The Lords of the PCT, part three

I talked to Erin and Michael last week while I was still in pre-production for the epic trilogy, The Lords of the PCT. I asked Michael, "Who do you think you are in Lord of Rings: Frodo or Sam?"

"Probably Merry or Pippin," he responded.

"Michael, that was not one of your options," I patiently replied. "Frodo or Sam?"

"I guess Samwise," he sighed. "I carry a lot of stuff."

I asked my sister the same question: "Erin, if you were in the Lord of the Rings, would you be Frodo or Sam?"

"Definitely Sam," Erin said immediately. "I'm not as whiny as Frodo."

(For this reason I have left my casting choices in LotPCT rather vague.)
(Besides, it's obvious that both Erin and Michael would really be Eowyn. They're much too tall to be hobbitses.)

My friends, it is with great pleasure that I present to you:

THE RETURN OF THE HANLEYS




If you can't see the video here, check it out on Youtube.

As I write, Erin and Michael are within hours of finishing their hike. They'll be back in Seattle by late tomorrow.

Jorge and Longlegs, I am so proud of you!

With love,
Megan

The Lords of the PCT

Dear ones,

Erin and Michael are within a stone's throw of Canada-- at least if the stone is a good flyer. In celebration of their (knock on wood) finishing the hike, I've made them a little movie or three.
This is part one:

THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE PCT

If you can't see the video, you can also watch it by clicking here.

We're almost there, dear readers!
Love,
Megan

1/6th of the Way There!

Dearest readers,

Please forgive the social media intern's silence. I have had a busy few weeks. BUT I am back with news from the PCT!

Michael passed through Agua Dulce, CA this weekend, about 50 miles north of Los Angeles. By my calculations, that means that he's about 1/6 of the way to Canada. He took a zero day to rest, but I did not manage to catch up with him by phone. I was busy performing and planning all sorts of interesting, secretive things with the Yes Lab (check us out), but I still felt bad to miss his call.

Luckily, I still have many interesting updates.

1) First, here's an excerpt of a beautiful letter that I received from Michael last week:

Yesterday I climbed up and over a 9,000 foot ridge and then traversed a snowy hillside. I walked 18 miles down switchbacks to lose 6,000 hard earned vertical feet. I reached a water source and curled up in the shade to wait for the cooler evening to cross the last 5 miles of desert floor. As I get up to walk my final push, the wind kicks up to about 40 mph out of the Northwest and I plod my way at about a 30 degree slant [here he sketches a picture of a stick figure falling forwards] when all of the sudden I just found myself laughing as hard as I could. The situation was so ridiculous. My feet hurt, my knee ached, I was tired, dead tired, and here this crazy wind was trying to blow me back. I naturally proceeded to narrate my life as if I was in a movie trailer, put out my arms like I was an airplane, and composed ever so slightly ridiculous poems about my adventure. A giant smile spread across my face and the last few miles flew by. With love, Michael

2) I thought this episode was very theatrical, so I decided to make a movie about it. At first I thought I could use a hair dryer to play The Big Wind, but it kept knocking my Michael over. So I decided to cut the hair dryer and replace it with a sexier, though no less dangerous, adversary. That's Hollywood, kids.

More soon! Go Michael Go!

Much love,
Social Media Intern Megan

100 miles down!

Hey team, Erin sends this update from Michael. I unfortunately missed his call! Bad, bad social media intern.

"Here's what I heard from Michael:
- On Friday afternoon he made it to Warner Springs and was camping out at their Community Center for the night. He'd thought about pressing on that day but the promise of a pancake breakfast in the morning was too enticing.
- His first day of hiking he had to make it about 20 miles before he'd get to a water source. He started hiking at 6am when the trail angels [note from Megan: not a mystical term but hikerspeak for people who help trekkers by leaving water, providing shelter, and in this case driving hikers to the trailhead] dropped him off and made it to Lake Morena by 2pm. Translation: He kicked some ass starting Day 1.
- Miguelito said that he wrote you a letter around Day 2 or 3. Day 2 involved hiking in the rain for most of the day and then camping out on a very cold and windy ridge. Day 2 was not the highlight of the trip and he said that his letter to you was a lot more miserable-sounding than the rest of the time has been.
- Around Day 3 or 4, he met up with two other dudes and he's been hiking with them ever since. Hiking in a group with two other random guys seems to be making the long days much more enjoyable. He's ahead of schedule at the moment and will most likely roll in to Idlywild around Tuesday night.
- Michael and his new friends were quite happy to reach the 100 mile mark. Little victories!
- I'm heading down to Kickoff on Thursday [and will pick up Michael on the way for the celebration that marks the beginning of PCT hiking season... Michael started early to beat the masses, of course] We'll give you a call sometime on Friday once we are together."

So they're on their way! More updates later this week.