A Pacific Crest Trail Coddiwomple Documentary

to this day my thoughts still return to Sonora pass in July Flash and I were a little more than a thousand miles into our Pacific Crest Trail Adventure and all seem right with the world the desert Sierra and Yosemite sections were behind us we had survived harsh hot days bone chilling nights snow hail rain snakes brushes with cacti thirst precarious passes and slippery descents and a full range of foot ailments [Music] Sonora pass was Steep and Relentless but my pulse and breathing found a rhythm and it seemed I could keep hiking to the Stars I felt young again giddy ageless tough mentally physically and spiritually I moved from one switch back to the next as easily as a trout shifts from an Eddy to the main current I was in the PCT sweet spot I had connected to a moment where mind body and soul were in harmony and I realized that joy and Beauty were still real things in this world you just needed to know where to look and to take that first step this is our PCT caddy wample a suitable English slang word that means to be headed purposefully toward a vague destination foreign [Music] thank you the Pacific Crest Trail stretches 2650 miles across three states California Oregon and Washington the trail runs through seven national parks and 25 national forests it includes many natural hazards such as deserts snakes long waterless stretches unstable burn areas River Crossings Long Mountain passes slippery descents Rock slides Fallen trees unpredictable weather mosquitoes wildlife [Music] an intriguing sometimes diabolical looking characters to name a few about five thousand people a year set out to hike the PCT either from the border of Mexico going north or from the Canadian border going south ask 5 000 hikers their why or reason for hiking the trail and you'll probably get 5 000 answers some folks hike to reflect on what ails their heart or to find a sense of belonging others do it to reconnect with friends or to find new ones [Music] my wife flash wanted to accomplish something special to celebrate her 60 years on planet Earth alas hurray to my initial why for hiking the PCT was born from resentment I resented getting old at 61 the aches and pains in my joints foreshadowed a physical decline ahead it was time to do something remarkable before I met the other side of dirt it was now or never I wanted to feel young again to see if I had a little badass left in the tank to find Wonder to feel energized Unshackled a free spirit if you will thank you once Flash and I made the decision to hike the PCT we transformed into gear freaks opting to field test our new equipment on short backpacking trips inside wrangles Saint Elias National Park near our cabin in Alaska [Music] [Music] we also hike pretty much anything and everything in the months leading up to our start date we had just recently lost the best dog on Earth a husky our dear friend puppy who died at the age of 17. she had been with us nearly one third of our lives and she was family she accompanied us on all our Outdoor Adventures now hiking dogless created a sad void so we offered to foster a 13 year old husky named Juliet from a local musher we enjoyed her spirit as we hiked Trails too and along the copper basins rivers and up our favorite Peak Willow Mountain which I would realize was one of the best training Mountains for this trip winter hit with a Vengeance dumping several feet of snow on our Trails so we started snowshoeing which helped get us into shape on March 16th we left our cabin traveling 200 miles to Anchorage where we boarded the red-eye flight for San Diego on March 18th as we boarded our transport van to Campo California Flash and I both felt equal measures of fear and excitement the month before this trip I remember feeling stiff and quietly worried I had gone in over my head I fear I would make it only 10 miles and people back home might laugh at my judgment when the soles of my feet touched dirt and Campo it was surreal we took the obligatory pictures next to the wall and headed down the trail [Music] sign and the mile 3 sign at the railroad just like I had seen in a hundred YouTube videos that was okay we could be tourists [Music] quietly we settled into the rhythms of the trail with a house on our backs and our concerns reduced to the lowest denominator hiking water food and rest it felt good to shed the burden of Modern Life we started hiking 10 miles a day the desert was quiet and peaceful hot during the day cold at night oftentimes we'd awake to the Yip of a coyote looking for love or frost on our tent and our clothes [Music] I was motivated to reach Lake Marina by the promise of a grassy Camp spot [Music] [Applause] good [Music] and then Mount Laguna by the promise of town food foreign [Music] was motivated by the Creature Comforts of a nice bed and a nice dry cabin 40 miles into Mount Laguna and we had our first night of comfort [Music] gradually we fell into that elusive State of Consciousness known as Trail time when you forget the day of the week or the exact time of day and even the current events in the world you have an entire day to ponder a single nagging question [Music] or find Delight in the ordinary tree Moss [Music] a giant pine cone flowers in the breeze foreign [Music] section everyone even the local residents focus on building their Trail legs a lot of hikers come out of the gate hot trying to do 20 to 30 miles a day which I thought was just begging for trouble it