Love From the Road

            It has been so incredible to experience all the encouragement from so many people . Our friends and family have been extremely supportive and encouraging throughout our planning and we appreciate that so much, but what was surprising was all of the excitement and encouragement we have received from strangers since we left Portland. 

              Everywhere we go with our packs people take interest and ask us questions about what we are doing. Once we tell people we are hiking to Canada via the PCT they always get so excited. Through our excitement for our journey they seem to catch the bug. We have had many conversations with people that seem to light up and tell us of some of the journeys they have done themselves. 

          Living out our dreams and living an inspired life seems to be lighting the inspirational fire of others around us, which in turn inspires us even more. It is like a magical blossoming of the communal heart. As we walked down the boardwalk of mission beach in San Diego we were blessed with conversations with many people that are from some of the small hiker towns along the trail. 

              We can't wait to get on the trail and surround ourselves with the PCT community! 

Blog issues!! FIXED!!

We are having some technical issues with blogspot and all of pages aren't showing up... They will be back! So check in in a few days.

"What's your base weight?"

Yes, I do want to be comfortable and have a light pack but the amount of time and stress than can be spent to cut every last ounce is overwhelming.

            (Seth's about 18 pounds)

We did the best we could by investing in light weight gear and putting so much time into picking the best. Once I loaded my pack, it felt light but not super light and I was slightly disappointed. 

             (Amy's about 14 pounds)

Our friend Colin did the PCT last year so he helped us out and completely 'wolverined' our packs. It was then apparent that the saying "ounces add up to pounds and pounds add up to pain" is relevant and we should seriously cut some ounces.  

We began by cutting off the handle of our cups... To save maybe an ounce. Then we took the following out of our packs; 2 solar chargers, heavy rain jackets, my camera case, the stove case, 2 head lamps, heavy stuff saks, my leatherman...

We went to Next Adventure and REI for our LAST trip and bought petzl e-lite headlamps, a sog knife to replace my leatherman, and light weight stuff saks. 

Making those little changes saved us a pound or two. We don't want to obsess over the exact weight because we will figure it out as we go and can send stuff home if we want to, but it is definitely nice to have a lighter pack now! 

Adventures in Blissland

Done with work!!

            I am done with my last shift at work in the Oregon desert! Now all that's left is to CELEBRATE! I am going to miss working with all my amazing friends at Second Nature Cascades; Second Nature employs some of the most incredible, supportive people with the biggest hearts I could imagine. I love all of my Wilderness Therapy family and I hope to see you all over the summer or in the fall! I am so grateful to have a job where most of the time I am excited to go to work and I am continuously challenged to not only support others as best I can, but also work on myself in a very profound way every day......and its in the wilderness! Thank You Second Nature for the opportunity for growth and LOVE!

#STANDWITHME

                  Amy and I got the opportunity to go to the premier of the inspiring documentary called #STANDWITHME! If you get the chance to see this film I would recommend it. It is moving, encouraging, empowering, enraging, and beautifully done. Watching this documentary just further justifies all of the money and time we have put into planning this thru-hike as local, organic, and sustainable as was feasible. I only wish that we would have done more now; e.g. less plastic, more fair trade, and more local companies that care for our planet and the people that inhabit it. 

             
               The premise of the film is of a 9 year old girl, Vivienne (who was at the premiere!) who wanted to take a stand against slavery around the world by selling lemon-aid at a lemon-aid stand. It started as a huge goal of raising $150,000 usd to free 500 child slaves and evolved into a social movement and the creation of a social-progress lemon-aid company. The film also introduces an artist whose art sparked the movement and the founder of Fair-Trade who has connected us directly to the people who grow our coffee and chocolate and given then a fair price for their hard work. The film paints a picture of how the darkness can be transformed into light just by the actions of one little girl and that there is still a very long road that we can all have a part in building if we just take that first step towards a brighter future. 

Watch the trailer here:

http://www.standwithmemovie.com/

SHAFTY!!

              Two of my best friends, Brett and Alex, play in an AMAZING Phish tribute band, SHAFTY! They were very nice and let me write the setlist for my last show that I will be able to attend for the next 6 months. The set was amazing and some of the shafty crew women put together a choreographed dance that we spontaneously broke into during the song Split Open and Melt. 

