Opening Statement

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach
~Henry David Thoreau, Walden


Monday, February 6, 2017

Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) Rough Hiking Plan

Chinook Pass at Mount Rainier National Park, Washington

Here is my (very) rough hiking plan.  In short:

  • Starting on April 1, 2017 at the Mexican border, hiking north to Kennedy Meadows
  • then skipping ahead to Dunsmuir, CA and hiking south back to Kennedy Meadows
  • then going back up to Dunsmuir and hiking north to Canada, arriving at the end of September
You could call this a spin or blender hike since it involves two changes of direction.  The reason for hiking south form Dunsmuir is to reduce the amount of hiking through deep snow and on snow slopes, as this kind of hiking can be dicey with problem knees.  I may have to adjust the route and schedule further due to above-normal snow levels this year.


Photo Credit:  David Fulmer via Flickr (cc) link: https://flic.kr/p/otvqMj

Saturday, February 4, 2017

Poetry and Hiking

Glockenblume

Poems have a different music from ordinary language
C.K. Williams

On the trail you have time to think, and while hiking you can turn over in your mind a poem that you are trying to understand better, or work on memorizing a poem that you love.  One of my favorites:

Here

Uncanny to realize one was here, so much
came before the awareness of being here.

Then to suspect your place here was yours only
because no one else wanted or would have it.

A site, a setting, and you the matter to fill it,
though you guessed it could never be filled.

Therefore, as much as a presence, you were a problem,
a task; insoluble, so optional, so illicit.

Then the first understanding: that you
yourself were the difficult thing to be done.

C.K. Williams


At this link you can see some of  My Favorite Poetry on Google Drive.

photo credit:  die.tine, (cc) via https://flic.kr/p/538GXw