PCT Trail Days.
This year it’s the end of the hike for a lot of people who had planned on pushing north to Canada. The fires in Washington have 60% of the trail shut down across the state. Most people are planning on coming back next year to hike Washington sobo back to Cascade Locks.
Once Trail Days is over, they will scatter to the wind. Out to hike the Oregon Coast Trail, flipping down the PCT for whatever miles they may have missed, or going back home. My hope was that the sharp edges of their ambition had been softened by the eternal conflict of ego versus nature… but that takes time.
I had my own white whale, and rather than trying to figure out the logistics of getting around PCT trail closures, I’d head east, to the Colorado Trail.
Over the years, the quest to conquer had faded. Replaced by a deeper understanding that true fulfillment comes not from standing atop the pyramid, but from stepping down into the shared rhythms of the natural world.
#PCTtraildays