We sat around the picnic table of our campsite in the warm desert evening, a full moon rising over the arid hills on the horizon. The campground was an oasis of pines, providing ideal bedding for the night, in the midst of the Anza-Borrego sands. Kirk provided the beer as usual. We had the perfect setting to reminisce about the Continental Divide Trail.
Bret, Dave and Kirk
Variety is the spice of life. I have hiked long distances in a variety of ways, with a variety of groups. I started my own nonprofit that grouped together teenagers from single parent homes with young adults on five week journeys, a cross between Big Brother and Outward Bound programs. I taught both college and high school credited courses that involved thru-hikes of the John Muir and Long Trails. I hiked the Appalachian Trail with Warren Doyle groups. I hiked the PCT with a few good friends. As a whole those hikes represent a variety of group dynamics on the trail, yet doesn’t match the social freedom and variety offered by the one Continental Divide Trail Expedition in 1985.
There were two suggested routes for the unfinished Continental Divide Trail, one by the Forest Service, one by the Continental Divide Trail Society. Perusing the topo maps during the planning phase I uncovered potential third options that remained closer to the Divide than the other two. Between any two resupply points along the way there could be as many as four different routes being explored by the group. This provided for endless combinations of different people hiking with each other, or alone. This expanded the total experiences of the CDT Expedition … and the stories that could be shared thirty years later at an Anza-Borrego campground.
Of course, we’ve been trading Continental Divide stories since Mike came on board for two months in August and September. Even for those times when we were together on a particular stretch Mike and I remembered different things, enriching each other’s recall of our incredible journey in 1985. Jerry’s recall was different from Mike’s, Dave’s different from Jerry’s, Kirk’s different from Dave’s. As each of our former CDT comrades came out to join us our PCT journey was enhanced further, both with the camaraderie experienced and memories shared.
The traditional thru-hiker on the PCT and AT has access to this social freedom and variety because of the large numbers that begin a thru-hike each year. There are important differences, though. As a cohesive group with a common purpose from the start, the CDT Expedition amounted to a collection of modern nomads bonded together by intimacy and responsibility. The traditional thru-hiker does not have the same responsibility for the other free spirits encountered on the trail, for many that is precisely what they want. Yet in our alienated mass society the fulfillment of such responsibility and intimacy is a beautiful thing, a beauty that lingers and resurfaces almost thirty years later on a completely different journey.
Aside from the memories shared, each person that hiked with us increased Cindy’s enjoyment of the trail and my gratitude for the bonds formed by long distance hiking with others. Yet I also have other responsibilities these days. Though I would have liked to linger while a full moon climbed the desert sky, I left Dave, Kirk and Bret at the picnic table to climb into the tent where Cindy was still awake. I observed the moon through the mesh of our tent while Cindy drifted off to sleep. I reflected on another beautiful journey nearing the end, enhanced by the beauty of journeys past.
