Lao Tzu

You can't take it with you, especially when hiking the PCT. It's not that I know this from personal experience. Not yet, anyway. It's just that a friend lent me a book about the Pacific Crest Trail, and it's fantastic.

Unfortunately, I can't recommend the book, because of the hippies. Lots of hippies. I'm sure they mean well, but they're just...

...a little obnoxious.

...and crude.

...and... I dunno. Just not terrific role models. Maybe I'm being a bad discriminatory white dude, but I digress... ;-)

You've probably heard the Chinese proverb:

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

~ Lao Tzu

This is bogus, given that the ancient Chinese didn't use the mile. They used the li. The mile has a Roman origin and dates back to the first century BC. The Tao Te Ching dates back to the sixth century BC.

Of course, what happened is that--since the li is the Chinese equivalent of an English mile--the proverb was transliterated to use a more familiar unit of measure. Problem is, the li is actually about a third of a mile, so a more accurate reading of the proverb is:

"A journey of three-hundred and thirty-three miles begins with a single step."

~ Lao Tzu (proper reading)

Which definitely doesn't have the same ring to it.

All to say, if the Chinese idea of a seemly insurmountable journey was a mere 333 mile slog, they'd probably have a conniption at the thought of the PCT, a 2,663 mile march through some of the most rugged, pristine wilderness this side of the Rocky Mountains.

So, if you're crazy enough to go on a trek that will entail upwards of six million steps, you seriously can't take it with you.

Leave the DSLR.

Leave the canvas tent.

Leave the 95 liter backpack.

We live in a beautiful lightweight, polyester future folks. Best to take advantage of it.

Unfortunately, unless you plan to subsist on a Bear Grylls diet of cacti and earthworms, you need to pack food and water. Equally unfortunate--food and water are heavy commodities. Water weighs over 8 pounds per gallon, and food--well--the drier the food, the more water you need to pack, so it's a catch-22.

Unless you happen to have a stash of Lembas bread handy. Which... REI doesn't stock. Biggest oversight in the universe, right there.

Until next time,
- Daniel

P.S. Oh, and this is my 100th blog post. Woot! You know that they say... a journey of a thousand blog posts begins with a single...

...oh, never mind. :-P