Chronicles of the Wayward Moot

WELCOME TO THE MOOT, oh world-wanderers and word-whisperers. After two years of Peace Corps. After 2,200 miles on the Pacific Crest Trail. What. Comes. Next?

28 Jul 2008


What's all this nonsense? Apparently years ago there was a tree with a bee's nest in it that was a sort of local landmark. Well someone came along and said that if they have a B tree, they needed an A tree too. So here you go. The famous A tree.


On the fantastic voyage across this great land, one comes upon many wonders. The chance to summit two fire lookout towers in three days was a temptation too great to pass up, and seeing as I had a powerful wizard as my companion, I figured he too would appreciate surveying the view from on high. Here's the interior.


And here's the exterior. Those steps were RICKETY and several were missing. I climbed up wearing my pack but decided that was a dangerous idea and opted to lower it down with some parachute cord before descending. WORSE IDEA haha. The cord slipped and gave me a couple of blisters on my right hand before I witnessed my pack smashing on the rocks below and rolling down the steep slope. Jacket flew one way. Steripen flew another. Yosemite cup yet another. Heart pounding I climbed down to check out the damage, Nothing too serious but I do have a new hole in my packcloth. Worth it, just to say that my trip now involves TWO TOWERS, A LONG OVERLAND VOYAGE, A SMOKING AND FIRE-BLASTED VOLCANIC LAND WITH AN UNEXPECTED REROUTE, and A WIZARD who happens to be A METAL OBJECT OF MYSTERIOUS POWERS CARRIED BY MANY BEARERS. Haven't I read this before?


Speaking of a reroute, the PCT is closed for 100 miles between the Quincy-Laporte Road and Hwy 36 West of Chester (I'm in Chester now). After coming down from the tower I began a road walk which I'm still doing ... it'll total maybe 90 miles before I reach the PCT where it's open again. Not fun for the feet but it has provided a number of those "Huh, that's weird/interesting" moments that make one say HMM. Actually, today I pass the exact halfway point mileage-wise for the entire trip: 1,325 or so miles. But we'll get to how I celebrated that in a bit. More pics... Rough road? You have NO idea. This sign was, like, in my head, mannn.


And this sign was, like, totally getting where I was coming from, mannn. As tyou can imagine, I started singing a certain Oasis song after seeing this one.

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