July 16
Listening to: Fruit Bats – Tacoma
This morning I packed my backpack and checked out of my concrete prison room, I mean motel room. I walked down the street to a coffee shop and took out my notebook and looked at the FarOut app to plan the rest of the trail and figure out how much time it would likely take me.
Two men were sitting near me talking about investments and finance stuff. As I looked at the topography of the maps, calculating the elevation gains and what was realistic for me to hike for each section, I thought about the wonders of what I had seen so far on the trail. The sunrises, the snow covered peaks that went on forever, the sunlight streaming through the trees above me, the endless stars. Who fucking cares about an ROI when the world has all of this to offer?
I want to get back to the trail. ASAP.
If I get back on the trail next week, I can hike at a comfortable pace and still finish the trail by October 1. I can hike the 505 miles of Washington, and most of Oregon. I will have hiked over 1,500 miles. Over half of the PCT. I will need to send myself 10 boxes. I already have almost everything I need. I can prepare my boxes and be ready to go by Tuesday of next week.
I scooted up to the presidio and walked around the palace of fine arts. I sat on a bench for awhile, just sitting, waiting. I had nothing to do. Nothing I needed to do.
I scooted down to the bus stop where I’d catch the 28 bus. I had caught that exact bus at that exact bus stop the last time I was in San Francisco. But I somehow took the wrong bus going the opposite way and had to backtrack.
I had dinner with my aunt, and she talked about how she thought the trail was a crucible for me. I was not coming out the way I went in. She talked about the concept of the hero in literature, that there is a theme of obstacle and endurance, and I was in my own hero story of having to overcome obstacles and find a way to endure – I already had.
I scooted to the train station and had issues trying to buy a ticket. A guy at another machine offered to help me figure it out. His name was Manuel. He couldn’t figure out the machine either, but then gave me a plastic transit card that had $4 on it and said I could have it. I loaded some more money on it and then was able to buy my ticket to the airport. He asked me about my backpack and where I was going and I told him about the trail. He said he wanted to hike something like that someday and I told him that he should.
I got to the airport and went through security. My backpack got flagged to be searched. There was something in the bear can that set off the security system. It was the beef packets. I had kept a ton of beef packets and decided that I’d feed them to Marble since they are essentially dog food anyway. The security people laughed and sent me on my way.
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