ABOUT ME

About me?

Hello... my name is Colleen. enough?

I find the fact that people who don't know me, will actually be reading my blog, very strange.  I am not a writer (so please keep that in mind while reading and be kind!), I am for the most part doing a blog so I don't have to annoy the crap out of all my friends on facebook who read my posts and think "I get it.. your going on a hike, blah blah blah". I am a pretty private person, so putting myself out there for others to get to know is a bit out of the box for me, but lately, that has been what my life has been about, getting out of the damn box!

So for a little background, I am a 40 something year old mother of 2 amazing adult daughters.  I grew up in the Midwest, raised my daughters in my home town. A few years back I lost everything I had worked for, my home, my car, my job, my girls - both turned 18 and started out on their own adventures of becoming grown ups.  It was tough, I was introduced to depression for the first time in my life, that wasn't fun, and I never want to go there again! There was one person who stepped up and helped me out, and in return, I could help her out, my sister. Her reaching out to me was the turning point of my life and I will never be able to repay her. During the time I spent on her farm I was introduced to a simpler life, I found peace in walking in the woods behind her farm and taking pictures. I took a ton of pics! I also had free time to spend on a new hobby, the film industry.  I worked on a small short film and decided that week that I wanted to do this... I wanted to work in the film industry.  I helped out on every single indie film and short film that I could find nearby and sometimes not so nearby... Florida and Gary Indiana come to mind.  I decided then, that my new goal was to move to Los Angeles and try and work in the film industry.  What's the worst that can happen right? I fail and come back home? I have already hit rock bottom, it was only up from there!

In the summer of 2012 I moved to Los Angeles, via Billings Montana (I stopped to work on a movie there).  I tried to work on the "crew" side of the tv/film industry, but wasn't having much luck, a few gigs here and there, but in between I did "Background actor" work aka Extra work.  So come to find out, I love doing this, I still find it weird to be in front of the camera, but I have been doing it for 2 years now, and I couldn't be happier.  Ok, I would be a little happier if I had a reliable car.

Then one day I heard about the Pacific Crest Trail...

A friend of mine (another background actor) had a son who was hiking the PCT (class of 2014) I looked at his pictures and a seed was planted.  It wasn't long till I had decided that I too was going to hike the PCT.  Every single day since I have researched, dreamed about, watched videos on, planned, started this blog, and became 100% obsessed with the trail.

My goal is to thru hike, from Mexico (the border actually) to Canada, 2,650 miles of walking.  I hope you enjoy my journey! see ya on the trail!

Colleen