Washington PCT Section K
As we climb into the ponderosa pine, I think about the materials that make the things I have with me - the plastic bags that carry my food, my cuben fiber tarp, my driducks poncho- what is that even made out of? Would I be out here if I didn't have all these luxuries that make my pack so lightweight?
I think about the reasons for my travel. Would people centuries ago understand? What about the emotions we experience out here- are they similar? How universal are things like missing family, longing for connections with others, fear of the unknown,the elation of the sun coming out after a long-stretch of rain?
2569 (High Bridge/ Stehekin) to 2586 (Junction to Copper Pass)
On the bus back to the trail, a woman tells me how she worked in the Stehekin lodge 40 years ago and this is her first time back visiting. She says back then they did all the work- from cooking and waiting tables to housekeeping and washing- and it was all hard. I wonder how much has changed.
At High Bridge, Jan and I talk to the ranger and learn that there is a 7-8,000 year old archeological site nearby. It marks just one stop that was used as an important travel route to cross the cascades for centuries. Today local tribes honor the passage through this area on a Big Walk.
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| reflections |
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| Ponderosa pine |
i dont think they would understand i dont think many in other parts of the world would understand. we are impossibly priviledged. though walking through landscapes to feel a myriad of feelings we walk towards those people and away from the people that are making our world crumble at the seams.
ReplyDeleteBeing on Trail reminds me how privileged I am too, something that is so easy to ignore in regular life.
DeleteThanks for the comment, Joe.