magic!!!

well, it is just under 6 months until the actual hiking part of the adventure begins. i have read a lot about trail magic, and trail angels and am realizing this is one of the truly great things about thru-hiking. so many people are excited and willing to help, and lend support and be part of this adventure. whatever their reasons for helping are, it is truly a blessing. folks who have always dreamt of hiking for an extended period, or have had dreams of the PCT themselves always seem eager to lend a hand, or want more info, as if storing it as fuel for their own attempt one day. it really gets me excited. others, want to help simply because they are kind-hearted people, excited for me. my friends and family want to see me succeed and want to make my trip as enjoyable and seamless as necessary and i am truly grateful...

i just returned from washington where i was visiting my mother and aunt tresa, and a little time with a couple of my super cool cousins (only leland and danielle this time). as well as the coyote sisters (patti and geri) and a few other people i have began to consider friends of mine from the  great northwest. i love it up there in western washington along the coast. almost every time i am up there now, the coyote sisters take me out to a place we call 'serenity cove' up on the tahola indian reservation. it is a section of beach that nearly no one ever walks on. everything is so green, and the short hike is through the forest is so awesome and dense with greenery and shrubs and trees. it is a truly magical place. you need special permission from the indian reservation just to be on the land, and thankfully the coyote sisters have a great friend that is a tahola native and lives there as well, granting us basically free access. we see eagles soaring every time we hike in and every once in a while we even find a few beach treasures.

my trip to washington was short. i plan to spend another couple weeks up there before i take off on my hike. i plan on doing some training hikes up there maybe in early march to do some good testing for heavy weather gear. my mom lives only about an hour and a half from lake quinault and the hoh rainforest. always good for a cold,wet and damp hike anytime of year....

i have to give a huge shout out to Patti and Geri for hooking me up with my biggest 'trail magic' score thus far for my trip..

a 2 month supply of candy bars for me to plan into my resupply packages, with another months worth that they held onto to send me in their own personal packages to be sent along the way! that was so nice! i have enough Mars bars now to keep me going on the trail...the twix they send me will be awesome as well, as i am sure everything they send me will be just as amazing and well thought out...

the most awesome thing they gave me though:
a food dehydrator. with like 10 shelves. old, durable, amazing. now i can get crackin' with making my own meals and dehydrating them into daily portions and meal plans. i am so thankful. this was just one more expense i figured i would have to buy out of my own pocket as part of the overall hiking plan. now that i have one for free to use, i am gonna look into investing into a vacuum sealer for packaging meals to cut down on weight and space the food will take up in my backpack....

so as you can see, trail magic is in full force, and i am still almost half a year away from taking off.....man 2012 is gonna be an awesome year!!