[pct-l] Why Hike the PCT?

[Bighummel at aol.com (Bighummel@aol.com)]

Ned Tibbits mentioned to me recently that the issue of spirituality from the 
experience of hiking the trail had not been discussed much on this list.  I 
suggested he begin one, but alas, he must be sleeping (;-) so I will.  

Each time I go backpacking I go seeking a sense of spirituality.  After about 
3 weeks on the trail my mind began to settle into the routine and begin an 
awakening that I had not expected.  I began to examine critically why I wanted 
to hike this trail.  I began to examine critically each priority in my life.  I 
began to critically examine my own spirituality.  I began to examine 
critically each fear I have in my life and tried to understand and come to a peace of 
mind and solid comfort with each.  

In the late George Harrison's song, "Beware of Darkness" he speaks of not 
letting yourself think to much late at night in the dark.  I believe that he is 
mistaken, in that the mind, when given the opportunity (which in this society 
of constant bombardment and distraction and advertisement and hype, is rare) it 
resorts to a base of self examination that we rarely are given the 
opportunity to explore.  

I seek that peace, that quiet reflection on the wilderness, the beauty, my 
inner self, my higher spirituality.  

The Great Backpacker In The Sky (GBITS) calls to me.  She is all knowing . . 
. the dew on the spider web in the meadow reflecting the early morning sun . . 
. the clear ice inhancing the color of the underlying metamorphic rock . . . 
the smell of vanilla from the bark of the magnificent forest . . . the shudder 
and flash of the arm of god, lightning, in the night.  She calls to all of 
us.  She makes our daily lives dull and mundane just to piss us off so that we 
shall rearrange our lives and once again seek the higher ground.  She whispers 
in my ear every morning.  She laughs at me from the leaf of the tree on my 
front lawn.  She giggles with delight in the colors of a rainbow.  She is one 
with the sky and water and the earth and the fire.  Her heart is in the wind, her 
blood is in the river, her skin is of the earth.  The storm is her passion.  
The earthquake is her rage.  

She or He it does not matter.  GBITS calls to us more than others.  We hear 
with a different ear.  See with a different eye.  Understand with a different 
heart.

Aw, screw it, where is my backpack?

Greg