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[pct-l] Kinch aka Signfield (AT98) is finished the PCT
Signfield (AT98) aka Kinch is finished the PCT
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"Beware of all endeavors that require new clothes." --Henry Thoreau
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-FannyPack - mailto:fp@hikercafe.com / http://hikercafe.com
-----Original Message-----
From: John c Kincheloe [mailto:kinch.hiker@lycos.com]
Sent: Tuesday, October 10, 2000 2:09 PM
Subject: Last entry.
Word to your mother, brother, sister, and fat uncle George.
Kincheloe is done. 2658 miles from Mexico to Canada and my feet do not want to walk anymore. For
that matter they don't have to.
Well the last time I wrote I had received around 3 days of rain. The next day I returned to the
trail and walked along the amazing glacier covered slopes of the three sisters, or at least I was
told that is what I was doing for my trail wound through lava fields in 15ft visibility .For the
next 4 days. The only way I knew that I was on the trail instead of strolling upon the surface of
another planet was the fact that it probably does not snow and hail like that elsewhere. On the
4th day out I climbed through a downpour and the area called Jefferson Park There I fell to my
knees in admiration of a glacially covered behemoth called Mt. Jefferson. This is an
uncontrollable reaction I would be continuing as I followed the mighty peaks of the Cascade crest
to the North. Mt Hood, St. Helens, Adams, Rainer, Glacier, Baker, and many smaller but no less
powerful peaks held me in a trance of amazement during the last 700mi. of this glorious odyssey
which I have only recently emerged from. Of all my experiences that first day as Jefferson emerged
and hid itself behind the ever-changing cloud cover remains as the most powerful of my trip. Its
glacial walls cascading down the side of the gorging the land beneath it as it went, allowed me to
once again have respect for this thing we call water. We take for granted so much of it yet it has
the power to make, destroy and perpetuate life.
The next several days as I made my way in and out of storms along my trek to the Columbia River I
learned to love and hate the h2o that descended upon me form above. I also treasured the brief
moments of clarity I had for they revealed my first glimpses of the amazing land people refer to
as the Pacific Northwest.
I suggest very little must do events to those I know, but if you are ever in the Columbia River
Gorge the Eagle Creek Trail is something you must do. If for no other reason just to be able to
say that you walked underneath a waterfall along a leisurely day hike from the Rd. 500mi.left to
go as I perched myself along north bank of the River. WA was all that was left. Feelings persisted
of not wanting to finish followed by feelings of wanting to stop walking. A number of days out as
I was pondering my life in the woods I came face to face with a herd of mountain goats to which I
managed to sneak within a close watching distance. Needless to say they hurried away from me with
a watchful eye, I also had the feeling that they accept my presence as a mt. wanderer light and
quite in the step at home as can be in the great outdoors. They did not snort and shuffle away as
they had done countlessly to the many weekend hikers panting and wheezing from the many miles of
uphill I had become so accustomed. I camped that very night on the edge of a glacier high above
tree line and most of the sane people who were out hiking during this weekend. I perched myself
near a small ledge in a cloudbank. That night the Great Spirit decided to shine don on me with an
experience unlike any that I could have hoped. Around 3 in the morning the clouds settled into the
valleys around the full moon and me raised high overhead and awoke me with its brilliance. I
crawled from me tube like shelter and got my first look at the area I had wondered into. My ledge
was perched upon a shear wall that dropped on 3 sides to the joining of 2 separate glaciers that
flowed together 150 feet below. To my left rose Mt Adams. To my front the crater blown top of MT.
St Helens and covering the entire skyline to my north rising directly from the thick cloud cover
which laid 200 ft below at 5000 ft was Mt Rainier shining brilliantly in the rays of this glorious
moon hanging above me. To describe simply does no justice to the sight that made me drop to the
ground and praise the good lord for allowing me to live this life and appear at this time in this
place of magical intensity.
One would think that after witnessing this that I could not find a place in this world to which I
would rather be, at the time this is what I thought. The truth however is very different. After a
couple of days of walking through patches of lush old growth forest surrounded and being overrun
by the clear-cut. The huge powerful and politically connected logging corporations, I reentered
Eden.
For the last several weeks I walked along ridges and dropped in and out of the north cascades. I
was amazed by the jagged nature of the high sierras; I have been in long awe by the green lush
valleys of my second home in the great Colorado Rockies. . Never have I imagined the Cascades to
have the glorious benefits of both in such an extremely remote area. I gorged myself on
huckleberry, to feed my stomach and simply looked around to feed my soul. I find myself at a loss
of words to describe the simplistic beauty of high peaks rising up and along slopes of green
pastures and mighty forest that have stood there longer than most people can trace their
ancestral. Glaciers flowed down the sides of almost every peak, which slid across my flank.
Washington was and incredible experience, which ranks among the top of any areas I have visited in
my short life. For I am now still a pup and there are many more places to see. I thank you all for
your support during my trip and I hope that my updates may have brought some limited amount of
pleasure to all of you. I leave you with a quote from a friend and fellow hiker that sum up my
feelings at this time.
---I used to leave home to go to the woods now I go to the woods to return home.
Please feel free to write me if you want to know anything else.
I will be returning to CO in a couple days and then on to Visit VA. So I will see most of you
soon.
Congrats to The arrival of Josh Welland, and Liz and Steve new bundle of joy.
John
ps. again thank you for your understanding of my gramatical errors.
Kinch
Pacific Crest Trail
Campo, CA---->Manning Park, BC
Keep the Love!
..
---
Kinch
Pacific Crest Trail
Campo, CA---->Manning Park, BC
Keep the Love!
10% cash back on all your calls through 2000 at Lycos Communications at
http://comm.lycos.com
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