How I Am Preparing to Hike 2,650 Miles

January 8, 2018
Female travel blogger backpack - Jennifer Mabus

How To Start Backpacking (And Why You Should Try It)

August 3, 2017
The Whimsical Woman Jennifer Mabus - a travel and lifestyle influencer site

Severe Dehydration on the Trail and a Trip to the ER

August 1, 2017
Jennifer Mabus funny female travel blog

When Backpacking (and Life) Goes Wrong

July 27, 2017
Travel

Why You Shouldn’t Go To Iceland

When you think “vacation”, I’m sure you are picturing blue skies, a blazing sun, sandy beaches, a Mai Tai in one hand, and if you’re me, a chicken wing in the other. So flying to an island south of the Arctic Circle, which starts with the word “ice” if you didn’t catch that, is out of the question, ESPECIALLY during winter.  I mean, how are you supposed to wear your bikini on a…

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Why Being Selfish is OK

Are you selfish?  Probably.  I know I am. Is being selfish always wrong? NO. The term “selfish” has a bad connotation, and sometimes rightfully so.  Part of the definition is “lacking consideration for others”.  But if you are one of those people that sometimes lacks consideration for others, then guess what!? You are normal!! I don’t particularly like to use the word “normal”, but for this instance I want to…

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  • Help!! If you know someone hiking the CDT this year, PLEASE comment their name below so I can follow them along!! ✨✨ Also, so I can give them some tips on how to cross state lines. 😜😜 #cdt2019
  • It’s truly incredible how much my heart and mind have changed since falling in love with nature. Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail was like falling in love with another human. But one that doesn’t eat your leftovers and doesn’t pee on the toilet seat. 😑 The trail is welcoming and challenging and beautiful and powerful and a wonderful teacher. I have healed myself of trauma and grief and negative memories. I have learned to come more down to earth, more connected to the center of life, yet feeling as if I have seen God more than ever before. ✨ Because of this, my whole course of life has changed and altered forever. Love comes in many different forms, and my love for nature is one of the most magical I have ever felt. ✨✨ 📸: @dyanacarmella
  • Before + after! I already have fairly thick eyebrows but wanted them to be more even and fuller! I am lazy and rarely ever put on make-up so I am totally down with doing something semi-permanent like microblading. One misconception about doing things like this is people thinking you are insecure or don’t like who you are naturally. And I 100% disagree. Maybe for some that is true, but for everyone I know who has done things like this, it’s for themselves because they ALREADY love themselves and want to try something new!! It’s exciting to get new piercings or tattoos or a new haircut!! I am totally someone who loves change and trying new things and this is one of those times. So far, I love them! 💪🏻💪🏻
  • How do you stay clean on a thru-hike? 1) You don’t. 2) It’s all about damage control. • Check out my new video, #linkinbio, about how I handled my dirty feet, long hair, pain, pooping + peeing, periods, and so much more on my thru-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail! If you want to make my Sunday even more fantastic, don’t forget to subscribe to my channel!! ✨ ✨Now tell me, how do you handle your hygiene + first aid while backpacking? Ladies, what about your period? Are you practicing Leave No Trace? If you don’t know about Leave No Trace practices, PLEASE message me and I’ll share with you! 🕺🏼
  • HAPPY WOMEN’S DAY! I am thankful to so many women for inspiring me, being wonderful role models and motivators, and also being kind and genuine and down to earth. The world is a better place because of you!! I also want to remind every woman to be inspired BY YOURSELF!! It’s often easy to want to think we need to be more because we are not enough like “her”. FALSE. YOU have already done some incredible things. And YOU are someone others look up to. The world is wonderful like that. We’re all connected in such an intimate way! So today, I am celebrating every woman who has helped me be who I am today (especially my mom because child birth and all that), all while giving myself a little pat on the back for pushing through all of the mental and physical barriers I have had in life. You should do that for yourself, too. 😌 And shoutout to @equanoxica for being another solo female PCT thru-hiker who I am so happy I got to meet! 🥰😘 #womensday #inspireyourself
  • This is what thru-hiking looks like sometimes! It’s not glamorous, or sometimes fun. I was actually a little miserable here. My hands were so cold and my water filter was frozen that I couldn’t even filter the water. I was just chugging the water from the stream and continuing to hike on to keep warm. My clothes were soaking wet and I was extremely cold because I had all of my important thermals and layers protected in my pack for when I slept later that night. Social media can be extremely destructive when always portraying these situations to be amazing and magical. The people are all put together and smiling and that is NOT how this works. Sassy K’s waterproof pack cover had completely ripped hours before this. The sun was out and we were drying our tents off from days of previous rain, when this out of nowhere snow storm hit. We were planning where to camp out of survival, not views. We were in the middle of the North Cascades with no cell service, and the only way to get out was to hike 50 more miles to Canada. To all the 2019 PCT thru-hikers, get ready for the biggest adventure ever! But just know that inbetween all of those magical days, there will be days that test you mentally and physically and don’t match what you see in magazines or on popular Instagram pages. Keep pushing. And remember that the only way out is thru.

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