[pct-l] Hiking with a lover...

[kgdavis970 at earthlink.net (Ken Davis)]

Geese Jeff - All the women on the list are going to fall in love with you
on account of all this romantic stuff.  The rest of us uncouth guys don't
have a chance.  We're still snickering over the birth control jokes.

Ken Davis


> [Original Message]
> From: Jeffrey J. Olson <jjolson@uwyo.edu>
> To: <pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net>
> Date: 2/17/2005 3:46:15 PM
> Subject: [pct-l] Hiking with a lover...
>
> I have to say that the richest and funnest hiking I've ever done was 30 
> days I spent with my girlfriend hiking the PCT.  We'd been living 
> together for six months and one evening over dinner in a small town east 
> of SEattle, she said that we didn't have a couple project.  I inquired 
> what she meant, cogitating as she said it was something that binded a 
> couple, like having kids or remodeling a house.  I knew of the PCT and 
> suggested we might spend a couple months hiking it.  Immediately she 
> said, "Sure, what do we need to do?"   I did some figuring on a napkin 
> and we spent the next half hour talking transition stuff, and decided we 
> could hike for 75 days. 
>
> She'd never backpacked before.  WE had to buy all her gear.  She fell in 
> love with her boots.  Every evening after work that spring she would 
> walk the mile and 700 vertical feet down the road to the store where 
> she'd get a latte and walk back.  We told the landlord we were leaving 
> at the end of May.  We boxed all our possessions up and slowly moved 
> them into a storage unit.  I sold my extra beater car.  We went to 
> Costco and bought infinite food and baggied it.  We went on day hikes on 
> the weekends in the hills east of Seattle.  She made us both two sets of 
> fleece, one 300 weight, the other 100 weight.  (This was pre-lightweight 
> for me.)
>
> I loved the whole planning process and the moving and preparing and 
> dreaming and practicing.  The great joy of being in love is to work well 
> with a partner when change is up.  We worked well together. 
>
> We loaded up my little Toyota Starlet with gear and 75 days worth of 
> food and drove down to the bay area and my folks.  We spent three days 
> running around and boxing everything up based on our projected pace of 
> 10 miles a day. 
>
> Finally, the big day came.  My dad and a friend of his were going hiking 
> in the Warner Mtns of northeast california so they dropped us off just 
> north of Lassen.  My pack was 72 pounds and hers was 55 pounds.  It took 
> us only a couple days to get a routine down.  Because she'd never 
> backpacked and so she fit smoothly into my style.  I was a morning 
> person and she was an afternoon person.  Her dad was dying of cancer and 
> she would spend part of each morning walking down the trail crying, 
> wanting to be left alone.  After lunch I'd lumber to my feet and groan 
> my way down the trail while she flew like the wind, up, feeling good, in 
> her prime. 
>
> There were memorable moments.  One of the most memorable was on a steep, 
> north facing ridge.  We were hiking on hard snow, and kicking a foothold 
> with every step.  At one point she slipped and began to slide down the 
> ridge.  I went to the big picture and every option went through my mind 
> instantaneously.  I leapt after her, grabbed her arm, and tried to stop 
> us with heels and my free hand.  AFter about 20' we slid to a stop, both 
> of us shaking with fright.  We let our hearts slow down and made our way 
> back to the slight indentation we thought was the trail.  We'd been 
> hiking on snow all afternoon, and were tired of it. 
>
> We got to the top of the ridge, Grizzly Ridge??? and lo and behold, 
> there was no snow on the south side.  WE walked for about a hundred 
> feet.  I stopped and turned to face her.  She came into my arms and we 
> just held each other and cried.  We were so relieved.  That experience 
> had me think we had reached our ultimate bonding space - a place no one 
> else could ever go, that we could always refer to. 
>
> The 30 days we spent on the trail was filled with pathos - the first 
> thing we did in every town or resort we came to was call her folks to 
> see if her dad was still alive.  He didn't die until the following 
> november.  It was filled with coffee driven morning arguments.  One 
> morning we didn't hit the trail until 10:30.  We were both shaking from 
> the passion of the points we were making, and agreed that we could only 
> have one cuppa coffee in the morning, and that we couldn't talk about 
> anything philosophical or political.  For 30 days I watched her walk, 
> and her relatively unmuscled calves buff out.  I wish I'd had before and 
> after pictures.  By the time we left the trail she would playfully get 
> up on her toes and flex her calves.  The trip was filled with lust - I 
> can't begin to count the times we'd stop, drop our packs, grab our butt 
> pads and giggle our ways into the woods for a quickie.  I still have 
> memories of memorable times we made love.  That was probably the third 
> most enjoyable part of hiking with her. 
>
> The second was sleeping with her.  There was nothing like finally 
> crawling into the sleeping bags and arranging them so we each had our 
> own  foot slots with the rest of the two bags laying over the both of 
> us.  Those were some of the most peaceful and quiet times of my life - 
> the ten minutes it took to fall asleep. 
>
> The most enjoyable thing about hiking with Jane was listening to her 
> talk as we walked.  Her voice had always been a source of joy for me.  I 
> loved to hear her talk of her day after she came home from work.  
> Sometimes I didn't hear "what" she was saying - I only heard the 
> presence and quality of her voice.  ON the trail her voice took on a 
> piping quality that totally enraptured  me.  It didn't matter how tired 
> or energized I was.  When she talked I was in love.  My heart sang.  
> When I was really tired at the end of a day, her voice was my 
> doppelganger. 
>
> I've hiked a couple thousand miles since then, and although I've loved 
> most every minute, and those that weren't so fun when there were 
> happening, I can enjoy now from afar - but never have I had the 
> holistic, utterly wonderful experience I had with Jane.  Unfortunately 
> the stresses in both our lives played havoc with our relationship and we 
> went our separate ways a year later.  Nonetheless when my mood is right, 
> single memories will waft through my world and I'll feel warm and 
> peaceful. 
>
> Jeff Olson
> Laramie WY
>
>
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