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[at-l] Changing directions
First I'm gonna apologize to Peter Daane for the Damascus crack -
it was unfair and unnecessary. And (I hope) untrue.
So - lets see if we can change the direction the list has been taking.
First, instead of flames how about if we hear from the people who are
getting ready to leave. If there's not a lot of excitement out there,
then this list isn't doing its job. And unfortunately, that may be true.
So I'm gonna plagiarize something from the PCT list. I don't think Ryan
would mind - especially since he did the same thing to me last year <vbg>.
This is his take on his PCT thruhike last year - I think at least some of
you will enjoy it. Is it just a walk in the woods? I don't think so.
Walk softly,
Jim
Date: Sat, 15 Feb 1997 14:08:43 -0800
From: "Ryan Christensen" <Earthlov@reninet.com
> Subject: [pct-l] Non linear hiking the PCT.
Hello to all out there. I have been reading the posts for quite
a while and decided that it was time for me to pitch in my
2-cents. First let me introduce myself. I hiked the PCT from
Mexico to Oregon last year. I am currently going to Humboldt
State University to study Environmental Science. My life will
never be the same after my PCT experience last year. Let me
attempt to tell my PCT story. Now really it would take an
entire book to give my PCT experience justice, the following
story is like mearly skipping a pebble on the surface of the
ocean in comparison the depth of experience that lays beneath.
It seems that most of the posts on this list have mainly focused
on equipment questions and other logistics--- while that is
important, it is only a means to the end. Last year at this time
I was completely involved with getting my food and equipment
together. I was planning on thru hiking the entire trail. My
schedule was laid out, my mind set. I started at the Mexican
border at April 28th with another hiker I met through the
communicator. We got along great!! We COULD have hiked the
whole trail together, but after a week of being out there we
realized that what we really wanted to do was be solo. Looking
back I realize that I just needed to be self confident enough to
hike the trail alone. I love the freedom and solitude solo hiking
gives.
I had HUGE expectations of what the trail was going to be like
and how it would change me, but is paled in comparison to the
beauty of the PCT experience I actually had. Day after day,
sunrise, sunset, full moon, half moon, new moon. I saw the
cycles of the earth turn around and around. I felt a part of it.
Every day I loved to spiritually feel the land I walked through.
There where hot, difficult days in So. Cal. but I still loved it.
My god-- thinking about it now gets me all wound up! The PCT
is simply awesome.
I kept up with my schedule so that I could get to Canada on time
up until I got to Kennedy Meadows. There at the beginning of the
High Sierras I was overwhelmed in its beauty. I would literally
cry and smile in tears. After being out in the wilderness so long
you emotions and senses develop and sharpen. There I realized
that my true goals have changed, I wanted to enjoy every moment,
every day on the trail. I wanted to saunter through these mountains,
not breeze through. Often I would sit next to the trail for a break
and would see other tru hikers breeze by me completely unaware
that I was sitting right next to them. I wanted to open up my senses,
I wanted to enjoy the present moment--- JUST BE. My ego goals of
reaching Canada was closing me up to experiences I would have never
had.
It was hard to accept this change in plans, all Ray Jardine, and
some other hikers talk about is making it. To Ray Jardine everything
is very linear, very dualistic. An example would be his belief in the
hapless hiker vs. the thru hiker practicing his ideas--- that is highly
dualistic. The truth is that we are all individuals and do not fit into a
neat little categories. I heard a saying from another hiker-- "There
is only one path that goes to Mexico to Canada, yet there are many
ways to walk it." The truth of that saying rang through my ears as
I met more and more hikers. Some followed Ray Jardine to the letter,
others did what ever they wanted. The true test of your experience
is it at the end of the day you are smiling.
After I decided that I was going to hike the trail any way I wanted
I experienced freedom in a way I have never experienced before.
I was free to sit at exquisite alpine meadows and meditate, I was
free to look at streams for hours, I was free to camp where I wanted,
I was free to meet people and learn from their experience. I was
free to sit at a remote meadow off the trail and look at the entire
day pass by- I did not get bored for a moment. I was free to lay in
a circle of trees in an Old Growth forest and watch the shadows of
a full moon as it shone through the branches change shape on the
trucks of ancient trees. I did all this and 10,000 things more. It
was the ultimate experience of my life. I left the trail Sep. 23 to
start a job I found while hiking the trail as an Outdoor Science
Instructor. It was the perfect job to have before I started the
spring semester at Humboldt State University.
As the trail went on I also experienced a spirituality that I had
never imagined. "trail magic" was happening all around me and in
me. I trusted my intuition and followed it. Whenever I needed a
ride to town, back to the trail, or needed anything something
would happen. I knew it would. I experience beautiful coincidences.
One experience I can share was when I was buying Orange Juice
at Burney Falls. Before I went in to buy it I reached into my pack
and pulled out a handful of change without counting it. I bought it
and discovered that it was something like $2.14---- that was
EXACTLY how much I had pulled out of my bag--- I used no cash-
just change. Even the clerk was amazed. In honesty I can say that
is minor experience in the group of many other such experience.
To all who are hiking the trail this year--- trail magic is real----
trust it.
I am not trying to say that my way is hiking is the best way to do
the trail--- because there is no best way to do the trail exept for
YOUR way, your path. What I am saying is to feel free to be yourself
hike the trail anyway you want. It is my belief that "The Pacific
Crest Trail Hikers Handbook" has done allot of good and damage to
the PCT hiking experience. There is no right or wrong way to hike
the trail!!! Now if you plans are to reach Canada in one year your
range of options are smaller than Non linear hiking the trail. Also
know that if you get out on the trail and you decide that reaching
Canada in one year is your goal then there is NO disgrace for doing
that. Anyone who looks down on you for not thru hiking has their
own set of ego problems, and unfortunately I met several of those.
It seems that one of the first questions someone asks you on the
trail when you meet them is -"where did you start, how far are
you going, when did you start" Let me say there is whole hell of a
lot more to hiking the PCT than facts and statistics.
Last year on the trail there was definalty a feeling on the trail that
the faster you hiked the better you where and the slower you hiked
the less some people thought of you. I believe from talking to hikers
who have hiked the PCT before "The Handbook" came out that this is
a relatively new feeling. The handbook has done allot of harm to the
trail hiking experience by creating a us/them, slow/fast, hapless/
thru hiker, ray way/other way paradigm. Again there is no right
way to hike the trail-- only your way. For some, including myself,
faster does not mean better.
The experience I had on the PCT is absolutely the best experience I
have ever had in my 23 years of living on this beautiful planet. I am
looking forward to hiking Oregon- Canada. There is a whole hell of a
lot more to my PCT story than this, but I have to go study for a
biology exam. If anyone has questions please post it on the list or
email me directly. JUST BE!!
Happy hiking.
Ryan Christensen
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