[pct-l] Thru Hiker Mentality

[ca_radiance at hotmail.com (Ryan Christensen)]

Being on the trail for such and extended time most defiantly changed my 
perceptions. I remember that first night-at Hauser Creek, I set my pack down 
and reflected on the fact that for the next 5 months I was going to be 
spending camping in the wilderness. The freedom I felt was indescribable. It 
has to be felt to be understood.

The state of mind I had on the trail was sublime. I remember that I could 
sit anywhere alone, all day, without books, music, or other distractions and 
be perfectly content to just listen to the wind blowing through pines, or 
feel the sun on my skin-watch the day unfold itself. It was a taste of 
liberation.

At first I thought I was going to be lonely hiking alone: but something 
interesting happened. It was the feeling of connectedness to everything 
around me. After a while, the wilderness was not just a place I was 
visiting, it was my home. Where I slept each night, my bedroom. And I was 
not alone. Ants, trees, birds, deer, grasses all became my relatives-we live 
in the same house, drinking the same water, sharing the same air, being 
warmed by the same sun-we are all intricately related. Thus I was never 
lonely.

The perspective one has, by walking along the tops of the mountains-high 
above the bustling cities below is priceless. The really cool thing is the 
feeling of looking into the distance and seeing a distant peak-like the 
Sierra, or Mt. Shasta, then in a week or so being there and looking back at 
where you where. This gave me an almost tactile sense of the land before 
me-and further peaks, just kept on beckoning.