A Very Happy Thank You!

Posted on February 23, 2015 by Michael Kane

A Very Happy Thank You!

happiness

Happiness is not so much in having as sharing. We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. ~ Norman MacEwan

Well my friends, I’m getting ready to set off on the Appalachian Trail and so I won’t be posting nearly as often.  Don’t worry, I haven’t forsaken you, I’ve scheduled some posts out each week until August 1st so you’ll have something to read.  Also, I’ll be posting hopefully at least once a week via my phone from the Appalachian Trail.

I wanted to take this time tonight to say thank you to all of you have followed this blog via Twitter, Facebook and especially those of you who are direct subscribers.  I get a lot out of writing this blog, I hope you get something out of reading it.

We continue to increase our reach and readership, 2014 nearly doubled 2013 in the number of views.  This year has started off with a bang, February is the third straight month that has set the bar as the month with the most views.  By comparison, by the end of February we’ll have as many views in the first two months of this year as we had in all of 2012, pretty good.  We’ve recently hit some milestones, 1600 Twitter followers (@ministryofhappy) and 2500 Facebook followers on the Ministry of Happiness Facebook Page.  Finally this week we will post our 750th post, seems like yesterday I was wondering if I’d ever make 100 posts.

So thank you, thank you my friends, this endeavor doesn’t mean much without you, your feedback and input.  So drop a note to say hi before I hit the trail and have a happy day my friends ~ Rev Kane

happiness, appalachian trail

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Appalachian Trail (AT) Happiness: Rules for the Road

Posted on February 20, 2015 by Michael Kane

Appalachian Trail (AT) Happiness: Rules for the Road

happiness, appalachian trail

It had nothing to do with gear or footwear or the backpacking fads or philosophies of any particular era or even with getting from point A to point B.

It had to do with how it felt to be in the wild. With what it was like to walk for miles with no reason other than to witness the accumulation of trees and meadows, mountains and deserts, streams and rocks, rivers and grasses, sunrises and sunsets. The experience was powerful and fundamental. It seemed to me that it had always felt like this to be a human in the wild, and as long as the wild existed it would always feel this way.                             ~ Cheryl Strayed
As I’ve mentioned previously I have undertaken planning to do a thru-hike next year on the Appalachian Trail (AT). My hope is that I will walk all 2,200 miles of the AT from Springer Mountain, GA to Mt. Katahdin, Maine starting in late February or early March, 2015. This is my trail journal where I hope to take you from my decision to do this, through my preparation and then notes from the trail and hopefully all the way to Maine. All of this in my journey and process to live happy days my friends ~ Rev Kane
So as I’m getting ready to set out on my Appalachian Trail (AT) thru-hike, I thought I needed some rules for the road to guide me on my way. The single overriding rule of course is to hike your own hike. What this means is that everyone is different and everyone has to do this journey their own way. Some people will be purists and hike every step of the trail, some folks will “blue blaze” taking some of the side trails that skirt some of the nastier parts of the trail. Some folks will have dedicated schedules and need to be very frugal, others, well not so much. So what these rules are for me are some guidelines to help me determine what hike your own hike means for me.

13happiness, appalachian trail

 

 

 

 

 

 

Be happy and thankful for every step on the trail

First off this is a journey, there is a goal for me, Mt. Katahdin by my 51st birthday August 26, 2015. Hell, even better if I can summit on my birthday! But being too focused on the goal is to overlook two hugely important facts. First, only about 30% of the people who attempt this journey make it all the way through. Some quit due to things they control, many for things they can’t control. A stray step, a virus, the wrong mosquito, there are many things that keep even strong well-prepared hikers from finishing.
The second is the fact that the whole journey is estimated to be 5,000,000 steps. If you’re too focused on the five millionth step, you’ve missed out on all the joyful and amazing things going on for the previous 4,999,999 steps. So no matter how many steps I take from 1 to 5,000,000 I want to try and be mindful and enjoy every step.

