Epilogue

Destination: To Infinity and Beyond

I want to thank my wife and family for their support and belief in me! I gave up valuable time with them to do this, and they accepted and supported that.

I know they will be glad to have me home, and that is a gift in itself.

I also want to thank YOU! The fact that you bothered to read my blatherings and follow along with me means a lot to me, and that alone was enough to drive me along on days when I just wanted to stop. If not for you, I probably would have taken a ride in that state patrol car! Seriously though, thank you all who followed along, commented, sent me encouraging notes, etc. etc. it really meant a lot to me.

This isn’t the end of Unfettered Footsteps, at least I don’t think it is! My ideas behind building this site were never about thru-hiking. That was just part of the journey, and my AT thru-hike was really where my journey began. Living an unfettered lifestyle is also about removing the intangible chains from my life, or as I said in my last post, letting the old ways die.

I don’t know what comes next. Home, reuniting with my wife and Lucy the Cat. Enjoying the rest of summer. I do want to continue working on my writing projects that I started after my AT thru-hike, and those that I have jotted down as ideas I want to explore. Hiking has really given me the time to rekindle a desire to explore my creative side. Before hiking, I spent most of my time thinking about and dealing with work, with little balance and room for life.

I’m sure in time I will come to view this as a personal accomplishment, more in terms of personal growth than actual hiking. I was fortunate to meet some wonderful people along the way, and I am grateful for the times I shared with other hikers and people in towns and along the trail.

I hope you enjoyed reading my journal. I recognize that the quality wasn’t always there when I was tired or not feeling it, which was a lot in Colorado. If you have any questions about the CDT, feel free to reach out and I will do my best to answer. I hope that I can find the strength to continue writing, and push myself to create some things that people like yourselves will enjoy reading. Video – I shot a decent amount of video with the goal of creating something in between the short recap of the AT that I made and a full-blown blog. It will take me some time to edit and compile all of that, but I do want to do it to have those memories in video form, as well as add another layer to this story. Stay tuned on that one….

I guess I don’t have to necessarily preempt the PCT question since I didn’t finish my CDT thru-hike. I will say this though: maybe in the future I would consider thru-hiking the PCT. That would be a ways out though, and I know that I would not do it in a heavy snow year! Never say never, but I doubt I would attempt a CDT thru-hike again. I’m much more likely to hike little pieces of it at a time, like the San Juan or Rocky Mountain National Park loops that I missed, or the Winds. The kind of hikes I’m interested in for now will be day hikes. That’s where I’m at for now.

I may be on a Greyhound, but this is my last chance for now to enjoy some more Colorado views. With that, I will leave you to your own journeys, and wish you all a safe and meaningful trip, hopefully with minimal post holing, either literal or metaphorical. It’s time for this cat to sit back and enjoy the view.