Well, I am finally in Oregon, 27 miles into Oregon actually. I am now taking a few days off in Ashland, to eat Indian food, ice cream, pizza, go see a movie, get new shoes, eat more ice cream and rest, and then of course eat more ice cream. The last few days on Trail have been trying. Crossing over into Oregon from California was quite emotional for me, I mean all it is is a tree with a sign displaying California/Oregon. I reached the boreder around 8 in the morning, it was cloudly and cool, and I was alone, for a few minutes I stood there, I guess expecting the Swisters to walk up, they were the girls who I hiked with last year and it was a wonderful day getting to that point with them last year, but they did not come. I guess the realization of how different this felt this time overwhlemed me, it made me sad. But, in many ways excited as well, I was in Oregon now, I have less than 1000 miles to Canada and I am making great time, so what to do, well, keep hiking north and carry those memories of last year with me, let them help me and encourage me to go to Canada and allow for new memories to fill my heart as I continue to head north, so thats what I doing.
Getting into towns is always a bit overwhleming and full of stress, when you walk into to town many people give you funny looks, they make you feel uncomfortable, they tend to look at you like you are homeless, they turn their heads, shy away from us, of course we are dirty and stinky, but we are not homeless and we are not just wasting our lives hanging around, but rather I am girl who follows my heart and it just so happens that my heart is full of adventure and wonder and I chose to follow it, I have made scarfices and overcome many challenges to get where I am and I intend on always following my sense of adventure. Despite that, some people really make you feel unwelcome, I want to reach out and yell at those people, tell them my story, tell them I graduated college and I am living this way by choice, tell them to open their minds and hearts and find adventure in their lives, but I can't, some people are just closed minded and I feel for those people. Then there are the people who ask millons of questions about what I am doing, tell me I am amazing, and how wonderful of a journey it is, like the waitress during dinner last night, she asked me where I was from and what I was doing in Ashland so I told her, I am thru hiking the Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada, she was blown away, spent an hour asking me questions, she was nice to me. And the kind lady yesterday who walked out of the library where I was sitting. I was so uspet, here I was alone in Ashland, it was so hot out, I was walking around with my pack and my bounce box and I just could not figure out what to do, where to go, everything is a long walk and I am sick of walking. The lady asked me if I was hiking, I said yes, she then asked me if I wanted a ride somewhere, she ended up driving me across town to a motel, it is a simple thing, yes, but to me yesterday it meant the world, it made my day. Or the people who leave sodas or snacks for us, the people who are up early in the morning at a random road cooking us breakfast, or give us rides or just stop and talk to us, those people really make our day. These are the kind of people who continue to restore my faith in humanity.
So with all of this experience the Trail is providing me with it forces me to measure myself to question my life and who I am, it inspires me to write to think to reflect. Reflection has become a daily thing for me, sometimes I spend too much time in my own head, but I am confident that whatever needs to happen will, the Trail is a wonderful provider and I cant wait to see what will happen next, what lesson will I learn, where will this take me, who will I be after this? For now I have Oregon to conquer!!
