[pct-l] Re: Trails

["Hurricane Helen" <hhloth@neworld.net>]

Hi Mary
Your thoughtful post has reminded me why I want to spend so many months of
my life on the PCT this year. The meaning of life is out there just beyond
my grasp and I think that if I concentrate a little harder and listen a
little more  I will awaken to a new understanding.
I, like you, am inspired and uplifted by the beautiful Sierra mountains (my
mountains), which is why I spend every birthday on top of the world.  My
husband doesn't ask me what I want to do for my birthday - he wonders which
mountain lake is our destination.
I have been struggling with the concern that simply racing along the trail
with two goals, starting and finishing, means that I will treat the
mountains as an obstacle rather than as a holy place.  I have given serious
consideration to not walking the PCT for this reason but Oh the chance to
spend so many weeks wallowing in their beauty, their serenity and yes their
awful savagery.
You wrote >How can you have a picture of Silver Lake or Margaret, and a
beautiful peak, held in your mind and at the same time, live in a way that
is not beautiful?  The image of the Sierras overwhelms pettiness in my life
and reminds me to just very simply, be kind, be charitable, keep trying to
do the right thing.<
I don't know Mary, but some people who visit the mountains do not behave
well or kindly - fortunately they are the exception.  Perhaps the PCTA Store
could sell "Mean People Suck" as a pack sticker? - I saw it as a bumper
sticker on a mountain lover's truck.
Helen

* From the Pacific Crest Trail Email List |  http://www.backcountry.net   *

==============================================================================