Be friendly

I’m not always the most social animal but I really want to be more friendly than normal while on the trail for a number of reasons. First, I really want to connect with my fellow thru-hikers who in my estimation are on average a really wonderful group of humans. Second, you never know when someone out there is having a really tough day and good use a smile, a good word, a helping hand or a spare snickers bar.

happinessBe open to detours

THIS is an adventure, so for god’s sake take the right kind of chances. I’ve already done this in one sense, a new friend on Twitter (Phoddo) mentioned meeting up at Trail Days in Damascus, VA in May. My initial answer was I’ll pass, not into crowds or doing the typical hiker festival thing. Then I remembered why I’m doing this, adventure, fun, stretch yourself, so  I’ll be in Damascus for Trail Days. Although the hike itself will be amazing, I’ve heard so many great stories from previous hikers about side trips and misadventures they ended up in by just being open to stepping off the trail, that I have to be open to that sort of thing.

 

Try new things

Along the lines of the last rule, I need to be open to trying new things and getting out of my comfort zone. I don’t know what they will be yet, but I have to be ready. Of course June 21st is Hike Naked Day!

Meditate every day

Something I go through phases with in my life, I’m hoping to get into a regular meditation routine on the trail. It will help my mental health on the trail and given that this endeavor is easily as much a mental as a physical challenge it should pay a lot of dividends.

Write every day and answer the three questions.

This is already a solid routine for me and one that I really want to continue on the trail. Hell I bought a $15 space pen to make sure I could write under any condition! I’m hoping to put a book together around this adventure and I want to make sure I don’t miss a thing when I do. I also have three questions I’ll be writing on every day. What was the most beautiful thing I saw today? What did I learn today? What made me happy today?

happiness, appalachian trail

 

 

 

 

So there are other rules that I’m sure will develop as I walk, but this is a good starting point. As always happy to have you suggest some for me in the comments as well. Hopefully the rules will serve me well and help me have happy trail days my friends            ~ Rev Kane

 

Did you dig this, well check out these…

 

Appalachian Trail (AT) Happiness: Three Important Questions

Appalachian Trail (AT) Happiness: Beginnings

Appalachian Trail (AT) Happiness: My Thoughts So Far

Himalayan Travelogue: The Whole Thing!

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Appalachian Trail (AT) Happiness: Pre-trail Changes

Posted on February 15, 2015 by Michael Kane

Appalachian Trail (AT) Happiness: Pre-trail Changes

happiness, appalachian trail

You need special shoes for hiking — and a bit of a special soul as well.               ~ Terri Guillemets

I’ve been asked a lot why I would want to undertake a 2200 mile walk, spending 6 months living in the forest. People have a tendency to focus on their fears, animals, loneliness, getting lost or on the physical aspect of the task. Surely all of these items merit thought and consideration but they are details, challenges along the way, they are not the main thing. Mallory got it pretty right, at least for me in his famous answer about why climb Everest. He’s famous for saying because it’s there, but this is the whole answer and although not as quotable makes a bit more sense.

People ask me, ‘What is the use of climbing Mount Everest?’ and my answer must at once be, ‘It is of no use. ‘There is not the slightest prospect of any gain whatsoever. Oh, we may learn a little about the behaviour of the human body at high altitudes, and possibly medical men may turn our observation to some account for the purposes of aviation. But otherwise nothing will come of it. We shall not bring back a single bit of gold or silver, not a gem, nor any coal or iron… If you cannot understand that there is something in man which responds to the challenge of this mountain and goes out to meet it, that the struggle is the struggle of life itself upward and forever upward, then you won’t see why we go. What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy. And joy is, after all, the end of life. We do not live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to live. That is what life means and what life is for. ~ George Mallory

The answer that I have settled on in addressing this question is that doing an Appalachian Trail thru-hike is an adventure, adventure is transformational and I want to live a transformational life. Sounds good but what the hell does it mean? To me it means this, the times in life when we change are the times when we stretch ourselves and push beyond our self-imposed boundaries to find something bigger and better in ourselves. I know what I’m talking about, this is not my first rodeo I have done this before.

My last great adventure was trekking in the Himalayan Mountains. Our goal was base camp on Mt. Everest, we were diverted by a freak snow storm, but we spent 14 days over 14,000 feet, I personally got above 17,000 and several members of the group did an 18,000 foot pass. Prior to that, I’d never been over 12,000 feet, had never done a multi-day trek and sure as hell never had to dodge Yaks on a trail. The trip changed me in several significant ways, I came back much calmer and less reactive. I was certainly more confident, and even far more hungry than I had been before for more travel and yes, more adventure. I wrote about this trek in a series of posts on the blog under My Himalayan Travelogue.

happiness, appalachian trailThe Appalachian Trail thru-hike is a huge undertaking, even compared to the Himalayan Trek I did. We’re talking 6 months of living out of a pack, walking over 2000 miles. This means dialing in every aspect of how I will be living. I’m 14 days from leaving and I don’t feel prepared even though I’ve done an immense amount of research, a lot of training and have talked with a lot of veterans. I know some of what will happen will be a total crap shoot, I’m sure I’ve made some big mistakes and will have to make changes on the fly. This is all part of how adventure stretches you. The other thing that has occurred with the preparation for this hike, including quitting my job, selling my house, moving across the US, having most of my plans utterly blown up, is that some of the transformation has already occurred.

