It’s not crazy, just a «wild» inspiration

«You are crazy!» It seems to be people’s standard response every time I tell them I’ve decided to increase PCT this year. To them, it seems crazy that someone would want to walk more than 2,600 miles “just for fun.”

This is what I tell them to try to explain to them that when the trail calls it is more than fun that we are looking for, and that walking is simply the tool we use to find it.

How the idea was born…

Many years ago my dad told me to watch a movie called “The Camino” and that I should think about doing The Camino de Compostela. After watching the movie, I was inspired by the main character’s journey and added El Camnino to my wish list.

A few years later, someone recommended “Wild” to me and that’s when I really felt a pull toward hiking. Even more so after reading the book. His journey wasn’t just about sightseeing and adventure, but about healing and finding the person he was meant to be. I can relate to some of her struggles, as I had also recently lost my mother and was having a hard time coping with the idea of ​​a world without her. If I could have taken the time at the time to embark on a similar journey to groom myself, I would have.

When the signs kept appearing…

While “Wild” was a movie I returned to again and again to fuel my dreams of venturing into the wilderness, my feet were firmly planted in the daily grind of work and the tasks of normal life… that was until I encountered Domestics, Weapons Grade, Monkey, and Cold Soak while vacationing in the Grand Canyon.

A chance encounter during a bus ride on the South Rim and a friendly offer from the Nationals to take my photo led to a long conversation about their AZT hike. I couldn’t get enough, the more they told me the more I wanted to know. I ended up taking them out to dinner and offering to take them to the North Rim (the trail through the canyon was closed due to damage) just to have a chance to ask them more questions. Lihat juga vch2. They’re the ones who taught me that real people go on these kinds of adventures, that it’s not so crazy to quit your job to do something you really want to do, that the pros of hiking far outweigh the cons, and that the only problem is that hiking can be addictive.

After meeting these wonderful people, hiking became less of a dream and more of a reality for me, now it was just a matter of finding the time to do it.

When the stars align…

In recent years I had been struggling with depression and after a particularly serious crisis at the end of September I decided that the best thing for me would be to sell my house and move to Mexico, at least for a while, to be closer to my family. Since work is a major stressor, losing my job at the end of November seemed more like a blessing than a curse. Suddenly I had the time and money to plan my adventure. So when I was lucky enough to be granted a long-distance hiking permit, I felt like it was a sign.

So why do it?

A couple of years ago, my journey would have been one of self-discovery, to show what I was made of, to help me overcome the loss of my mother… now, after my struggles with depression, the loss of my father and a battle with cancer, it is about reconnecting with the woman I once was and reclaiming the sense of wonder and awe that I had always been proud of by putting myself on the path of beauty.

Doing this hike now seems more like a need than a want. My soul needs to be on the path to remind it of all the wonderful things that are yet to be seen. It may not be easy, but it will be worth it!

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