seemed everyone had stories about Trail leg woes including blisters bruised toes cracked toes and heels lost toenails swollen ankles plantar fasciitis Shin issues and even broken toes my feet would swell from size 13 to 15 on the PCT and I'd wind up tearing through six pairs of shoes during our hike Flash and I were both Afflicted with Christmas toes numb feet from which feeling isn't restored until Christmas but the hot springs at Deep Creek was a welcome relief and seemed to suck out the aches and pains from our bodies it was the first of Flash's happy places Southern California is known for its Trail towns and the trail People You Meet along the way most of the residents went out of their way to make us feel appreciated and to offer a hand even the Little Town of Warner Springs 109 miles in set up its Community Center to Aid hikers by providing a bucket laundry and showers a place to recharge phones and a hiker box some of my favorite California Trail towns were Julian Idlewild Wrightwood and Kernville in Julian moms offers PCT hikers a free slice of pie and a drink [Music] in Idlewild the town's mayor is a dog Wrightwood is a hiker friendly town where the lady in the grocery store called me darling [Music] and Kernville has a Whitewater River and some of the friendliest people you'll ever meet it was here that we met the coolest cat named smokey he was adopted by the kind people at the hardware store Kernville was also home to some of the fattest ground squirrels on Earth we spent two weeks in Kernville waiting for our son Wesley to join us and after two days the lady in the local coffee shop started calling me by name it was a sweet town and we enjoyed a couple of day hikes that included spelunking and marveling at A New Concept and hiking pack goats [Music] laughs [Music] [Music] foreign it's one of the great PCT ironies that many hikers are drawn to the trail to develop a sense of self-reliance yet it would be impossible to succeed without the kindness of strangers at scissors Crossing Olive Oil greeted us with Trail magic which included hamburgers chips and drinks a tour group gifted us designer sandwiches along the Whitewater River and then there was Mary who gave us detergent for a close and we didn't have any in Banning PCT hikers are incredibly easy to please People Who provided water on the trail or maintained water caches were our heroes as well as the people who gave us rides from the lady who was studying to be a teacher in Idlewild to the Scottish family who turned around their Winnebago to come rescue Us near Walker pass and then there was the bear biologist who gave us our final ride to Wenatchee in Washington and so many others we have encountered a southbound hiker who handed out bags of chips to all the Northbound hikers the trail Angel generosity I experienced was enough to transform my inner cynical curmudgeon into a wide-eyed Pollyanna there's still some good in this world Mr Frodo said Sam gamgee and it's worth fighting for [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] nights the desert was a land of Moody extremes [Music] when it rained the relief the plants trees and shrubs experienced along the trail seem to permeate my own body [Music] I realized that when we met hard times the important thing was just to endure it Own It embrace it because an inconvenience could still be a blessing in disguise sometimes you just need to change your perspective the storm soaked us but we took it in stride and made fun of our hobo looking camp with everything drying in the wind including our pride [Music] thank you foreign [Music] to mountains the cold Dark Knights chilled our bones [Music] in a few places we had to put on our cleats to cross the icy trails rocks and trees were strewn everywhere an ocean nightmare kind of like Picasso meets Godzilla in some places it looked like Twisted Giants had positioned snares and dead Falls to catch unsuspecting hikers these mountains were a dress rehearsal for the Sierra passes that would come our way [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] River we had our first encounter with a rattlesnake we were preparing to set up camp in an Old River Bottom away from the main current when flash Scurry toward me there's a rattlesnake I want to go home she said not mincing words we got up and watched as a rattlesnake coiled up next to and a little bit underneath her pack I lifted her pack up from behind and the rattlesnake slithered quietly away back in the direction it had come yippee-i-e yippy Iowa ain't gonna Cowboy Camp no more [Music] [Music] we endured a chilly Big Bear night when the temperature dipped to 20 degrees our water bottles froze and we had to sleep with our filters and camera gear in our sleeping bags a short time later we felt the heat again as we journeyed through the Exotic Deep Creek country with the Meandering River Hot Springs [Music] and enchanting trees and shrubs [Music] outside of Wrightwood the desert changed moods again the winds picked up and the clouds marched in we climbed to the top of Baden Powell and took a nap in the trees below the summit but then the wind started again and the clouds drifted across the mountains like ghosts storm was coming [Music] [Music] on the night of April 22nd it snowed hard five inches on our tent and I remember flash Awakening and pushing the inches of snow that it collected and heard it slide to the ground it built up on the other side of our feet and heads I celebrated the