GUEST POST: Amy Takes a Hike!!

Hello Readers!

This is Amy (Torch's daughter.) I wanted to tell you about the great time I had hiking with my dad last weekend.

We started in Easton, PA and had two days of hiking, ending up in Delaware Water Gap. Hiking in Eastern PA is challenging because it is so rocky. You have to watch every step, which is obviously taxing both mentally and physically. In one of the shelter notebooks, a hiker wrote: EASTERN PA: WHERE BOOTS COME TO DIE. Torch is happy to be out of PA!

We camped a little off the trail after eating a gourmet dinner. We hung our food bag pretty far from our tent. I was hoping that some bears would try to play tetherball with our food bag, but alas, it remained untouched.

This was an incredible experience. Being away from my cellphone, computer, commute and cubicle (The Four Cs!!) was the best! Also: no mirrors! On the trail, it doesn't matter what you look like (or smell like, thankfully.) For me, this was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I mean, I will definitely hike and camp again, but doing it alongside a real THRU-HIKER, who is also my dad, was remarkable and I will treasure this weekend for the rest of my life!

We had a lot of laughs over the weekend but what I found most hilarious was my dad's attachment to his Gatorade bottle. He re-uses the same plastic bottle over and over and is always super-conscious about having it in his pack. To me, it seemed that this Gatorade bottle was like a friend to him, and not just a water vessel. If you've ever seen the movie Castaway, you probably remember Wilson:

(the volleyball anthropomorphised by Tom Hanks' character in the film.) It seems that this Gatorade bottle provides a similar function to my dad on the hike...so much so that I decided the Gatorade bottle needed a name. Hence, he was christened "Gator":

(What a pal.)

Thanks to my DAD for having me on the trail, if only for a few days! I highly recommend joining him for a hike if you are able. And, thanks to my MOM for getting up to Easton and waiting around for us while we enjoyed the great outdoors.