WHY?

I'm sharing my plans to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. I am concerned how the news will be received. 

Will anyone understand?

• Being away from home and work for five months
• Hiking from Mexico to Canada-2,650 miles through 25 national forests and 7 national parks
• Carrying only fifteen pounds of gear plus food and water
• Deserts, forests, and mountains, through wind, rain, and snow
• Twenty plus miles a day every day for five months

I’m not sure I understand it myself, but I am compelled to go:

• To experience God’s creation in an intimate way
• To test my strength, skills, and determination
• To celebrate life and to live mine to the fullest
• To hear God’s still small voice in the wilderness
• To fulfill a dream that I have had for over twenty years

Below is a quote by George Leigh Mallory who died on Mt. Everest in June of 1924. He captures well the spirit of an adventurer and what compels me to go. I don't plan on dying while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, but I do expect to experience the joy and adventure he talks about!

"There is something in man which responds to the challenge of this mountain and goes out to meet it. What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy. And joy is, after all, the end of life. We do not live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to enjoy life. That is what life means and what life is for." George Leigh Mallory

George Mallory is in the back row, second from the left.