Jeff "Rabbit" Pacific Crest Trail Home Page

Finally! I have had writer’s block for weeks, finding literally no time to get down to the business of putting on paper the thoughts, feelings, and emotions about the decision to follow my dream of hiking the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mexican border north to Canada. Just writing those words brings both excitement and fear into my being.

My 2001 journey hiking the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine was the greatest experience of my life. From that experience, I found a spiritual connection to Mother Earth, a tremendous sense of peace and self-awareness of who I am, love for the most amazing friends that I met on the trail, answers to questions about a marriage that was struggling, and a huge sense of accomplishment that I actually made it the whole way!

So at Christmas in 2001, brother Eric and sister-in-law Ashley helped sprout some seeds that were sown while on my AT journey about someday hiking the West Coast version of the Appalachian Trail. A beautiful coffee table book with amazing photography of the PCT along with a book filled with adventurous stories of a woman’s hike of the PCT further inspired me to begin dreaming of someday hoisting the backpack yet again and passionately embracing the wilderness experience. The perfect Christmas presents!

While I never thought that another opportunity would present itself to take another long sabbatical away from the world of work, city life, and responsibilities of an adult life until retirement, a sequence of life events has unfolded in the last two years which, now looking back, set the perfect stage to give me the gift of a chance to go follow my core longing. Last year was the hardest year of my life working through the painful sorrow and grief of the end of my marriage to a wonderful woman. We parted as friends and will always harbor mutual respect and admiration for each other. But 2005 brought me the chance to start over, rediscover what burns passionately inside of me, and to give myself some gifts of claiming my passion and taking the risks to follow my heart.

So here I am, on a plane from Portland, Oregon to San Diego, California, and in just a few short hours my brother will drop me off at the border and drive away, and I will begin a long walk to Canada.

There have been so many questions on my mind to be answered. Will my body allow the punishment and challenge of the journey as it did four years ago? Can I keep enough weight on to maintain energy for the duration? Will I feel the same about the trail as I did when hiking the AT in 2001? Will I love the expansive views, the land devoid of the long green tunnel of trees that gave me such peace and closeness to God in 2001? Can I take the desert heat? Will the Sierra record snows prevent completion of the journey? Will being so far from home, family, friends, scouts, new relationships call me back before I get to Canada? So many questions and, I admit, some fears to deal with.

Yet, excitement abounds, and now that the last three weeks of hurried and exhausting preparation to leave behind my job and accompanying responsibilities of daily life is behind me, the thought of actually beginning the journey is becoming more and more settling and bringing me peace and joy.

In my daily journal I will be talking about trail friends, both old friends who I hiked with in 2001 and new friends that I will meet along the hike. From my 2001 thru-hike, I will be starting the trail with Phantom. We hiked about the last 1,000 miles of the AT together. Doodlebug, Bad Moon, Swag Man, Kay, and Squirrel are a few days ahead. Pop Pop will be starting a couple of days behind. I am thrilled about being out on the trail with awesome friends that I made and stay in close contact with. Also, Happy will be joining us in late May, an extra blessing for the journey.

Special thanks go out to Eric and Ashley in Portland for heading up my support team and for being great trail angels. Thanks to Mom and Dad for not thinking I’ve gone just a little bit crazy for wanting to go do this hiking thing again and for their support and love. Thanks to all the incredible friends at home in Charlotte for your supportive words of inspiration and for cheering me on to go follow my heart’s desire. I have been so richly blessed with the love of real friends and my cup truly runneth over with the support and love I have received from you in a very difficult time over the last year and a half. It is not without sadness that I left Charlotte, though only for a few months. Thank you to Abby for your unconditional love and friendship, to Greg for being such an amazing friend and roommate, and to Jim for whole-heartedly supporting my decision to leave our non-profit to follow my heart, despite the additional stress and burden it will place on the business.

My pack is packed (the load seems awfully heavy for a guy who spends a lot of time working on lightening the load) but my spirit is soaring, and I feel a tremendous sense of fulfillment getting ready to experience God’s wilderness again. What will tomorrow bring? Joy, peace, happiness, sorrow, fear, anxiety – all of those things bring a richness and fullness to life itself. We’re all on a journey, a hike that takes us down paths to new paths. It’s time for a long walk in the woods (and through desert and alpine tundra, and through volcanic lava beds and glaciated lakes, and through flowing rivers and by hot springs)!

More to come…the plane arrives in San Diego in 40 minutes, and the adventure truly begins!