PCT Magic for a Trail Angel
I remember the first postcard we received, right before christmas and long after the hiker season had passed through our small town. It was from Switzerland, an Anne of Green Gables kinda girl, who had only eaten dinner here.
I remember being completely overtaken with smiles and gratitude. Trail magic kind of joy, unexpected, rejuvenating to the soul and such a treasure on my journey of life.
We have since received numerous postcards and letters from around the world. Some chocolate from a mother, months after her son had past, with a note attached that the chocolate had been sitting in her car for months because she kept forgetting to mail it to us. A cookbook that was ordered from amazon, with the shipping label reading, Rachel Angel and Family, ordered while the hiker was on our couch. Birthday presents for the girls come in the mail, and countless messages, photos and updates on their journeys, their stories, their lives. It is my trail magic.
We do a pay it forward service, meaning we do not accept donations, although after leaving for a four day road trip, I did come home to find an envelope with an endearing note and some money, another time a 20 was left between the seats in the back of my car.
The eagerness to repay our kindness is overwhelming, which results in the remarkable reactions when I ask in return for our kindness, they pay it forward….kindness to a stranger.
As the hikers hug me goodbye, I sense a shift in their soul, a whole new way to show kindness to a stranger. In the simple act of just inviting them into your home, your space, your world. Allowing your food, space, material items become our food, space and material items.
I remember after turning down a gift, from a vegan hiker from Germany, he shared that he lives right next to a trail in Germany and he is going to start opening his apartment up for the hikers. I am so excited for him! While he was here, it was his birthday and my 10 year old daughter and her friend looked up and made him a vegan birthday cake. As a roomful of hikers, a couple of dogs, his sister, who had joined him from Germany, to do a section with him and some children, all sang him happy birthday. I could see the kindness and happiness seep past his sore muscles and tired bones, right into the part of himself that rejoices in being alive. Grateful for being born and living this one incredible life, with vegan birthday cakes, in a family home, somewhere in Ca.
We have since received numerous postcards and letters from around the world. Some chocolate from a mother, months after her son had past, with a note attached that the chocolate had been sitting in her car for months because she kept forgetting to mail it to us. A cookbook that was ordered from amazon, with the shipping label reading, Rachel Angel and Family, ordered while the hiker was on our couch. Birthday presents for the girls come in the mail, and countless messages, photos and updates on their journeys, their stories, their lives. It is my trail magic.
We do a pay it forward service, meaning we do not accept donations, although after leaving for a four day road trip, I did come home to find an envelope with an endearing note and some money, another time a 20 was left between the seats in the back of my car.
The eagerness to repay our kindness is overwhelming, which results in the remarkable reactions when I ask in return for our kindness, they pay it forward….kindness to a stranger.
As the hikers hug me goodbye, I sense a shift in their soul, a whole new way to show kindness to a stranger. In the simple act of just inviting them into your home, your space, your world. Allowing your food, space, material items become our food, space and material items.
I remember after turning down a gift, from a vegan hiker from Germany, he shared that he lives right next to a trail in Germany and he is going to start opening his apartment up for the hikers. I am so excited for him! While he was here, it was his birthday and my 10 year old daughter and her friend looked up and made him a vegan birthday cake. As a roomful of hikers, a couple of dogs, his sister, who had joined him from Germany, to do a section with him and some children, all sang him happy birthday. I could see the kindness and happiness seep past his sore muscles and tired bones, right into the part of himself that rejoices in being alive. Grateful for being born and living this one incredible life, with vegan birthday cakes, in a family home, somewhere in Ca.
I have never seen so many hikers leave a piece of cake with only one bite out of it. Not Wrong Way, he gleefully ate his entire piece.
The most impactful gift we received, was from a young hiker, who had stayed with us for a night. As I was dropping him off at the trailhead, he reached into his pack and pulled out a 1879 large dollar coin. His hand was holding it in such a manner, that as I focused on the date all I saw was the 79. I gleefully exclaimed that was the year I was born. He looked oddly at me for a moment and then proceeded to laugh and remove his thumb from the 18, revealing 1879. Reassuring him that was not the year I was born, he requested that I would give this coin to my 9 year old daughter. He had no reason other than he had been carrying it a long time and it was time to pass it on. That afternoon, after I had gotten Emma from school, I gave her the coin and her immediate response was a gleeful declaration, “When I hike the pct I am going to give this to a kid of a family that I stay with, and when that kid grows up and does the pct they can give it to another kid of a family that they stay with and we can keep it on the trail forever.” With each year my daughter exclaims her gleeful declaration and is planning to walk the pct when she is 18.
The magic on trail that comes to a trail angel is undescribable, humbling, renews my faith in humanity, broadens my world and the world of my children. And for this I am forever grateful.
The most impactful gift we received, was from a young hiker, who had stayed with us for a night. As I was dropping him off at the trailhead, he reached into his pack and pulled out a 1879 large dollar coin. His hand was holding it in such a manner, that as I focused on the date all I saw was the 79. I gleefully exclaimed that was the year I was born. He looked oddly at me for a moment and then proceeded to laugh and remove his thumb from the 18, revealing 1879. Reassuring him that was not the year I was born, he requested that I would give this coin to my 9 year old daughter. He had no reason other than he had been carrying it a long time and it was time to pass it on. That afternoon, after I had gotten Emma from school, I gave her the coin and her immediate response was a gleeful declaration, “When I hike the pct I am going to give this to a kid of a family that I stay with, and when that kid grows up and does the pct they can give it to another kid of a family that they stay with and we can keep it on the trail forever.” With each year my daughter exclaims her gleeful declaration and is planning to walk the pct when she is 18.
The magic on trail that comes to a trail angel is undescribable, humbling, renews my faith in humanity, broadens my world and the world of my children. And for this I am forever grateful.
Beautiful Rachel! Brought tears to my eyes, thinking of Emma hiking the PCT with that coin in her pocket waiting to pass it on to somebody else.
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