In my weekly reading of the PCT hiker blog aggregator, The Journalist, I was delighted to see another reference to the some of the printed copies of literary works I leave for hikers who pass by my place, this time on the PCT Trailside Reader. — I have been wondering what percentage of the items taken are actually read. It is nice to see that some are.

I will definitely continue the self-printed copies of relevant works, along with the miscellaneous items available in my Little Free Library. I will be adding some of the works of John Muir next year, and focus the literary portion of Walden to John Muir, in celebration of the 150th anniversary of his arrival in California. I guess I need to go back to the company that supplied the Thoreau and Whitman signs for a new pair with an image of Muir and a quotation. Got a favorite Muir quotation that is 40 words or less? Email me with suggestions.

 

The NoBo thru hiker season is winding down and temperatures are heating up. I keep telling myself that I will dig out the Fremont cottonwood tree, touted as future shade when I planted it in 2014, as it is not thriving in its current location and needs more water than I have time to supply; however, I have once again set up the water barrel and irrigation timer for this summer. After a couple of hours of work, and the barrel was in place and filled, and the timer was set to water it and the nearby California sycamore once a day.

I was reminded today of the power of the written word.

On each Monday in the spring during the thru hiker season in SoCal, I update my blog and do my weekly read of The Journalist, the page on the PCTA site aggregating posts from PCT hiker blogs. I like to see both how hikers are perceiving “my” section of the trail, and how they are interpreting what I am doing at Walden. While pictures of my Little Free Library and hiker selfies with Henry and Walt are ubiquitous, I don’t get many hikers providing feedback on the value of the literature I leave for them to take. Of course, the Hiker Book Register tells me that literature is a big source of inspiration for hikers, and I have given away over a hundred copies of Walden and Whitman’s  “Song of Myself” — final stats later — but no hiker blog had mentioned the work they took and any value it had for them … until now.

One of the works that I give away is C. P. Cavafy’s brief work “Ithaka,” a hefty poem that fits on a half page and is labeled in my library as a work suitable for ultra-light hikers (that is, hikers who carry an absurdly small amount of camping gear with them in the hope that they never run into foul weather). This is a poem (and poet) I was only introduced to last year, when one of my friends donated a book of collected works on the topic of ‘journeys’ to my Little Free Library, based on a call for donations. I fell in love with the poem … and with the idea of connecting to thru hikers and their journey through it. So, here is the reference on Jubilant Blue’s blog. (Read through to the end of this post.)

Another activity that has got me thinking about the power of language is planning for the combo Summer Solstice/Thoreau Bicentennial celebration I will be holding in late June. (Ok, so Thoreau’s actual birthday is not until mid-July, but it is wicked hot in Anza in mid-July, so we will celebrate Thoreau’s birthday a bit early.) After two big events this spring centered around feeding large numbers of thru hikers, I am looking forward to something smaller, focused on connecting with friends and celebrating the written word.

Well, it’s happened again, the toad eggs deposited in my little pond by some local toads have now hatched, and I have a pond full of tiny black squirmy things.

A hiker left their official PCT 2017 bandana at my place. I assume it was left there by accident. If it’s yours, let me know and I will mail it to your home address.

I repeated my offer for the third year to hikers during the weekend preceding Mother’s Day: fill out one of my postcards (one per hiker) to your mother or mother-figure, and I will put a stamp on it and mail it for you.

 

It looks like the toads have been at it again. I found several strands of toad eggs in my little pond on Thursday. With the sudden cold snap, I hope they survive. — This is several weeks earlier than the first set of toad eggs last year.

 

Gracie and I ran into this beautiful 3 foot western rattler on the PCT just north of my place. I dismounted to get a better look and to snap this photo.

The Super Bloom in the low desert of Anza-Borrego has been working its way up in elevation and is hitting peak at my elevation of 4200 feet. This weekend’s festivities surrounding my Pop-Up Gourmet should be accompanied by millions of wild flowers in the surrounding hills.

As with so many things in nature, the grand landscapes are repeated in minature under our feet.

A preliminary menu is now available for the Pop-Up Gourmet on Sunday.