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

Sure didn't feel like a zero

Day 27, a zero - Woke up early this morning even though i wanted to sleep in, tends o happen on zero mornings. Went into town on bikes provided by the Saufleys and had breakfast which wasn't amazing, but a nice change from Cliff bars. Then the rest of the day went to LA and i mean all of the rest of the day. As soon as i got back from breakfast people were loading up to go to REI so i went along. All in all it took us til 515pm to get everything done, but i managed to get a new tent(Big Agnes SL Seedhouse 1) and sleeping bag(Western Mountaineering Alpinelite 20deg). The sleeping bag i am in right now, and its so far so good, really warm. The tent i will set up tomorrow and see how everything works. I hope this will be my last gear purchase that involves replacement of something i am already carrying. I did save 1lb with the new sleeping bag, but i gained a pound with the new tent, so i guess I'm breaking even. Oh yeah and i got some crocs for camp shoes, they are real popular out here and there have been more then a few times i wish i had some. The one rough thing about today is i didn't eat during our travels so when i came back i ate; 2 slices of pizza, biked to the store, ate an apple turnover, biked back as fast as i could in high gear uphill, ate about 3/4 of a pound of teriyaki chicken and rice, a yogurt with granola, half a liter of water, and about 3 slices of an orange. Then it caught up to me and i really thought i was gonna blow chunks, or puke, or throw up, or vomit, or up-chuck, you get it. But i didn't and it was all good. Spent most of the night around the fire pit talking with fellow hikers. I plan on trying to get out of town about 12 tomorrow. Realized today that I'm too far ahead of schedule and need to slow down so i might take another zero in 25 miles at the Andersons, and actually get to relax. Got a lot of stuff to do tomorrow, hope i can get it all done and still get back on the trail in time. Sorry this post was so boring. Thought of the day; It was good to hear the parentos voices, looking forward to seeing them in about 500 miles. Craving of the day; all things produce while i was in Albertsons buying the usual hiker diet crap.

JWC on the PCT

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