Reset search
Michael SpiesMichael Spies
SatelliteEdit route
traveled in 21 countries Read more Icking, Deutschland
  • Michael SpiesBald eagle goes a walking
    Day 59

    Deep thoughts, and heavy decisions

    July 6, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    For a large part of this trail I have been accompanied by loneliness. On top of this comes the pain at night in my arthritic hip and knee. Sometimes these two are unbearable and all the incredible nature I am walking through is not able to compensate this.

    These last days I have been listening to an audio book "the untethered spirit" by Alan Singer about that voice in our heads that is incessantly commenting our environment, our actions and our thoughts while giving advice on everything!
    It's our ego!
    This incessant stream of comments blocks our real feelings and intuition.
    The book suggests first of all becoming aware of this voice, and then trying to silence it, to hear our real inner voice.

    For weeks I have been very lonely on this trail. My real inner voice has been wanting a holiday. Not just a break, but a return to Europe, a deep longing to touch and be touched, to see my loved ones, my bed, healthy food.

    Today, I lay down on the path for hours to feel inside me.
    And I made a decision.
    I am going to end my hike, here and now, descend to the next town, see if I can visit my friend Lorna in Connecticut and then return to Germany.
    I will return another time to hike this incredible trail that has given me so much.

    It is that non-stop chattering voice that has been preventing me from hearing this inner feeling for days now.
    Comments like:
    - "You announced this huge undertaking with fanfares and drums, you can't stop now, what will they think!",
    - "You will never be able to look yourself in the mirror again if you stop!"
    - "Get yourself together and stop letting your feelings interfere with this experience of a lifetime"
    Etc, etc, etc!
    Its that tough, demanding, performance oriented Michael talking.
    Its time for the gentle Michael.

    This trail has been the hike of my life and beats anything I have ever done.
    I have learned sooo much about hiking and about myself.
    I hiked 1.200 km through mountainous terrain under incredible heat and water conditions, living in my tent and carrying my food. At the same time I climbed a total of 30.526 m altitude in 50 days.
    This "old Toppie" (afrikaans for old man) is tired.

    But far more important I learnt to take myself as I am, no longer with the energy and recovery of a 30year old, listening to my body when to stop, being kind to myself, and in particular learning that I do not need to continue just because my inner commentator says I must.
    Not being the hero who "completed the whole PCT" has let me understand that I do not need to compare myself to others and the expectations of others, also not with the expectation in myself!
    "HIKE YOUR OWN HIKE" they say,

    Thank you Pacific Crest Trail, we will see each other again.    Read more

  • Michael SpiesBald eagle goes a walking
    Day 59

    Big flies, small flies, very small flies

    July 6, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    Well! There are big flies, small flies, very small flies and mosquitos and they fly around their forest all day drinking and eating (I dont know what).
    And then along comes Michael!
    The fly siren goes off and they all fly to the place where he is to jointly suck him dry.
    Now, I simply don't understand how word can get around so quickly in "fly land", and why they all need my blood when they have been happy drinking and eating other things for ages!
    I try to put myself in their bodies and minds.
    Yes I also eat and drink my normal food everyday, until I spot a bag of "Gummi Bears", then I cannot help eating them in one session!
    But at least I eat them quickly so they don't suffer.
    I don't suck them dry slowly, causing great suffering like the flies with my blood!    Read more

  • Michael SpiesBald eagle goes a walking
    Day 58

    Breakfast with Don

    July 5, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    Don , whom I met last in Idlewild at breakfast, lives in Portland. This morning he drive out for us to have breakfast together. He is cook for a caterer and will enter retirement next year. We talked about trails and dreams and then he drove me to the trail, a last photograph and I crossed the Bridge of the Gods into Washington an up the first mountain.
    The same age old high trees, only this time they were not burnt! A forest jungle with streams and lakes awaited me.    Read more

  • Michael SpiesBald eagle goes a walking
    Day 57

    Decision to hike Washington in July

    July 4, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    Usually one ends the PCT at the Canadian border after having hiked through Washington state in late september when it is raining and starts to snow again. I was told that Washington is most beautiful in July.
    The ever rising temperatures of the last days let me spontaneously decide to Jump ahead to Portland to hike from there.
    Yesterday I said goodbye to my two buddies from South Africa whom I met at Burney, and this morning I stuck out my thumb. Rather problematic on 04.July when all cars are full with families!
    My third lift, however, was an adventure I will never forget! A 22 year old guy recently released from the US-Navy because he had received a 600 volt shock while repairing equipment on a ship and was "never the same again", stopped and offered me a lift. But I didn't notice all this when he stopped. When I got into his ancient toyota pick-up, I noticed that on my side there was no seat belt. Then he explained that the rear tyres of the car were bigger then the front causing strange behaviour of the car in certain situations. Then I noticed that the shock absorbers were totally destroyed resulting in the car constantly swinging to-and-fro-fro. This was especially exciting each time he entered a curve at 130 kph giving the feeling that there was absolutely no control of the car.
    I considered asking him to stop and let me out but then decided to put my life in the hands of my angel, and by god did he do a good job!
    But far more moving, was the state of this poor young man. When I asked him where he was going, he answered "I dont know, I'm just driving". He had driven from the north to the south through the desert and was now driving north again on the N5. He had no home and was receiving a pension/damages from the Navy of
    USD 1.200,- per month. In USA that is a joke of a sum. This Navy had used him and then dropped him without a home, without a perspective, and without psychological help after having destroyed his mind.
    I was deeply moved and angry!

