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John made it to Oregon!

Hello all! This is Laura. I spoke with John yesterday, and he is fired up and ready to push through Oregon! He is hiking 25-30 miles a day and thinks he will make it to Washington in about 3 weeks. His body feels good, except for some shin splints.

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Cheer John On with a pledge at www.southernbranches.com/helphaiti

Listen to an Audio Update from John

John talked by phone with David Bourne on August 9th, 2011. Here are some highlights:

• “How many times did you almost die today?” was the running joke in the Sierra’s snow.
• How Sean Penn and an Asheville, NC nurse inspired the journey.
• I don’t think people are really that aware of what’s going on down there (In Haiti).
• Everybody’s compassionate enough but you can’t be compassionate about something you are really not aware of.
• 1700 miles down and only 500+ to go.
• The worse winter in decades causes frozen boots and dangerous river crossings.

Dear friends, family, and kind folks I have yet to meet,

I just wanted to check in and thank you for your pledges and support of
the hike for Haiti. It means a lot to me, and Mission Manna will be able
to use the funds to help the people of Haiti.
In about a week, I’ll have made it about halfway to Canada, 1325 miles. I
have had many highs and lows.

Some lows:

1) Ongoing pain. Serious blisters, knee pain, shin splints, plantar
fasciitis, Achilles tendon pain, general fatigue, eyeballs sunburned and
couldn’t see for 2 days because of snow glare, lost 17 lbs, and now
dealing with a possible stress fracture on top of my foot.

2) The snow on the entire trail is the most since 1954. I’ve had to use
ice axe and crampons a lot to cut steps on slopes, and GPS to navigate 90%
of the time since mile 700 because you cant see the trail. River fords are
dangerously fast and high because of snow melt, often up to my chest and
ropes tied to trees for safety have been used for safety. This is not
normal hiking, and it got old a long time ago.

3 ) I’m seriously homesick, miss Asheville, my dogs, and my extended family.

Some highs:

1) I’ve met lots of amazing people, friends for life, from all over the world.

2) Raw wilderness speaks to me every day. It ingrains into my head new life
lessons, and reinforces what I already knew but strayed from long ago. It
conveys its teachings in a real, legitimate language that is not spoken or
written. But somehow it sinks into my conscious and subconscious. I could
go on and on about this.

3) I have seen, heard, felt, touched, and smelled the most incredible
things. My senses are overloaded.

You Can Keep Me Going

So…. I think about quitting everyday, yet I think about how stupid it
would be to quit just as much. However, the one thing that tilts the
scales in the non-quitting direction is the fact that you guys signed up
to raise awareness and money to help Haiti. I thank you and am very
grateful for that.

I was hoping that the list of pledges would snowball, and maybe if we gave
one last ditch effort to try to convince others to sign up, we could raise
even more money. We could tell them that so far, at 1 cent per mile
pledge, it is only $13.25. If I make it to Canada, it will be only $26.50.

Click Here to Pledge Support

The simple form to sign up is at www.southernbranches.com/helphaiti, if
you forgot. Also, www.missionmanna.org is the website that explains where
the funds are going, and the situation in Haiti in general.

I might be back next week, but right now I plan to keep hobbling on. I
hope all is well.

Take care,

John

Photos from This Trail Section

 
 
More Updates from John

Update # 1 — The Hike Begins in Southern California
Update # 2 — 700 miles and Ready to Hit the High Sierras
Update # 3 — The Grueling Hike Through the Snow
Update # 4 — John Leaves The Snow and Reaches Oregon (with Audio)
All Updates — View as a List