The begnning of a 500,000 step journey

[SlowLX]

Well, this created a night's worth of thoughts that royally fucked up my sleep.

Do it!!!

[Strychnine]

If I ever had the free time I've always wanted to just walk/hitch from Lower Manhattan to San Francisco Bay, sort of ala Jack in The Talisman. I suppose it will probably never happen, but I certainly get the want in wandering.

Best I've got is a plan to ride through some of that area on a motorcycle.

I must plan something of my own

I will go climbing in Yosemite. My climbing partner and I have talked about it for the past few months.

I went and dug this up for you guys. After 7 months of just thinking about it this kind of changed my perspective a few weeks ago and set the wheels in motion.

06.21.2012
The Importance Of Big Dreams

I have a copy of this children’s book that I take everywhere I go. It’s called An Awesome Book, and everyone I know who’s had a baby in the past six months owns a copy, because I bought one for them. It’s a kids’ book, but I think the message is for adults too.

I like it because it reminds me that I don’t need things, but I need dreams, goals, things I decided I wanted to do one day when I was looking out a window somewhere scratching my chin and thinking about what my life should look like. And Dallas Clayton draws incredible unicorns and dinosaurs and bears.

My favorite passage in the book is this:

There are places in the world where people dream up dreams

so simply un-fantastical and practical they seem

to lose all possibility of thinking super things

of dancing wild animals with diamond-coated wings

instead they dream of furniture

of buying a new hat

of owning matching silverware

can you imagine that?

I like to buy books for my friends’ children because I think stories are more meaningful than toys, and more memorable. And that goes for adults, too, although sometimes we forget it because we make our lives so hectic.

If you do anything at all in the outdoors, somewhere in your mind is the capacity to dream big, or envision yourself doing something amazing. You want to ride Slickrock, climb El Cap or Mount Rainier, run the NYC Marathon or the Western States 100, or do a raft trip in the Grand Canyon. Maybe you just want to be a climber, or a skier, or a mountain biker. Or marry a beautiful girl, or see the Eiffel Tower, or write a book.

But we get busy. Too busy scrolling our phone screens, watching TV, catching up with all the mundane shit in life and we forget about our dreams. We say things like “I don’t have time,” and when we get frustrated that we don’t have enough time, we assuage that feeling of impotence by buying shit we don’t need, which we think will make us feel better. Granite countertops, leather sofas, sometimes skis, climbing gear or bikes we never use. Maybe that’s because we’re scared of whatever it is we’ve been thinking about for so long, or maybe it’s easier to buy something instead of doing something. Or maybe something we saw told us our dream was something different, and we bought into that.

A few months ago, I was talking to a friend of mine and she told me she had always dreamed of going to Hawaii for her tenth wedding anniversary. I asked Are you going, and she said Well, we don’t know, for a number of reasons—a new house, some stress and financial things with a new business, et cetera. I said I think you gotta put that shit on a credit card if you can and go to Hawaii this year. We go into debt for tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars for the most mundane things—houses, cars, sometimes furniture, sprinkler systems—but most of us have a hard time sliding our credit card or taking money out of a savings account to pay for what could be the experience of a lifetime.

If you start a sentence off with, “I’ve always wanted to …”, you either

1.aren’t going to do it, which means it’s not really your dream, or
2.just haven’t done it yet.

Procrastinating, putting it off is fine as long as you’re 100 percent sure that you’re not going to die in the next year. Because you’re going to die someday, and if you’re honest with yourself, you will admit that you never once as a kid said to anyone, When I grow up I want matching drapes, or a riding lawnmower that mulches too or a cozy living room. You wanted to be a cowboy or a polar explorer or Amelia Earhart

http://semi-rad.com/2012/06/the-importance-of-big-dreams/

[talisman]

Didn't you post a thread about that book awhile back? Looks familiar. On the bright side, I've spent the last year doing several of the "I've always wanted to" things. The walk from NY to Cali will never fit into my life unless I become rich over night, but everything else is without a doubt on the menu being counted down towards. You guys haven't seen any thing yet.

[Snatch Napkin]

67?! for a 13 yr old!? Damn, son, leave your cast iron skillet at home next time! lol
I'm shooting for a pack in the low-mid 40 lb range. Weight will be a big priority in gear choice.


