Okay, so this entry will be a bit scattered and maybe at times not make any sense, but this is what I am feeling and thinking right now. Since coming back on Trail from my Grandma's funeral I have hiked 500 miles, I am now at mile 703 and the Sierras are calling my name. I have now hiked 3000 miles on the PCT, if I include the miles I hiked last year and if I include my two thru hikes on the Colorado Trail, I am at 4000 miles. I have 1900 more to finish the PCT and when I look at my life spent on trails, miles hiked, and amazing landscapes passed, I think of how lucky I am, how much joy and beauty I have seen through my hiking. What a wonderful gift my life on trail has been,what a fanastic way to spend ones life, living in nature, sleeping under the stars everynight and pushing oneself everyday. I am lucky and I appreciate all that I have been given. The death of my Grandma has torn at my heart, I no longer have any living Grandparents, and that saddens me deeply, because they are my history and I have so many wonderful memories of them, they brought so much to my life and its a huge loss to not have them here anymore.
I remember getting to this place, mile 703, Kennedy Meadows last year, how proud I was, how I desired the Sierras so badly and how I was so excited to be here, this year its a bit different, the place is the same, but the people are all different, I am different and I am a bit sad, but at the same time I am excited to once again go into the Sierras and see what I saw last year in a different light, with low snow, and so I am embrace this difference. The past few weeks have been sort of a flash to me, going so quickly. I have walked through the Mojave Desert, California Aqueduct, and miles and miles of harsh, dry, sandy, windy, waterless deseret. I decided to night hike the California Aqueduct section to avoid 110 degree tempatures, I set out from Hikertown around 7 pm with three other hikers, we hiked until 1 am, during our hike, we were shot at, at one point a car with no headlights almost hit us, the guy driving stopped and said," sorry about that I thought you guys were moving Joshua Trees, would you like a beer." This was such a crazy experience, only in the darkness of the Mojave Desert would something like this happen. That night the wind was upsurd, so bad, so loud and so strong. I had to tie my shoes to my backpack so they would not blow away and I was not able to blow up my sleeping pad, the last four miles of that strech I had to put my sunglasses on, in the middle of the night to sheild my eyes from the blowing sand.
The wind in Southern California is nuts, never ending and so strong, it makes everything harder. You can't stop to rest or drink because the wind will blow you over, you have to look at the ground, clench your hiking poles and try to fight it with each step. The wind tires me greatly and I am happy to be leaving the desert. I am hiking big miles, usually 28-30 a day and I feel strong, really strong, I can however, feel the wear on my body and fatigue is creeping in on me. Yesterday, getting here, I felt like a robot, hiking, hiking, hiking, no stops, too hot to stop, I get in this robotic mode and just go go go, and its good in some ways, but yesterday, I could tell its dangerous too. I felt so tired, so in need of water and rest and I just kept going, I felt so weak, but I just kept going, so I will have to watch this, I just feel some days I can't prevent this robotic mode and I hope I can manage to stop it, so I can take time to rest and see the landscapes of the Trail.
Tomorrow, I will head into the Sierras :) I will be out of contact from here to Lake Tahoe, Mile 1092, so for about 20 days. I can't wait to see a new season of the Sierras. I feel strong, but I am homesick and I so miss my dog, I miss having my friend. I miss getting water that is not from a trough, or does not have cow poop in it, I miss being able to wash my hands and get clean. Lately I have been so hungry, I wake up in the night because I am so hungry, and the thirst that I have during the long, hot, no water strechs is intense, its the worse feeling. So I miss being able to eat when I am hungry and not worrying about running out of food and being able to get water whenever I need it. This teaches me that life back home is good and I should never take it for granite. But, life here is beautiful, free, easy, simple, and in its own way perfect. I am blessed that this is my life for now. Happy early Father's Day to the best dad in the world, MINE!!
