A Few Ramblings... and a Confession

As I think about the trail each day, thoughts and ideas pop into my head. Here are a few of these thoughts.

 

 

What is the truth about Bigfoot? I used to be a full fledged believer in this mythical beast. There have been numerous sightings and footage over the years, not to mention all of the countries that have their own tales of a big hairy beast roaming their lands, so I figured there must be some merit to these stories. Then my thoughts travel to the PCT. Now there is where a story of Bigfoot just begs to be told! After all, the PCT travels through prime Bigfoot country, the Mt. Shasta area and the Northern Cascades, just to name a couple. But where are the Bigfoot stories? I have searched journals high and low, but what do you know? No stories. There have even been sightings in Northern Washington of great hairy beasts that have turned out to be Grizzly bears, but no Bigfoot. My conclusion: Bigfoot may only be a tale to be told around campfires to scare the little kids when they hear the next bush rustle. I am now becoming a skeptic around the whole Bigfoot story. Just saying.


I am obsessed. Literally. I have OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) to a certain degree, but not enough to make my life miserable. My books in the bookcase are all alphabetized, and woe to the person who messes them up. My anxiety goes through the roof. So who better than me to calculate all the mileage I need to hike each day, than myself. I confess (not the title confession though), I am working my way through all the guidebooks and figuring out my mileages for each day. This is something I enjoy tremendously.

Nothing is set in stone yet, I am going over and over the mileages and will have my final draft done in March. Now what do I do when I'm on the trail and something messes up my mileage for the day? Maybe it will be some trail magic I wasn't expecting and I stayed over long past my two or three hours allotted for the day. Maybe I'll be slowed down by fallen trees on the trail, or I can't find the trail due to snow. What then? I still don't have the answer for this, it causes me some anxiety as I mull it over and over in my head. Throughout life, I have learned to be flexible and that all things do pass at one time or another, and I have to find another way to do things. So it will be with the trail. A good day will allow me to get my mileages done, and a bad day will see me coming up short. Either way, I intend to enjoy the scenery and people around me and still make it to Canada by the end of September.


What is Mark going to do while I'm gone?
Well, we have two different scenarios going on. Our first thought was for Mark to follow along in the SUV and resupply me along the way. That would be fun for both of us, plenty of trail magic to go around for me and those hiking with me. He would also be having fun camping out with our new tent and with our dog Angel. I would give him a detailed plan for each section, and he would use his GPS to find areas to meet me.

But jobs have been difficult to find, and I am a couple of thousand dollars short for my trip. We are now thinking that Mark might have to stay home and resupply me from there. He would still take me down to the Southern Terminus, and follow along with me through Oregon for resupply there. This also would be a good plan, for then he could continue doing his prison ministries, which he enjoys very much. I am still looking and will continue looking for a temporary job to last until March, so we'll have to wait and see what happens.


These are just a few of the ramblings that tumble through my brain at all hours of the day and night.

 Now for my title confession.
I have been a hater, and I'm not proud of that fact. Just mention Cheryl Strayed or the book "Wild" and my eyes rolled and my thoughts turned ugly. I have not read the book. Now here has been the reason, just hear me out. As I have read interviews she has given, the words thru hiker gets thrown about with abandon. The last time I looked, 1100 miles does not a thru hike make out of 2650. To a lot of thru hiker aspirants, (I know, we have talked) that constitutes a multi section hike, not a thru hike. So she always seemed like a phony. I had the chance to talk with her the night before starting our attempted thru hike in 2013 at a book signing, but didn't go over to do that. Jealousy is an ugly word, and it's effects are even uglier.

My thoughts have taken a turn though. I have to look at her with a great deal of admiration (Much better feeling than jealousy). She walked 300 more miles than I did in 1999. I know what it took for us to do those miles, and it was hard. And in 1995 and 1999, the trail was a much wilder place. There were much fewer trail angels along with fewer hikers with which to socialize. Trail magic was few and far between, and the mental fortitude that it took to continue on for all those miles deserves a huge hand of applause. HYOH (Hike Your Own Hike) is used all the time, but I think very few times it is really meant. Cheryl did her own hike and was very fortunate that she was able to capitalize on it. I in no way intend to deprive her of that accomplishment, even if I could. I would hope that people reading about me would give me that same consideration in the future.

My own kind of Wild

I am going to see the movie, and view it as a really great story and wonderful PCT scenery and not worry that she didn't complete the trail. I hope to get a charge out of another PCT story on the screen as much as I get reading trail journals and use it to keep my adrenaline going for the next few months as I plan my own PCT hike. I probably won't read the book, but I'm not against it like I was some time ago. I think that we as human beings make mistakes and prejudge people too quickly, and given a chance to think it through and do some research, we find that our first assumptions aren't always our best option. I know mine aren't.

 

Me in 1999 with a pack similar to Cheryl's, fording either Tyndall Creek or Wright Creek in the High Sierras.