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.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Dinsmores River Haven

Day 137, Mile 2476.3---The mice quit last night after using my tent for entertainment for a couple hours. The miles flew by and we were overlooking Stevens Pass before 11am. We hitched into Skykomish and I enjoyed a burger and chips and a Gatorade. I was treated to an ice cream cone by Caterpillar & Landshark for dessert which was nice. Got picked up at the Deli by Eric D who is volunteering at the Dinsmores for the time being. He is a PCT celebrity of sorts as he is (i think) the only other person to "yo-yo" the PCT besides Scott Williamson. The term refers to hiking northbound tagging the border and hiking back southbound. Mex-Can-Mex, basically. Ridiculous, basically. Anyway got all the essentials handled and went out to dinner at the only restaurant in town with most of the hikers. Apparently the entire downtown Skykomish is a superfund site currently. It was my first time eating dinner in a super-fund site. I had a chicken fried steak dinner, a salad, soup, strawberry shake, and apple pie a la mode. I was hungry again in about 2 hrs. Luckily i did not starve because Landshark picked up a Heineken keg can for me at the mini-mart, once again their treat. I like hiking with Landshark & Caterpillar, but not just because of the free stuff of course. The group met back up for the time being but i am sure we will split again in the next few days of hiking. There have been attempts to name the group - "crazy tasty town", "the fellowship" and "fun train express" have been suggested. I am not a fan of "the fellowship" and "crazy tasty town" is a registered trademark of Spam. Definitely hoping to finish with at least a couple of these folks at the border. One, because it would be nice to share it with someone i know(to some degree). Two, i need someone to take my picture. Hopefully the rain will have passed by then and the pictures will actually turn out. Rain is forecasted for Thursday. I had refrained for superstitious reasons from commenting on the weather in earlier posts. Now that the rain is supposedly coming i can say that all of Washington minus the first two days has been glorious weather. Hardly a cloud in the sky the entire time. I got lucky and got a bunk here at the Dinsmore's in the hiker loft thing above the garage. The lights finally got turned out so i am going to get some sleep. Thought of the day; it doesn't necessarily take one to know one. Song of the day; this one song by P-diddy where he does a terrible dance in the music video for it. i think it was on the soundtrack for the movie where the giant dinosaur attacks Japan i am completely drawing a blank here hence the entire last sentence. Craving of the day; Belgian waffles, bacon, eggs, hashbrowns , toast, juice. Maybe i can satisfy that tomorrow before I head out.


JWC on the PCT

2 comments:

ark said...

Jesse dear...It was so good to read your blog today. It is so interesting to me that each state has its unique critters and problems and fellow travelers and general atmosphere. You sound tired but good. The moment with the jet fighters sounded exhilarating to the max. What amazing moments you have had on that trail! In less than two weeks, all of us PCT "junkies" are going to have to go through withdrawals. I suppose we will all survive. Thank you, my dear nephew and friend, for sharing your adventure with us. What a privilege and a joy it has been. Love forever............Andrea

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Anonymous said...

You'll be at the end soon enough sir... You've walked for awhile and made it... in the words of P. Diddy "Can't stop, won't stop..." har har... only without him spinning or jumping in the air... "take that take that take that."