Day 2

May 25, 2014

It was the first night cowboy camping on the ground.  There wasn't a whole lot of sleep that night as I kept wondering if a rattlesnake or scorpion was going to craw into my sleeping bag to cuddle with me.  Not really my idea of a very present spoon.  Well none of that happened, so it was time to hit the trail with Lake Morena ahead.  

The sun decided to beat down on me early.  With no place to get water until Lake Morena, it was important to not over exert myself and burn through all my water which was 5 liters total and 11 pounds just in water itself.

At about noon the heat in the desert became so intense that I felt like I was baking in an oven.  It was time to stop to let it cool down before I pressed forward.  That is when I found refuge in a dried up wash that had a few small trees that offered cover from the what seemed to be angry sun.

As I laid there taking a nice siesta, two day hikers came trampling down the hill.  Each with only two 16 ounce water bottles to make it nineteen miles from the border to Lake Morena.  This was absolutely crazy! Luckily for them, someone had dropped off a small water cache at the bottom of the hill.

It was time to get a move on.  Even though the shade was nice, I had to leave it behind.  As I started to walk it appeared that my legs had other plans.  For about an hour it was slow going as my legs seemed to be on an union break.  

Finally my legs decide that they would like to work and progress was made.  Before I knew it I was at Lake Morena.  Now I needed to decide if I was going to stay there or continue forward.  Well I decided that I had been beat up enough over the last two days in the blazing sun, that a shower would be nice.  So I set up camp for the night at Lake Morena, planning on getting an early start the next day.

Day 1

May 24, 2014

The morning got off to a slow start.  Slower than I would have liked.  Whether it be due to the  few extra beers with good company then night before or the anxieties of what lies ahead.  All I know is I didn't get out of the house  until after 0800 and still had over an hour drive to get to the trailhead.

My neighbor Scotty was so kind to drive me all the way from Mission Beach to Campo to see me off.  At this point emotions are on over drive.  The anxiety of the unknown ahead is so strong that it is as if there are 1,000,000 butterflies zipping around inside of me.

We arrive at  the southern terminus around 10:00 am.  The sun is already beaming down like a spotlight.  I take some quick photographs then begin the journey by putting one foot in front of the other.  Scotty followed me in his car along the dirt road that paralleled the trail for about a mile, snapping photos every chance he got as if h e were the paparazzi.

Before long I was alone.  Nothing but my own thoughts in my head and the trail under my feet.  So I walk.  At this point I am on a good pace, jamming along.  I get to the 94 Hwy crossing, continuing on a trail that I believe is the Pacific Crest Trail.  However silly me ends up on an international traveler trail.  I am going along and can't help to notice all the trash strung along this trail.  Something just didn't seem right, so I checked my GPS.  By this time I had gone five miles out of the way before I reached the trail again.

With the late start and the re-navigation it would have but me at Lake Morena camp ground very late in the evening.  Plans change, therefore I decide to stay at the top of the mountain then hike the Lake Morena the next day.

The night was peaceful with only coyotes howling at the nighttime sky that was lit up with a vast amount of stars that sparkled like the light on the Las Vegas strip.  The only other noise through the night was the Border Patrol helicopter that was completely blacked out, that flew right over my camp to check me out. 

Follow My Location on Google Earth

Google Earth is an easy way to follow my exact location on the Pacific Crest Trail as well as what is up ahead.  If you don't have Google Earth downloaded then visit their site at http://www.google.com/earth or download the free app on your smart device.

Once you have down loaded Google Earth, visit the Pacific Crest Trail map page at http://www.pctmap.net/google/ and click on the Halfmile PCT data in Google Earth Format hyperlink to download the trail data.

The link is very comprehensive map, complete with mileage, waypoints, and areas of special interest.  Follow the adventure and keep up with the Honey Badgers' progress.  The odyssey begins May 24, 2014.

Whatever Your Everest Is, Climb It!

