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 3, 2008

Nero at "Grizz" Camp

Day 32, Mile 504.8 - Today was a 6 mile journey on the pct and a 8 hour journey through the mind of "Grizz". I mentioned him on the last post i believe, but that was before i knew the man. This man knows back country travel, adventure and exploration inside and out, and he is also a little nuts. It was definitely an interesting afternoon filled with many stories starting with "you know that ____ was the best gear i ever had probably cause..." or "well you know the weather was so bad this one time that..." or "I'll tell you why that piece of gear is bomber..." The man has worked in the outdoor industry for a good while so he has an opinion on every piece of gear out there. He liked my sleeping bag, loved my Marmot DriClime, my tent was pretty good, and he liked my pack, so i figure I'm in pretty good shape. We spent the day at Bear camp which is kind of a mix of high desert, oak groves, and manzanita at about 5000ft. Had a nice encounter with a fairly large rattlesnake as we set up our tents in the! early afternoon. Grizz got out his snake stick(half a golf club with a hook melted into it) and proceeded to try and get a hold of it so we could get a better look. I quickly got my camera and Kraig said if that thing isn't on video mode it should be, i was already there. The snake wouldn't come out of its den to "play" and Grizz lost interest for the time being. Hopefully the snake doesn't decide to curl up next to me tonight. I already had my tent set up so i didn't want to move it, but i am currently residing about 8ft from the den's entrance, so far so good. Grizz brought up mainly beer, but some chips, and some blueberries and strawberries as well. He also managed to find a jar of spaghetti sauce, spaghetti pasta, and some Parmesan cheese. We all ate that for dinner, and it was a nice change of pace from Ramen. Anyway a good nero all said. Plans for tomorrow include a town stop for Kraig and Gina to pick up a mail drop, and i will pick up some more food at the small country store seeing as i just sat around and ate all day today. Then its on to Tehachapi via the Mojave. Decided to add another piece of gear for the sierra's; crampons. Its a just in case sort of thing, but i would hate to not be able to summit Whitney because i didn't have them. Thought for the day; determined to know the end, he forgot the beginning. Songs of the day Dirt Track Date, by i cant remember, and Yesterday, alternating between the Boys II Men and Beatles versions. Craving of the day; in the AM it was a peanut butter, honey, banana and bacon sandwich. In the afternoon it was cold watermelon.

JWC on the PCT

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Excellent thought for the day!