Hello everyone, Focus checking in for the final update. Sorry I’ve taken so long to get this out but finding the motivation for such things while going through “decompression” hasn’t been easy. Not to say that life after the trail hasn’t been great, it’s just that eating, drinking and couching has taken precedence. So as you may have heard my adventure on the official PCT ended with a massive storm dropping a considerable amount of snow on one of the hardest sections of trail. Then the low altitude alternate was blocked due to the government shutdown closing the national parks. So that left us with the road, we picked Hwy 97 in the beautiful Okanagan Valley. The Okanagan is the northern most desert in North America as it sits in the rain shadow of the Cascade Mountains. So off we went, a rag tag group from the US, UK, Japan and Australia. We figured that finishing a wilderness trek by walking along a highway in an agricultural area was ridiculous but not quite ridiculous enough so we got into costume. With local newspaper coverage and great local support we walked the final 100 miles in 5 days. All the while stopping to pick apples and pears and finding out that horses really don’t like helium balloons. Most thru hikers worry that the end will be nothing special, that those final steps will be anticlimactic. We all shared that concern but thanks to the Canadian border security we didn’t have that problem. When we got to the boarder we posed for photos at one of the little spikes that says “International Boundary” right outside the bit that you drive through to get into Canada. We then proceeded to go to the big sign that says Canada, while staying on the US side of the checkpoint, assuming that we could get a few photos before heading back to get the car we had shuffled up to a gas station a half mile back. But NO! Apparently the Canadians take this 49th parallel thing quite seriously and an angry woman came out and told us quite sternly that we had crossed into Canada and we had to check in immediately! This was fine with me as I was planning in going into Canada but we needed to get back to the car and drive in. Some people didn’t want to be in Canada and none of us had thought about the details that get examined when crossing a border. ”How long will you be staying in Canada?” “3 weeks” says one person; “3 minutes” says another. This really didn’t go down smoothly, but after some discussion and some waiting around (read detainment) we were all granted what we wanted and were on our way. The next and final day found us in Manning Park -the northern trailhead for the PCT- on our way down to the monument. A quick 14 mile round trip and we had our pictures at the border proper and just a little more closure. But I don’t think it’ll be the last time I see that monument. April 25th to October 15th 2013, 174 days, 2600 miles. Final Thoughts: The walking has finished but the trail will live on in my memory and in my calf muscles forever. I have seen thing so beautiful that it brought tears to my eyes. I have felt the fury of alpine thunder and the power of desert sun. I have hurt so bad that I wanted to give up. I have felt so good that I never wanted it to end. I have lost 32 pounds and gained 35 back. I have had sunburn, wind burn, friction burn and stove burn. I have seen bears and elk, snakes and porcupine. I have never in my life experienced so much in such a short time. I have seen amazing generosity from complete strangers. I have made some amazing friends. I don’t think I have changed much as a person but at the same time I don’t think I’ll ever be the same again. Thanks: To the trail angels who gave so much without even knowing me, I thank you for helping me, you are a special breed of people. To the people who work so hard to make this trail what it is, I thank you for making this endeavor possible. Thank you to all my Outdoor Ed friends at home, your passion and positivity doesn’t only influence the students. You have all helped me train for this over the last decade. Thank you to Kelsey Reed for being my base camp manager throughout all this, having you there made life so much easier for me. To all my fellow hiker trash, it was you guys who made this journey what it was. Take away the mountains, the rivers and put a stone in my shoe that I could never shake and I’d still do it all over again if it meant hanging out with you. Thanks to Ben StarFox Blake for coming up with this crazy scheme and somehow convincing me it was a good idea. Without you I would never have attempted this. Thank you to Kayla Dance Party Bordelon for being my companion through most of this. After almost 2000 miles of walking together you still laugh at my shitty jokes and you still make me smile. Our adventure together is only just getting started. Thanks to all the people out there reading this, your support and encouragement since the start has helped make this all possible. Walk away quietly in any direction and taste the freedom of the mountaineer. Camp out among the grasses and gentians of glacial meadows, in craggy garden nooks full of natures darlings. Climb the mountains and get their good tidings, Natures peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. -John Muir, 1901. And thank you John Muir, your epic wanderlust endures. -Fred Focus Paton
Posted on: Sun, 10 Nov 2013 18:44:28 +0000