Got dirty water? Not for long! Hiking Forward is pleased to offer up the following Potable Aqua Water Purification Pack giveaway. 

The total pack retails for over $45.00. 

The pack includes:

(2) Potable Aqua Chlorine Dioxide Water Purification Tablets (total of 60 tablets) 
(1) Potable Aqua Germicidal Tablets with PA+Plus (50 tablets Germicidal and 50 Neutralizing Tablets)  
(1) Potable Aqua Germicidal Tables (50 tablets)

Good Luck!

Keep Hiking Forward

Scott

Teton Sports is a outdoor gear company located in Utah, that I have admired for quite sometime. They along with American Backcountry (another great and innovative outdoor retailer - might I add!) co-founded the weekly twitter chat for hikers (#hikerchat) on Fridays at 12pm ET. Engaging in #hikerchat has afforded me a wider understanding of new and evolving hiker and outdoor issues and programs as well as making a ton of hiker friends around the country. Teton is on the brink or releasing some amazing new gear that I can't wait to try and share. Getting outdoors is something that has become something of a motto and a calling for Teton. Teton wants us all to get outdoors and enjoy everything the outdoors has to offer. To promote this mindset Teton and other brand ambassadors will be using the #getoutdoors hash-tag to promote ways we call all get outdoors.

Potable Aqua, based out of Wisconsin, does what you would expect. They give you clean, pure and drinkable water. A steadfast solution for hikers and for those in need of water in emergency situations for years.Potable Aqua is currently in the process of bringing a new filter to market. Their new Potable Aqua PURE™ Electrolytic Water Purifier was recently named by Outside Magazine's as one of the top seven water filtration systems on the market (was listed as #3). Being from the midwest myself, I am pleased to represent a company from just down the road (a ways). 

So, in short, please stay tuned here to Hiking Forward for information about these innovative companies and the wonderful products that they make. 

Keep Hiking Forward

Scott

The Liebster Award is a Blogstöcken (Blogstöcken translated means Blog Stick.)  This award has been around for nearly a decade and the idea is to tag bloggers to learn more about them and their blogs.  I was tagged by Hiking The Trail - Adam Nutting. It was fun to read his answers to the questions he has provided. Without further ado let the Liebster award roll.

The Rules:

1. Link the Person who “tagged” you.

2. Answer the 11 questions that the person has asked you.

                                                                         3. Look for 11 Bloggers and nominate them.

                                                                         4. Come up with your own 11 question for your 11 nominees.

1. Most favorite travel destination? The Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) no other place has provided me and my family such pure enjoyment, relaxation and sense of home away from home. We have been twice, each time staying in the same chalet. Our girls still refer to it as "Our Cabin".

2. What is your best adventure story? While in the Smoky's, I awake one morning to a Black Bear outside our door circling my Suburban. He later tried to climb the long porch supports to get on to the porch where the trash was kept. Soon after as he began to walk away he and I came eye to eye. I on the side porch he safely just out of reach below me. An awesome moment to stand eye to eye with such a magnificent animal.

3. What is 1 thing you never leave home without when going on an adventure / trip? As any Boy Scout should, I never leave the house without a swiss army knife in my pocket. Any day can turn into an adventure. 

4. What is the longest (time or distance) adventure you have completed? Rather then long or time related, the most adventuresome event I take place in each year is my local hiking groups Freeze Your Butt Off event which takes place the last weekend in January. We spend 3 days and two nights camping out. No matter how wet, cold or how much snow we get. Its an awesome event, with truly liked-minded souls.

5. What is your blog about? Its about me, the journeys that I take to feed my soul with nature, the outdoors and good friends who seek the same. It's about the adventures that me and my young family undertakes and about sharing the knowledge that I garner along the way.

6. What is your next scheduled adventure / trip? Scheduled, would have to be the Hell Hike and Raft epic social adventure in northern Idaho. For more information go to www.hellhikeandraft.com 

7. What is your favorite part about being in the outdoors? Simply put, peace. No where else can any other place provide you that feeling. 

