So I thought now would be a good time to talk about some current events: how things are going with the Duckets 2026. All this reflecting on the past makes me feel a little left out of my own history.
Well, the backpack has been packed and unpacked enough times for me to consider myself competent. Counting ounces and pounds, researching equipment… my brain is starting to get a little fuzzy. But I’m about to get there: the base weight of my backpack is a reasonable weight by my standards. I might eliminate some things before the start, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say I could add some things too.
I find myself in a constant negotiation with myself.
«I need that.»
(You don’t need that.)
«Well, what’s up with this?»
No.
I’ll leave it aside in case I change my mind.
I’m like a kid walking down the candy aisle.
Oh! Look, a titanium pen!
Every now and then I look in the mirror so I can give myself a look… one that tells me how ridiculous I am.
I am pleased to announce that I purchased my plane ticket; My departure date is June 9. This is a little later than I had originally planned, but I have a contract that I’m committed to and I’m a man of my word, so I’ll stick to it.
Now that you’re up to speed on what’s going on… how about we revisit the 2012 Duckets?
I can only imagine how amazing it must feel after such a surprising ending.
Well, there’s Duckets… but why does he seem so grumpy?
Not more than two hours ago, I was on top of the world.
Now here he is, sitting in an airport, looking like someone took the filling out of his donut.
Let’s go back a few days before this photo and recap something I announced at the shelter:
(I would never undertake another hike.
I enjoyed the experience…
but I had no desire to do another one.
Mount Katahdin would be the end for me.)
This photograph, this one, is the photograph I took when I recognized that I was on my way to being Matthew again.
They had given me a plane ticket and when I took it, I wanted to say Duckets so badly. The life I had lived for the past six months was behind me and that ticket made me recognize it.
Now, you should know: it wasn’t about the name. It was about the person I had become. I had no interest in being that person again.
So I took this photo when I recognized that I didn’t have a plan. I had very little money… but I did have the return of a previous conversation.
And in that conversation there were three letters, running through my mind on a loop:
PCT.
PCT.
PCT
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