One Year Later...

Are you kidding me? I just realized that today is the one year anniversary of my completion of the Continental Divide Trail. I guess I am now a 'has been' in the thru-hiker world of the CDT. Ugh! Nonetheless, I have been reflecting on my life over the last year, and mulling the post-trail dreams that have come to fruition, or have yet to be accomplished. Here are a few of them:

• My CDT video.  I have 26 hours of footage that I have uploaded to a hard drive, so where's the movie that I am supposed to produce?  Well, ummmm... it's not done... Heck, I have not even stitched on clip together.  I did get some footage from So Far three weeks ago, so I guess that I can say it is in progress.  That said, I need to get my butt in gear, and produce the video.  It will be a long, dark winter up here in Portland, and I will have a lot of evening time to work on it.  Until then everyone has to entertain themselves with my collection of videos here.
• Trail maintenance.  When I was on the trail, I expressed interest in doing trail work when I finished, since I felt that I needed to give back to the trail, and maintained I did!  During the month of July, I joined up with a Northwest Sevice Academy crew at McArthur-Burney Falls State Park in Northern California, where I helped maintain a 3-mile stretch from Peavine Creek to Red Mountain.  I had a great time, and one can read about my adventure here.
• Print, mount, and display pictures of the CDT.  Since I have little to no expendable income, I have not done that.  However, I sent my best pictures to the Continental Divide Trail Alliance (CDTA) for their photo contest.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that I win.
• Renew my commitments with the Continental Divide Trail Society and the CDTA.  I will renew memberships in December.
• See my friends from my hike.  After the hike, I got to spend time with George and Luna in California, and I saw Luna again at ADZPCTKO.  Also at the Kickoff, I spent some time with Toothfairy, and later saw her up at McArthury-Burney Falls State Park when I was doing trail work.  I also spent time with So Far when he visited California, and now I get to see him weekly as I moved here to Portland.  Panda also lives up here in PDX, and I have yet to visit with him now that I am here.  Finally, I got to see Patch down in Tennessee-North Carolina when I did a 70-mile hike on the Appalachian Trail.  I'd say I have done a good job in this category!
• Build a hikethecdt.com website.  I just bought the domain last week, and I have started to put the site together.  I look to publish the site in the next week, so be on the lookout for it!
• Hike.  I'd like to get back on the CDT next year.  Where?  I don't know.  It sure would be fun to do a northbound hike starting in southern New Mexico, as I would love to see that state in blossom in the spring, especially the Gila River Wilderness.  However, I did manage to hike several chunks on the PCT this year... about 150-miles.  I also did a 70-mile Sierras loop hike with my friend Wes, a 20-mile hike at Point Reyes National Seashore with my mom, and a 70-mile hike on the Appalachian Trail.  Not bad for an off year.
• Get more involved.  I continue my service as the Presentation Coordinator for ADZPCTKO, and since I moved to Portland, I am now involved with the Mt. Hood Chapter of the PCTA as a trail volunteer, and as the chapter secretary.  I am also in the works of applying for a job with a certain trail organization that must remain nameless at this time.  Again, keeping my fingers crossed!

There you have it - my post-CDT trail recap of the year.  Here's to another year of living off the trial... Ugh!  Until next time, enjoy this little video from the bone cave in Montana.

What Do You Think of Warren Lake?

I just did a presentation on the Continental Divide Trail with friends here in San Francisco.  I found this video clip, and I just had to share it here on the blog as a token of the absurd conversations that I had out there with my companions.  Enjoy.

Still in Withdrawal

It has been five months since I have finished my hike on the CDT - God I miss the trail. Like some haggard war veteran, I daily experience flashbacks from the trail, but these flashbacks are pleasant. My mundane work is offset by memories of 360-degree views from a high peak in Colorado, supper around a camp with George, Chance, Luna, and So Far in Montana, and beautiful sunsets in Piedre Lumbre section in New Mexico.

It's these visions, however, that are haunting me. So often I wish I could just throw everything in a storage unit and go running off to the mountains for the summer to re-live all those pleasant memories from the trail. Reality is that I cannot. I need to find a vocation that will bring me inner-peace, happiness, and a sense of purpose, and running off to the trail is a bit of escapism. Nonetheless, the trail calls me.

This summer I am going to explore a vocation that has to do with the trail, as I dedicate a few weeks of my life to trail building and maintenance. Today, I got in touch with a volunteer coordinator with the Pacific Crest Trail Association, and we talked about me helping out a trail crew near Burney Falls State Park.

If there is one thing I lack in my trail experience, it is serious trail work, so I think I will go for it. Perhaps through the experience, my relationship with the trail will be transformed to a whole new level. Until that time, I will continue to daydream about windswept vistas, roaring creeks, and living in a tent.

Tooth Fairy Makes the News

An article appeared on the web about Tooth Fairy about her hike on the Continental Divide Trail. Check it out. Go Tooth Fairy!