This is a love note to all the climber girls. Not just climber girls- any girl who enjoys being outdoors.

Being a girl who hangs out with a lot of dudes, and in turn, a lot of girls who hang out with mostly dudes, I often hear the following sentence: 

"I don't have girl friends because girls cause too much drama."

Every time I hear this, I cringe. Girls are awesome. Dudes are awesome too, but hear me out. 

We love our guy friends, but our girl friends are a different kind of special. We're not the girls who say that we don't have girlfriends because girls cause too much drama. We love our girlfriends and there's nothing more fun than playing outside together.

We look out for each other. We support each other, and we will always give each other the best spot in the world. We have just as much fun and crush just as hard together, as we do when the guys are around.

We're fun. We like spontaneity. We like to get dirty and don't care how long it's been since our last shower.

We have girl talk, but it's often accompanied by cheap beer and a campfire. Our girl talk usually revolves around trip planning or beta on our most recent project.

I get the realest advice from these ladies. These ladies are the ones who are confident, not only because they know they're physically strong, but because they know they have a squad of badass ladies backing them up.

So, ladies, love your lady friends. They are your badass support system in the very male dominated outdoor culture. They get you. They respect you. They empower you. 

I graduate in May. I have landed two really rad internships so people kind of tend to lean towards the belief that I have my life together and a job lined up for when I finish schooling. The conversation takes one of two directions when I tell them I plan on walking 2,100 miles from Maine to Georgia, through the woods. The first reaction is wide eyed amazement. I love this reaction. I get to talk about the trail and get people on the bandwagon. Hiking is cool now anyways, right?

The second reaction dampens my mood. It usually goes as follows:

"What are you doing after college? You probably have a job lined up already, right?"

"No, I'm actually hiking the Appalachian Trail starting in May!"

"That's cool, but what about after that?"

"Well I'll be gone for 5 months..,"

"You're taking 5 months... To hike...?"

"Yep, from Georgia to Maine!"

"...oh. Why?"

Why? Well because it's there and I want to. And because I don't want to be a real person just yet. I want to be free of responsibilities before I have to throw myself into the real world, paying bills, buying sofas, struggling to pay for a house I can't afford and everything else that comes with adulthood.

Now, I know adulthood isn't all bad. I mean, I can eat Easy Mac in my underwear in my own house, because it's my house and I do what I want. It's just that I would much rather be eating that same meal somewhere along the Appalachian Trail, listening to the sounds of nature and hoping no local bears have an appetite for dry pasta and powdered cheese. 

Every high point is so different from the next. I could read trail reports all day long and still never know what to expect.

Mt. Elbert, 14,439

I climbed Mt. Elbert about two weeks ago. Not only was it my first 14er, it was also my first time being higher than 6,000 feet above sea level. I've always loved getting as high above sea level as possible. The mountains on the East coast never got me even half as high as Elbert did.

Reading up on 14ers, I knew that this would be a challenge. I knew that, while the trail may be well marked and a relatively "easy", it would still be hard. I read reviews and trail reports calling the hike "easy" (one even said they had taken their 4 year old kid up with no issues. I call shenanigans).

We started at about 10,000ft so we still had 4,000+ of gain over the next 4 miles. The first mile or so was fine. Flat, well marked, little elevation gain. Once I hit tree line, I knew I was in trouble. After 4 false summits, almost 3 miles of 3,000 foot elevation gain and lots of negative thoughts, I summited, accompanied by Sullivan and our roommate Nikki.

It was a new kind of emotional for me, since I had never considered giving up on any summit attempts before this one.  I am fully aware that my little New England peaks are merely hills compared to some of the mountains I'll have to climb before I finish highpointing. I was relieved, happy and a even little dizzy, due to the altitude. I knew that I was only halfway done and that was really frustrating for me. I felt like I was in good shape, but Elbert told me differently. It was as if my New England mountains lied to me, telling me I'm capable of any mountain I try to climb, while these 14ers told me differently.

We did it! 

 Necessary. 

A new kind of excited.

What a beauty!

