189 miles to Canada!!

I have once again found myself in Skykomish, Washington, last year this is the place where I made the decision to leave the PCT and today here in Skykomish I can say I am continuing north on the PCT and I am going to get to Canada!! There is a waterfall of emotions running through me today, I am scared to keep going, scared to finish, but so happy to finally complete this journey, I feel overwhelmed with emotions and its hard to sit here and reflect on last year. So much has happened in the last year and I am a different girl then last time I sat here, a very different girl. In 11 days I will be in Canada and I will have completed the PCT, what next, where will I go, what will I feel. I have wondered how I will feel getting to the end for so long now, I have hiked 5,000 miles on the PCT and it brings me to tears to think about finally getting to the end. I have lost so much along the miles out here, I have felt so lonely, so weak, tired, hungry, thirsty, sad, and miserable, but I have also felt strong, felt content and happy, every emotion one can experience I have out here. I have seen beauty that occurs only in the best of dreams, I have seen the grace and power of the wild and I am so lucky for that. I have measured myself in the hardest of ways, I have experienced so much on this trail, great people, great landscapes, and the thoughts that come to me are powerful out here, they have defined who I am as a person and who I hope to be. That is all I have for now.

263 miles to Canada!!!

Its been awhile since my last posting, so much has happened, there is so much I want to share and write about. I am currently sitting at mile 2,402, only 263 miles to Canada now!! However, my heart could not be more overwhelmed, a million thoughts and emotions are running through me, thoughts about last year, about how I feel short of Canada last year, thoughts about my time long gone on this Trail and about my recent time spent out here. I have seen beauty few will ever see and I have gotten to those places all on my own two feet. Since leaving Ashland, Oregon my days have been hard, long 30 miles days, blisters, wild fires and challenges that have forced me to grow, to push myself harder than ever before. I have to honest, I spent many days in tears, many days wondering why I am so determined to "thru hike" this Trail and why I felt the desire to start all over and re live this Trail, why its so important to me to finish and do it all in one hike. I have failed to answer those questions, but I do know that for some reason I feel compelled to do it, so I keep hiking, I keep overcoming the challenges that face me everyday. Oregon was great though for the most part, and I miss the easy terrain that is found there. About 45 miles north of Crater Lake, I found myself caught in a wildfire with 5 other hikers, it was a beautiful clear day, we had already hiked 30 miles and all of a sudden the Trail was on fire, we called 911 and they sent out a helicopter to monitor us until hot shots got to us, we were escorted through the fire by the hotshots. It was quite the experience, it reveled to me the power of wild forces, how it can become serious and dangerous so quickly with no warning. Later we learned that the PCT had been closed earlier that day, but it was after we started hiking so we had no idea about the closure. I never want to be that close to a wildfire again.
Finishing Oregon was a wonderful feeling and standing once again at the bridge of the gods, the bridge that leads into Washington was amazing, I felt so proud, so full of excitement. And, now here I am in Washington and except for the cold and the rain, days have been alright. I am tired, I am sad, I am happy, I reflect about everything, I feel peaceful and then again I feel so lost and so stuck in my life, I feel strong, I feel weak. I have laid all of my failures and successes, my losses, my wrongdoings, my happy moments and sad moments in life, all of the moments in my life I have been able to think about, reflect on, I have been to the deepest parts within myself and though sometimes its hard and uncomfortable I have faced them all and had so very much time to think about them all and to make some sort of peace with them. On a personal level this journey has been real hard for me,  I have struggled so much both physically and mentally. My journey on the PCT will be complete in about 2 weeks and then, whats next? I will fly home to Colorado, get off the plane and start rebuilding my life, I will start planning my next great adventure. Sometimes I feel so alone that it drives me crazy, I often have times that I can't stand being in my own skin and I pray that I could just go home and everything that is messed up or unsure would become perfect and content, but I know better than that, I know life is measured by good moments and sometimes all you have are a few great moments, moments that change who you are and question what you believe in, moments that define who you are and bring you great joy, and not every moment is great, but as long as some of them are, that is all you can really ask for. I have had a ton of great moments out here and it will be hard to say goodbye to the PCT. Washington is home to grand beauty, so much of it, places that only one could dream of, colors of all shades, huge peaks, rocky knife edges that go on forever, rock that soars into the sky, simple quite forests and animals of all kinds. I left a piece of my heart in the Goat Rocks Wilderness, it is one of the most amazing places I have ever seen, I must return there, I must ski and climb Mt. Rainer one day. My sense and desire of adventure is only strengthened as I continue to spend time out here, I have so much I want to do and being on the PCT has taught me that I can do whatever I dream up. Here is to my last 2 weeks out here!!