[pct-l] did you enjoy it ?

[edmond at mydogmeg.net (Edmond Meinfelder)]

At 10:50 PM 10/13/2003 -0700, you wrote:
>So.  Why do the rest of you "do such a thing" and "do you enjoy it"?

After I left from the ADZPCTKO in 2002 to through hike, I and many other 
hikers were asking the former, but not the latter. Towards the end, the 
question was, "What will you do next?" (Some of us had no idea.)

The funny thing about "why?" was that no one I asked had a concrete answer. 
After some thought and getting to know the other hikers, I realized these 
people had and seized the opportunity to hike the trail. I guessing those 
who made it to Manning Park did like it and some of those who fell out 
early may not have.

The spiritual aspect interested me as well. I was astounded by the 
generosity of the PCT community and the kindness of strangers. I related my 
many angel stories to a friend working on her doctorate in religious 
studies. Her reply was, "A through hike sounds like the closest thing our 
society has to a pilgrimage." At first I wanted to disagree (I'm not 
religious), but after some thinking about what I learned and how I felt 
after completing the hike, I agreed.

I hope to do it again (maybe 2004) and this time I will have reasons: I'd 
like to enter the High Sierra in late May instead of early June, I want to 
see all the wonderful you meet while hiking and (this may be conceit) I 
think I can do it better this time around.

Tangent


At 10:50 PM 10/13/2003 -0700, Joanne Lennox wrote:
>So.  Why do the rest of you "do such a thing" and "do you enjoy it"?
>
>Goforth