- I have decided to try and hike my age in miles
on my birthday.
I'll give you a hint, it's gonna be more than 25 miles,
and less than 30 miles.
It's 29 miles.
I'm hiking 29 miles tomorrow.
I'm turning 29.
(upbeat music)
This is my show, gosh darn.
What's up, my friends?
(laughs) How cheese balls is that?
I'm Miranda, and I am here in my van, Vincent,
or Vince, as I like to call him.
And I'm really excited because tomorrow is my birthday.
(horn blowing) Yay, birthday!
The past couple of years,
I've always gone on like a climbing trip for my birthday,
but this year I thought I would do something
a little bit different.
My plan for this whole hike is to
drive out to the trailhead tonight,
spend the night at the trailhead,
and then wake up at 5:30 AM,
so I can be hiking by 6:00 AM.
Bad news is, it's supposed to rain tomorrow
for most of the day.
So, we'll see what happens.
(upbeat music) It is 5:20.
I was too excited, so I woke up early.
I'm gonna eat some cupcakes,
and then we're gonna start hiking.
♪ Put the candles on the cake ♪
♪ Gonna celebrate ♪
Woo, birthday hike!
♪ You got another year ♪
♪ And we're all here, hey ♪
So I think the majority of the trail
is just gonna be straight and wide and flat.
Could be a really good thing
'cause it's going to be kind of easy,
but also could get really boring.
We'll just have to see if I can keep myself entertained.
This is definitely gonna be
like the longest hike that I've gone on.
We're not even a mile in yet though,
and my butt cheek kind of hurts.
Sky's gonna do probably like a mile with me, right?
- Yeah, a mile.
- [Miranda] He was going to do the whole thing.
- I was?
- [Miranda] But he got cold feet.
- Ah ha ha.
- Look at this thing.
Isn't this is just the coolest?
So crazy, it looks like it's a hat.
Looks like it's wearing a hat,
a party hat, for my birthday!
I just hit my first mile of the day.
According to my watch,
it took exactly 20 minutes and six seconds.
So that's pretty good time.
This where you turn around?
- Yeah.
- Bye, Doggo.
See you in a few hours.
- See you in a few hours.
- And now, we're alone.
I found what I'm really here for.
So cool!
Yay, fungus!
So I just hit three miles,
and I did it in just under an hour.
It's a little bit less fun now that sky turned around.
I'm trying not to think about
how many more miles I have ahead of me.
It's 26, I have 26 more miles to go.
My first waterfall of the hike!
It might be the only waterfall of the hike.
So this is my second breakfast.
My first breakfast being cupcakes.
I feel like eating a bunch of sugar in the morning
is probably not a good idea.
But I don't care, it's my birthday, I'll do what I want.
So the rain has officially started.
It would just be nice if it wasn't raining
for the next 23 miles.
Here's a rabbit.
(bird whistling)
Hear that bird?
(bird whistling)
That's a cool bird sound.
So I got 20.3 miles to go.
And then this, Snoqualmie Tunnel is point four miles away.
I'm actually pretty excited about this.
It's totally dark.
I think it's a few miles long.
All right, I will catch up with you at the tunnel.
(ominous music)
I must say, it looks a little creepy.
You can feel this really cold breeze coming from the tunnel.
So I'm gonna put my jacket on,
grab my headlamp, and grab my lights.
Let's do this.
Okay, in we go.
I'm so nervous.
Also I'm wearing string lights around my body.
Something I would not normally do.
What I'm seeing is just not a lot of anything.
♪ Hiking in a tunnel all by myself ♪
♪ Scary, scary tunnel, all by myself ♪
Did you guys hear that?
Hello?
So, I think I've gone about a mile through the tunnel,
and I don't like it.
I'm ready for it to be over.
Like I forgot what daylight looks like.
I can officially see the end of the tunnel,
which means there's light at the end of the tunnel!
That's my dad joke, crushed it.
Escaped from the tunnel, and this is me.
Cedar Falls Trailhead, 18 more miles.
Better get moving.
(upbeat music)
Wow, I can't wait to take my shoes off,
'cause my feet (beep) hurt.
And, also really looking forward to Indian food for dinner.