              They have been playing out a residency at The Goodfoot for the past few months where they play every Wednesday! Their shows are complete with high screaming peaks, chaotic improvisations, heavy laid funk, low soaring bass bombs, heady fractalized space jams, a most fire light show, and an incredibly supportive and loving phan base that gets DOWN every Wednesday in the middle of a work week. My love for Phish is indescribable and I feel so blessed to be friends with these incredible musicians that have the ability to SLAY the music of Phish and get people out to celebrate the world's greatest band with dance and good cheer. Thank you guys so much for an awesome last show, it was one of the best! Let's do FALL TOUR!!!!

I AM GRATEFUL!!

Hike With Care

Some Thoughts on the Thru-Hiking Community

                I am shocked at how many thru-hikers eat poorly and seem to have little regard towards their impact on the world at large. What we buy and use on the trail has a direct impact on our environment that we cherish and the lives of people all over the world. From the minerals mined for our electronics to the foods we shop for and where we shop for them,  all impact the earth and the lives of others in some way, sometimes a very big way. Unfortunately, the world we live in now is run by money and capitalism, so where we spend our dollar has become our loudest voice and vehicle for social change. 

              I think Amy and I fell short of doing everything we possibly could to make our thru-hike a sustainable adventure with as little impact on the environment as we could. We also could have put more effort into the research of the products we buy to make sure the materials and labor used were from a caring and sustainable place. Though I recognize that we didn't do everything in a sustainable manner, I do think what we have done thus far is important and is making a difference. We can use our money to propel positive actions around the world by buying local, fair trade, organic, and sustainable products. Also looking into the companies that we buy from to see where they source their materials and what their values are. 

              

              All these things matter so much and I would think that the people who love the wilderness so much that they want to walk through it for 6 moths would want to be a part of this extremely important movement. I am only writing these thoughts as a concern for the greater community and to possibly raise the awareness around what we support with our dollar as we hike the trail. I am in no way trying to pass judgment on anyone for the choices they have made to make their hike possible, I am simply encouraging us all to take an honest look at how we are impacting the world and raise our awareness of how we can make a difference. I love this community of people and I believe we all really care.....Buy right ya'll! WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!!

Right now is the right time!!

One of my co-workers told me the other day, "There couldn't been any more universal signs that make it clear that right now is the perfect time to do this!"... he is so right.

The other day, Angela from Keen contacted me and said we were chosen to be a part of the #PCTdirtydozen! We will be receiving pairs of socks from Keen along our journey. Then today, I was looking at the PCTA website and noticed that there was an announcement of the dirtydozen and there was one of my favorite pictures with Seth on the page. We feel so fortunate for all of the support we have received.

Things are falling into place perfectly. I still feel like my to-do list keeps growing, but really, we are almost ready to depart! 

Seth went back to work on Tuesday for his LAST shift!! And I've been staying busy with paper work for our fire permits and Canada permits as well as doing stuff for our boxes.

My mom is coming in town today so hopefully this weekend will be relaxing and fun (and I'll put her to work with resupply duties!!!)

What we've been up to:

filling our 20 bags with our food, to prep for boxes. 

Trying out my friend's sleeping bag liner/ dress!

Getting our Salazon chocolate ready

Gettin' fancy for our good friend's engagement party!

So close! Last shift!

                                  

Well the excitement is building and building still. We are scrambling to get all our food in our boxes (and by we I mean Amy). I am out at work on my last shift. I shaved my warm beard and half my head thinking that it was going to be warm out here, man was I ever wrong. We got a foot and a half of snow yesterday! I am beyond ready for the desert heat! Last weekend my buddy Mystic Dragon (Benny) came to visit us from Salt Lake City. It was so great to spend some time with a missed friend. We met in Utah wen I was working for RedCliff Ascent. We also got to celebrate my best friend Brett getting engaged to our great friend and roommate Aniana, what a party! So many great moments of joy and celebration lately! I can't wait for this last shift to be over! More updates about food and parties later. Testing out the mobile blogging thing. Cheers!