Ahhhh!

I feel like I am one giant ball of emotions, anxiety and excitement with some pure terror thrown in just for fun. My last day of work was Friday; my house is a mess of half packed boxes, lists and empty Ziplocs. My pets have been safely delivered to my mom’s house, a process that was much more dramatic for me than them, but at least it is done. And somehow what used to be months and months away is now 2 and a half days away. On Tuesday night I will hope Amtrak treats me kindly and makes the trip down to San Diego as painless as possible. 15 or so hours later the amazing trail angels Scout and Frodo will let me stay at their house along with a number of other hiker bums, giving us all a ride to the trailhead early Thursday morning. So barring anything dramatic Thursday morning I will be hiking the PCT!

Oh and in case you didn’t know trail angels are amazing people. Trail angels are kind folks who help hikers in some way. All dependent on the trail angel of course, some offer rides, or a night in their homes (including showers!), often they have food or stock water caches, or pretty much anything else helpful that you can think up. And why do they go out of their way to help hikers? Again lots of reasons, some are former hikers, or have friends or family who have hiked (or are currently hiking), maybe they love the PCT, or the hiking community in general, or maybe they just felt sorry for that poor dirty homeless looking person standing on the side of the road. Whatever the reason they are incredibly generous and are a great part of the PCT community.