This must be part of the railway.
Would a train have gone through here though?
It's too small for train.
How big were trains?
Says here it's a snowshed
that was designed to protect the railway tracks,
which means that the train did go through there.
So trains were either smaller,
or my idea of how big a train is, is really off.
Hiking in history.
So pretty!
One more mile, and I'll be at my halfway point.
And then I can have lunch and take my shoes off, yes!
(upbeat music)
It is raining again.
(upbeat music)
I'm gonna change shoes, put my Chacos on.
I took some painkillers and I ate some food.
- [Camera Man] How many miles have you gone so far?
- 17, which means I only have 11 left, 12.
I'm wearing my Chacos, giving my toes a break.
I'm getting tired, so tired.
(sighs)
I'm at a little over 18 and a half miles.
And man, just like really looking forward to
drinking a beer, eating some samosas,
maybe also having a veggie burger.
Definitely more cupcakes, maybe also some ice cream.
But also spinach sounds good.
So maybe, just anything besides walking sounds good.
So I just passed the 20 mile marker.
Means I only have nine miles left to go.
Although, according to my map, I have 10 miles left to go,
but I'm just gonna quit after nine miles.
Once I hit 29 I'm miles, I'm done, just ending the hike.
So my coworkers, Jason and Hauser have been biking along
for a lot of this trail with me.
And, although I have not gotten
on the back of their electric bikes,
it has been very tempting.
Is that cheating?
- It's not alive, it's dead.
- [Miranda] It's moving, actually.
- [Camera Man] Really?
I don't think it's alive.
- It's alive.
So cool.
The bottoms of my feet are really starting to hurt.
I have a blister forming here.
And then I have a little blister forming on my toe.
That's the money shot right there.
Switching out of my chacos and into my hiking boots,
because I only have eight miles left,
and eight miles sounds like nothing.
We can do this.
I'm feeling good.
I'm feeling optimistic and excited.
It's getting warm out here, which is lovely.
Absolutely beautiful, if you can see all this.
It's really cool.
I'm at mile 24.
Just little bit more to go.
Slug, slug, slug, slug.
That is my Starbucks instant coffee powder
in my flax milk.
I shake it up.
Time for the taste test.
Okay, initial, very strong, but actually really good.
I got a pocket latte.
I'm ready for this hike to be over.
Hi!
Yay!
I see my friends!
Nala, come here.
Hi, beautiful
You're so good.
This is Elena.
- Hi.
- And this is Sky.
Back we go.
- For you, it's onward.
- Oh my god.
- How many miles do we have?
- According to my watch, we have two.
- [Elena] Yeah.
(chuckles) So many.
I feel like I'm walking as if I have like ankle weights on,
or is it from like wearing like a heavy belt of some kind.
- What are you going to do 30 of next year?
- I like your idea of eating 30 cupcakes.
So I just hit 29 miles.
Wooo! - [Elena] Yeah!
- The bad news is that we're still not to the trail head.
So we're gonna keep going.
So, yeah, I'm ready if it's be over,
but it's been really fun.
I saw a lot of things.
I hiked through a totally dark tunnel,
that was really cool.
I saw two jack rabbits, I saw a garter snake,
I saw so many slugs.
I ate cupcakes for breakfast.
I hiked in some mist, I hiked in some sunshine.
I crossed a gazillion bridges.
It's been a pretty good day.
Ooh, berries, mmmm.
- [All] Bridge, bridge, bridge, bridge.
- [Miranda] Look at these flowers.
Look at how cool they are.
Made it!
- [All] Yay!
- Oh yes, car!
Hurray!
I hiked 30.44 miles, and it took me 11 hours.
So, not too shabby.
We're gonna end this, and then I'll stop and do an outro.
I'm gonna sit down.
(grunts) Does that look red and swollen?
- [Camera Man] Just look dirty, with a bug on your foot.
(Miranda laughs)
So, this was my 29 mile birthday hike,
where I hiked my age in miles.
If you've ever done a birthday challenge,
I would love to hear about it.
If you have any of your own suggestions,
for challenges that I should do,
please leave those in the comments below.
I may or may not do them.
Don't get crazy.
And that's all.
Later.
Oh (laughs).