    But, I am now actually still alive in "Cascade Locks" and will cross the "Bridge of the Gods" tomorrow into Washington state to walk the last 813 km to the border.
    My tent is camped on the Oregon side of the river 30m from a rail line and every ten minutes one of those 3km long freight trains comes past at 50kph.
    To improve things further, Washington, on the other side of the river, also has a train! And the two have perfectly synchronized themselves with Oregon so that hikers don't have to suffer because of too much silence.

     Now thats a good start to this next section!    Read more

  • Michael SpiesBald eagle goes a walking
    Day 54

    Hot, hotter, and hotter still

    July 1, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    The days are getting hotter and hotter, today 38deg C and no wind! With the afternoon path leading over a black lava field. I drank more than 5 liters and didn't pee all day. All the water is exiting through my lungs or skin. I can't carry more nor can I drink more. It's a real problem.

    In Burney, a one street town, I found lodging in a church with 60 other hikers. It is 04.July weekend and motel prices are "through the roof"    Read more

  • Michael SpiesBald eagle goes a walking
    1
    Day 53

    Today is one of those days!

    June 30, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    TODAY IS ONE OF THOSE DAYS!
    - Where it is incredibly hot and moist,
    - Where every horse fly in the country has come to the "suck Mike dry" festival and liters of my valuable life blood are being "stolen".
    - Where the next water source is 30km away,
    - Where I sweat so much that you could take scraper to get the salt off.
    - Where I am so dirty and stink so much that I dont want to touch anything and simply want to run away.
    - Where I am so tired that I dont even have the energy to set up my tent and prepare the night.
    - Where I walk 30km and am so exhausted that I dont make it to the next water source, not only for drinking, but to wash off the disgusting salt.
    - Where I am so sticky that I am horrified to get into my liner and sleeping bag, but Where I know that the temperature at night will drop to 4 degrees.

    TODAY IS ONE OF THOSE DAYS!
    And I am so thirsty!    Read more

  • Michael SpiesBald eagle goes a walking
    1
    Day 52

    A day of self reflection

    June 29, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    As I walked today, I listened to the book " Krankheit als weg" by Thorwald Detlefsen or " The healing power of illness: understanding what your symptoms are telling you."
    I read this book when I was 28 and thought I had understood it. Hearing it now is like an epiphany! The first part of the book is about universal laws, and as I listen, I go from one amazement to the next as things I feel suddenly make sense. In the second half, about sickness and what it wants to tell us, I dont stop being amazed when I look at the health topics that accompany me. I
    n the second book, "Poly Secure" by Jessica Fern, about relationship patterns and how they affect our adulthood, I recognise myself again and again , and when I then see certain topics appearing in both books, it knocks me out.
    This is a day of deep reflection of who I am and how I am.    Read more

  • Michael SpiesBald eagle goes a walking
    Day 51

    Burnt forests and pristine lakes

    June 28, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 9 °C

    While everyone left camp already at 6am to be able to cross the 35km of park in one day, I took a different pace and listened to my soul ending up setting camp at 5:00 already next to the most pristine mountain lake at 1900m !
    That is the earliest I have ever done!
    It was a dream. I was all by myself. The afternoon sun shone while I swam and rinced three days of salt from my clothes, Then I sat in the sun on the shore reading my Kindle till I could no more and fell asleep! All I could hear were birds and a pair of ducks.
    Paradise on earth!    Read more

  • Michael SpiesBald eagle goes a walking
    Day 50

    Joy and sadness on the same page

    June 27, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    For the first time today, I met someone older than 45 !
    Two hikers "Uffe" from Danemark and David, "Money bags" USA, both 55 years old.
    We walked together for most of the day, stopping for breaks and conversation. What a nice change.
    But today was a difficult day, I haven't walked for 8 days now and noticed that my fitness had dropped massively. At some stage, I stopped trying to keep up with them and reverted back to my speed, which I know is good for my joints.
    We walked most of the day through burnt forests. In 2020 an electrical cable of the electricity company PG&E had short circuited starting a fire that destroyed
    1 million acres of virgin forest and burnt for three months advancing 10kms each day.. A local with whom I talked said that the tall 50m high and 2 meter wide trees had burnt like torches for weeks.
    This makes my heart cry!
    As I walked through the dead silence, deep sadness took hold of me.
    But I also realised that there is a certain beauty to a burnt forest.
    20 hikers spent the night on the edge of the mount lassen national national park trying to evade the rule of having to carry a rather heavy bear canister in the park to protect tje bears from our food. They intended crossing the whole park the next day.
    The location was great, a breeding site for millions of mosquitos (I am not exaggerating here). I fled into my tent.    Read more

Join us:

FindPenguins for iOSFindPenguins for Android

  • 2024© FindPenguins
  • Home
  • About us
  • Blog
  • Group Tracking
  • Press
  • Terms
  • Privacy Policy & Cookies
  • Support
  • Legal notice
  • English