5 Days and Counting…

I’ve loved reading about people and their encounters with nature my whole life. Books like Not Without Peril (Nicholas Howe), Deep Survival (Laurence Gonzales), Into the Wild, Into Thin Air. (Jon Krakauer).. I read A Walk in the Woods (Bill Bryson) way back when it first came out, and thought it was very funny (might have been the seed that started my AT interests). I read Wild (Cheryl Strayed), and was incredibly inspired.

I’ve read books on vision questing and spirituality in the wilderness: Roaring of the Sacred River (Steven Foster and Meredith Little),  Nature and Human Soul (Bill Plotkin),  Backpacking with the Saints (Belden Lane)…

And for the past two plus years, I’ve been devouring accounts of thru-hikers on the AT and the PCT, from Earl Shaffer’s Walking with Spring to the Barefoot Sisters accounts of their yo-yo (Southbound and Walking Home), and Keith “Fossie” Foskett’s thru-hiking trilogy (Balancing On Blue, The Last Englishman, The Journey In Between) and many, many others…

Is the pattern as obvious as I think it is? I’m into READING.

DOING, not so much…

Although I did do a 10 day vision quest 15 years ago. Another story, for another day…

So here, at this point in time, with 5 days to go, I stand on the edge of the abyss. And to read other thru-hiker blogs, and to watch other thru-hiker vlogs, one understands that the feeling of standing on the edge of the abyss is pretty universal. “Have I done the right planning?” “Will I avoid injury?” Do I have the right gear?” etcetera, etcetera…

But the question that haunts me is, can I DO this?

Intellectually, I am totally confident that I can DO it; it’s using the methodology one would need to eat an elephant (not that I would ever do THAT!!). One bite at a time. One day at time. One mountain at a time. One step at a time…

But DOING this is so much more than the ability to put one foot in front of the other. I guess what I’m struggling most with is these questions: do I belong out there? Am I really the type of person who does this kind of thing?  I have a pretty clear image of myself, sitting in my favorite chair, curled up with a book (or eating pudding).

But I think the only way to really answer these quetions is to starting moving these feet of mine. And I’m determined to work my way in, one step after the other, keeping the miles short until my strength improves.

It’s time. Time to put aside doubts, to get out of planning mode, to step off into the abyss.

5 days and counting…