Pacific Crest Trail - Day 1
Start: San Diego, CA
End: Mile 11.4
Start: San Diego, CA
Somehow today of all days it felt appropriate to walk instead of finding an excuse to take the rental car through the drive thru for coffee. Excuses I entertained before walking a couple blocks to the coffee place:
- It's a little bit chilly out
- It's a half mile away
- I'll have to carry two coffees back
- I should save my energy for the trail.
and on and on and on. It's funny how easy it becomes to just drive everywhere.
My buddy Luke graciously offered to drive us to the Southern Terminus and it was great to catch up with him about life, and biotech, and finding meaning in this world. His mom went to nursing school in her 50s and has found a fulfilling role as an elementary school nurse - which seems to checks a lot of my imagined boxes for fulfilling work: community, providing positive assistance to others, future oriented.
Thank you, Luke!
We met Stoke at the Southern Terminus who is a trail runner for the Pacific Crest Trail Association. He’s going to be interviewed by the Associated Press early next week, presumably to discuss funding cuts to the various public land agencies whose grants largely fund the PCTA and trail maintenance for America’s long trails which have been cut in half this year. He worked as an accountant for a few years before starting with the PCTA and has been reflecting on the pros and cons of stability vs. freedom in life. Stoke is considering taking on another through hike but is worried about leaving his truck for a few months because pack-rats may move in which reminds me of the funniest thing I‘ve read on the internet lately: I tasted Honda’s spicy rodent repelling tape.
