Abandoning John Muir (kinda)

A smoky landscape in Western Montana that I encountered while biking through the area a few years ago. Yes, that's the sun. It sounds like much of the West Coast looks like this right now.

The original plan for my time off had four parts: SE Asia, Central Asia, a brief two week jaunt in Europe, and about a month and a half of vagabonding around the US. I planned to cap off my time as an American vagabond by spending three ish weeks tackling the John Muir Trail, a reportedly jaw dropping 210 mile (337 km), three week trek through California’s Sierra Nevada mountains. But I’ve pivoted, kind of. Maybe taken a detour is a bit more accurate. I had a feeling I would happen at some point.

About a week ago, in the sweltering heat London, UK (seriously, it was 95 degrees in a city where hardly anything is air conditioned) I read more about the Ferguson Fire that had closed Yosemite National Park. Thanks Climate Change, a hundred years of forest management policies emphasizing fire suppression, and of course, Obama. It was not even the biggest of the west’s wildfires but it was raging in the area not far from where I planned to spend three weeks hiking starting in early September. The thought of fighting thick smoke for three weeks on the trail was enough to bring back my Central Asian backpacker cough that had almost healed. It also made me realize that I don’t have the energy to plan food drops, coordinate transportation, and research the best gear for three weeks in the backcountry, particularly if, in the end, I need to scrap my plans because of a last minute spark. I’m not done marveling at how high tech and civilized Europe has become, particularly while the Dollar is worth almost 88 Euro cents! I decided to extend my ticket and stay in Europe for another two and a half weeks and rethink how I will spend my time in September in the US.

One man rides some kind of electric uniscooter while another rides a bikeshare on the clean streets of Paris.

There were a few other variables factoring into my decision. One was that I found out that the memorial service for C, my ex mother in law, was going to be the day after I was originally scheduled to fly back to Portland. The more I thought about whether I should attend and the more opinions I sought on the subject the more confused I became. I also found myself perusing job boards and even went so far as to have a skype call for a very intriguing opportunity. While this opportunity didn’t pan out it also made me realize that I’m not quite ready to get back into professional life. If I were to have two weeks of spare time in Portland I envisioned myself perusing job boards and trying to set up networking meetings.

Keeping me on this side of the Atlantic was the prospect of seeing some more friends sprinkled throughout interesting places in Central Europe. Also, it looks like I will be able to join my friend Adam and his Pomeranian for the first few days of their cycle trip from Frankfurt, Germany to Kiev, Ukraine as they make their way to Urgench, Uzbekistan where he and his wife Mina will be living for the next nine months. If you are curious you can check out Adam and the Pomeranian’s journey on Adam’s blog, BigRigistan.

When I called Alaska Airlines to see about changing my ticket (no, they don’t fly to Europe but I used points to book my flight and their partners do) it was only going to cost me $130, or 113 Euros. There is now no way for me to attend C’s memorial service. On the flipside I am missing a few other events back home and I had to flake on a friend who I was going to house sit for during my first week back in Portland.

With all this I decided I am not going to through hike the John Muir Trail. I may still do the first section with my brother depending on how the wind blows between now and early September. Right now it looks like the Ferguson Fire is under control but you never know what will happen in the West’s forests these days. We can do this section without needing to think through a complicated car shuttle or food resupply. If the smoke sticks around we can easily make plans to go somewhere with clearer skies. The ambitious American almost-Millennial in me feels guilty for abandoning the John Muir trail because I am not living up to the principles of YOLO. On the other hand, I’ve had a lot of pretty phenomenal adventures these past few months and need something to look forward to when that mid-life crisis hits in a few years. So for now I’m partially giving up on John Muir.

The garden of my aunt's house in Paris where I wrote this post.