The Time of My Life: You need special shoes for hiking - and a bit of a special soul as well. ~Terri Guillemets

Special shoes? Check.

I am now a proud owner of these Chacos! (I don't actually have them in my possession, but they should be here soon!) When I was at Zion's with Kristen, we borrowed Tana's Chacos for one of the days. Here are the thoughts I have had since that decision:

#1. I am a believer. It was so great to be able to walk through water without worrying about wet socks. The traction was awesome, unbelievable even (although comparing them to my 3 year old running shoes that I was wearing before may not fly with consumer reports). Seriously though, I felt like Spiderman!

#2. If you ever want to attract attention to your feet, hike in these. There were so many comments, looks, questions, etc...

#3. Maybe trying brand new hiking shoes for the first time on an 8+ mile hike (half of which is a very steep incline) is not my best idea that I've ever had. Like I said, I am a believer, however the two quarter sized open blisters on my feet, serve as a reminder that even too much of a good thing is not a good thing. Or maybe they are just a physical indicator that patience is a virtue. They could also serve to teach me to always always be prepared. Okay okay, maybe they just mean that I was stupid and was not thinking at all when I wore new (to me) shoes on a heavy duty hiking day. I will NOT make that mistake again. Sorry Utah friends, I may be wearing these shoes around, everywhere, for the next few weeks until they are ready to hit the trails.

The only picture of the whole trip where you can see the shoes! This canyon part of the hike was SO FUN!

This is just the beginning of my Summer-O-Hiking! The plan is to hike all 7 peaks in Utah Valley. Did YOU know that the water park in Provo is named after 7 actual mountain peaks? I'll be honest, I had no idea. I mean, as much as I love water parks, I'm sooooo much more excited about hiking than going here (however, at turn #8 of hiking the Y, that is not the case. The view of 7 peaks from that blasted mountain is simply HEAVENLY).

I don't even remember who it was who told me, but after my Zion's trip (which was FANTASTIC) I decided that I needed to do it. Luckily my cousin Katie is going to take on these mountains with me, because I definitely would not do it alone! The only problem is, that these mountains will not really be hikeable until July/Aug/Sept. To get in good hiking shape we're going to have to go south (Zion's, Snow, Bryce Canyon, Goblin Valley, etc...) and hike down there in these cooler months so we will be ready to go when actual summer comes! Since not everybody can drop their lives and just hike with me whenever I want, I have been hiking the Y a lot, since it is really the only one I feel comfortable and safe hiking alone, since there is a pretty consistent flow of traffic. I've done it three times so far, and plan on hitting double digits. I would be really excited if it became "easy" at some point. I'm hoping that it will help out with my future half marathon endeavors as well!

Oh, and here are a few pictures of my hiking trip at Zion's National Park: