The End

Well, that's that.  We completed the Pacific Crest Trail. 

During the final weeks of this adventure, our lungs burned from the smoke of nearby forest fires.  Our bodies ached from five months of steady abuse.  Our eyes gleamed from the colors of northern Washington autumn.  And our minds raced to reflect upon the wide array of experiences which comprise this adventure.

After hitting the border, we hiked seven miles to the top of a nearby ridge for a break in an alpine meadow.  We had paused in similar places a thousand times along the way, but I will never forget those few minutes.  To my right, a massive mountain and scree field lay undisturbed.  In front, a wide valley expanded with low lying clouds, a crystal clear lake, and vivid vegetation.  To my left, I gazed upon the woman that I had grown to love more deeply than ever.

Life is a journey.  Many people cruise 80 miles per hour along an interstate.  Others choose slower country roads which often take you to the same place.  Some crazy people walk.  Regardless of the route, I think that the secret is to just keep going.  Dedication and curiosity will get you there.  Sometimes, the ultimate destination is a work in progress.

I want to thank everyone for taking the time to read this blog over the past few months.  It's definitely been much more of an introspective experience than I ever predicted.  The positive response I've received is truly humbling.

Now that the trail is complete, we look forward to returning to the real world with recharged batteries and clear priorities.  We aren't different people.  We just know ourselves better.

Our dreams are now memories.  Now, it's time to rest a little while ... and dream some more.

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Mexico Border

Southern California

Central California

Northern California

Oregon

Washington

Canada Border

Mile 2660.1

iPhone Update

Day 141: 19.5 miles to Rainy Pass. We saw a bear and two cubs climbing a tree near Stehekin. The forest fire smoke finally blew away.

Day 142: 25 miles to Tatie Peak. Western Larch groves are turning bright yellow. We can see Canada from atop the ridges!

Day 143: 24.3 miles to camp below Woody Pass. Trail magic (coffee, fruit, and muffins) at Hart's Pass. The beautiful fall colors are at their peak.

Day 144: 11.5 miles to the Canadian border which marks the completion of our PCT hike and this chapter of our lives.

Mile 2580.2

iPhone Update

Day 136: 20 miles to camp above Pear Lake. Lunch at a pretty cascading creek. Hitch hiked back to the trail from Baring via a H2 Hummer.

Day 137: 24 tough miles to Baekos Creek. The Glacier Peak Wilderness' diversity is crazy (glacial moraines, forest, and alpine meadows). Very smoky from a nearby forest fire.

Day 138: 21.5 miles to Dolly Vista Trail Camp. Overcast day which started with a porcupine sighting. Camped with a cool couple from Vail.

Day 139: 24.5 miles to Cedar Camp. Scary log crossing over the Suiattle River. Orange fungus - Chicken of the Woods. Watched a porcupine climb a tree.

Day 140: 10 miles into Stehekin, the coolest town of the trail.

The Beginning of the End

We are less than 200 miles to Canada.  93% of the trail is behind us.  The end is near.  Yikes.

When I finished the Appalachian Trail nine years ago, I returned home to Knoxville.  I wasn't sure what to expect.  At the very least, I figured the town would throw me a ticker-tape parade, ignite a fireworks show, and grant me a key to the city.  Instead, I was rewarded with a never ending string of assigned readings in a mountain of first year law school books.  Most people didn't seem to care how I'd spent the past five months.  Others would ask, "So how was it?"  To this day, I have no idea how to respond to that question.  I don't have an anecdote for these types of adventures.

I experienced a similar empty feeling on May 29, 2012.  That's the day my hero, Doc Watson, died.  As this trip winds down, I've been thinking of Doc - a lot.

Doc was a blind guitar player from the mountains of North Carolina.  He spent half his life in poverty until his unparallelled picking skills carried him into a successful musical career.  I saw Doc play a month before he died, a week before starting this trip.

Although I never met him, in many ways, Doc shaped the last phase of my life.  I knew his health was failing.  I thought he would pass away, while I was living in North Carolina, and that I would head to his public memorial in Deep Gap, North Carolina for some closure.  Instead, Doc died in the middle of this hike.  When I tried to relay my sadness to others, my fellow hikers told me they'd never heard of him.

