Hola,

 

I'm sure some of you have been wondering what happened to me. Let me give you a brief account. On the 28th of April I started hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, which goes from the Mexican border to Canada. I had been hoping to do it in 4 months but soon found out that was an overly ambitious goal, it took me almost 5 months, 151 days to be exact. I hiked mostly alone for the first 3 weeks or so and then hiked with others for the remainder of the time. It was both easier and harder than I expected. I thought the hiking part, doing the miles every day, would be easy, but I really got tired of hiking every day and many times was tempted to quit. I expected the mountain passes and river crossings in the Sierras would be the hardest part, but that turned out to be less of a problem than I had feared. It was hard and at times dangerous but God took us through without any real trouble. I had great hiking partners who both made it possible for me to do the hike by providing the skills I didn't have, as well as making it a delightful time through their friendships.

 

After the hike I spent some time in the L.A. area and then drove to Minnesota to say goodbye to my family. I then flew to Florida and spent a couple of days with friends from Parkridge Baptist Church, whom I have worked with in Peru. I arrived in Lima, Peru on Monday morning and will be heading down to Arequipa and Cotahuasi the beginning of the week. In the meantime, I will be visiting friends here and in Huaraz, about 8 hours north of here by bus.

 

If you haven't seen my hiking blog, please check it out at the following address:http://360.yahoo.com/vichansonperu

 

 There are daily journal entries, each with a photo, as well as a slide show of about 300 pictures in the photo section.

 

Thanks for your prayers and encouragement, it was a great experience and I'm so thankful for the opportunity to have done it.

 

Dios les bendiga,

 

Vic