“I drove down the mountain and away. I let them sleep, an hour passed, then two. I was nervous on this drive, I was excited. A rawness was welling up inside me, butterflies. A sickening and awesome emotion, the Pacific Crest Trail was close. So long in wait and it was closer now than it had ever been. It was scary, was I ready? Maggie often said she was ready. She was ready to start hiking, to start living out of the tent and camping beside me in the wild paradises every night under the stars. But was I ready to lead the way? To help her though the hurdles I didn’t actually know if I myself could overcome? I didn’t even know what they would be, we were stepping off into the unknown, and the unknown had a stirring name: Glacier Peak Wilderness. For so long the PCT seemed like a project to achieve just for something good to do, but now it daunted me. It was a challenge, I knew that, it was a series of challenges. It would be for its duration, a lifestyle of challenges.”

This chapter begins with us road tripping up the west coast on highway 1, and it ends with my father sending us off onto the Pacific Crest Trail.