Thirteen days from now, I will be headed out of the valley of the Columbia River at Bridge of the Gods between Oregon and Washington. The first 10 miles will gain some 3,400 feet from the river which is steady but pretty easy by GSMNP standards. Some 25 days later, I will be backtracking from the northern terminus of the Pacific Crest Trail around 35 miles from the Canadian Border, back to civilization. One still cannot legally enter Canada from the United States, even at mile 2,653 of the PCT. Thus begins my multi-year section-hike of the PCT.
This morning, I went over my gear list one more time, checking every little detail – fresh AAA batteries for the headlamp, filling small Nalgene bottles with the treasured “vitamin I”, enough toilet paper to last the first 7 days, charging cables for iPhone and Garmin inReach, back-flushing my miniature water filter… Tomorrow I will pack my food and mail to myself at 3 mail drops along the 512 mile section of the PCT in Washington. I’m ready!
The JMT hike seemed to take much more preparation even though it is less than half the distance of this hike. It had been decades since my AT thru hike of 1984. Since then, it has only been week-long backpacking trips at the most. Hiking gear at every level has changed and the introduction of smart phones and GPS technology has revolutionized backcountry navigation. Packs, sleeping bags, and tents weigh a fraction of what they did 30 years ago and although I had done a decent job of keeping my hiking kit up to date, I had not subscribed completely to ultralight backpacking. So I spent months researching gear. And I spent months attempting to get the right permits.
This time has been different. 95% of my kit was in place and I am pleased to note that my base pack weight is only 14.3 lbs. Gear only changes with the seasons, but it is not typically a function of total miles. My gear is the same for a 15 mile over-nighter as it is for 512 miles in the Pacific Northwest. It’s pretty simple. Other than my gear, perhaps what is different is that now, I know what to expect. My body is a little older but it has held up well. Every ache or twinge raises some stress but I know I can handle 20 mile days. Modern GPS systems have the route documented and social media keeps up with day to day changes in terrain and trail conditions. It is not that long distance hiking has become routine for me. Absolutely not!!! But the nervousness of the unknown does not occupy my consciousness in the way it did last time; leaving more of this prep time open for contemplation and reflection.
Recently, I read the accounts of Heather “Anish” Anderson’s hikes of the PCT and the AT where she broke the unassisted Fastest Known Time records for each. Of course for her, questions came as to “why”. Why indeed but I like the answer she gave herself, which was that being in the wilderness is the only place she really feels at home. The same was certainly true of John Muir, whose health would predictably begin to suffer the longer he lived among the comforts of cities. I think this is it for me. I feel like I am headed home. after a long time away. The excitement is in the anticipation of this homecoming and not so much in the planning and administrivia. I know this time what awaits.
I know too that long journeys like this rarely culminate in epic epiphanies that change one drastically forever. It didn’t happen on the AT, nor the JMT. What does occur is a broadening of perspective…. but not from the aspect of increased knowledge or profound experience, oh no! It comes from simplicity. It comes from getting away from the human constructs that distract us from the purpose we are here in the first place.
So much of my study in the last several months has involved the convergence of what we have learned from science in the last 100 years, and the struggle that our belief systems have had during a time of profound technological and social change. When the traditions and institutions of our belief systems can no longer explain or keep up with what we experience all around us, we often revert back to more conservative interpretations, which lately have pulled us apart as humans rather than drawing us together as most of the world religions have as their end goals of humanity.
What awaits me at the Bridge of the Gods is a portal out of human time and into cosmic time, if not a moment of eternity. In that place, Creation continues to unfold and human beings are a part of its flow, in perfect communion with the Creator and the purpose of Creation itself. It is only a brief visit but one that excites me because I know it’s there waiting for me to arrive.
I have profound love and gratitude for my wife who knows this about me and does not welcome solitude in the same way as I do. But she will be there as well, although not in person. Quantum mechanics has shown us that related elements react to each other regardless of space and time. Some religious minded physicists believe this is the place where God works directly in the affairs of humans. Other writers have suggested that this is the force that draws humans together, what me might even call… love! This Love, this Force… WILL be with us!
It’s 13 days until zero hour.
wildsabbath.com 