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

Eulogy's and unfortunate circumstances


Day 54, Mile 835ish
Both of the deaths occurred yesterday, but i needed a day to mull over the tragedies. My walking stick passed early yesterday morning, my spork sometime in the interim. So first a little poem for my walking partner of over 300 miles.

I'm sorry it happened, but it wasn't you,
It was me, it was me, i broke you in two
I was testing a rock to see if it would hold
But the river crossing proved to be too bold
I will miss you my friend, and the rhythm you kept
I'm sure from now on my stride will appear inept.

And now for my spork, the dearest of companions.

You ate with me every night
You were lexan - very light
You had two sides - a fork and a spoon,
Sorry when we first met i called you a fpoon,
Although it will take time for my emotions to settle,
When i get to mammoth my spork will be metal.

Ok so as far as the day goes it went fairly well. Putting on wet cold shoes in the morning is getting old but i managed to keep them dry today throughout the numerous crossings. We descended today to 8000+ ft into Conte Canyon. The King river cuts through the canyon and at some points it was powerful waterfalls, at others calm and meandering. As we walked i thought of about 5 different ways we could catch fish. Every time we passed a smooth spot in the river i looked, and most times it was teeming with trout. So as we walked i discussed the various methods with Kraig, and we decided we would camp at the second to last lake before Muir pass and fish there. On our way trail magic happened, we passed a guy backpacking with his daughter, and fishing along the way. We got about 5 feet of line and a fly from him. Long story shorter, this lake i sit in front of right now is fish-less. I put together my contraption anyway and put a line in just cause. Nada. We had a "short" day at 16.5 miles today and got to our destination around 430. Hence why i have the time to attempt fishing and write a novel for this post. The sun just dipped behind the ridge and the temp dipped as well. I'm going to go put some more clothes on and cook dinner. Oh yeah, dinners got counted wrong like i thought. I realize now I mistook a small bag of Ritz peanut butter sandwiches for another ramen while looking inside my bear canister last night. Also ate through two extra snacks on accident, whoops. Picked some wild scallions to add to tonight's ramen, but it looks like I'm going to be fishing for more then just fun come the day after tomorrow. Thought of the day; thank you Aunt Janie for the small bottle of krazy glue, the adhesive on the velcro for my gaiters came off after falling in the stream earlier so the glue came in handy- thanks a lot. Song of the day; the one that goes ooochiwally wally ooochibang bang and then has this kind of cool whistle thing going. Craving of the day; fresh caught trout roasted over and open fire, also Baskin Robbins vanilla ice cream in a sugar cone.
JWC on the PCT

3 comments:

christina.kelada said...

fpoon..LOL!!!

Sandra said...

I was crying, I laughed so hard. Jefferson and I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. Thank you so much. After a long day at work, your blog was just what we needed.
Sandra

Aunt Janie said...

So Crazy Glue proved to be a good companion - I am glad, Jess!