Okay so I’ve mentioned this trail a few times and I figure now I should elaborate a lot more on it. Otherwise I’ll keep talking about this hike and lose you, my audience. And what’s the fun in doing adventurous stuff without sharing it with others? Or bragging about to your friends/enemies. Hahahahahhahahahahahhahaha!!!

For background, the Lone Star Trail is estimated to be 123 miles with a start in Richards, Tx and end in Cleveland, Tx. For a reference point, this trail is about an hour and some change north of downtown Houston. I found out about this trail while camping in Huntsville, Tx for this past new years. Since then I’ve become obsessed with developing a plan to accomplish this hike by the end of 2024.

I love to make plans! I love to plan out my days, weeks, even months if feasible. Planning gives me control and power over my life. Something I haven’t always felt I’ve had in the past. Sure you can’t control everything in your life and if you could that might be a daunting task. So I prefer to plan out what I can control, that way I can accept what I can’t control. It’s not easy to always plan what you can control and it’s not easy to accept what you can’t control. So what’s the alternative? Stick my head in the ground and hope for the best? Fuck no! That ain’t me! Id rather face the devil head on then be ambushed from behind. So I’d rather stay ready with my process then have to get ready for another’s or life’s process.

I say all this to frame how important having a plan is! Humor me here, picture yourself walking around in nature living out of your backpack for a week. How does that sound? Sounds like you better know where you’re going, why you’re doing it, what you need to accomplish it, when to start the preparations, who to ask for advice and support (especially if you’ve never done it before), and finally how you’ll accomplish the task. Let me break my planning style a bit more for you.

As a Marine infantry squad leader I would be tasked with organizing men to perform,a task or several task in a series, in order to accomplish a mission for the parent organization I belonged to. Basically take a group of dudes to a place on the earth, conduct xyz and come home. That’s a mission. Some missions run long. Some are short. All require a plan to succeed, guidance for the variables on mission (OR on the ground), and a plan for if the mission fails. One process we would use to plan missions in the Marines was answering the 5Ws & 1H. Who, what, where, when, why, and HOW. These questions help leaders answer hypothetical questions and experiences that someone may encounter on their mission.

Truthfully I think this backpacking trip is a great mental hobby for me. When I am bored at work or not motivated to go workout or I get fixated on my troubled past- I visualize myself on the trail hiking. No troubles, no worries, just me. Me and my backpack. That’s it.

Sure that may sound awful or boring or downright impossible to some. To me that motivates the absolute living fuck out of myself!!!!! I’m gonna hike it and I’m going to savor every moment on that trail! Shit in the woods. Eat basic meals. Sleep on the ground. Listen to the birds. Smell the nature. Piss on a tree. Watch animals and insects just BE. All this makes me grateful to be alive and to be in God’s glory!!!

So I will be obsessing over hiking this trail throughout the year. I’ll drop in some progress reports and detail more of my plans as I develop them. Right now I am working on getting the necessary equipment after having a few trial runs throughout January. Today I just received my hiking guide book! Now that I have the guide book I can begin a real plan on paper. Which I will share with you in this digital space as I feel ready. Currently I have a notes page on my phone where my thoughts about this trail have been living. My journal has some pages too. I will make at least monthly reports. My goal is to hike the 130 mile trail in December with Brandon.