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.

Friday, September 5, 2008

Trail, Town, Trail

Day 125, Mile 2237.9---Last night i probably woke up about 10 times. It felt like any space not immediately around my body was freezing cold. Don't Panic made it in to camp last night after everyone was on their way to sleep. So today it was a group of six that made our way to road 23 and attempted a hitch to Trout Lake. The first car to stop only had room for one person and since i had a box the group voted i go first. I got my box and a hamburger and a huckleberry shake. I was just finishing my huckleberry cobbler a la mode when the rest of the folks showed up. I called my Mom while everyone else was eating but she was in the check-out line at Ross. So she asked me to call her back in 10min and said she would be waiting. Of course i then promptly went back to packing my bag, getting my sleeping bag in the dryer, and discussing the rest of our town stop; i completely forgot to call her back. I remembered as i was setting up my tent back on trail 3 hours later. I feel horrible, but hopefully she knows that these things just happen(because i am brain damaged) but that i am fine. Hopefully. I got my sleeping bag dry and the liner that i found. Its not as cold tonight at the lower elevation but i decided to try it out anyway. So far so good, i am toasty as i write this. Moonpie had the idea to pack out some hot dogs and beer and camp near the road if we could get a hitch back out. I found a name on a bulletin board of a guy who gives rides so we all got taken back. The guy was a choir director and knew of LB Poly and had judged us in one of our competitions. I say "us" as an alumni, because it was before my time. He said he was impressed. We then talked about the song Elijah Rock and how i sang it in the Tabernacle etc, it was nice to talk music even though i haven't sung in a long time. Sung? Anyway we met Danger Prone & Hawkeye and Clearwater back on trail and the now 9 of us roasted hot dogs and drank cheap tall boys of PBR, Hamm's, and Rainier - only the best. On the way to Goat Rocks Wilderness tomorrow and in about 65+ miles we will be in White's Pass. Danger Prone is having a birthday party in a town near by so i may join the group for that. So far Washington is wet, cold, and a whole lot of fun. Thought of the day; i miss Long Beach and Long Beach folks. Song of the day; roses really smell like booo booo-oooooo, by Outkast. Craving of the day; satisfied by the huckleberry milkshake and huckleberry cobbler, also i had the Bub Burger which had a burger patty with a ham steak on top and then grilled onions and the rest... soo good.


JWC on the PCT

1 comment:

Mom and Dad said...

Yes Jesse boy i do know that "these things just happen", no biggie,no need for "feeling horrible" I waited in the parking lot, but i was directly in the sun and it was 88 degrees, so i changed parking places to one in the shade and waited. If we didn't have that dumb "hands free" law, i could have just driven along and talked to you! So no worries, i figured something just came up ( moms are pretty intuitive you know)
Love you love you love you, and i can't believe you're almost there!!!

love,mom xoxoxoxoxo