What you need to know

This is my space to document adventure, of going wherever it leads, which sometimes means running down a dream and chasing a mystery, and other times means going with the flow, surrendering, and paying particular attention to the present moment.

What interests me most are those tiny moments of spectacular truth and beauty, which can happen both far from home and on a mundane Monday morning.

I am interested in process. I am interested in change and revision. How the dream changes with time as I age and come into my own more with each passing year.

This blog itself is under constant revision and has seen several iterations.

Most recently, it has been resurrected as a space to document family adventures, solo travel, artist dates (a la the amazing and transformative The Artist’s Way), and my musing in between.

What you might want to know

How the blog began

In December 2014, after spending many months trying to figure out what kind of life we wanted to lead, where we wanted to go, how we wanted to live, my husband and I made a decision. Neither of us was happy in our current conventional life, so why stay? Why be ordinary when there is the possibility of more? We decided to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. And, at the end of our journey, stay out west — going wherever it leads.

On April 19, 2015 we started at the Mexican border. Five months, five days, and countless steps later, we completed the PCT on September 23, 2015. This blog was initially created as an account of that journey, then morphed into more.

A little more about me and my family

We are avid hikers who met, started hiking and adventuring together, fell in love, and haven’t stopped. We got married in July, 2014, hiking into our small ceremony by a waterfall. We’re both Mainers (although Catie isn’t officially, since she moved here when she was 7). We spent the last four years in Washington State and moved back to Central Maine, an unfamiliar part of the state to us, a month before the pandemic with our young daughter in tow.

Catie (“Comet”) is a freelance writer. Find her other writings at catiejoycebulay.com, and connect with her on Twitter @catiejoycebulay or Instagram @catesway.

Jason (“Not-a-Bear”) is my partner in crime, and void of a social media presence. Before he closed his practice, he was a lawyer in a rural Maine community.  Jason completed the Appalachian Trail in 1999. After the PCT he found his way back to land conservation and worked  as the Conservation Director of Blue Mountain Land Trust. He now works for the Maine for Land’s Future Program.

Emily (“Alarm Clock”) is our almost-four-year-old who, so far, seems to love a good adventure as much as we do. She’s learning her way around a trail, searching out blue blazes and enjoying little moments of curiosity along the way.

“Yeah runnin’ down a dream

That never would come to me

Workin’ on a mystery, goin’ wherever it leads

Runnin’ down a dream”

                                -Tom Petty

You can read more about our decision to thru-hike the PCT here: Saying Yes to the Trail.