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.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

The Fan is still on HIGH


Day 35, Mile 574ish - Day 3 of non-stop wind. We got up this morning in our room at the Ranc Hotel(maybe they couldn't afford the second h?) and turned on the weather cause it looked rough outside. Forecast called for high winds in the 60-70mph range in the area until approx 3am. Well its 9pm now and so far they've been right all day. We went down this morning to the Village Grille and had a good solid breakfast. Then we went down to the local coffee shop called Mama Hillybean's. It turned out to be the spot for everything we needed. We all checked email etc. and Kraig found out his dog is tearing up his friends house and cannot stay there anymore. So i asked my parents if it would be OK to have a 110lb American bulldog playmate for Leo for the next month. Although my Dad was not included in the decision, as far as i know it went through. I would like to take the time here to say that my parents are two of the coolest people i know. I realize i am biased, but they are already sending me food and gear on the trail at all my drop locations, helping me with the very thing your reading, and now taking in a stranger's(stranger to them) dog. Just wonderful, awesome, great people if i do say so myself, and i just did. The owner of the coffee shop let us use the internet for free, the phone long distance for free, and gave us a ride back out to the trail; a trail angel in the making. Once back on the trail we fought the wind for 18 or so miles to end up here at about 6000ft. We found a little spot tucked back in the tree's but just barely off trail. Not much room to maneuver around the tent but fairly well protected from the onslaught of air. We are now out of the Mojave and on to the southern sierra's, its looking more beautiful already. The pack weight coming out of Tehachapi was the heaviest of the trip so far and had whats left of my butt muscles hurting. I had 16lbs of food and 9.5lbs of water for a grand total of 25.5 plus base weight. I won't even have that much weight heading into the Sierras for 11 days. But i handled it well enough and still made good mileage considering the 12pm start, so that's comforting to some degree. Alright its way too late to still have a 520 wake up tomorrow, got to go. Thought of the day; Australia is an island but not, cause its a continent, and then the same with Antarctica, is Africa in that category too? I'm having a hard time picturing the north east corner in my head. Songs of the day; Poor unfortunate souls by Ursela in the little mermaid, and Savages, savages, barely even human, savages, savages...from Pocahontas. Craving of the day; just a banana or two.

JWC on the PCT

3 comments:

DANYELIA said...

I will accept those songs for two reasons and two reasons only...#1 I've seen the disney collection at your house...#2 now that i think about it those are pretty good songs.

JL

ark said...

Jesse...I agree with you. Your parents are two of the coolest people in the world. I may be biased as well, but who cares! And the photos are totally beautiful. I will say this once again. You need to be a photo journalist, traveling the trails of the world and keeping us all informed and entertained and enlightened. There has to be a way for you to make money doing what you love to do. Would you love being a lawyer? I continue to be in awe and totally impressed. Love forever...Andrea

Anonymous said...

Great pics! Look forward to more. I am glad you are not only appreciating, but communicating your appreciation for your parents. It means a lot to us parental types to hear that kind of stuff.
Your folks, me and G-mother and G-dad are dining at Cafe 50's on Saturday (burgers, shakes and the like) so will think of you - and wish you were here! Keep on truckin' Jess x0x0