The Third Leg of Walking People Out of Poverty Has Begun

walkingpeopleoutofpoverty.ca is the personal blog of Peter Thorpe, long-time Opportunity International Canada supporter and Walking People Out of Poverty founder. For Dan Murray’s blog and information on OIC, please click here.

Today is July 31, 2023 and I am extremely excited this morning as I am on the way to Trout Lake in Washington to begin the third leg of my Walking People Out of Poverty initiative.

I also feel very blessed because I have the Opportunity International Canada Chairman, John Mach and the CEO, Dan Murray sat on either side of me as we head towards Port Angeles. Both John and Dan are walking with me as far as Stehekin because they have to depart the trail in order to get back to Canada in time for a Board Meeting. From Stehekin its a pretty straight forward, and relatively short, hike to the Northern Terminal of the PCT, and the following day its a further 8 miles before crossing into Canada. My goal is then to head to Manning Park Lodge where I have to figure out how to get home. I’m hoping during the 3 1/2 week journey that I come up with a Eureka moment!!

Upon arrival into Port Angeles, we are renting a car to drive down to Portland, and from there we catch a shuttle bus to Hood River where we are being picked up by Gerry who is one of the many Trail Angels that make the PCT function like a well oiled machine.

Fast forward and it’s now 8-30 pm and our travel plans got shot to pieces. It turned out that in order to reach the bus we had to take a free shuttle bus 4 stops before a bit of a hike that included crossing 4 railway tracks. We were also unsure of the bus schedules so made a decision on the fly to get an Uber down to Hood River as we felt this would be a swifter and more methodical means of transportation.

The first Uber drove right by us!

The 2nd Uber driver stopped and we were soon on our way. We were making great time when all of a sudden Dan realized he didn’t have his reading glasses. At this time we were about a 20-25 minute drive from the airport. We were on a very busy highway and had to exit at the first opportunity, where the driver could then pull over to allow Dan to check his backpack but unfortunately they were not there so we had to turn around.

We got back to the airport and after about a 20 to 25 minute delay Dan emerged successful with his glasses in hand. All’s well that ends well!

We now had to endure fighting the rush hour traffic as we made our way back down the highway towards Hood River, and our driver Jose did a great job in making up for lost time. We eventually reached our destination and now it was a case of waiting for Gerry to arrive to pick us up for the final leg of the journey from Hood River to Trout Lake. It was a beautiful drive through stunning country with lots and lots of trees, and I sincerely hope they never have to endure the wildfires that have ravaged Canada or California.

Well it’s time for bed now as we have a big day tomorrow. We have a 20 mile day planned in very hot temperatures which will make it quite a challenge.

The Third Leg of Walking People Out of Poverty is About to Begin!

© Walking People out of poverty 2018