[pct-l] Revelations on the PCT

[Ernest Chavez <echavez@ix.netcom.com>]

In 1997 I was section hiking from Tuolumne Meadows to Sierra 
City with my hiking buddy Larry.  Just after passing Dorothy 
Lake we stopped to have lunch with 4 thru-hikers who all 
independently arrived at the pass within minutes of each other.  
Somehow, all 4 thru-hikers knew each other, having met 
previously on the trail.  During lunch, one of the hikers asked 
the a question: How do you compare your experience on the PCT 
with your experience back home?  

This turned into an interesting philosophical discussion.  The 
other hikers gave there 2 cents worth, but I remember one of the 
responses which I found interesting:

"At home, I work as a professor at a university in New York.  
When I think about hiking on the PCT, it is like reading a book 
about a fictitious character who hikes the desert and climbs the 
high passes.  The hiker is not a real person.  At home, my 
reality is teaching African Studies at the University.  
Similarly, when I am on the trail, I think about the Professor 
at a university in New York as a fictitious character in a book 
that I have read somewhere.  The professor is not real.  While 
on the trail, this is my reality, my daily life and all else is 
a storybook."

Then the last respondent asked, "what about you"? to the hiker 
who posed the question.

Tears came to his eyes as he began to speak.  "I dont understand 
what is going on ... I mean, we have all been enduring the 
hardships on the trail, and at the same time enjoying the 
beauty of the trail.  But I find that now I am the happiest I 
have ever been in my life.  And I dont understand why it is 
happening here!  Why couldn't this happen in my other life at 
home?  Why did I have to come all the way here to figure this 
out?"

Then everyone became quiet.  I think we all understood his 
feelings.
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