Doc's son once asked whether he wanted to jump into the mainstream, commercial music scene to make a run at fame and fortune.  He replied, "Son, I don't think I want any part of that rat race."  Instead, Doc lived a down home lifestyle which his music placed on full display.  Doc's concerts didn't wow you with a laser light show or double encore.  Leaving Doc's concerts, you simply said to yourself: "I just heard some great music and spent the past couple hours with a good man." 

We hope to finish this trip in the same way - steadily.   If we are lucky enough to make it to Canada, we don't expect some momentous climax.  We aren't living a Hollywood movie.  We don't need fireworks.  We don't crave closure.  Instead, we hope to finish this hike as we started it: enjoying nature; taking our time; thinking of those we love; and moving persistently forward.

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Day 130: 23 miles to Dandy Pass. Much warmer temperatures. Tough terrain with very few flat stretches.

Day 131: 16.5 miles to Snoqualmie Pass to watch football, resupply, and score my fifth pair of shoes (so much more cushion - thank God).

Day 132: 15 miles to Park Lakes. Perfect weather and a tough climb out of town. Spotted a huge male mountain goat grazing and digging.

Day 133: 21 miles to the Waptus River. Lots of smoke from nearby fires.

Day 134: 24 miles to Surprise Lake trail. We heard a lot a pika speaking to each other today, as well as watched a hawk swoop into a nearby tree mid-hunt.

Day 135: 14 miles to Stevens Pass. Lots of small fires in the area, including one where we saw the flames of burning trees. Resupply in the town of Baring.

Sanctuary

"Long ago rain fell on mud and it became rock.  But even before that, beneath the rocks are God's words.  They came first.  Listen.  And if [we] listened very carefully, all our lives, we might hear those words." 

- A River Runs Through It

I nervously asked Lauren to marry me in Central Park.  Thankfully, she agreed.  Although we had dated for years, we really hadn't talked all that much about the wedding we wanted.  On the flight home the next day, we started our wedding planning as would any respectable couple - on an airplane napkin.  We drew a line down the middle and wrote down our ideas one at a time.  I wrote, "Bluegrass."  Lauren wrote, "Dog in Wedding."  I wrote, "Good Beer."  Lauren wrote, "Eco-Friendly."  We both wrote, "Outdoors."

We chose a wedding site along the Swannanoa River in the North Carolina mountains.  It snowed at our wedding. We still get a good laugh at our wedding pictures, looking at the shivering faces of our guests.  The truth of it (cold weather or not) was that we really didn't have a choice. Our wedding had to take place outside.  To us, marriage is a three party deal - the two of us plus God.  There is no place we feel closer to God than in nature.

There is something magical about spending extended periods in the woods.  Poets like Robert Frost and Henry David Thoreau have long tried to describe the experience.  I tend to believe that the majesty of the outdoors is simply beyond words.  I never feel such peace as in God's creation.  I never feel so humbled as when that creation shows who is in charge (e.g., an intense ice storm we experienced last week).  The wedge issues that mar organized religion take a back seat.  God's love takes the front.

We learn to listen more than we speak.  When we sit quietly, we hear the wind rustling the trees, the buzz of a hummingbird's wings, the footsteps of a bear, and the flow of a mountain stream.  It's in those quiet moments that we most experience God's love.

I believe in angels, but I don't think I've ever seen one.  I believe in demons, but I don't think I've seen one of those either.  I believe in God.  Out here in nature, I see Him everyday.

Mile 2370

iPhone Update

Day 127: 21.4 miles to Pipe Lake. Resupply and trail magic (beer, wine, and flat bread) at White Pass.

Day 128: 26 miles to camp past Sourdough Gap. Cold. Hiked through the edge of Mount Rainier N.P. with an awesome lunch looking at the mountain.

Day 129: 26 miles to camp near the Green River headwaters. Mostly ridge walking today. Fighter jets are flying very low through the valleys where we are hiking.

Mile 2303

iPhone Update

Day 123: 25.5 miles to Junction Lake. 14 of today's miles were uphill. Mt. St. Helen's is nearby.

Day 124: 25 miles to spring on Mt. Adams. Spotted a bear cub, number five. Elk calls to serenade our dinner.

Day 125: 24.5 miles to camp near Coleman Trailhead. Glaciers today; hail and rain last night.

Day 126: 23.5 miles to camp above McCall Basin. This was probably the toughest day of our journey. Morning rain with temperatures in the 30's. We hiked into the Goat Rocks Wilderness and were met with hurricane force winds and flying ice at Packwood Glacier. Lampshade spotted a big herd of elk at the end of the day.