[pct-l] Contemporary Thru Hiking

[Diane at Santa Barbara Hikes dot com]

On Feb 23, 2009, at 4:34 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:
> Every year?I
>  feel the pull, and the let-down when April turns to May, and I'm  
> still here, slogging away at a job and a life I'm fairly miserable  
> with.

Do I ever know that feeling! I spent years doing the April/May maybe/ 
maybe next year letdown dance.

> I will walk and think.? I will assess who I am, where I am, and  
> where I want to go from here.?

I hope you find an answer. I did not. Maybe that is because I didn't  
complete the trail. But I believe that others did not find the answer  
either. Nobody ever writes in their trail journal after they got back  
what the answer was. Everybody says they'll come back and post some  
more of their after-the-hike insights but they almost never do. We  
are all left to wonder what happens afterwards. Does it make a  
difference? Someone said they could imagine us getting back and  
slowly sinking back into our cubicles again, silently screaming. I  
think that's about right.

> Perhaps my relative lack of conditioning will ultimately be my  
> downfall.?

I'm hoping my nice fresh layer of fat will give me an edge for the  
first few hundred miles, until it's gone and "the beast" returns.  
That's what I called that annoying constant hunger that I had.

> Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.? Why don't I just stay home and continue  
> to live vicariously through the journals of those with the courage  
> and fortitude to try??

No, don't do that!

> I hope this will be my year to go.? So many things need to fall  
> into place.? I guess if I'm meant to go, they will.? Wish me luck,  
> as I do to you in whatever you seek to accomplish.

Just go. Forget about things falling into place. You will not regret  
it. Ok, maybe you will, but you KNOW for sure you'll regret it if you  
don't go.