Scottfree2b - Pacific Crest Trail Journal - 2014

Reasons?

I’m planning to thru-walk/hike/crawl starting in Mexico mid April and hopefully ending before my 70th birthday in Canada on the 6th of October.

I’m seeing out my 60′s in a way that I may remember in my 90′s. I’ll think back fondly on it the same way I now think back on my time in London and Oxford, 1978 – 1984, studying the violin and practicing Buddhism. It was a long time ago but I do remember I had a blast and learned a lot about myself and my world.

I also think back fondly on my time swimming with wild dolphins in 2003. I did that to learn what there is to learn by doing that. That is exactly why I am hiking the PCT, to learn what there is to learn in doing that.

I have had issues with my back ever since age 12 or 13 when I got kicked down a steep slope by a donkey while on a pack trip. I’ve lived with it being everywhere from sort of okay most of the time, to completely debilitating for long stretches ever since.

Finally I am old enough, thank you Medicare, to afford to get physical therapy. It has opened a whole new world! I think my current obsession with hiking the PCT comes from all within me that has been tamped down by pain and the threat of pain all these years wanting to bust loose for a change! I’m still not totally 100% and maybe never will be, but I’m sure to the point that I’m ready to bust out of this chair!

So that’s my story. That’s how I’m spending the next 10 months of my life, getting ready for and doing the PCT.

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