[pct-l] Of dreams and goals (The journey and the destination)

[blisterfree at isp01.net (Brett)]

The thru-hike is the dream. Hiking to Manning Park is the 
goal.

Be it arbitrary or not, a goal, or series of goals, is 
necessary in order to accomplish any dream, any higher 
calling of self.

One can accomplish a goal without a dream; this is called 
"everyday life." But in order to step out of that lifestyle 
for a time, following one's heart in search of something 
rewarding, challenging, life-changing perhaps, and above all 
else tangible and meaningful, one needs a goal to see it 
through.

As it turns out in the case of thru-hiking the PCT, that 
goal happens to be the reaching of Manning Park, BC, on 
foot, having begun hiking at the Mexican border near Campo 
CA. Or some variation thereof. Such a goal may seem entirely 
arbitrary, even to the hiker herself. But all the same it is 
motivating. It gets us off the fence and onto the playing 
field.

One of the reasons a long hike on such a trail can be so 
seductive a dream is that the goal is presented, it is laid 
out clearly, both on the ground and in the guidebook that 
serves as one's instruction manual to accomplishing the 
goal. People latch onto the dream because of the element of 
nature, of physical and emotional accomplishment, or of time 
away from society at large. But they follow thru on that 
dream - they work, they plan, quit jobs, sell homes, give 
their lives over to the trail for a time - because the goal 
is clear, and it gives the dream wings on which at last to 
fly.

"Out on the Crest Trail
There's a wind a-blowin'
It's a Cascade wind
Blowin' away my cares.
It's pushing me northward
That's where I'm going.
Bound for the border
And I'll soon be there."
                  - from "The Crest Trail" by Walkin' Jim 
Stoltz

- blisterfree

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