South Dakota, 7,244 
A week after Mt. Elbert, Sullivan and I headed up to South Dakota and camped in the Black Hills National Forest. We saw Mount Rushmore (definitely a little underwhelming, but still pretty neat) and car camped in my crappy little Coleman tent (I really need to invest in some better backpacking equipment). The hike up Harney Peak was real easy. It only took about 3 hours roundtrip and was easy on our legs. The views were incredible, though. About halfway up we took a snack break and enjoyed views of the Needles. We continued on up, hitting a staircase, then eventually the summit. The summit has a cool lookout tower on top, which was a nice break from the sun. We were off the mountain by 3:30 or so and made our way home. I was feeling ambitious and wanted to hit Nebraska's high point, but as fate would have it, it was about 10PM and I was driving through middle of nowhere Nebraska dirt roads, 20+miles from any paved roads and was started to feel a little uneasy. In my head I kept saying "This is how Criminal Minds episodes start.". So I turned around, feeling defeated, tired and cranky, knowing I still had two and a half hours to get back home.

Awesome views on the way up.

Nailed it!

 Lookout tower stairs.

Pond? Puddle?

Panorama Peak, 5,429
Yesterday I had the time, energy and money to head up to Nebraska's highpoint, for real this time. It was a beautiful drive out there, but it got boring. The dirt roads were bumpy and didn't agree that well with my lil Jetta, but we made it! It took 6 hours total. We spent about 20 minutes at the actual highpoint, and took our time on the country roads, stopping every so often to take photos. The actual highpoint was pretty comical... There was a register and a monument surrounded by a metal barrier, probably to keep the bison from destroying it. Did I mention the monument is on a bison farm? Pretty freakin cool, if you ask me. We did see the massive mammals, but from a very far distance. I definitely think Nebraska's highpoint is my favorite of the "small" highpoints I've done (I count anything less than 3 hours as small, so that leaves Rhode Island, Connecticut and South Dakota.) It was just so remote and goofy. Mt. Elbert didn't even have a register or monument, just the geological marker.

 On top of Nebraska.

 Fields of flowers.

 Beautiful dirt roads for miles and miles.

You can't even imagine my excitement as we pulled up to this sign.

On Friday I start making my way back home. I will be hitting Kansas's highpoint, Mt. Sunflower on the way home, as well as Indiana's highpoint, Hoosier Hill. That will make 5 highpoints in one summer, which was my goal. Wish me luck!

I traveled to Tanzania in the spring of 2012. I went to the United African Alliance Community Center just outside of Arusha. It was a school trip, focusing on art history. We stayed with Mama Charlotte and Mzee Pete, two founding members of the Black Panther Party, originally from Kansas City. We taught an English class, hung out with the kids in the Leaders of Tomorrow Children's Home, went on safari, hiked part of Kilimanjaro, saw rock art and went to Zanzibar. My favorite part was the kids. 

Two days ago, I heard that one of the little boys I spent my time with while in Tanzania passed away. I couldn't believe it. My heart felt broken and I didn't want to believe it. How could such a happy, energetic young child no longer be with us? My heart hurts for his family and friends. I cannot imagine the pain that they're experiencing. I only spent two and a half weeks with him and I am crushed.

His name is Crescious. I liked him cause he was smaller than the other kids, but made up for it in spunk. I don't speak Swahili and he didn't speak English, other than "yes" "no" and "up". The first day I hung out with him was after dinner. I saw him sitting by himself so I walked over to him. He looked up at me and just said "UP!" and threw himself into my arms. I gave him piggyback rides until it was time for bed.

Everyday after that he would come sit with me when we had down time. Sometimes he didn't want to play, but just sit in my lap and watch the other kids. Sometimes he wanted to dance. He was an energetic kid who loved to play and enjoyed the company of others. Maybe he was using me for my piggyback rides, or maybe he thought we were friends. I felt a connection to him. I'm not really sure why. We never really had a conversation. He held my hand when we walked places and he always stuck to my side. He was my little buddy and I've thought about him everyday since I left. The day I left, I told him I would see him again. He might have understood. He might not have. But I made a promise to him and I feel bad that I couldn't keep it.

