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.

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Today i farted at 14,496ft


Day 50, Mile 766.3 + 13.4 side trip
This is going to be as short as i can make it because it was a long day and I'm just now getting into bed at 953- way too late. Started the day off with a creek crossing that almost turned bad for Gina. Kraig got me crossing on video, I'm pretty sure he set it on video because he thought i was going to fall, but i didn't. I was continually amazed at the scenery today, it really just gets better and better; which i didn't think was possible. At crabtree meadows we snacked, then took off for the bear box to drop food and then on to guitar lake. Along the way we had to cross whitney creek(more like a heavy stream i thought). I decided that i didn't want to get my shoes wet as the rocks set up to cross were being overflowed. So i found a nice set of spaced out yet hop-able rocks to cross at; although the second and third looked a little slippery. Yeah, they definitely were slippery. If you drew a line from my left nipple to my right shoulder - everything below that got soaked. I managed to pull myself out on a large rock fairly quickly and other then my pack getting a little wet it was quite refreshing. We set up camp at guitar lake and left to summit Whitney around 1:45. We reached the top around 5:00. It was pretty amazing up there. Took a few videos and some pictures and hung out, then started our descent around 5:51. Ok, exactly 5:51. I got back to camp at 7:52. I basically flew down because i was so thirsty. Guitar lake water was cold and good and handled that when i returned. I might have another big day tomorrow, we have not decided whether to do Forrester Pass or not, but i think we will. Forrester Pass(13,180) is the highest point on the PCT, i am looking forward to it. Thought of the day; its what i wrote in the log book at the top of Mt. Whitney - closer to heaven, closer to my angel, my baby girl, this is for you Lauren-3/15/88-2/18/01. Songs of the day; twinkle twinkle little star and another one bites the dust the version by... wyclef jean? Cravings of the day; at the summit- a loaf of french bread, a block of sharp cheddar, and two cameo apples. When i got back to camp at guitar lake- a large hot bowl of pho (if you don't know, you should, cause its delicious).
JWC on the PCT

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