8. What is your most favorite spur of the moment adventure / trip? Throwing the kayak on top of the Jeep and hitting the lake or nearby river some quick peace and tranquility. 

9. What is your favorite outdoor themed podcast? Without a doubt the Pox and Puss Podcast. There is nothing like it. What else can you listen too about you love and almost piss yourself at 30,000 feet while listening to it on an airplane?

10. What is your favorite outdoor themed book? A fan of everything the Muir wrote. Also love reading the travelogues of all those that have hiked the AT. Yes even A Walk in the Woods.

11.  What advice do you give to anyone who wants to get outdoors more? As Nike says, Just do it! Take small steps, take a walk in a local park, go geocaching, find a local meetup hiking group, or ask your friends who participate in outdoor activities to tag along. Once there, enjoy yourself and remember how you it makes you feel to be outdoors. Use that feeling as the motivation to get out again and again. 

The 11 Bloggers I Chose for the Liebster Award:

1. Walk Outside 
2. A Trail Life
3. Things Going Smoothly 
4. Sticks Blog 
5. Ardent Camper
6. The Outdoor Adventure
7. Central Florida Hiker
8. Tammy on the Trail 
9. Wood Thrush Hikes 
10. ADK Bug
11. Adventurous Moms

 
Questions for my Blog Selections:

1. What do you consider your first outdoor experience?
2. When out on a multi-day excursion, what is the one thing your dream about doing or having when returning home?
3. What long trail do you want to complete or complete again and why?
4. Trailname? and how did you get it? Or what would you want your trail name to be if you don't have one and why?
5. What do you want to do when you retiree?
6. Last outing, where, when... etc.
7. Favorite backpacking meal.
8. Favorite memory on trail or camping.
9. Goal for the year.
10. Have you ever been tweeted to or RT'ed by a celebrity? Who.
11. Favorite National Park? and Why?

Its fast approaching. In about three and a half months, I will be in northern Idaho as a team member of the Hell Hike and Raft crew. A question was posed to us as a group on our Facebook page yesterday, how do we plan on celebrating when we arrive at the highest peak in the Seven Devils range? Honestly, not having given this much thought yet, I let my fellow team members speak up and allowed myself some time to adequately chew on the topic.

A little back ground for you. He Devil as mentioned is the tallest of all the Seven Devils peaks. Rising to 9,393ft, 13 feet higher then She Devil. Keep in mind, I am used to New England and Appalachian mountains. My fav, Monadnock rings in at 3,166. He Devil is also exactly three times that of Monadnock. Even the grand Mt. Washington is 6,289 and that's not even the tallest on the AT. That honor is bestowed upon Clingman's Dome in the GSMNP, at 6,625. Both only stretching to two-thirds of the elevation of He Devil, and you can drive up both Washington and up to Clingman's Dome as well. There are no roads where we are going.

Yes. I just quoted Back to the Future. Get over it!

Back to the issue at hand. What to do when finally achieving over 9,000 feet on the highest peak in my experience? It was discussed amongst some the group members about just taking in the scenery, some documenting the moment, others leaving a token of appreciation for a lost loved one.

Still twenty-four hours later this idea still leaves me perplexed. I think of the many courageous souls who I follow from afar who set off each year in the early spring and then on a magical late summer or early autumn day reach Mt. Katahdin. Some cheer, some have champagne others weep as they simply hold on to the sign, as if letting go of it would kill them. Nothing provides me a more meaningful sense of kinship to these like-minded souls then to see them experience their last moment on the AT after a truly long and epic journey.

While my day has not yet come to address the AT in the way I want to and let my hands grace the sign above Katahdin, I do have another epic journey to share in front of me. I don't think champagne will be on the menu for this journey however I do feel inside me, that emotion will surely be. When I watch the YouTube videos or see the pictures atop Katahdin, especially after following a hiker via their journals, I feel the emotion of that journey with them. When they reach their final summit, honestly I begin to feel my own emotions of my life bubble up as if I was finishing my journey. Will this appear on He Devil? I don't know.

