Some thoughts before departure...

  • I am still not a vet, doctor, lawyer, dog trainer, cia agent, fbi agent or a navy seal so...walk
  • I am doing this for the challenge of course, and I hope to gain a confidence that comes with this type of endeavor. But also I hope to gain some new knowledge about the world and the truths that reside in it.
  • Am I walking to "find myself"? Or just to take a walk. You decide...and you'll probably be right.
  • I'm not in the best shape of my life, but I do have a lot of new great gear so....
  • After living with my parents the last 2 years, it makes perfect sense to walk 2650 miles - alone.
  • Yes there will be bears, cougars, rattlesnakes and scorpions both imagined and real along the way. I'm definitely more worried about those imagined.
  • Am I scared? Not as of yet, more of just a constantly increasing anticipation. But check back with me on the 3rd night in the desert.
  • I tried to keep my pack fairly light, but I definitely would not call it ultralight. Somehow when I added up all my ultralight gear and put it in my ultralight pack, I ended up with just slightly heavy.
  • My biggest concern for this trip is that I get too hungry somewhere along the way, my brain goes awol as it usually does when I get hungry and subsequently you never hear from me again...I'll try to eat frequently.
  • I am not Christopher McCandless. This is not Into the Wild.

Monday, May 26, 2008

Finally arrived at Hiker Heaven

Day 26, Mile 454.4 - Long, long day. 23.7 miles today and a lot more climbs then i would have guessed by looking at the data book. Ran out of snack food about mid-day. So the last 13 miles was a little bit of a blur, not cause i was walking so fast but because i was so hungry. Also, when we stayed at camp Glenwood in that little lodge we boiled water in a large pot that we found. The last two days as i have been starving cause of the cold my water has tasted like a potato-bacon chowder of some sort, a little heavy on the pepper. The pizza craving was finally realized when we arrived in Agua Dulce. I don't know how this stuff keeps happening but right when we set our stuff down in the restaurant Jeff Saufley(owner of Hiker Heaven) came in and offered to drive our packs up to his spot. So after some great pizza we walked up here and got ushered into the program. Loaner clothes over here, put your dirty clothes there, showers and transportation sign-ups on the board. Very organized, very helpful, super efficient, i like it. We are zero-ing here tomorrow, i need to work out some gear issues, some logistics, and my body needs a break. Glad to be done with the freezing cold, on my way to the searing hot. Thought of the day; i wonder how many ants are on the planet at any given time, i already counted 289,806,253 just on the pct so...Song of the day; welcome to the juuungle we got fun and gaaames, by Guns and Roses Kraig tells me. Craving of the day; cold grapes and fried chicken.

JWC on the PCT

7 comments:

Mom and Dad said...

We're hollerin' at you boy. Thought of the day - Vicarious living is harder than we thought. Go Man Go.

Anonymous said...

I wanna' be you! I want to be thinking about snow and staying warm and worrying about gear issues and having food cravings, thoughts of the day and music mixing together in my brain... I wanna' be you!

rawb said...

Chain Gang, a Sam Cook classic from about 1959.

Sandra said...

" i already counted 289,806,253 just on the pct so..."

Quoting one of my favorite movies of all time....
"But have you named them yet?"

ark said...

Jesse..Jesse...You are not only getiing tough physically, you are getting tough mentally. You, my friend, are developing incredible character that will always be woven into the fabric of your soul. But you couldn't even be doing this if you didn't already have a whole lot of true grit. I am truly impressed. I wanted to go with you next time until you started talking about spider bites and being really cold. Neither of those are "a few of my favorite things." Love forever......Andrea

Jesse said...

I think what no one really realizes is this trip is not developing character, you already had incredible character before you ever started this trek! But i guess nobody knows you like your mama! xoxoxoxox

DANYELIA said...

MAN I'm so impressed with you jesse!!!!! it's so crazy that you walk that many miles in one day. I hope that we're able to meet up with you in Taho.... well congrats on all that you've already accomplished..... i know Jarell's jealous LoL =) good luck with the rest of the trip

p.s. i love reading your blogs