June 2, 2018 Fly Like Eagles, Stand as Giants, Walk as Lions

Mission completed his tramp through the land of Giant Windmills without ever having to engage even one in combat.  He camped in the fiercest wind he has encountered so far on the PCT (hence the windmills in that location).  These giants are beautiful against the clear desert sky.  Granny Hat also thinks they are beautiful because they represent sustainable, safe energy.  It is one of God’s natural gifts to us. When we harness and harvest it, we cannot destroy it or use it up.  “When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses.”  Jeremiah 10:13 NIV

Mission also had some interesting creatures cross his PCT path as he headed toward Tehachapi.  The first one is a Long-Nosed Leopard Lizard, Granny Hat consulted with Mission’s childhood friend Dillon Thompson to identify it.  The two boys had a “herpetology club” years ago.  Club activities largely centered around observing salamanders and lizards in their yards!  The second creature, well you will have to zoom in to see and then you decide.  There seem to be some differing opinions on what genus it is but Mission did report that it was “larger than Scout (our huge lab/retriever mix)” and he said it weighed at least as much as him.

Granny Hat knows that ignorance is bliss so she has decided to believe what everyone is telling her, that fat cats like this don’t relish skinny, plant-based PCT hikers.  They are more interested in plump rabbits and baby cows born on the open range.  Granny Hat does love that Lion song by Skillet and she decided to reprint it today, gives her courage and Granny needs courage even if it isn’t her out there on that trail.

“Today we live, today we breathe
Today we know that we are strong when we are weak
Today we trust, we overcome
Take every chain that kept us slaves and throw em’ off

We’re not waiting for permission
We defy our inhibition
Like our middle name is “fearless”
Unafraid

If we’re gonna fly, we fly like eagles
Arms out wide
If we’re gonna fear, we fear no evil
We will rise
By your power, we will go
By your spirit, we are bold
If we’re gonna stand, we stand as giants
If we’re gonna walk, we walk as lions
We walk as lions

Today is ours, it’s always been
Before we face the fight
We know who’s gonna win
We live by faith and not by sight
We don’t want safe and quiet
We don’t wanna run and hide…..”

And now Granny Hat has to bring up another fear she has had her whole life, hitch-hiking.  In the early 1950s, my father hitch-hiked every day of high school from his home in South Pasadena to the private Christian school he attended across town.  He always felt safe and his parents weren’t worried.  Then, in the 60s and 70s a few horrific events occurred that involved hitch-hiking and it became a big no-no.  Scary to be a hitch-hiker, scary to pick up one.

But the PCT culture includes hitch-hiking and Mission has learned that you rarely have to stick out your thumb. Indeed, some PCT hikers use hitch-hiking to “cheat” and avoid difficult or boring stretches of the trail.  Mission passed a hiker two days ago while hiking on the aqueduct, they exchanged a pleasant greeting, then a half hour later, Mission saw him in the back of a pick-up truck speeding up the aqueduct frontage road!

To get from the trail into the town of Tehachapi, he was offered more rides than he needed and the people were local residents, in the habit of helping PCT travelers.  Mission loved everything about Tehachapi, the people, the location, the food!  He said he had the best breakfast burrito of his life and then like a hobbit, he turned around and ate second breakfast soon after, but he called it lunch.

Mission is headed into one of the hardest stretches of hiking on the PCT, from Tehachapi to Walker Pass.  Water caches in the area are known to have strange, mysterious additives, like uranium, so you have to carry a heavy water supply.  Granny Hat and Mission’s dad plan to meet him in Kennedy Meadows northeast of Lake Isabella for his next re-supply in a few days, where he will trade out his shoes for a heavier pair and upgrade his gear to mountain, snow, all-weather quality.  He is headed toward the mountains he loves and is looking forward to leaving the desert behind.  There will be new, even more difficult challenges in the Sierras, so please, my friendly followers, keep praying for him.  May he stand as giants, walk as lions (not with them anymore please) and fly like an eagle!