To capture the feeling of my 2018 full-hike of the PCT, I decided to write some songs. Since there is a natural arc to the experience, I decided to frame it as if I was writing a musical. So there are five songs about trail sections, three light-hearted songs, and three more serious songs.
You can find the album on Spotify, iTunes, Amazon music, YouTube, and several other platforms. Follow the Spotify link or search for "Moving With the Sun" J. Kevin Mann to find it. In brief, here are the songs in album order and a few words about each one.
Setting Out: The feeling of starting out a five month PCT hike includes excitement; and, I was also asking myself, "is this really a good idea?" This song is focused on the feeling of getting on trail.
Desert Stride: Now on trail, the focus shifts to the excitement of moving through this foreign, challenging, and also stimulating landscape. The song focuses on five specific experiences that I had on trail in the desert section. The chanted background is called a vocal ostinato; this technique is not especially common, but appears in "Tom's Diner" by Suzanne Vega, some world music, and in less extreme forms in a lot of popular music.
Call Me Pickle Jar: A light-hearted song about trail names, and my theory of why they are popular. My trail name, Lickity Split, was a joke name given to me by Grim to note that I'm a slow hiker, but take short breaks. Of course I had to put my trail name in the song.
Cathedrals of Snow: Moving up into the high Sierra mountains, I felt an overwhelming sense of awe, gratitude, and humility. This song rests in that profound, wordless experience.
Light and Fast: A light-hearted song about how thru-hikers obsess about gear, me included of course.
Every Color: From Sierra City to Cascade Locks the trail moves through a wide variety of terrain, a lot of it influenced by volcanic activity in that region. This song celebrates the diverse landscapes and also mentions how hikers typically feel a lot of comradery by this point.
Sweet Surprise: A light-hearted and sincere appreciation of trail magic, trail angels, and all the many people who help hikers along the trail. Of course it's a great adventure, but it would be so much harder without the generosity of people offering rides, gallons of water, and other help to hikers.
Many Footsteps: Hiking with so many people helped to broaden my appreciation for how we can all be different, and still appreciate and learn from each other. In this song I'm speaking from my own positive experience and understand that negative experiences also happen.
Moving With the Sun: In the 500 miles from Cascade Locks to the Northern Terminus the trail crosses a series of beautiful high ridges. If you have hiked up from the border with Mexico, your fitness is so developed that there isn't much question of being able to finish, but often we want to finish, but we also don't want the experience to be over. Hidden in the song are at least 10 yin/yang type contrasts that relate to holding opposites together. In a way the journey will always be with you.
Hand Built Paths: Building and maintaining the PCT stands out as an astonishing achievement of cooperation, volunteering, hard work, and love of the outdoors. This song celebrates all that goes into it.
Each Step a Note: This song simply focuses on paying attention while on trail and in life in general. The refrain is an homage to the sprung verse of Gerard Manley Hopkins, and the phrase "walking's the answer" refers to a long line of teachers and philosophers who recommended walking to resolve problems. The musical style has roots in the Appalachian region.
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