On Being All-In

Raven on the PCT

It’s that special time of year again, the beginning of the academic year. My third year and final year of graduate school, to complete my second of two Master of Music degrees (Collaborative Piano and Composition), plus I started two new jobs, one in the music world, one in the outdoor world. I’m once again back to a life organized in 30 minute blocks with very little wiggle room for much extra.

Speaking of twos, in the past two weeks I’ve gotten to witness and support two of my close friends as they thru-hike, both southbound and in fast fashion, two of the most famous long trails in the world: Katie (trail name Raven) on the Pacific Crest Trail and Tara (trail name Candy Mama) on the Appalachian Trail.

When I visited Raven on the PCT, she was backpacking solo and making her way through the high passes of the High Sierra, where the PCT joins the John Muir Trail. She is thru-hiking the PCT southbound in what may be the fastest time on the PCT this summer. Parts of the trail and the areas surrounding have just been getting ravaged by wildfires. It’s devastating for the towns and communities along the trail. It makes it pretty much impossible to safely have a connected footpath from Canada to Mexico. This has been a challenge for Raven and anyone aspiring to thru-hike the PCT in recent years.

There’s no easy road access to the trail, so I hiked out and back on two different side trails on two consecutive days, over Bishop Pass and Kearsarge Pass (plus a bop over Glen Pass). The first mission was to deliver a sandwich, coffee, sunglasses, portable battery, and hugs. The second mission was to delivery a larger resupply of food and other goods that her husband Fanny had mailed to me ahead of time.

Raven in the John Muir Wilderness

I only got to share a mile or two with Raven on the first mission, and just soaked up our time together, and the incredible scenery of the High Sierra, as much as I could. I was so happy to see her. I had so many questions and just wanted to hear everything. It was our first time seeing each other since I joined her for a few days on the Arizona Trail last March. The hike back over Bishop Pass to my car was hard. The air was thin at such high elevation, nearly 12,000ft. I actually stopped midway to take a ten minute nap/reset. And Raven was going over multiple passes like this every day!

Then I actually didn’t get to see Raven on the second mission; around sunset I delivered her resupply in a bear box by Rae Lakes where she would end her day, then zipped back feeling a little nervous about hiking back over Glen and Kearsarge Passes at night, and I had a drive to Los Angeles and a flight to catch the next morning. My mantra was, “Just get off the mountain safe.”

Candy Mama on the AT

When I visited Candy Mama on the AT, I met her support crew at 4am at Beauty Spot in Tennessee. She had camped out for the night about five trail miles north of where we were. She had some support crew members that had camped out with her, then stayed behind to pack up and hike out a different way. Learning that she was alone, I thought, “Why wait?” and began running north on the AT under the bright moon and stars to meet her. She didn’t know I was coming, so when I called out as our lights bobbled toward each other, she was totally surprised and we met with hugs and happy tears.

I spent most of the rest of the day on trail with Candy Mama, with an exception to one morning section and one evening section. Shout out to Kenny Powers for driving my rental car from road crossing to road crossing along the way. She’s in the midst of making history in a supported record attempt, and will very likely be finishing today, Saturday, with the overall Fastest Known Time. For most of those sections I carried her things and handed her water, food, electrolyte tabs, bathroom kit, whatever she needed. If I ever needed to stop and dig through my pack to grab something for her, she kept going, and I’d run to catch back up.

The road crossings were a bit chaotic, filled with multiple vehicles and crew members, supporters, friends, and enthusiastic onlookers. The best part of the day was being on the trail and having conversations with my friend, who had paced me through the exact same sections on my own record attempt four years ago.

Back to where it all started (Big Bald Mountain)

Just as the day had started with a big hug in the dark, we parted ways with a big hug in the dark before she went on to meet her crew who had set up a tent for her, and I ducked out on a two mile side trail where a ride would be waiting to take me back to my rental car (thank you, Dreamcatcher)! A week ago I had been hustling down from Kearsarge Pass under the stars, and now I was hustling down Fork Ridge Trail in the pouring rain with the same mantra as before, “Just get off the mountain safe.”

This morning I woke up and immediately checked Katie’s and Tara’s tracking pages. I think about them daily and wonder how they’re doing. I reflect on my own experience on the AT and all the ups and downs and how hard it was, especially being so close to the end, as they both are. In some ways, for me, the “after” beyond the hike was even harder. The empathy and pride I feel for them is off of the rails.

As I turn my focus this fall to prepare for all the many concerts, honing my music compositional skills which includes everything from the modern: learning how to use new software and music production, to the historic: learning counterpoint theory from hundreds of years ago; squeezing in run/hike/ultra training with my run commute to school and hitting the local trails. I wonder how I can manage everything. I think about my larger goals and wonder if I can do it. Then I think of my friends. Don’t sit around wondering if you can do something. Get out there and do it. If it’s what you want and believe in, you owe it to yourself to try.

💫

Thanks for reading. Tara (Candy Mama), as I mentioned is likely finishing TODAY and has a goal of raising $20,000 for Girls on the Run. The post below says it all. As of now she’s just over $2,000 from reaching her goal. And around 40 miles from Springer Mountain. Please consider donating if you feel moved to do so!

@chumpchangefkt Just a couple of girls on the run…

As this epic AT FKT attempt nears the finish line, we want to give a shout out to all the girls, ladies, women, femme folk, and supporters of females who have made this journey possible. The amount of badass women that have come out to pace, crew, bring supplies, and just cheer us on has been incredible.

One of Tara’s main goals of this attempt is to inspire the female demographic to chase after their own goals regardless of how impossible they may seem. Specifically, in the outdoors world and more specifically, in the athletic world.

Girls on the Run is one of those organizations that provides youngsters the chance to learn self confidence at an early age and get girls motivated to do challenging things.

Our aim is to raise 20k for the girls! Does that sound like a steep goal? Doesn’t running 2197.4 miles really fast seem like a challenging thing too?!

Visit tara-treks.com and help us meet this goal as we haul towards Springer Mountain!

‘Til next week!