[at-l] Just Wondering

[KellyGoVols at aol.com (KellyGoVols@xxxxxxx)]

As an avid journal reader, I've noticed this trend as well.  That's why I 
love the journals of people who just post random thoughts.  I mean, how many ways 
can you say "I went up a mountain, down a mountain, saw this and that, etc"  
Yogi (AT, PCT and again PCT) and Belcher (AT and now PCT) post random thoughts 
and observations, sometimes the entries barely mention the trail.  It's 
entertaining.  It's good to know what people think about out there.  Here's an 
example:
Tuesday, April 22, 2003 
    
??????? Destination: Mt. Laguna, CA
Starting Location: Long Canyon Creek Ford
    Today's Miles: 5.9
Trip Miles: 42.9    
    

> Belcher Entry:Well thankfully it didn?t rain last night. It snowed. A 
> lot.Helloooo ? I thought we were in the DESERT!!I figured the wind would die down 
> and we would get a fairly good night?s sleep from about midnight on. No 
> sirree Bob ? nature had other plans. The wind knocked the tent over once. The snow 
> dragged it down on top of us a few times. Puck woke me from the one time I?d 
> actually fallen asleep to have me fix it since it was my turn. That?s when 
> we found out it was snowing.I was kinda happy he woke me up ? I was having a 
> bad dream. It was like I was playing Family Business, only rather than the 
> card name, it was for real.Apparently, my landlord was a mob boss and I didn?t 
> give him a kiss hello (my psyche was going way back to Seinfeld on that one). 
> He got mad and put a hit out on me. I tried to use Family influence ? he came 
> over to our house to eat dinner. Danielle was there ? she gave him a kiss 
> hello. He wouldn?t shut up about how great she was for giving him a kiss hello. 
> Plus, she had a Jersey accent so that won him over. I, on the other hand, 
> sounded like a stupid Midwesterner trying to affect a Jersey accent. It was so 
> frustrating.So he and his cronies left, but I noticed that the dude who had 
> my number was still sitting in his white car. I saw him see me. I couldn?t 
> crawl on the floor because it slanted upward and you could still see me through 
> the picture window. I cowered by the front door knowing time was up ? it was 
> just a matter of moments, then Puck said,?Sweetie, the tent collapsed. It?s 
> your turn.?I told him I was relieved he woke me from the nightmare and he 
> sounded pissed that I?d fallen asleep. I was probably asleep for 30 minutes. 
> Besides, I heard him snoring over the howling wind.This morning we pondered 
> staying in the tent all day. We had no desire to move. We didn?t know where half 
> our stuff was ? either carried off by the wind or covered in snow. We decided 
> to hightail it into Mt. Laguna and figure it out from there. Even though our 
> stuff was soaked from the snow and I was carrying quite a lot of ice on the 
> tent, our packs seemed much lighter. Maybe we left more under the snow than 
> we thought.Troll and Erin camped 5 miles south of us. They caught us as we 
> were packing up. They said they got ice ? not snow. Still, they were headed to 
> Mt. Laguna, at least to dry off. We also met a couple from Yosemite. They?re 
> hiking the California section and they?re taking four months to do it.?Right 
> on!? said Puck. ?Why do we have to thru-hike?? he asked me.?Because,? I 
> replied.I don?t know why we have to thru-hike. I guess for me it?s because it?s 
> a great accomplishment, to hike a very long trail in one season. Plus, 
> people who don?t finish the trail in one season become crazed, I believe.Baltimore 
> Jack hiked the AT in 1996. He didn?t finish. He came back in ?97 and 
> finished it. Since then, he has thru-hiked every year. I don?t know if he hiked in ?
> 02, or if he?s on the trail this year. I saw him at Trail Days in ?01 and 
> he was hiking even though he proclaimed on top of Katahdin that ?This is it!? 
> I should?ve gotten it in writing.Case #2: Yogi. She began a thru-hike of the 
> PCT in ?01. She fractured her feet and had to leave the trail. She returned 
> in ?02, not to finish what she?d started, but to hike it all over again. She 
> completed her thru-hike. Where will she be April 24th? The Mexican border.Don
> ?t get me wrong, Jack and Yogi are my friends and they are great people. 
> However, I think that because they didn?t finish the trail the first time, they 
> can?t leave. I don?t want to become trail crazed.Luckily for Yogi, she?s not 
> as far gone as Baltimore Jack. She?s already begun her plans to hike the CDT 
> next year.According to the day hikers we met yesterday, we are in the Laguna 
> Mountains, not the desert. Therefore we would be hiking in Jeffrey Pine 
> forests today. I thought they were on drugs. After all, all you hear about is the 
> desert, the desert until Kennedy Meadows. So we hiked along, wearing all our 
> clothing in 30-degree weather. The winds were quite strong and the sun 
> peeked through the clouds only once or twice. The snow was coming down hard and 
> fast ? tiny frozen orbs that stung your face. It hurt worse than the day Billy 
> and I rode the roller coaster at Sea World in the rain. I hardly looked up, 
> it was quite miserably cold. I felt I was on one of those death marches 