I have already become calmer than I’ve been in years, I’m certainly less reactive. Now don’t get me wrong I’m far from the Buddha or some Zen Master level of calm, but I’m on my way. The closer the date gets the more and more I’m thankful for every shower, every hot meal, for little things like ice, I really like ice in my drink. I’m thankful for clean tap water that I don’t have to drip several drops into and wait 20 minutes to drink. It’s really nice to be warm at night in bed, a lot of simple things we all take for granted are already becoming precious to me and increasing my level of gratitude. As I’ve written about here before, expressing gratitude makes us happier. And although there have a been a series of speed bumps, as I wrote about in the post This was NOT the Plan, I’m still a pretty happy guy right now.

So the transformations have already started, now all I have to do is walk the 2200 miles and see what else happens. A lot of steps, 5 million they estimate, and a lot of happy days to come my friends ~ Rev Kane

 

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Appalachian Trail (AT) Happiness: My Thoughts So Far

Posted on February 13, 2015 by Michael Kane

Appalachian Trail (AT) Happiness: My Thoughts So Far

happiness, appalachian trail“The long distance hiker, a breed set apart,
From the likes of the usual pack.
He’ll shoulder his gear, be hittin’ the trail;
Long gone, long ‘fore he’ll be back.” ~ M J Eberhart

If you’ve been following along you know my Appalachian Trail (AT) prep has not gone as expected.  The good news, if you haven’t been following along, I’m in a bit of a lazy mood tonight and I’ll be providing links to my recent posts below.  My mom, who has been ill, is doing much better, she’s home and getting stronger every day.

happiness, appalachian trailOf course a combination of her illness, god awful amounts of snow, some brutal cold and now my second cold in 5 weeks has beat the hell out of my preparation physically, mentally, emotionally and even equipment wise.  I thought I would be well ahead, seriously prepared and in great shape, well that hasn’t happened.  Somehow I doubt I’m unique in this aspect.  However, I do believe I finally have all of my gear, my travel reservations are in place, hell I even registered my thru-hike with the Appalachian Trail Conservancy.

happiness, appalachian trailThere are a couple of things though that I’m woefully behind on, I have yet to set up and dial in my winter set up with my hammock.  Hell, what could go wrong, just a little hypothermia and death  I’m resolved to get to that in the next couple of days, also I have yet to take a single step with my full, trail ready pack set up.  This one will also hopefully be resolved in the next week, but with even more snow coming and my start date a little over three weeks away, it will be 45 days without going uphill with weight on my back.  The first few days on the AT might be hell, but I’m trying to keep a positive attitude.

happiness, appalachian trailJust preparing for this adventure has brought on some changes in me that I hope to document in a post in the next day or so.  But for tonight, below are the AT pieces I’ve posted up to this point, give a read, drop a comment and have a happy day my friends ~ Rev Kane

My Appalachian Trail Posts So Far…

Appalachian Trail (AT) Happiness: It’s Official

Appalachian Trail (AT) Happiness: Three Important Questions

Web Resources for Appalachian Trail (AT) & Other Hikers

Teaching An Old Dog New Tricks

Happiness, the minimalist mind and hiking the Appalachian Trail

Appalachian Trail (AT) Happiness: Official Freakout Day!!!

Appalachian Trail (AT) Happiness: Fear and Loathing on the AT

Appalachian Trail (AT) Happiness: Walking the Line

Appalachian Trail (AT) Happiness: This was NOT the plan!

Some Thoughts on Happiness, a Why to my Appalachian Trail (AT) Walk

Happiness is the Desert

Appalachian Trail (AT) Happiness – Walking in the Rain

Appalachian Trail (AT) Happiness: Second Test Hike

Appalachian Trail (AT) Happiness: First Test Hike

And so it begins, Appalachian Trail (AT) or bust!