There are four resupply places in the first half that you can mail your own care pkg to and pick up whenever:
Touloume Meadows post office
Mammoth Lakes post office
Vermillion Valley Resort
Muir Trail Ranch

From there you're on your own for the next 100 miles.
You can carry a lighter load in the beginning and it gives you a chance to GTFO if something goes wrong. The southern half is definitely more remote and higher elevation... the general hope is that by the second half your conditioning (to altitude, esp) will be better and you'll be ready to mule 1-1.5 weeks worth of supplies up to the peak of Mt Whitney.
One headache will be deciding how resupply and eat. A bear canister [absolutley required] can only hold 5-6 days of food for one person.

LOL!
I was 12, which puts that at 21 years ago. My Dad and I had pretty decent stuff back then that was actually considered to be in the ultralight category. I should also mention that there were 16 people in our party and everything was split up. I was the youngest, we lied on my application to get me in. The scout master and my dad agreed I was big enough to be accepted as 14, the minimum age at the time.

We used bear bags instead of bear canisters. We would hike a mile away to hang a bag from a cable that went across two trees. However, we still only had four days of food.

[Sean88gt]

Do it!!!

There has been discussion.

[Strychnine]

My maps are here, so I figured I'd put the whole trip in perspective.


Here's the very broad overview of the trip.






Here's what really goes into that trip.

A standard map for a long distance like this is 1:63,360. One map inch = one mile walking.

Here's the detail that goes into a topographic map.




Zoom out a bit and you see how the multiple pages of waterproof map connect from one to the next to cover the entire distance.





Zoom out even further and you see how long it is... and the plan is, basically, to do one map page per day.





Sidenote: Slider and Sean are on the roster now.

Second sidenote: No. No, you can not come. These guys are on my very short "I'll trust the fuck out of them" list (real life, obv, not just DFWmustangs)... and, honestly, there are very few people in this world that I would try to save from a bear.

[KCHAR]

Didn't you post a thread about that book awhile back? Looks familiar. On the bright side, I've spent the last year doing several of the "I've always wanted to" things. The walk from NY to Cali will never fit into my life unless I become rich over night, but everything else is without a doubt on the menu being counted down towards. You guys haven't seen any thing yet.

What's on your short list?

[TRAXX]

Like Snatch Napkin, I did the Philmont thing and it was one of the more memorable trips I have been on. There have definitely been advancements in camping gear through the years. The tents now a days are a fraction of the weight of what I lugged...along with everything else. Sounds like an awesome trip. What time of year are you considering going? (skimmed and didn't see that mentioned)

[Strychnine]

Like Snatch Napkin, I did the Philmont thing and it was one of the more memorable trips I have been on. There have definitely been advancements in camping gear through the years. The tents now a days are a fraction of the weight of what I lugged...along with everything else. Sounds like an awesome trip. What time of year are you considering going? (skimmed and didn't see that mentioned)

Late August - early September.

At that point the weather is pretty predictable. There is still snow at higher elevations but its navigable.



Stuff like this down low:








And stuff like this up high:









But FUCK, it will be worth it.

[talisman]

What's on your short list?

I don't want to hijack Matts thread, but I plan on seeing all 7 continents in the next 5 years. Several of them I want to do by roadtrip on my own. Not as thoroughly as I'm currently seeing North America, obviously, but I've got my major points of interest mapped out. I should be marking at least 2 off the list next year. Possibly 3.

Late August - early September.

At that point the weather is pretty predictable. There is still snow at higher elevations but its navigable.

But FUCK, it will be worth it.

Goddamn, that is beautiful. Glad we got to BS for awhile today! Good times. I just woke up. lolz

[Strychnine]

Goddamn, that is beautiful. Glad we got to BS for awhile today! Good times. I just woke up. lolz

Shit, the dogs kept me from napping. Still goin' strong. Whirlyball!

[talisman]

Whirlyball!

That looks like retarded fun.

[SlowLX]

My maps are here, so I figured I'd put the whole trip in perspective.


Here's the very broad overview of the trip.






Here's what really goes into that trip.

A standard map for a long distance like this is 1:63,360. One map inch = one mile walking.

Here's the detail that goes into a topographic map.




Zoom out a bit and you see how the multiple pages of waterproof map connect from one to the next to cover the entire distance.





Zoom out even further and you see how long it is... and the plan is, basically, to do one map page per day.





Sidenote: Slider and Sean are on the roster now.

Second sidenote: No. No, you can not come. These guys are on my very short "I'll trust the fuck out of them" list (real life, obv, not just DFWmustangs)... and, honestly, there are very few people in this world that I would try to save from a bear.

I'll push that ginger into a bear's path for you buddy.

[03trubluGT]

I have a Ruger Redhawk .44 Magnum you can borrow.

[KCHAR]

I have a Ruger Redhawk .44 Magnum you can borrow.

You ever killed any dogs with that gun?