> Gigglebox used to lead into town. And then ? I was in Jeffrey Pine forest. Whoa! I 
> had to stop and clean off my glasses. Could it be true? Those day hikers 
> really know their stuff.We reached the Mt. Laguna recreation area and the PCT 
> shared the same route as the desert view trail. On a nice day you can get great 
> views 4,400 feet straight down, into the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. On a 
> map, this park is HUGE. We?ll be hiking the western corridor starting 
> tomorrow and probably on into Warner Springs. The guidebook says we?re lucky that we
> ?re not going through the hot middle section. It seems to be a hard choice ?
>  cold and snowy or hot and arid. Where?s the happy medium? The Sierras?So we 
> got to Mt. Laguna and walked into the store. There was a sign saying, ?No 
> ATM or credit cards.? My heart sank. The idea of going back out into the cold 
> with wet clothes, a wet tent and sleeping bag didn?t sound good. We asked 
> about the room ? they have a thru-hiker rate - $43.50 for two. We asked how many 
> people we can have in a room ? just two. AARGH. They told us we could buy a 
> money order from the post office with our card, which lifted the difficulty of 
> not having enough cash on hand. I tried to make some sort of justification 
> for spending so much money. It really didn?t matter, we had already committed 
> ourselves to staying here.We told Troll & Erin that they could come to our 
> room and dry out their stuff before hiking on. They?re really cool people. They?
> re from Seattle and Troll thru-hiked the AT in ?96. They got married in 
> December, so this is their honeymoon. What a great honeymoon! I think that?s what 
> Sheltowee and Waterfall had originally planned.They left at 4:00, with the 
> wind still howling. They plan to camp at the Mt. Laguna campground, 5 miles 
> north. At least they left with dry gear. In return, we got enough alcohol to 
> get us to the kickoff. That was a great trade.This room is very 70?s: all wood 
> paneling, one of those triangular metal fireplaces, heat lamp in the 
> bathroom... The dresser is attached to the wall. Its sides are wood paneling.We have 
> a 13 inch black-and-white TV. The picture is out. We listened to the weather 
> report. They say that this weather will be gone by tomorrow morning, but 
> another storm will come through on Friday or Saturday. That?s the ADZPCTKO 
> weekend. The ADZPCTKO stands for Annual Day Zero Pacific Crest Trail Kick Off. A 
> bunch of veteran thru-hikers started the KO. Every year, near the end of April, 
> they take over Lake Morena campground. There will be gear specialists, talks 
> about the history, geology and flora & fauna of the trail, a gear contest, 
> where I?ll enter my hiking dress. I was thinking the other day of all the 
> reasons to hike in a dress:1. It?s lighter to pack than a tank and shorts.
> 2. It?s easy to put on.
> 3. You can pee without taking your pack off.
> 4. Rides come faster while hitching in a dress.
> 5. You can pack a town dress at mere ounces, as opposed to town clothes.I 
> think that?s it. I should?ve written it down right when I thought about it, 
> but I was a bit busy with the hiking thing.I walked down to the phone to call 
> Freefall. He?s at his aunt?s in Salt Lake City. He?ll be flying into San 
> Diego Friday morning, renting a car and driving to the Kick Off. He was going to 
> pick us up in Warner Springs, but we won?t make it there on time so he?s 
> picking us up at Scissors Crossing instead. I think that puts us one or two days 
> behind schedule, but we?ll make it up soon enough. He is ready to hit the 
> trail ? I could hear it in his voice. He even seemed a little sad to have 
> missed out on the snowstorm last night.After that I called my dad and talked to 
> him for a while. The sun set and it got very cold, but I just couldn?t bring 
> myself to tell him that ? we were having a great conversation.He asked how the 
> radio was doing for us. He sent us a radio with AM/FM and 10 short-wave 
> bands. It rocks! We listened to Radio Australia while eating dinner in Campo. Last 
> night we tried to find a weather report but I lost interest and just wanted 
> to eat and sleep. When I got back to our room, Puck was writing his journal, 
> listening to the radio. He found a station that?s playing the entire Blood 
> Sugar Sex Magic album by the Chili Peppers. I haven?t heard this album since 
> college. It reminds me of Katina. She was a big fan of them.Well, I think I?m 
> gonna wash my socks and go to bed. Puck owes me a backrub. I owe him a foot 
> rub and leg rub.We were just talking about how funky this room is. It?s so 
> funky, John Lisi should come here and write a song about it. This room isn?t just 
> Funky ? it?s FONKY! I love it!

In a message dated 5/23/2003 12:58:25 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
ARTCLOUTMN@aol.com writes:

> In past years I have noted that 
> 
> eventually the entries start to get further apart and shorter 
> 
> in length.  >>
> 






































































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