Dateline: Vista, California (20180315)
The Plan
101 Marathons. 5.3 million steps. 85 miles of vertical elevation gain (and loss).
I am going to go a long way, but I’m not going to attempt to complete the full trail in one season. I’m going to split the 2650 mile trail into two parts: 1) California in 2018 and 2) Oregon and Washington in 2019.
So, that makes it only 65 marathons in 2018. No biggie. (Side note: I’ve never run a marathon in my life! Maybe in my dreams, but not in my life.)
I learned from sailing that life is MUCH better if you just slow down. I’m bringing that experience to the PCT. The downside is that it does mean more time away from family and friends. Yet, I’ll have more interesting things to talk about when I do see them.
You must be crazy!
Ok, so maybe you didn’t think I’m crazy. Maybe you saw the movie Wild about Cheryl Strayed and thought, “That’s inspiring”. Ok, well then, go watch, “As It Happens: Pacific Crest Trail” at http://bit.ly/AIH-movie. After that, you’ll more likely think, “You must be crazy!” Or two additional inspiring wilderness movies if that one doesn’t do it: Jungle and Into the Wild.
So, why hike?
Life’s been good to me. I’ve been able to do a good job of knocking things off my bucket list. However, the PCT was a bucket list item from the late 1960’s that I’d forgotten about for decades after ‘work life’ dominated my routine. My father, shown in the picture above, had introduced the concept of the PCT at the time around it’s ‘official’ recognition in the National Trails System Act in 1968 as the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail, it’s official name.
I’d plan to hike it in the early 70’s, but life got involved and I simply forgot. It’s tough to plan to take off for two weeks, much more so for six months, when you’re busy working and raising a family.
A few months ago though, I remembered.
After living on our sailboat for three years, stepping back into backpacking seems pretty natural. With boats, it’s a lot about resource management, weather, weight, and technology. Same for backpacking, although possibly even more extreme. I’ll talk more about the similarities later.
So, can I really explain why I’m hiking? No, I can’t. Maybe “It’s a Jeep thing. If you have to ask, you wouldn’t understand.”
Fair winds
Happy trails! This is also on my bucket list — can’t wait to live vicariously through you while I do the kid/work thing.
I’ll be glad to have you along with me as I go!
Hopefully I’m into your newest “Trek” link by a simple click?? But wanted to say that I’m glad I took the time to read this specific post (“The Plan & You Must be Crazy!”, otherwise I’d never have known that it’s your DAD in the picture above! Cool! Sharon
Thank you Sharon. FYI, I’ve been doing an upgrade that didn’t go well. You will need to resubscribe once I finish the updates. I’ll send a note out from our cruising blog. Fair winds