Appalachian Trail (AT) Happiness: Getting Started, Reading & Research

Appalachian Trail (AT) Happiness: Beginnings

Appalachian Trail (AT) Happiness: A Start

 

 

 

 

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Appalachian Trail (AT) Happiness: It’s official

Posted on February 7, 2015 by Michael Kane

Appalachian Trail (AT) Happiness: It’s official

happiness, appalachian trail

In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks. ~ John Muir

happiness, appalachian trail

So initially I was an Appalachian Trail Dreamer

The place where you lose the trail is not necessarily the place where it ends.   ~ Tom Brown, Jr.

happiness

Rockin the Fudge-a-licious hat

 

Then I was an Appalachian Trail planner

No Pain, No Rain, No Maine ~ Unknown

Happiness

Next I was an Appalachian Thru-hiker in training

Beware the “Words of Wisdom” from others. ~  SassyWindsor

happiness

Now, I’m so much closer

My train ticket to Atlanta has been bought

happiness, appalachian trail

My ride with Survivor Dave is scheduled

1All of my rooms are reserved.  I’m fully easing into the transition, I like transitions and like to savor them slowly.  So, two nights in a really nice hotel in Atlanta to pamper myself, the next night in the lodge at Amicalola Falls State Park, if I can ever get them on the phone, the next night at the Hike Inn and then onto the trail and the start of the long walk.

happiness, hiking

The front door at the Hike Inn

It is sooooo real now, which brings with it complete excitement and more freak outs!

So on March 5th I become an Appalachian Trail Thru-hiker in progress.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step ~ Lao Tzu

1Somewhere up the trail an actual thru-hiker and then if all goes to plan, it sometimes does, I’ll be a successful thru-hiker by September 1st.  Wish me luck and have a happy day my friends ~ Rev Kane

happiness, hiking

It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves. –Sir Edmund Hillary

 

You May Also Enjoy…

And so it begins, Appalachian Trail or bust!

Web Resources for AT and other hikers

Teaching an old dog new tricks

Appalachian Trail (AT) Happiness: Official Freakout Day!

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Teaching An Old Dog New Tricks

Posted on February 2, 2015 by Michael Kane

Teaching An Old Dog New Tricks

happiness, appalachian trailSo recently I was asked by a new site, The Lightest Backpacker to write a piece for their blog.  I opted to write a bit about my shock at how light gear has gotten over the years as I realized while preparing for my upcoming Appalachian Trail (AT) thru-hike.  Take a look at their site and give it a read, the piece is called, Teaching an old dog new tricks.  Enjoy and have a happy day my friends ~ Rev Kane

 

 

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Appalachian Trail (AT) Happiness: Official Freakout Day!!!

Posted on January 30, 2015 by Michael Kane

Appalachian Trail (AT) Happiness: Official  Freakout Day!!!

happiness, appalachian trail

And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it. ~ Paulo Coehlo, The Alchemist

So it had to happen right? Sooner or later the immensity of the task, the massive list of details, the kernels of self-doubt all had to align into a freakout. Today was that day, I’m just under 30 days til my start date on the AT. While reviewing my gear today it hit me I had somehow completely and totally overlooked buying a new winter bag for my first month in the mountains. A 32 degree bag, I was going to go into the mountains, in February, in a hammock, with a 32 degree bag! Apparently I was angling to be the new poster child for hypothermia awareness.

So today, Sunday, I’ll be posting this later in the week, I went on a mad buying spree, last-minute items, burning up some REI gift cards, flooding Amazon with orders. Freaking out about my start date, how my mom’s illness might screw everything up, my decreasing fitness while staying with family, figuring out which train to take, where to stay in Atlanta while visiting my friend, how I’ll get to Springer from Atlanta, aaaaaaahhhhhhh! It’s enough to give you angina.

But here at the end of the day everything is calm, my sister made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, my favorite. I’m breathing, it will work out, it will all happen, just need to keep my eyes on the two drops of oil on the spoon.

