“Why something instead of nothing?” A hiker named Late Night asked, as we lounged on the sidewalk, in the shade, in front of the grocery store.
He was drinking a six pack of beer, I was working on my second half gallon of milk. And because of that, I missed my bus to Portland, and the four afterward.
That night I stealth camped between the highway and the railroad tracks, listening to the sound of commerce. Human activity oblivious to my existence.
Smoke made the horizon look fake as I’d made my way north from Timberline Lodge to Cascade Locks. Passing both Ramona and Tunnel Falls, eating mostly peanut butter, and arriving a week early for Trail Days.
Just outside of Cascade Locks I could lounge beside a mountain stream to fill that time, or go to the coast and lay on the beach for a few days.
Either, Or.
I smiled at the possibility in each, grateful that those were my options.
Life was about embracing the experience of something, rather than trying to decipher the Why behind it all.
#PCT