morning with three cups of coffee several people at the little Jimmy Campground asked me as an Alaskan if I could conjure up some meaningful advice about the snow enjoy the magic is all I could muster [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] is a quirky Place modeled on an Old West theme kind of like Woodstock for hikers like a Clint Eastwood western meets Disney each room had its own theme from traditional Western to semi-diabolic [Music] hikertown was also the start of the Mojave section I feared most we started out at dawn with our headlamps and enjoyed the beautiful sunrise and then the windmills scattered along the way we pushed hard for Tehachapi where he would take another break before finishing up the desert section I had completely miscalculated that Tehachapi section I had dreaded it because I had illusions of extreme heat of buzzards picking my bones while my body decomposed into the hot sand however it was not the Heat this time but the winds that tormented us it was as if we were traveling through the inside of a jet engine as we climbed the passes it was in the Tehachapi section that I fell in love with the Joshua Tree what kind of tree could survive Relentless winds and little water the Joshua Tree known in Spanish as the desert dagger was tough Tangled with sunui limbs its roots could extend up to 12 meters into the ground and a Joshua Tree could live hundreds of years up to A Thousand Years one night on the trail after 23 miles of hiking it was getting late and we were desperate for a camp spot to protect us from the wind it was getting cold a hundred yards from the trail we took a leap of faith and walked toward a Joshua Tree and on the downwind side was a flat spot for our tent that Joshua Tree rescued us from grief and pain I'll never look at a Joshua tree the same way again [Music] the desert at first seems cruel and soulless I saw it as an adversary something that must be defeated like a romp through a medieval gauntlet from the cacti that poked us to the Scorpions and snakes that would strike us if given the chance the desert was a cruel enemy that one must dispatch as quickly as possible it seemed unloved hostile vindictive irredeemable [Music] but the desert could also be kind it filled me with Wonder as I experienced the storm refresh the plants and trees filling the air with the fresh scent of sage and I watched in awe as the trees along the Tehachapi section lifted moisture from the clouds and almost benevolently delivered it to the plants underneath oh [Music] looking back I realized the desert was a Rite of Passage it toughened us taught us how to overcome obstacles and trained our bodies to endure hardships dicey Mountain Trails River Crossings snowy traverses inches away from perilous shoots mountain passes impending storms Fallen trees foreign the desert taught us not to fret the dragons ahead but to conquer each challenge as it presented itself [Music] at Kennedy Meadows South we met an older hiker named Haas he endured plenty of hardships including sleeping in a dry stream bed that filled up with rain one night soaking his gear he said you know how many hikers I've passed zero the low point was when a four-year-old passed me on the trail yes so what I said look how many people have dropped out so far but you've kept going when it would have been easy to quit I think that's amazing Haas later told me that he achieved his dream to Summit Mount Whitney Kennedy Meadows South has a carnival grand opening kind of vibe there's plenty of food camaraderie and Trail luxuries such as a place to plug in your electronics which helps maintain an umbilical cord to the modern world hear the conversation shifted to mountain passes stream Crossings and snowy descents the mountains were changing and we were headed up to the heavens with plenty of water along the way [Music] [Music] but I know is [Music] common ground of my friends please [Music] [Music] [Music] what I know it is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] we left Camp to climb Mount Whitney at 1am as I struggled up the switchbacks in the cold black night I felt like I was traveling through the mountains subconscious gradually the Stars gave way to shards of light on the horizon and I struggled to breathe as the altitude increased to 14 000 feet as we headed up to the summit 500 feet higher flash was in her element she beat me to the top and I was exhausted but proud of our accomplishment [Music] [Music] the day after climbing Mount Whitney we began our Ascent of Forester pass I was having a hard time finding my groove and my breath Flash and Wesley both hiked ahead of me I couldn't find a gear on which my lungs and legs could agree and one hiker tried to console me by saying I needed to eat more chocolate even when I struggled for breath I had to laugh at his suggestion foreign [Music] each day brought a new pass to climb sometimes too for a time we ascended between three thousand to four thousand feet a day The Continuous grind upward awakened something almost barbaric in me the sweat dirt and stink congealed on my body and I felt connected to the Rock snow air and wind as we climbed when we rested it felt as if I were melting into the Earth it felt good to be uncivilized to be hiker trash stink grit and all [Music] climbing these mountains restores a certain Rhythm and equilibrium to your thinking and you can't help but to wonder if civilized man homo civilitis had somewhere taken the wrong turn