October 4, 2017
Mile 2633 to CANADA!!
Pacific Crest Trail Thru-Hike: Day 153
I'm sitting in the basement of the Manning Park Lodge. Beautiful Canada and its shared US border (trees are clear cut all along the border).
I. Am. So. Tired.
My heart was warmed reading the terminus trail log; Vice and Boathouse both said hi and gave warm words to me and Alex. It felt good, though I will always have a sadness that we didn't get to finish the trail together.
The views today accompanied by a Planet Earth soundtrack were emotionally moving.
I feel antsy for the next adventure. Maybe thru-hiking will just give me eternal antsyness.
As for finishing the trail, I'm really less in awe and more just tired. I need to fnish my instagram posts, book Vancouver accomodations, yada yada.
I am really happy I got to finish with those guys, Boo, Shade, Baby Gap, Happy Meal, Fresh Meat, Oddball, if we couldn't finish with our SQWAAD.
A short story from today
A few miles before the terminus, Happy Meal pulled out the package his mom (?) had sent him of supplies for finishing the trail. It had a starched white button up shirt in it, party hats, and noisemakers. He handed out the noisemakers. Alex and I each took one and kept plugging along. We blew the noisemakers when we saw the terminus, and then walked up to it and touched it. Then looked around. There was a camera behind us. Boo came out from behind the trees! Big congratulations and hugs, and then beckoned us to join him in hiding out for the others to finish.
We hid, and finally heard the group coming. Clanging, honking, woo-hooing, and then they stepped out into the clearing, and silence. Each one, the same reaction. Here we are at the terminus. We were done. It was over. And all of the best moments of trail life flashed before our eyes. The friends we'd made, the horrifying river fords of the Sierra, the majesty, the bug swarms, the campsites, the stupid food, the trail magic.
I turned on my phone and played Prince's 'Let's go Crazy', Baby Gap shook up a beer and sprayed it, we all climbed onto the monument for a picture, then sat back in the sun to enjoy a few moments in this wilderness.
The end.
Goodbye, friends.