 

The Secret

The age old question that has perplexed humanity since the beginning of time.  What is the secret to life?  What if there were no secret?  Or what if knowledge of the secret resides in each and everyone of us?  A concept so simple yet so mystifying that the greatest minds have effortlessly tried to define the meaning of life in some long thesis.  Maybe it can be defined in one word.  Happiness!

It is Monday morning, the alarm clock is screaming then quickly to be silenced. The peace only last for a short moment.  This time the screams are even more persistent, growing louder and louder.  There is now, no way to ignore the calling.  The weekly grind has begun with the weekend as the goal.  Each week counted down by days that are counted down by clock-outs and coffee breaks.  So round and round we go, like a NASCAR that races a million miles an hour around that track.  No matter how fast it goes or how many times it makes it around the track, it always ends up in the same place.

This is how many of us go through life.  Stuck in this vicious circle that we have been programmed to believe is the way, and many never finding their true happiness.  Some even a prisoner within their own life, with time wasting away doing what they’re “supposed to do”.  Others are stuck looking back to the past, never being able to move forward.  The past is the past, learn from it but leave it there and never look back.  Some are preoccupied planning for the future that could care less about the  plans that we may have.  The future has yet to be written and is forever changing.  So hope for the future but live in the moment.  For the moment is where we truly live.

Time can seem to move at the speed of light, if you blink you may miss it.  Therefore think of every moment as an opportunity, an opportunity to do what makes us happy.  So, put your passion into action.  For every second that we waste or spend unhappy, is a moment of enjoyment that is forever robbed from our esprit.

Don't wait and let life pass you by.  Get out and live the adventure.  Find what makes you happy and you will find your secret.   Remember that the only way we fail is if we fail to do nothing at all.

Time

Time, our best friend or our worst enemy.  It either comes too soon or not soon enough. Whether it be something that we’re longing for, that never seems to get here fast enough.  Just as Christmas is to a child, who anxiously waits for the excitement of paper crinkling beneath their tiny fingers as they rip open a carefully wrapped present.  Or it comes to soon just as it does for an elder couple who have been madly in love for half a century.  Realizing that their time is running short as the sand begins to reach the bottom of their hourglass, seemingly ever so quickly.  Either way, we are all running on borrowed time.

Last night I was driving along on my way to Jamba Juice in efforts to satisfy my craving for something sweet.  As I was closing in on my destination, I passed a couple walking on the side walk.  The glare of the streetlights bounced off their packs, like moonlight bouncing off of exposed granite rocks high up on the mountain top.  Now you might think they were homeless.  Because why else would two people be walking so close to downtown San Diego, with all they need nestled carefully into a pack they must bear on their back?  However, upon closer examination you would noticed that their clothes were clean and new, their packs looking just as if they had just come off the self at REI.  Homeless, probably not; hiker trash, most definitely so.  Their destination, who knows.

This made to contemplate my own journey.   A journey that doesn’t seem to get here soon enough yet will most certainly arrive too soon.  I am reminded this as I look at the timer on the corner of my blog with the numbers 75 days 14 hours glaring back at me.  It is like the timer is asking me, are you ready, but then in the same breath saying lets go.  The 2,650 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail is calling.  But have I planned enough?
We do this with our day to day lives as well.  There is a plan for this, a plan for that.  We constantly plan to the point in which we have a plan for that plan.  No longer do we then live in the now but rather for the expectations in store for the future.  Therefore, missing what is before us this very moment.

Now I’m not saying that it isn’t important to plan.  Of course not!  Being able to have foresight into the future makes us different than any other animal in the animal kingdom. However, don’t let our perspective of time be your enemy.  Don’t be stuck in the past to the point you can’t move forward.  Or too focused on the future where you can’t live in the now.  I’m sure you’ve heard it before, “I’m going to as soon as I have enough time” or “I will when I have more money”.  If we wait we’ll have neither.  No one can gather more time, any more than we can put more sand in our hourglass.  Just as we’ll never have enough money because it is human nature to want more.