in the road and the mountains were showing us a better way each time I set out to climb a pass my pulse quickened and my inner Barbarian stirred suddenly the words to a poem flashed across my mind and helped motivate me up the long uphill stretches [Music] you were designed to live wildly to embrace the dawn to stalk the night to climb the mountains to run the Rapids to dance in the waterfalls and sleep in the dirt you were born with the bark still on you Unshackled Fearless unyielding with legs like steel Springs to cross muscular Rivers fingers like claws to grip all that is life and release the rest you were designed to live wildly to dance with the Aurora to lament with the wolves to enter the Squall and sing with the loons to ride the Avalanches and dream with the Earth with a pulse and sink to an ancient beat like the salmon returning to their birth like the frogs croaking as the ice departs like an owl taunting its prey on a moody night the lonely paths are your freeways Solace and peace are your prescription joyous rivers are your music Forest Echoes are your s they have their security and the numbers to prove it shave Lawns unleavened ambitions marinating in pews stymied by fearful words dreams sealed and safe deposit boxes but you you were designed to live wildly yes you've lost the human race the madness has run out of answers yet the wild places keep calling you home [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] I felt strong and healthy as if no challenge could stop me I was living the way we were intended to live connected to the raw wild Earth I felt I was as much a part of the mountains as the trees the animals and the rivers I had melded into the rhythms and nuances of the mountains I felt more at home here than I did in any town or city [Music] [Music] it was the simple things that brought to light watching a trout rise for a fly the sun clinging to the Peaks [Music] flowers Dancing In The Wind deer in the forests the quiet laughter of a river that lulled me to sleep I have never met an unhappy River watching flash smile when she met a dog on a trail or announced she was in her happy place when she swam in a stream or a mountain lake on a hot day [Music] a grand Adventure in the mountains can still do more to bring peace to your soul and good health to your body than all of man's best efforts foreign [Music] keep your Labs your treatments and your Pharmaceuticals [Music] the mountains are my medicine as Henry David Thoreau said in wildness is the preservation of the world the desert toughened us the Sierra conditioned us and Northern California showed us how strong we had become we started dropping an elevation in the desert heat intensified at First Northern California seems like an underwhelming encore to the Sierra and Yosemite sections I had never really expected to make it this far so I needed a new why to propel me forward Northern California is where I rediscovered gratitude I started thinking about how fortunate I was to be on the trail with flash how lucky I was to find a wife who enjoyed the outdoors as much as I did a couple of times she felt like quitting but she always mustered up the resolve to just keep going [Music] I was also grateful because For the first time in a long time I was in top physical and mental shape I had lost 20 pounds I wanted to stay in the game I feared returning to the real world would cause me to lose all the good health I achieved foreign it was the flowers that overwhelmed Us in Northern California next to the endless fields of mule's ear I fell in love with tiger lilies they seemed to defy their environment and find a niche in Tough Country how could something so delicate and beautiful prosper in a region that seemed suitable only for cacti and Manzanita bushes along the Creeks we sometimes encountered a kaleidoscope of butterflies that also defied expectations the Dixie burn area reminded me of some of the total war pictures from the Civil War or World War II instead of shards of buildings blown to Smithereens There Were Trees scorched like black chalk and Ashes clinging to the ground the Lassen burn area seemed endless a kind of ecological Armageddon it was the devil's Ghost Town little water Relentless Heat just the lizards and occasional Birds Manzanita bushes were everywhere while walking down the trail two branches collapsed from burnt trees and almost hit Flash the journey past South Lake Tahoe towards Sierra City Quincy Chester Bernie and dunsmere took their toll on her enthusiasm as temperatures soared to above 100 degrees we had to change our daily plan we started hiking until 11 A.M found a cool place to take a siesta until 4 pm and then hiked until night [Music] the heat started grating on all of us from humans to Critters a rabbit came out on the trail right near us a deer seemed to walk right up to us and we saw three bears within two days all near water sources [Music] it was in Northern California that we became unabashed water worshipers and it seemed like you could always find the hiker pack next to a river a waterfall or a lake the hike out of dunsmear into the Trinity Alps was some of the hottest hiking we endured only this time we could see smoke from fires up ahead 30 miles out of dunsmere we learned the forest service had stopped hikers up ahead so we hitched a ride back into dunsmere and learned that many areas in Oregon were on fire or there were complicated trail closures that would require some serious