Ironically, the emotion I speak of comes from the unexpected passing of my father five years ago who was a priest. I chuckled a bit, I'll be honest at the thought that a world of emotion can present itself on a mountain called He Devil about a priest. It's okay. Chuckle away.

My dream, is to hike the AT, to immerse my being into the hiker community and live the life of a thru-hiker, reach that sign and let it all go. My dad's dream was to be a priest. And against unbelievable odds he achieved his goal, made his dream a reality and made everyone around him the better for it. He never stopped giving back to his community, and he never forgot the people that helped him get to where he dreamed to be. Some people try and achieve things, some even do. But making your dreams come true, and sharing in your life that is stuff of legends. And boy he was a legend.

So as I think about what will or what happen either organically or premeditated on the highest peak I have ever climbed I know a few things for certain. The old man will be with me each step of the way. He will be proud of my journey and my determination to reach these new heights and I will surely be close to him.

Keep Hiking Forward

Scott

Okay, so here is the deal folks. My beloved Boston Bruins are in the Stanley Cup Playoffs (AGAIN). This evening we start the second round against our foes the Montreal Canadians. There are only a few things that I love in this world as much as I being outside camping, hiking, kayaking and chatting with like-minded souls around a campfire. Those things include playoff hockey (Boston Bruins), baseball (Boston Red Sox) and Sundays watching the New England Patriots. Yes I am "that" guy. If you have seen the movie Fever Pitch, you will understand. Yeah that's me. 

Above the TV, in my man cave garage (pic to the left) I have a 16 foot by 4 foot replica of the Green Monstah (Monster) from Fenway park. I told you. I'm that guy. 

So, you asking yourself its hockey, whats the big deal? Well yeah see, I got selected and happily accepted to be on a crew of 13 other awesome adventurers to tackle the Seven Devils mountain range in northern Idaho and raft 40 miles of the deepest canyon in North America in exactly 3 months 30 days and some change (you can view the countdown on this page). So, the challenge now is how do I seriously get myself physically ready to achieve what I want to achieve in such a sort time frame? 

Good question. 

Part of the agreement I made with my wife about going on this trip was that I would allow myself the time to get physically ready, mentally ready and emotionally ready to get every ounce out of this adventure that I can. I think we all do this, we get busy, with work, kids, life, running from one thing to the next and then we cram in the good stuff and barely get a percentage of the fun and enjoyment we should from the experience. I have to admit that I have found myself in this spot more then once and it can be very discouraging. 

Within the past few weeks I have read or seen many articles about sitting at a desk in a chair and how it is killing us. Just today I saw an article about how working in an office sitting is the new smoking. As if I needed another sign! I already have lower back issues and I know what I need to do to strengthen it. Honestly, other then the pain... which I am now used to, I really haven't had a great reason to try and correct the issue. Now I do. Hell Hike and Raft. 

Okay, so still with me? I sit all day in my home office, already have back issues, need to stay true to my agreement with the wife about my physical, mental and emotional preparedness. Oh yeah! And the first game of the Bruins second round playoffs starts in a couple hours. Whats the big deal right? 

I hate exercise. 

I have always been a weekend warrior who could do what I wanted or needed to on the weekend. And now. Sadly old age, sitting and the tiniest bit of beer has caught up to me. However, I have just watched my wife transform herself in a matter of 16 months. She lost a 100lbs, just finished her first half marathon and is stronger and more determined then I have ever seen her. She is a total inspiration to me and others. She is committed to giving me the same support I have given her over the past year. And, I love her for it. She made a plan and stuck to it. And for a month or so I have to be honest, I have done not much to move forward in the necessary categories. Well today, I made my plan. A good first step. And this weekend I plan on starting it. As I implement the plan and hopefully get stronger, leaner and more flexible (for my backs sack) I will be keeping all abreast of my progress both good and bad. 

Curious what I am going to be doing to get there? You can view my hiking plan above. Happy to take suggestions or comments in the comments box. If I change things I will edit and re-upload the document. 

Wish me luck! and... GO BRUINS!

Keep Hiking Forward.

Scott