The Day Before the Hike Begins

We're 1 Day out from the start of our hike. I set up a Gabcast account and will be posting audio messages on it from the trail as we make our way north from Mexico to Canada. Gabcast is a service that basically allows us to leave a recorded "voice mail" that can be played back by anyone who goes to my gabcast page. So be sure to turn the volume up on your computer and give us a listen. Here's the direct link to my gabcast page:

http://www.gabcast.com/index.php?a=episodes&id=19371

Here's a sample:

Gabcast! Disco's PCT Hike 2008 #5 - The Day Before the Hike Begins

Some Final Photos

We leave tomorrow for California and the start of the Pacific Crest Trail. I buzzed my hair today and we did one last training hike.

Before the cut:

After the cut:

Last Training Hike on Trappers Run:

Bon Voyage !!!!

Switching Gears

Hmmm . . .

My itinerary says 3.3 days of food coming out of Warner Springs and 8.3 days of food coming out of Kennedy Meadows.

11.6 days of food total.

Grocery list for that says:

-peanuts
-m&m's
-Justin's almond butter
-lipton's rice
-frito's
-bean dip
-symphony bars
-dried fruit
-fruit snacks
-1 Million energy bars

Yum right ???

Normally a grocery list is a grocery list . . . I buy what I think I will need for a week or so . . . and if it's not enough I can run to the grocery store and pick up a few extra things. Well, things are about to change. Now grocery lists take on a bit more importance . . . if I need to buy 8.3 days of food and I shortchange myself . . . I end up having to ration food and go hungry . . . or if I pack to much food and hike into a town with say 3 extra pounds of food (Heaven forbid) then I've carried the weight of that food over the course of 8.3 days for nothing. It's a balancing act.

So today when I was in the grocery store shopping for the above mentioned items, I found that mentally I had switched gears back into my trail food mindset . . . figuring out exactly how much food I would need for "x" number of days as opposed to buying whatever and not worrying about it.

And if none of this makes sense . . . I should mention that I'm starting a 2,650 mile hike of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) on Friday April 25th with my girlfriend. This will be her 1st PCT thru-hike and my 2nd. I guess I'm a glutton for punishment. Honestly there is nothing I would rather be doing this Summer than walking the PCT northbound with my girlfriend. I chronicled my 2004 PCT hike here. I put up an FAQ section on that webpage that still applies to this year's hike . . . except for the bit about being in my 20's. I guess my reasons for hiking the PCT haven't really changed in 4 years.

So this blog will pretty much be inactive over the next 5 months. P.O.D. will be keeping an online trailjournal on the daily ins and outs of our hike at postholer.com. It will be updated every 1-2 weeks or so and there's a few recent entries there now.

Check back here every so often as I may end up posting a few things between now and October. And once we're done hiking I'll be back on blogging for the people!

Have a great Summer,

Cheers, Lawton (a.k.a. Disco)

John Muir

My dad sent me the following quote from John Muir:

"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The wind will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while care will drop off like autumn leaves."

Like autumn leaves . . . I can't wait!

The Mist

I watched one of the WORST movies I've seen in a long long time tonight. The Mist. I'm begging you . . . please don't even think of wasting your time on this movie. And it's not just the terrible ending that made this movie the horrendous thumbs down that it was . . . the best acting in the movie was mediocre at best. The special effects were straight out of Day of the Dead or The Blob. The plot line was weak weak weak. I just lost 2 hours of my life I'll never be able to get back.

Gaffney

I'm back in South Carolina visiting the fam at the moment. I left Crested Butte on Monday right after lunch with a foot of fresh snow on the ground. Linked up with LJ and FJ in the front range. Got to South Carolina on Tuesday with Spring in the air full tilt. It's in the 70's!!! I did a 12-mile hike out at Kings Mountain State Park this morning and there were butterflies on the trail!!! It really is Spring in some parts on the U.S. . . . just not Crested Butte. And apparently Crested Butte is getting dumped on right now with 10-20 inches of new snow expected by tomorrow. I'm done with Winter.

PCT Preparations

Last night P.O.D. and I got into the thick of PCT preparations. We dumped all our camping gear on the floor and went thru it with a fine toothed comb. Threw some stuff away and divided the rest into stuff we'll take with us and stuff we will leave behind. It took a while. This part of long-distance hiking isn't that exciting or fun. And today it's work on a few sewing projects for the hike. Also not a lot of fun.

Gothic Hike

P.O.D. and I went out to do a 6-mile snowshoe to the Gothic townsite . . . it's basically a summer only townsite . . . as there is no road access in the Winter. But you can ski or snowshoe in . . . or hike! The hiking was a bit rough . . . snowshoes would have been a better choice, but we're trying to get accustomed to trail conditions in the high Sierra in early June for the PCT. Here's some pics . . . lots of snow still out there. Crested Butte just topped 400 inches for the season.

Zeitgeist

What does one say after watching Zeitgeist the movie?

Gore's Conspicuous Silence

Dick Morris, former Bill Clinton adviser and campaign manager, wrote an interesting article that showed up today on RealClearPolitics. It deals with Al Gore's silence so far in endorsing one of the two. Give it a look.

An Unreasonable Man

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man."
-George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman (1903)
"Maxims for Revolutionists"

A couple of days ago I watched the 2007 documentary on Ralph Nader An Unreasonable Man and I would recommend it to anyone . . . especially those that think he was a "spoiler" in the 2000 presidential election. It gives some really good insight into just about everything this consumer advocate has accomplished over his lifetime.

Here's the documentary synopsis:

In 1966, General Motors, the most powerful corporation in the world, sent private investigators to dig up dirt on an obscure thirty-two year old public interest lawyer named Ralph Nader, who had written a book critical of one of their cars, the Corvair. The scandal that ensued after the smear campaign was revealed launched Ralph Nader into national prominence and established him as one of the most admired Americans and the leader of the modern Consumer Movement. Over the next thirty years and without ever holding public office, Nader built a legislative record that is the rival of any contemporary president. Many things we take for granted including seat belts, airbags, product labeling, no nukes, even the free ticket you get after being bumped from an overbooked flight are largely due to the efforts of Ralph Nader and his citizen groups. Yet today, when most people hear the name "Ralph Nader," they think of the man who gave the country George W. Bush. As a result, after sustaining his popularity and effectiveness over an unprecedented amount of time, he has become a pariah even among former friends and allies. How did this happen? Is he really to blame for George W. Bush? Who has stuck by him and who has abandoned him? Has our democracy become a consumer fraud? After being so right for so many years, how did he seem to go so wrong? With the help of exciting graphics, rare archival footage and over forty on-camera interviews conducted over the past two years, "An Unreasonable Man" traces the life and career of Ralph Nader, one of the most unique, important, and controversial political figures of the past half century.