You will always be in my heart, Crescious.

"Climb mountains not so the world can see you, but so you can see the world." - Unknown

I'm Callie, and I'm a high pointer.

A highpointer is a person who seeks out the highest points in a given area. For me, high pointing is hiking to the highest point in each US state. I think that to truly highpoint, you have to make an effort and climb the mountain. Driving doesn't count, but that's just my humble and usually irrelevant opinion. I currently have all six New England States under my belt, and am hoping to raise that number to eleven by the end of the summer, with Colorado, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Kansas. I want to reach all fifty by the time I am 30.

High pointing is an incredible feeling. It's so rewarding to stand on the summit of a mountain (or hill, if you're in Rhode Island), look around and know that you are standing higher than anyone else in the state at that given moment. You feel like you're on top of the world. I know that Rhode Island's highpoint, Jerimoth Hill standing at a whopping 812 feet above sea level is hardly the same as summiting K2 or Everest, but to me it's almost magical. I can't describe the feeling I get when I step foot on a summit and see that beautiful US Geological Survey plaque. I get giddy. I have pictures of myself at each high point and in each one, I look like the giddiest, dweebiest human alive.

Some people think that what I do is cool, others think it's weird, but you know what? Climbing mountains is a real cool thing. I think it's because, at any moment, the mountain can defeat you. It's humbling. No human is stronger than even the smallest hill. In order to conquer, you can't be afraid of it. In order to climb it, you need to respect it and know that it always has been and always will be stronger than you. You need to know that you are merely a guest in mother nature's biggest and best playgrounds. Everything that you see while getting to the top has been around for hundreds of years. Every rock, tree and animal has laid claim upon that land years before you ever strapped on a pair of hiking boots.

My hardest hike, mentally and physically, was Mount Katahdin in Maine last September. It is the end (or start, in some cases) of the Appalachian Trail. It is in the middle of nowhere in Maine. The closest town and nearest cell reception is about 30 minutes outside of Baxter State Park. The park has no paved roads or electricity anywhere. It's this magical little park. Katahdin stands at 5,269 about sea level. I had camped with my father right off the AT (super cool for us, we're kinda obsessed with the trail). I slept in my hammock and my dad slept in the tent. It was probably one of the coldest, most uncomfortable nights of my life. But awesome. I woke up with the sun, around 6:30 or 7. We started our hike by 8:30. The first few miles were okay, definitely tough, but doable. We got past treeline and the real work started. I swore I thought I was at the summit about 7 times, only to see the summit miles away. I reached the table lands and pretty much booked it up. Upon reaching the summit I was blown away. It couldn't have been a more perfect day. It was clear and a bit windy and chilly. The visibility was perfect. I could see for miles. I made my way back down with my dad and got down just before dark. I slept for most of the 7 hour drive back home, then slept til noon the next day.

At the summit. Happy Callie.

My dad is the raddest dad.

Another great hike was Mount Washington, New hampshire. It's the highest of the New England High points and such a fun hike. We took Tuckerman's Ravine (also part of the AT, we also feel a connection to the trail). It's 8.4 miles roundtrip, with incredible views. We left home at 9AM (oops!) and arrive at the trailhead around 12. We started right away, reaching the summit around 4PM. We spent some time at the summit and headed back town. We reached the car around 8:30PM, well after dark. It's a good thing we were prepared with a flashlight, as we hiked in almost complete darkness for about 45 minutes. I had always wanted to hike Mount Washington, since I am a New Englander and it almost seems like a rite of passage. We lucked out with fairly warm weather and clear skies.

Beautiful day on the summit.

Mountains make me happy, simply put. I feel tall, despite standing at five feet tall. I feel much more alive while standing on a mountain. It might be the air. It might be walking through clouds. It might be that I can stand where even trees can't grow. I'm not sure entirely what it is, but I love the mountains. Mountains are my happy place.

Happy trails!

Callie