PacificNWCompanion: Pacific Crest Trail...Section J. Kendall Katwalk+++

Once the summer turns in the Pac NW, there is no where better. Imagine sunny days in the 70's and 80's, no humidity, no bugs, and views of mountains everywhere you turn. Take that image, then crank it up 10 notches and you would find yourself on the PCT. Something every person should experience at least once in a lifetime, if not multiple times. I can only use amazing or wow so many times but it would not register by picks alone. At times during the hike, the sights that lay before me cannot possibly be real. Too many times before have I thought this very sentiment during my adventures in the Pac NW and yet something inside tells me the exact same thing...This cannot be real, I cannot be living and experiencing such unbelievable sights.
Yet, this is my life.
  Several years ago I turned to nature as my life, seemingly turned from great to downright terrible. Love lost can hit a person hard. It always hits me harder for some reason. My saving grace was going out, seeking the beauty around me that I see everyday, the Cascades, Olympics, Mt. Rainier, Mt. Baker, Puget Sound, Lake Washington...etc. I called it my 'weekly medication,' as it seemed to work better than any anti-depressent could ever do. When I am on the trail my troubles leave me behind, if only for those moments that I am in nature.
  I wanted to return to Kendall Katwalk, since this was one of those defining times that brought out the best in me during a depressed time in my life. Looking at my trail book; "The Best Hikes within 85 miles of Seattle, BEYOND MOUNT SI" and the date I was last here, it was almost 2 years to the day that I was here last. I am not sure if coincidental or just by fate but I wanted to go further than I have the previous time, past Alaska Lake. I wasn't sure how much further, but enough to set in my mind that I have become better, I have progressed further than I ever thought I could, and to seek the beauty that is just around that next corner, having faith that unseen beauty exists and it is present right in front of us if you choose to seek it.
  I went further than I did previously, by several miles and the amazing beauty that I saw was far more than I ever thought I would see or imagine.
  I found this quote about the same time in my life that I try to put into practice, even though it can get very difficult to do so...
  "We are all capable of things we never believed, but first we need to believe..." Jesse Itzler.