[pct-l] Wife buy-in

[Timothy Nye]

My recommendation is to attend as many pct functions as possible as a family and/or couple.  Since you're in California and by the trail this is a plus. The goal is to introduce her to the trail community and, incidentally, the National Geographic film, at least in my opinion, is counterproductive to your cause as it promotes a view of thrus as being "out there" in the negative sense of the term. Thus, Trailfest, ADZPCTKO, PCT Days, trail angeling, are all ways to get her more familiar, and hence less potentially threatened, by the trail,  At the same time, you could also review all the nearby re-supply locations where you can rendezvous along the way.

My own wife got me a Spot and I bought her a set of the PCT maps from the PCTA.  These are pretty nice and informative about the trail.  I'd send out an "I'm OK" signal every evening and she'd find where I was spending the night, how close I was to town, etc.

I sold my business to hike.  I realize that is a fairly extreme step and not realistic where young children are still in the home.  

While hiking this year I realized that the reason I love hiking so much is that it really is a reset to a different, and far simpler and enriching, way of life from the culture we otherwise live in.  At the same time marriage is also a different way of life and one that has been solomized with a vow between the spouses.  To the extent that one conflicts with the other i decided that from now on I will defer to what I value more, my wife and my marriage.  My wife, however, supported my goal from my first attempt in 2009 through this last years' and this year's hike and she has given more than enough of the life we agreed to spend together.  Her unselfishness and deference to my goal deserves a similar consideration on my part and, lets face it, she truly s my best friend. Otherwise, like many others, I feel the pull of wanting to continue to hike, just not as a way of life. You want to make sure your wife doesn't view, even to herself, your desire to hike as an implicit rejection of the marital relationship.

The thing is, relationships and people are what are the most important things in life.  Everything else is just chaff. Sometimes, though, it takes a hike to be able to see this clearly