hitchhiking and leapfrogging we were tired of smoke tired of being hot on a whim we decided to catch a train to Portland then a bus to Cascade Locks and then flipped to Washington we'd come back and finish the last stretch in Northern California and Oregon when conditions improved [Music] [Music] oh [Music] what a difference a little change in geography makes we cross the bridge of gods from Oregon to Washington many people complained about the claustrophobia they felt hiking the green tunnel at the start of the trail in the state but we found this section of relief the temperature was 20 degrees cooler and our bodies rejoiced [Music] a lot of other hikers had the same idea to flip to Washington and we were in a bubble now we saw upwards of 30 hikers a day and we had to compete for camping spots we look forward to reaching Trout Lake which had the reputation as one of the most hiker-friendly towns on the trail in no time 100 hikers had arrived thankfully the church offered hikers free camping on their lawn plus many other amenities [Music] it was on the trail in Washington that one luxury in particular won my heart it's soared above the rest and reverence the pit toilet I was getting tired of digging morning cat holes so I welcomed the pit toilet and discovering one on the trail moved me like a religious revelation oh I have been dazzled by a Shakespearean sonnet mesmerized by a list Rhapsody and brought to Tears by a baby's first words of dada but I must say nothing is as tender to my ears as a sensuous phrase pit toilet up ahead on the PCT there was a section of Trail in the goat rocks Wilderness Area that a few hikers refer to as Rivendell the mysterious elfish Paradise found in token's books a land of waterfalls rugged Peaks and beautiful rivers that the evil Orcs or weekend tourists and other assorted hoodlums could not penetrate it was a hiker's Utopia high mountain peaks Green Meadows and waterfalls Galore it was as one hiker said my happy place it was ours too [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] by now I had become sensitive to all the life around me I seem to have a kinship with all the creatures even the lowly ants who I no longer squished when it climbed on me during a nap even the Misunderstood slugs were my brothers and I imagined what it must be like to feel the Rumblings of footsteps on the trail wondering if any moment the foot Gods would send your soul and entrails into a hundred different directions I wanted to create warning signs slugs up ahead or construct little bridges over them to prevent hikers from stepping on them [Music] as I wander down the trail I wondered what were the odds I would wind up in such a beautiful place how the outdoors would come to occupy a central part of who I am as a person I was born in Chicago in a concrete jungle and as a kid I thought City life was all there was to life I played in the alley and walked the streets not knowing about the Wilds far off on the horizon yet it was the Wilderness I would come to embrace and love I wondered what my life would be like if my family hadn't headed west when I was 12. and I came to experience and love the Rocky Mountains [Music] nothing man had to offer from cheap entertainment and alcohol to shiny material objects compared to the Joy I felt climbing in the High Country foreign [Music] [Music] about 30 miles from Snoqualmie Pass a weekend Backpacker headed southbound conjured up his best sky is falling speech should get a lot of rest in skycomish on the way to stehekin every hundred yards is a Fallen Tree you'll have to climb over it's brutal don't expect to go very far he warned His Eyes on Fire as he slithered over a tree that had blown down across the trail he was what I called a negative Nelly we took in his words and then released them to the wind and nodded our heads I learned long ago from a yupik hunter in Alaska who once said don't always follow your first thought what good would it do to panic at this stage of the game by this time we had hiked more than 1800 miles and we had managed to persevere through everything nature through our way yes there were certainly obstacles ahead but we would meet these challenges just like we did all the others climbing over and through trees was like solving a puzzle granted a puzzle that could impale you if you had made a misstep but a puzzle nonetheless you had to figure out foot placement route finding and exit strategies all in one we pushed ahead feeling invincible [Music] Midway through Washington hiker hunger hit 10 on the intensity meter hiker hunger is that primeval gastrointestinal upheaval that subsumes every thought and craving causing the body to convulse as if possessed by a demon and forcing you to focus on anything and everything food related the urge can turn the most civilized person into a grunting neanderthal by Washington I was eating five energy bars a day plus a wallop of peanut butter beef jerky and trail mix not to mention my dehydrated dinner most of the time I was hungrier than any Neanderthal with tapeworms visions of cheeseburgers pizzas and soda pop danced in my head but the trail provides they say along the trail in Washington we hit long swaths of huckleberries that satisfied the demon-like hunger pains then in stahegon we hit a trail famous bakery that catered to the trail barbarians we had become the bakery was a godsend [Music] [Music] [Music] from stahekin we could see smoke up ahead but we decided to push on the heart's