Lett- Own Topic #4


The following is a trail journal i found and underneath is my thoughts about the journal:

"Well, What do you know. I think I am figuring out how to begin a trail journal online. Pretty good for such a non-techie person as myself.

I am a retired pastor who has hiked and camped all of my life in one form or another. I began camping with my family when I was very small. We camped because that was the cheap way to get from one place to another. In the 1940s and 1950s I thought that only rich people stayed in motels for we surely never did. We camped. When I was old enough I became a Girl Scout in Colorado and shortly thereafter discovered summer camp at Flying G Girl Scout Camp. And my hiking life began in earnest. I literally lived all year with only the goal of getting to Scout Camp, saving every weekly allowance in its entirety so that I could go to camp and hike. Over the years there have been many hikes in many places and also quite a number of short backpacks.

But my first long distance hike was the Wonderland Trail around Mount Rainier with my daughter, and friend, Jo. I had wanted to do the hike for quite a while and decided that I had better hurry up and go before I would be too old to hike. I celebrated my 50th birthday on the trail from Granite Creek to Sunrise. And when Sara and I completed the trail we had this disappointed feeling that it was done. It was such a lovely rhythm to get up, break camp, hike and see beautiful country, find our camp spot and set up camp and sleep and then begin all over again in the morning. When we returned home we missed it. The long distance hike bug had bit.

So, over the next few years, vacations generally included some backpacking on the AT and the PCT. (Although I had to take a year off from the AT last year to be Grandma to Sara and Andrew's son William.) A week hiking each in 2004 and 2005 brings me up to the foot of the Smokeys and ready for a 400 mile hike to Bland VA. I will be starting on April 10.

I will also be doing a 400 mile hike on the PCT this year - doing the Sierras before I get too old. I have completed most of the PCT in Washington over the last 4 years, celebrating my retirement last August by doing a 200 mile hike from Steven's Pass to Canada.

Now I have done a new thing. I have written my first journal entry. I look forward to many more to come." -Medicare Pastor



This entry speaks to what camping and long-distance hiking has done for the writer in impacting their life. The writer mentions that she spent her 50th birthday during a long-distance hike, and once she completed the hike she felt disappointed that it was over. She references her love for the rhythm of getting up, breaking camp, hiking, and then starting camp and doing it all over again. It shows her interest in having a routine, but a different kind of routine. She describes this routine as a new discovery every day while inherently repeating the same fundamentals. The writer longs for the idea of hiking so much that in her own words when she returned home that the “Long-distance hike bug had bit”. Her reference to writing her first journal by saying “she looks forward to many more to come” can ultimately describe her desires to continue to explore and discover by hiking as a reward or vacation for herself.

-Trevor Lett
12/06/2018

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lett- Own topic- #1

In reflection of the Pacific Crest Trail video, it's amazing to me how united every hiker seems to be. Once you're on the trail it's as if you are apart of a separate universe. In the normal universe, people are labeled by class or what job they have, but on the trail everyone is of equal status and is treated as human. It's beautiful. I loved listening to what motivated each one of the hikers to finish their journey and i loved seeing the reactions once they did reach the end. While i am not sure if i would be able to go on such a journey, videos like this definitely make one get motivated to complete a big task like this. The other thing that fascinated me was that while it seemed many of the hikers were united and taking this trip together, each journey is specific in it's own right. That is what interests me so much about the idea of Long distance hiking. It's very relateable to our everyday walk of life; we all have people we encounter over the course of ou...
Read more

Roberts Phenomenology of Prayer

In chapter three of Phenomenology of Prayer, there are a few paragraphs on to whom a prayer is addressed. It says in the first paragraph, that the people who pray address their prayers to the divine and then wait for a response. So where do the prayers go? The prayers go to God or the divine and then God or the divine sends forth an answer. In another paragraph, a prayer is related to an artist and their painting. Sometimes an artist paints with a specific audience or person in mind. Sometimes it is a gift for a specific person. Other times, the artist paints without an audience. Or, the painter has someone in which they are painting for but does not disclose it. This is related to prayer because sometimes a person prays with a specific target in mind but other times, they are unsure of who the target should or can be. This metaphor was helpful in the understanding of to whom a prayer is addressed.
Read more

Phenomenology of Prayer#1

The first chapter of this book focuses on prayer with a decentered self. I think that this is necessary when it comes to praying seriously. When praying you are talking to a higher being. A being that you believe is more powerful than you. So you shouldn't be focused on yourself when you pray but your relationship to whatever you're praying towards. If you think of yourself while you're praying it defeats the purpose of praying.
Read more