Today, the sunshine is glorious. Making it so much sweeter was the walk I just took with Lyra and the certainty that for the foreseeable future it will not be around. I truly reveled in it and sweated more than a little too. I have to lose some Xmas/Pandemic weight.
As I am disposed to do, I spent most of that time lost in thought. Some of those brain cycles focused on what I’m writing, and I won’t go into that here, but I had two things bubble up that I’d like to tell you about.
The Fun One
I think this is one of those #ItdBeCoolIf thoughts, but read on and tell me what you think. I’d like to see an app I can put on my phone that will allow me, using my geospatial information, to point at a mountain or peak and know what I’m looking at. It would be even cooler if it allowed me to shoot a bearing from multiple locations and triangulate position and direction as if I were using a compass. Cooler still if I could take a picture and share it with my friends and family.
That’s the fun one. Not sure what it should be called. No idea how to code it myself. But I’d definitely put cold, hard cash down on the table for it.
The Critical Question
Near the beginning of my walk, I had this wrong idea that today was, amongst all the many other good things it undoubtedly is, the 11th of January. A quick glance at my watch set me straight, but soon thereafter I realized that I hadn’t yet answered this question.
In two days I’ll be requesting my South Bound Pacific Crest Trail permit. Jeeze oh Pete! Given the amount of snow in both the Sierras and the Cascades so far this year I’m super glad I did not seek the earlier, busier, and likely snowbound NOBO permit. “Okay?” you’re asking “What’s the problem then?”
I also know I can’t carve out four to five months to do the whole trail. In fact, I’ll be lucky if I can get a month. So far, much of my planning is focused on walking, north to south, across Washington State, and given that this is roughly 500 miles I can probably make it happen in my timeframe.
If I show up to Hart’s Pass in July, with my shit totally dialed and my daily distance close to what it was say 10 years ago? We’ll I could be across the whole State in a lot less time than a month. Or maybe I arrive with a newly discovered collection of time in my pocket and a pile of shoes?
Anyway, there doesn’t seem to be a downside to requesting the pass cover the whole trip even if I don’t get to use it all.
FeetForBrains 