Giving thanks…

We interrupt your irregularly scheduled blog entries for these announcements!

I am pausing my…already ridiculously spaced out AT Journal entries to share a couple things! Geeze, has it been a BUSY end of summer & fall. There is so much happening and I still have so many more posts to share but these things just can’t wait!

Firstly!

When I joined Mountain Chicks in May, I had no idea the possibilities, the opportunities and the experiences I would be open to. I’m just blown away and overwhelmed. At the end of October, Dani asked me if I would help organize a Black Friday hike for 52 Hike Challenge sponsored by REI Opt Outside. I exploded with excitement and accepted immediately. You can find that event here. We will be hiking Starved Rock State Park in Illinois. Come out with us! Reserve your spot – but hurry!!

I have some AWESOME prizes and giveaways for the first 25 people that show up and I can’t wait to meet everyone and share this day together!

Second. This one is really just resting on me so heavily (in the best way possible!) I joined Gear Forward in April, about 5 weeks before I became a Mountain Chicks ambassador. If you don’t know what Gear Forward is, let me link you to a past entry, as well as their website and Facebook page. This cause means so much to me, as well as the people that are involved in it.

When I started this blog and my Instagram account a year and a half ago I had no intentions of it ever becoming anything more than just a place to share my hiking and camping photos/stories, as well as a place to vent a little. It has since become my second “job” – a place where I can share and connect and network with people and it has just blossomed. I’m so humbled and honored, as a Gear Forward Ambassador to have been invited to join #LHX2018. A five day backpacking experience in Pennsylvania on the Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail that gives back. I will let my friend & event organizer Brian Ford at Hike By Faith Outdoors explain it better in this great entry here.

Give his blog a follow!

Please also check out my friends and #LHX2018 sponsors Epic Social Adventures and Gear Forward founder Scott Gauvin at Hiking Forward.

It is also with these announcements that I share my “brand name change” – my Instagram will now be changed to JennyTheTrailhead in order to tie all of my accounts together better! In joining the #LHX2018 team, I feel it’s time to bring it all in.

@Pottsiepackin was a name we came up with in the beginning to document our travels, but it’s become so much more than that. While still including our personal ventures, it has become a staple platform for all of my volunteer positions and I want to make it whole!

Thanks so much for reading and following! I am loving the trail I have been heading down this year. I can’t wait to see what else is in store!

J