and some grocery shopping. I am not foreign to shopping in the produce section, but I can admit I spent way more time here as most of my list revolved around fruits and veggies!
I am excited to start this journey and reflect on both the positive changes as well as the challenges I face with this new eating style!
I’m a little over a month and a half into my new way of eating and so far things are going well! I have gotten used to shopping for mainly fruits and veggies, meal planning and prepping, and spending a little extra time in the kitchen to cook meals from scratch.
While at first this shift in cooking was super fun and I really liked taking an hour or so to make a meal, I slowly started to realize how much of a commitment this way of eating would be. Not going to lie, but there were some cheat days because I was just way too lazy to cook another meal from scratch or didn’t have the motivation to meal plan the weekend before and was throwing stuff together to make it work.
I’ve gotten back on track when it comes to meal planing and prepping. I even have the motivation to stay on track! I would say this part of a plant based diet is my favorite and least favorite part at the same time. I really like having an idea each night what I’m going to make for lunch and dinner, but I also dislike being tied down to those 5 options for the week. It’s something I’ve been working on this past month and trying to still figure out what works well and what isn’t.
I would say one of the hardest parts of this way of eating, and something I still haven’t quite figured out is when it comes to eating out or spending time with friends and family. Oftentimes when we get together for dinner I end up doing my best to stick to the veggies and avoid dairy/ meat but this doesn’t always happen. I still haven’t figured out how to navigate around this and usually end up eating what everyone else has – while this isn’t necessarily bad, it does mean I have more cheat days. This is something I want to cut down on and I’m hoping it’s something I figure out with time.
Overall I am really happy with how I feel after eating and working out. I don’t feel bloated or super full, which used to be an issue in the past when it came to eating dinner. I also feel a lot better when I workout. I have more energy and motivation to push myself harder. I am excited to see how I change over the course of this new of eating and the ways I learn to navigate this new way of eating. I know I have a lot to learn still, but I am super happy I have been able to stick with this for the past month and a half!
My Not-So-Secret Diary 