(These journal entries are now a week behind. Events described as happening tonight actually happened last Thursday. I apologize for the confusion.)

Tonight, I sat on the ground, pretending I was just a few feet away from my tent somewhere along the Pacific Crest Trail. It was a challenge clearing away the sights and sounds of a suburban neighborhood and replacing them with an authentic mental representation of the wilderness. Had I known I would be exercising my imagination so vigorously, I would have stretched my brain beforehand.

My journey into Make Believe Woods was spawned by events earlier this evening. A few hours ago, I was at the Morgan Hill Public Library, listening to Barbara Egbert talk about her book, Zero Days, which recounts her family's 2004 Pacific Crest Trail hike. Four years ago, Barbara, Gary (her husband), and Mary (her daughter) successfully completed the 2,650-mile trek. What makes their journey particularly noteworthy, besides the fact that they accomplished it as a family, is that Mary was only ten years old at the time, making her the youngest person to ever thru-hike the trail.

My favorite part of the evening's talk was the slide show. Normally, a twenty-six-minute photo presentation would put me to sleep, but this one did no such thing. The photos brought the hike to life. They enhanced the stories Egbert put on paper, adding a dimension to the people and places she described. I was awake and alert the entire time.

I left the library with visions of completing my own long-distance hike one day, and the visions were still strong when I visited my sit spot hours later. Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail sounds very appealing, but there are countless steps I have to take (figuratively and literally) before I can seriously contemplate the possibility. The key is to start small. For tonight, at least, that means spending twenty minutes imagining camping in the wilderness while sitting in the comfort of my own backyard. (A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, even if it's a mental one.)