At last, Maggie and I are free from life at a fixed address. Transient. Getting to this point initially filled me with anxiety, but the closer we got to moving out, the more I felt ready to get on the road.
We finished out ski season with a lovely warm day at Taos, sampling some local vodkas on our way off the mountain. A couple days later, winter came back briefly, so the final outing on skis for the season was a quick tour up Ski Santa Fe for a single run of late March powder. I totaled 24 resort days and 8 touring days this season, respectable numbers I think for a low-snow, late-start, early-ending season.
Our last week, many friends reached out to see us before we skipped town. It was really wonderful to visit with all the people who made living in Santa Fe such a great time. Our send off gathering was perfect, beautiful weather to hang out in the park with about a dozen friends, followed by good beer and food, with even better company and conversation. While I often feel like I live in my own little bubble, I’ve come to realize that we truly had become part of a great community in Santa Fe.
Then, the fun was over. We had about five days to pack up our apartment. Naturally, most of the packing occurred on the last two… I thought Maggie and I could easily handle the stuff we had accumulated in 650 square feet, but I thought wrong. Thankfully our wonderful friends came to the rescue to help move our crap to my storage unit. It was nearly filled to the brim by the time we were done.
Our last day in Santa Fe was more hectic than I expected, cleaning out the last few things and leaving town about five hours later than we wanted to. Again, we were saved, by my parents this time, who graciously had sushi waiting for us in Denver. After a late night dinner, Maggie and I went through our packs to double- triple check our gear and first set of food supplied. No deficiencies detected as we sprawled our meager belongings on my parents floor.
We opted for a morning flight out of Denver, so with four hours of shut eye, we were on our way to DIA. It was nice to hug my parents goodbye as the last well known people we will see for many weeks or months. We were off to San Diego. My mom reached out to her good friend from the early 80s, Jane, who lives in the San Diego area. Jane immediately agreed to pick us up from the airport, take us shopping for last minute necessities, host us for the night, AND drive us to the southern terminus of the PCT. Another stroke good luck and selfless good deeds to help us on our adventures. Our first trail angel!
Jane even loaned us her car for the afternoon and sent Maggie and me to the beach. On the way back, we drove up Mt. Helix for an awesome view of San Diego and much of the terrain we will be hiking to the east. This was much needed rest and relaxation after three days of non-stop running around to get our asses to the PCT.
We are relishing our “last” night in a comfy bed. While hiking 2,600+ miles is very much a personal endeavor, we are already appreciating all the help we’ve received to get us to mile 0. Our journey is over, and the adventure is just beginning…
Distance Over Time 