​The day started at my 5 o’clock hour as per usual. Morning pages, yoga, meditation. I rapidly dressed and jetted out the door at 7. I was going to meet my high school friend Tavia for breakfast in Santa Cruz and I knew she only had a limited amount of time before work so I wanted to maximize it. I cruised over 17 with a long list of tunes to keep me company. Driving is really enjoyable, especially on that curvy road. My early start got me there early so I parked on the side of the road with my laptop and took care of SFari (Engineers Without Borders fundraiser) tasks until Tavia got there.

We had a wonderful breakfast at Linda’s Seabreeze Cafe then a lovely walk by the water. I realized when I was there that there really aren’t that many places to walk. It was enough though. Once we parted ways, I found a parking spot overlooking the bay in Santa Cruz to ‘work’ for the afternoon. With the work I had to do for SFari and the Toastmaster Fall Conference, there was a lot to attend to. I sat there and wrote emails and organized myself until Joe called. A conversation around shame emerged and off we went until he had to go. Never a dull moment in those conversations.

I eventually looked at the time and realized I needed to get myself in gear if I was going to finish the 2 recommended chapters of Byron Katie’s new book (A Mind at Home with Itself) before the talk that night. I was meeting Logan for dinner so only had a limited time. I managed all but 8 pages. Enough I think to enrich my absorption of the pearls of wisdom I was going to witness that night. Logan and I had dinner at Cafe Gratitude. I caught her up on my goings on and she talked to me about how her new married life in Santa Cruz was going. 

We got to the talk and there was not a seat in the house. We couldn’t even find a spot to stand where we could see Katie. After about half an hour of barely being able to hear her, we decided to cut out and find ice cream. We strolled over to the Penny Ice Creamery where I had been a few days before after my kayaking in Elkhorn Slough. I was hesitant because I had already sampled a lot of the flavors but when we got there, they had 50% new ones and one of them was cookies and cream, my favorite. Synchronicity strikes again.

Logan and I had a great conversation about the importance of building the skills necessary to fulfill our goals and ambitions. In that conversation, I realized that the skills I work to build with Engineers Without Borders and Toastmasters support this end. It was interesting to hear put into words the ideas that had been tumbling around in my mind through the past few months and hearing them spontaneously from someone I don’t keep up with on a regular basis. Those moments are validating because it feels like you’re on the right path when similar thoughts surface in random places. We decided on seeing each other again soon to continue our idea exchange.

I toured back to the bookshop after that to have my book signed by Byron Katie. I had intended to ask her questions and talk with her but realized that she must have already been exhausted by her evening. It was slightly disappointing. When I thought about it though, it felt like my purpose for the Santa Cruz visit was to spend time connecting with Logan. That was much more valuable on this night. Hoping in my car after that, I rang my friend Richard who is the one who recommended going. We spoke about thoughts and the chronic human attempt to disengage with them. I felt the need to increase my daily meditation time by sitting in that state for a duration in an evening. 

There are so many, many things to do in a day to increase your effectiveness. There are also only so many you can do in a day. I am so grateful to be able to have this pocket of time in my life to explore new methods of grounding and going deep. Crawling into bed felt blissful. Off to the Land of Nod then into another fantastic day. 

Soooo many things happening today. Coffee with Joe, lunch with family from Denmark, a toastmaster meeting, and an event I am an organizer for. Boy do I know how to pack it in. I was a bit worried about my shin splint surviving the journey from meeting to meeting. I got ferried around by Uber most of the day by a friend of mine who insisted that I not walk. As it was, I accidentally walked 5 miles. It probably would have been 10 if I hadn’t Uber-ed. It just occurred to me that that is half the distance I hiked per day on the PCT. 

My Joe convo was enlightening as per usual. I got homework (also as usual). The thing I have to do is take one day a week to think about what the world needs rather than thinking about what gifts I have to contribute. By this exercise, I am meant to find what needs to be addressed, what I have and which heart strings will bridge that gap. After parting ways, I joined my mom and my third cousins, the Danes, at the Ferry Building. It was interesting. I really like Europeans. Maybe it’s because I grew up with them. My Aon Toastmasters meeting was next. I took on mentoring a fledging Toastmasters club. I enjoy opportunities to help people develop and grow. This feels like one of those opportunities. 

