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.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Another half day

Day 80, Mile 1208.5ish---This morning i tried to sleep in, but my hunger got me up by 6:50. I had the other two bagels and bologna and cheese, plus an apple and an orange for breakfast number one. By 8 everybody else was up and ready to go and we all went out to breakfast. I had a short stack of banana pancakes for breakfast number two. Although i must say they were nowhere near the level of the Firesign Cafe banana pancakes. After our meal i went and used the payphone to call the parentos to explain the plan for getting around the fire. We finalized it at breakfast and it is as follows.: Chuck Norris and Tigger will meet us at Quincy-Laporte road (southern boundary of fire closure) on Monday morning at 10. It is only 38 miles from Sierra City so i didn't have to leave til after noon today. The rest of the group is leaving even later then that, but they all have light packs and hike faster than me. I will prob do a 22 or so tomorrow so that i only have a few miles to do Monday morning and i can get there a little early just to be safe. I am camped up on a small ridge in a eerie little stand of trees. A lot of weird little sounds here and there going on in the darkness right now. I am going to try and turn off my ears and go to sleep with the quickness. Thought of the day; did not have one. Song of the day; black old sun won't you come and wash the rain away...yeah i am pretty sure the lyrics don't go like that at all, and of course i do not know who it is by. Craving of the day; this drink made out of cantaloupe and sugar and ice that one of the booths always had at Poly's multi-cultural fair.

JWC on the PCT

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