Support Team A

After days in the wind, freezing cold nights, long water carries, and my Dad getting blisters, I really started to miss my Mum. I was away from home on Mothers’ Day for the first time in my life. I got to talk to her almost every day on the phone, but I just wanted to eat her food, sit next to her, and get a hug. I wanted that for my Dad too because his feet were really hurting him.

Mum had planned to meet us in Idyllwild, 10 days after we started. She knew we would be there because Dad said we would be there, and they are a really good team. She was going to pack up the pixie (my little sister, Lachlan) and meet us armed with her famous fruit salad and whatever else she thought we needed to get on up the trail.

I know my Dad has done so much work for our hike to be safe. He has a spreadsheet for everything you can imagine. We slept outside on my Grandma’s porch in 18 degree weather to road test the sleep system he planned for the Sierras. But now that we are on the trail, we are both grateful for our always on Support Team A – my Mum and my sister – who send us our food, watch our satellite progress, and help us out whenever we need it. My entire bedroom at home has been converted into a resupply station, so that we can ask for this or that to be added to our next resupply. In the first week we got sick of eating instant lasagna, and so my Mum made us on-the-fly “Mummy Gourmet” ultra-light meals and sent them in our next resupply. They weren’t bad! I know we are lucky. I wish every hiker could have a support team like we have.

Thanks Mum and Lachlan!

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