Sad News
I’ve gotten some difficult news and wanted to take this opportunity to share it with my friends and fellow hikers. We train for months, we purchase our supplies, we’re all ready to go but sometimes; life just hands you some lemons. Preparing for my 2018 thru-hike of the PCT (kick off Feb 1) what seemed like a couple of minor injuries have snow balled into something more serious. Everyone around you says slow down, take a few days off, but do you listen – Doh no! What started out as some minor aches and pains i.e. some lower back pain, an old arthroscopic knee surgery, and some tendinitis has blossomed into some serious arthritic and inflammation issues. My knee is all swollen, my hip is killing me from 8 mile walks with a 70 lb pack – of course at a fast pace – carrying too much weight (you moron … my inner voice chastises me) – why wait for things to get back to normal? So I’m here thinking about the beauty that will have to wait until next year for me to soak it all up. Well at least I can get back to my blog … post up some nice stuff and of course – hide from the Mrs – she is the most supportive lady in the known universe but she’ll only listen to so much whining. She’ll be giving me a swift kick in the pants and tell me to get busy and quit moaning and groaning. She may even accompany me on a pity hike … a few miles with a day pack and sleep out under the stars and take the opportunity to get in some good bonding time. I don’t know about you but there is nothing more peaceful under a beautiful night sky than the quiet and soothing balm of a night breeze and a moon-lite or star filled sky. If things heal quickly enough – I may skip the desert section and start up a bit higher in the lower Sierra Nevadas. If not, there is always a N to S adventure. I have my heart set on a S to N thru hike and I don’t know that I can work my head around such a drastic change. I have everything from campsites, mail drops, rest days, breaks with the Mrs etc etc … its all worked out. It will take weeks to do all that again for an altered plan. I’ll keep up the postings and can take some time to post up good navigation basics using all the latest gadgets on the market, as well as, doing it old school. So for now I’ll go soak all the war wounds and plan the site updates. Take care; I’ll be watching all your posts, tweets, pics and will keep an eye on the weather, the news and the trail rerouting … I’ll keep in touch wishing every minute that we were doing it together. Go, PCT thru-hikers … every hike begins with a step. I hope you hit the magic lotto at Campo and get an early starting number, find all your water caches with jugs full and food from the trail angels waiting for you to turn the corner and find them. A special shout out to Warbler & Hot Lips … tweet this ole fart on occasion … maybe we’ll meet at Kennedy Meadows!