I’m sure all of you thru-hikers, or about to be thru-hikers know or are about to know this moment. It’s ok, let it wash over you and then let it pass. We’re on our way friends, see you on the trail where we will be having many happy days my friends ~ Rev Kane

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Happiness is Shoveling

Posted on January 29, 2015 by Michael Kane

Happiness is Shoveling

happiness, snow

A snowdrift is a beautiful thing – if it doesn’t lie across the path you have to shovel or block the road that leads to your destination. ~ Hal Borland

I haven’t lived in the Northeast for almost 25 years and so today’s storm got me reacquainted with the snow shovel.  I honestly don’t mind shoveling, something nice, simplistic and very mindful about being out in the cold and the snow repeating a single activity.  The result for a big hairy man of course is that you end up with a frozen beard and mustache and snow in your hair but it’s not so bad.  There is a wonderful sense of achievement in looking back on a cleared side-walk, at least until it gets covered again with snow 15 minutes later.  So go out and shovel and have a happy day my friends ~ Rev Kane

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Appalachian Trail (AT) Happiness: Snow Hiking Tips

Posted on January 27, 2015 by Michael Kane

Appalachian Trail (AT) Happiness: Snow Hiking Tips

happiness, everest

A snowy day in the Himalayas coming down from Gorak Shep

If you are seeking creative ideas, go out walking. Angels whisper to a man when he goes for a walk. ~Raymond Inmon

Given that the almost snowpocalypse has me relatively trapped indoors today I thought I would take some time to run down some resources and tips on hiking in the snow and ice.  These will be specific to reasonably walkable snow, not the stuff you have to snow shoe over.  I have to admit one of my favorite things to do is to be out in the forest when there is a big snowfall occurring.  I love the sound dampening effect of a big snow storm, the ability to read tracks easily and how beautiful everything is in a coat of fresh snow.

Of course, it’s everything else about the snow I can’t stand, driving in it, the clean up, the ice afterwords, mud season in the spring as it melts, which is one of the reasons I moved to California 25 years ago.  However, back in the Northeast prepping for my thru-hike, here I am again, so let’s get something useful out of today’s storm.  Hope these are interesting and helpful and have a happy day my friends ~ Rev Kane

Snow and Ice Hiking Tips/Resources:

The absolute basics from REI but good solid information.

Again pretty basic but a nice quick piece by the Matador Network

The piece by the Washington Trails Association is a bit more technical and very good.

From Backpacking.net a set of technical tips including snow shoeing tips.

Great tips on sleeping warmer and setting up a tent in the snow from Mountaineersbooks.org.

A couple of nice tips and a one good one in the comments from Backpacker.com

Really concise and solid piece from The Clymb

OTHER PIECES YOU MIGHT ENJOY…

And so it begins, Appalachian Trail (AT) or bust!

Appalachian Trail (AT) Happiness: Walking in the Rain

Himalayan Travelogue

 

 

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Happiness is Turning 50!

Posted on January 26, 2015 by Michael Kane

Happiness is Turning 50!

happiness, fifty

By the time we hit 50, we have learned our hardest lessons. We have found out that only a few things are really important. We have learned to take life seriously, but never ourselves. ~ Marie Dressier

So I turned 50 exactly five months ago today and I was sitting back reflecting on what if any changes turning 50 has had on me.  I’ve never been one to really get all that excited about what age I was turning.  Age really is just a number, I know ancient 20 year olds and super young 80 year olds.  My grandfather got in a street fight at the age of 87, if that doesn’t convince you age is just a number I don’t know what will.  Ok, maybe if he’d won the fight it would be an easier sell, but still.

I know a lot of folks at 40 and 50 have that existential awakening that they will die someday and start to understand how limited and precious our time here is for all of us.  I’ve been fortunate, or unfortunate for the madness it brings, to have that mindset for quite sometime in my life.

Turning 50 is a great excuse for a lot of people, to act silly, or check off bucket list items or make big life changes they should have made years before.  I haven’t done much of that, my impending Appalachian Trail thru-hike is part of a recurring five year cycle that is linked to that understanding that we only live once.

However there does seem to be one change that has occurred since my latest trip around the sun has begun.  I have always been someone who doesn’t put up with a lot of, for lack of a better word, bullshit.  If you treat me badly I let you go, if you persist I will make you very, very uncomfortable.  Of course, family seems to get a bit of a pass on this and in my life I’ve put up with shit from family members I wouldn’t take from anyone else.  Well, for 50 years anyway!  It seems the family pass in that respect had a 50 year time limit, who knew?!  In the last couple of months it has become apparent that I have leveled the playing field for all.  Given that we often profess how important it is to keep ourselves happy, this little change that has occurred after I turned 50 has certainly made for happier days my friends ~ Rev Kane

happiness, fifty

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