[pct-l] RE: Trail Journals

[john at frozenpoodle.com (John Brennan)]

I hiked last year and kept an online journal.  Before I hiked, I read many
journals.  I was grateful for the journals that describe the trail: "The
pines gave way to chaparral as I descended, then we moved into ..."  It gave
me a sense of experiencing the landscape second hand.  I was able to rid
myself of images of miles of sand dunes in the Mojave Desert, for example.
As far as I know, those journals are still available.

When I was debating what my journal would include, I decided to forgo a
rigorous regular description of the trail.  It was already out there in
other journals.  

My assumption was that other readers would have an experience similar to
mine: they'd read my journal as part of a collection of other journals.

That assumption wasn't the greatest.  Many of the people closest to me only
read my journal. (OK, some got sucked into Yogi's too...) They missed
details about the trail and landscape I'd gotten from others' journals.
Many people commented that they had no idea how much time I'd be spending in
town.  What I was really doing was writing more about my time in town.

Now that I've finished the trail and have started reading _The Art of the
Pilgrimage_ (Thanks Greg!), I realize that, for me and a lot of the people I
hiked with, that the PCT is a pilgrimage.  While a pilgrimage is personal,
for me it's also about the interactions along the way.  It's not just a long
hike: it's a journey.  It's a process.  For me people and town stops were a
big part of the trail.  In some ways, it's what made my hike unique.  

When the trail was amazing -cold rain, amazing mushrooms, outrageous
flowers, afternoon light across the forest, great bedrooms -was when it
found its way into my journal.  The hours and hours of walking in mid-day
sun or through ravaged forests did not hold my interest or capture my
imagination.  The people and town interactions were always unique and often
made it into my journal.  

I'll be first to admit that I had times on the trail when I was
town-focused.  I wanted fresh food.  There were many times I wanted a hot
shower.  Focusing on towns was also a way to set short-term goals, moving
away from the "I'm hiking all the way to Canada" mentality toward "Seiad
Valley's only 89 miles. That's doable."  

Towns are punctuation on the hike.  To carry the metaphor, each leg of the
hike is a sentence, a discreet unit with structure.  I'll stop there. I'm
rambling.

I'll close with this observation.  I had a few people write me and say that
"the Gay Issue" does not belong in (or detracts from) thru-hike journals
(i.e. mine).  To that I say: I'm keeping my own journal.  I'm choosing to
make it public.  I'm happy to share, and if it doesn't suit you, move on.

Hike your own hike.  Keep your own journal.

John B./Cupcake 

>...  But I noticed that much of the information in the journals I have
>received is about rest stops, town stops, and rides to and from the
>trailhead.  I was hoping to read about the land that people walk through as
>they go...