Part Zero: Hiking My Feelings in the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne - Yosemite National Park

PART ZERO // Let's set the stage for the stories that will be shared from our Yosemite trip, as we have a lot of new faces in the Hiking My Feelings Family since our last backpacking trip in 2018.

A bit about us: our mission as an organization is to improve community health by creating opportunities for people to experience the healing power of nature. My mission as a human is to live out loud and share my journey so perhaps you can see your own from a new perspective.

You can read about my first and second backpacking trips (both on the Trans-Catalina Trail) in my book, Hiking My Feelings: Stepping into the Healing Power of Nature. In short, hiking saved my life and helped me connect the dots between a sexual assault I survived in college and how that unresolved trauma had manifested in my mind and body as panic attacks and Type 2 Diabetes. Since that second backpacking trip, I've reversed my diabetes and haven't had a panic attack, all thanks to disconnecting from the distractions of life and reconnecting with myself outdoors.

I want to be clear, I'm not some expert backpacker. This was my *third* time out in the backcountry. This was my first legit backpacking trip where the water wasn't filtered for me (the TCT has running water or water delivery at every campground).

I have big dreams of joining legends like Will Robinson (@akunahikes on Instagram) and donning the Triple Crown of long-distance hiking, telling diabetes and my inner critic to take a hike with every step I take - I want to see what is possible in this body while I'm on this planet. But before I take on longer trails, I am training my mind + body and getting real with myself: do I like backpacking in the rugged wilderness? Can I manage my health effectively on trail? Am I able to get restorative rest?

All of those questions will be answered in the stories I'm sharing from our adventures in the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne in Yosemite National Park

Tomorrow, I'll introduce you to my adventure buddies, Barry (@maker_of_vibes) - my partner in life and here at Hiking My Feelings, and KBong (@kbongmusic) - the most positive human I know, rockin’ his solo career and the keys for Stick Figure (@stickfiguremusic).

🐻 Any questions before we start?