The last event of the day was for a group I am part of called Women EmPower for those in architecture, engineering, construction and technology. It is an organization to support women and help us develop understanding and tools that will help navigate our male dominated fields. The program we developed for the evening was around asking questions in different settings (classroom, meeting, one on one). We came up with questions which we asked then talked about how we felt as we asked them. After we discussed various ways we could mitigate our feelings, we felt empowered to express ourselves. It is a great group to be part of as we are all very supportive of each other.

After a day of running around, bed was a welcome place to spend the rest of Wednesday’s hours. 

​Sunday ended up being a great day with an old friend. The train was a little over an hour late when I woke up in the morning. I texted my friend Jason about it. He told me he would just drive up to get me from Truckee. I had to find out about canceling my ticket. I called and found out I had accidentally purchased a more expensive ticket so it was fully refundable! What luck! Sent Jason a text and he got on the road. After wandering around for a bit to get coffee and postcards, we hopped in the car and drove down highway 40 for a few miles because it’s way prettier than 80. We got back on 80 after a few pictures and drove to one of his favorite post work river spots. Blackberry picking happened along the way. When we got down to the river, he said it was swollen compared with previous years and the current was much stronger than usual. Makes sense for the year. 

Our tummies started rumbling after a bit so we rolled down to Auburn for pizza and salad. So good to see old friends that you can only catch up with via phone for most of the year. Fun to get to spend time together in real life. We made a pact to not leave such long gaps in between our visits. We picked up Baskin Robbins (World Class Chocolate for me as usual). There are some things I do in life that are completely predictable. I got to check out Jason’s pad and then we were on the road again to meet Rob for an Amz exchange. 

We took highway 45 to get there. It was beautiful. We passed through Cool, CA. So funny. We got to Rob and I was whisked back into the wilderness. Rob lived in the boonies with a menagerie. It was really fun to be out there with all the animals and his two adorable girls. I was reunited with my car and computer and clean clothes. How did I get so lucky to have such a great support system to help me experience this amazing journey? I don’t know but I’m going with it. 

​Another bright and early start. I have to admit that this morning was finally hard for me to get up. I woke up at my usual early hour but wasn’t too keen to leap out of bed. It was cozy and my body was battered. 2 days of 20 mile days and one more to go. I am in awe of Kelsey and Travis’ commitment and dedication to seeing this through. They amaze me for sure and I feel honored to be able to spend time with them on this adventure of theirs.

​We sped along toward a summit called Tinkerknob. We had a brief touchdown for lunch then off to this super amazing crest. They don’t call it the Pacific Crest Trail for nothing. K plugged in a podcast while T and I rambled along. We were level for a bit then started dropping. Lots of stairs and we got back to water. Both yesterday and today were rather dry. As we descended, the whisper of a shin splint turned into a full on roar. When we got to Donner Pass, there was some trail magic and I was grateful for the pause. 

​The day dawned warm and friendly with a smattering of mozzies. I attempted to do more to get us going in the morning after I finished my pages. We took off at a clip slightly behind schedule. Shortly after our start, we came across a river and stopped to do river laundry. I managed to rig up a system on my backpack with a beaner and a cordalette. The next river crossing sent Kelsey into the river and one of her poles downstream. We managed to catch it. I decided to go further up to cross. We got to the other side for a bit of candy consumption then we hoofed on through lots of flowered meadows and over streams. 

​Once satiated, we plunged down the opposite side through thick snow slopes. We managed to find the trail again even though it was a bit like a river because there was so much water flowing along it. The trail climbed a bit up some switchbacks to the edge of the Granite Chief Wilderness. We hiked along a ridge line for a bit and snaked past the west edge of Alpine Meadows. It was strange to see the snowless ski area. It’s rare for me to be in Tahoe in the summer. 

​We kept to the ridge for a while longer then dropped rapidly to Five Lakes. At the river, we ran into a couple of SoBos (south bounders). K and T are NoBos (north bounders). K and T knew them from earlier on the trail. They had flipped, which is the trail term for when you skip a difficult section then go back to hike it later. They enlightened us about what the trail ahead was going to be like. Sounded like no more snow was going to be a reality soon. K and T were super stoked. 

Saying goodbye, we trudged up to what we hoped would be Squaw Creek for the night. Made it within almost a mile and decided to can it for the night. We stumbled upon this super awesome site. A fire pit, a view, a river, a good tree for food protection, and flat sleeping spots. What more could we possibly want? I threw down my bivy then plunked down next to our ring of fire. We were up till past 11. How does that happen when you’re out and about?