So, when that day comes when I’m sitting in that rocking chair staring into the sunset like a painting in the sky.  With the warmth upon my face, the beauty before my eyes, the sand getting low.  I want to sit there with a huge smile on my face, not saying I wish but rather I did.

What is it that you are dreaming of?  What are you waiting for?  Don’t hesitate, live for the now and see your dreams through.  Because we are all running on borrowed time.  Life is a beautiful journey, not a destination.  Live it!

Trail Name

So you might be wondering what is behind the name Honey Badger.  Honey Badger is the trail name that I hike under.  Trail names are a part of the long distance hiking community’s tradition.  It is a representation of the new you as the worries of the 9-5 world fade away.  The trail name is unique to each person and is the name everyone will know you by.  Names such as Timber because someone saw you knock down a tree, Crash because you are always falling, Billy Goat because you can climb anything, No rush well because you’re in no rush. You get the point.  So how did I get the name Honey Badger?

First you have to know a little about the honey badger.  The honey badger, Mellivora capensis is small carnivorous animal, native to Africa.  It stands at only 9-11 inches and weighs only 11-35 pounds.  Despite the honey badgers small size it has a reputation for being, pound for pound, Africa’s most fearless animal.  It has even been documented that the honey badger will fight off a lion when it is threatened.  Given its tenacious nature the honey badger has also been known to endure thousands of bee stings just to enjoy the hives sweet honey.    The Guinness Book of Records has even classified the honey badger as the “most fearless animal in the world”.

Standing at about 5 foot nothing, I have had to fight my way through life in many ways just as the honey badger has.  Well maybe not getting stung by thousands of bees or fighting off lions.  Rather, fighting off the negative connotation that is often placed on being a short male in the United States society. Everything from being bullied as a child, women saying they would never date a guy shorter than them to even having to fight my way into the Marine Corps because I didn’t meet their height standard.  I have always had to fight harder to achieve my goals as well as prove that with enough heart anything is possible.  This was the case in 2001 when I tried to join the United States Marine Corps after September 11, 2001.  Initially they had told me no because I didn’t meet their height standards.  Well this answer was not good enough for me and I was determined.  After much persuasion I was given an opportunity in which I made the most of.  Whenever I had the chance I fought harder, ran faster, and was more squared away than the next.  Because of my tenacity, I had a very successful career in the Marine Corps, earning multiple awards and promoting to the rank of Sergeant in just three years.  Like the honey badger, I had to fight hard to earn my place.  It isn’t about how big or small you are, but rather what’s in your heart.  If you want something sometimes you have to be as tenacious as the honey badger.  Therefore that is how I got the name Honey Badger.

Remember life is an adventure, waiting to be had.  You must be willing to get out there and live it. 

 

 

The Journey Ahead

On May 24, 2014 I will embark on an epic journey along the 2650 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail. A trail that begins in San Diego California at the Mexican border and ends at the Canadian border in Washington. Now I know what you must be thinking. Your thinking that is crazy, why would anyone want to hike day after day for over three months or longer. Yes, the idea of hiking thirty miles every day for months is a little insane. So is waking up every day just to go to work, to earn a dollar so you can do it all over again the next day. Greatness comes to those who are daring enough to dream and bold enough to see those dreams thru.

My dream is to live life as it is attended for me, not necessarily the common opinion as to how it’s supposed to be lived. This is true freedom, a freedom from within. For me this includes my passion for the wild and the unknown up ahead, while bringing others along for the adventure. The lessons learned along the way are worth more than those sitting in classroom. Too often we think that we are in control of our life, when in reality we are in control of nothing. Life happens whether we are ready for it or not. Just as fast as the bone-chilling storm billows across the mountain top; the sun surely shines her warmth upon your face in the morning. Sure there will be ups and downs, even roadblocks. It’s a ride that we only have one ticket to. So saddle up and enjoy the ride.

This past year I decided that a portion of my ride would include thru hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. If asked why, I respond with why not. Every second of everyday is an opportunity. It is up to each and every one of us to make the most out of those opportunities. The trail will be my university and nature its professor.