pass I felt anxious for the trip to be over I yearned to be home in my cabin in my bed waking up at dawn and drinking a real French Press cup of coffee seated next to my wood burning stove reading a book I resorted to Counting miles and I knew it was a trap I had to resist I needed to return to living in the moment and enjoy all the Serendipity the trail delivers then it struck me could this be my last wild adventure I was riding a wave of extraordinary good health but how long could it last I felt blessed to be free enough to pursue this late season Boyhood but I wasn't ready to go back not quite yet we can almost taste the finish line a mile and a half from Hearts pass which is the last stop 30 miles from the Canadian border we encountered a Backpacker headed south who told us the news the forest service had closed the final section to the Canadian border due to fires we would have to stop at Hearts pass I was stunned like I had the wind knocked out at me this would be our last day on the trail and the whole trip flashed before my eyes [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] but by now we learn to expect the unexpected and to just deal with whatever happened no harping whining or complaining would change the outcome if the only reason you hike the PCT is to touch two pieces of wood separated by 2650 miles then your priorities are skewed borders are arbitrary things indeed resulting from the whims of politicians long before us as we walked into Hearts pass about 30 hikers were backed up and we were met by a Ranger with a map explaining the closure some very kind Trail Angels also were cooking pancakes for the disappointed hikers yes it was time to go home and just like that our adventure was nearly over for now just like you have to have a why for hiking the trail you should consider how the experience changed you you can lose yourself on the trail yet ReDiscover that truer inner voice buried by the hectic pace of Modern Life I learned that I could be content with very little I learned to be happy through subtraction not addition I love carrying all I needed on my back and the simple serendipities the ease at which we could set up and break down our camp drinking a well-built cup of coffee in the morning being rejuvenated by standing under a waterfall examining the intricacies of a spider web watching the reaction of a deer we met along the trail or trying to figure out why a butterfly hitched a ride on Flash's pack on the trail I felt more at home in the woods than just about anywhere else I learned to accept whatever obstacles came our way knowing we'd persevere prior to the trip I would get too intense when things went wrong or when I perceived a slight from another individual now I just let it all roll Flash and I had developed good judgment and competence that comes from walking 22 miles a day and sleeping Outdoors for 150 or so nights I think we became Fearless the long days on the trail tends to reawaken that honest voice inside and it urged me to run toward life toward adventure and toward goodness I decided on the trail that when I returned home I would pursue those things which brought meaning and significance I also became more comfortable growing older because I felt younger I lost 35 pounds and Flash started calling me twig if I were to wake tomorrow suddenly unable to do what I love at least I experienced one grand 2005 mile Adventure and had found those Quiet Moments Of Grace that touched the soul when the clouds delivered moisture to the trees into hachapi or when the Joshua Tree seemed to find US during our moment of need or the cold morning that made climbing Muir pass a breeze and of course that day when all the good in the universe aligned on the top of Sonora a few years ago I interviewed a 103 year old adna athabascan Elder from a small village in rural Alaska near my home he personified everything I wanted to be As I Grew Older from his spirituality to a sense of humor from his love of family to his love of life to his culture his view of growing older was simple choose an age and be it those words resonated in my thoughts as I headed home I decided I would plan a new adventure ignoring my chronological age and move forward with the attitude of a 14 year old trapped inside the body of a 62 year old man [Music] the trail is a ribbon that weaves its way through each traveler's heart shaping the words for what needs to be reckoned the outward journey through deserts mountains sunrises sunsets River Crossings and valleys awaken something primeval in all those who have taken the Trek afterward if Madness finds us our thoughts return to the trail drawn to simpler times when our hearts were alive and we found Clarity in the wilderness you don't really hike the PCT as much as the PCT hikes through you it sets up camp in your heart and the memories course through your veins for the rest of your life [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] cursed each day with every breath here I stand at last [Music] welcome back [Music] bad peace I started over step by step I made my way only you said was just keep s not too late [Applause] [Music] [Music] I here [Music] [Music] where the hell [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause]

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Views: 39,768

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Id: jgWAvNRH-eo

Length: 72min 38sec (4358 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 25 2023