Trek for Parkinson’s Disease Awareness

Trek for Parkinson’s Awareness

Life is a Trip, Take a Trek

April is Parkinson’s Disease (PD) awareness month. I want to bring this to your attention to help spread the word that, “We need to find a cure for Parkinson’s Disease. and to introduce you to someone who is close to me that has PD. My younger brother Ron, I will refer to him as RonBo, has been diagnosed with PD for a few years now.

What is Parkinson’s

Parkinson’s involves the malfunction and death of vital nerve cells in the brain, called neurons. Parkinson’s primarily affects neurons in the an area of the brain called the substantia nigra. Some of these dying neurons produce dopamine, a chemical that sends messages to the part of the brain that controls movement and coordination. As PD progresses, the amount of dopamine produced in the brain decreases, leaving a person unable to control movement normally.

RonBo has been a hiking buddy of mine since we were little kids. Our parents would load their five kids into the family station wagon and head up to the sierras for a family vacation of packing into the back country. These trips would get our legs ready for the coming football season, expose us to the great outdoors, and would provide memories that to this day are my most treasured.

Kicking Up a Dusty Trail

RonBo has continued to venture into the Sierra Nevada back country through most, if not all, of his adult life. Taking trips with family members, introducing and sharing with friends the experience of the High Sierra. Reaching new heights, discovering fresh vistas, and kicking up a dusty trail. And it all comes back to, “Where are you going next”.

There is this spiritual impact that the back country provides. You become aware that you are part of something bigger, and nature provides this resonance with power, subtle beauty, and the awesomeness of sleeping under the stars.

Family in the Sierras

Experiencing a backpack trip provides this great sense of accomplishment. You plan and prepare. You experience great hardship, climbing a mountain pass, and are rewarded with inspiration that touches all your senses.

The most rewarding part of backpacking is the ability to share this experience with others. You not only relate to nature, but you strengthen the bond of family and friends alike; sitting around the camp fire at night, preparing a meal, sitting on a rock eating lunch, or taking a dip in a high mountain lake. These experiences, and others, give great material for stories to be shared, and remembered for years to come.

Sierra Campfire

Another glorious Sierra day in which one seems to be dissolved and absorbed and sent pulsing onward we know not where. Life seems neither long nor short, and we take no more heed to save time or make haste than do the trees and stars. This is true freedom, a good practical sort of immortality. – My First Summer in the Sierra (1911) chapter 2.

John Muir –

Life is a Trip, So Take a Trek

Take a Trek for Parkinson’s Disease

So RonBo has planned to increase the awareness of PD by taking a Trek along the John Muir Trail(JMT). This will be no easy hike. It covers 200+ miles. He will start the trip by hiking up Mount Whitney then continuing over varied passes, and through deep canyons all the way to Yosemite Valley. This will take approximately 4 weeks.

John Muir Trail Map

The JMT will not only test RonBo’s capacity as a backpacker, but demonstrate that managing “His Parkinson’s” takes the help of those close to him, and people he will never know, all pulling together to be apart of something bigger than themselves. Together, we can have something to do with finding a cure for Parkinson’s Disease.

RonBo is planning to have close friends, family and other eager hikers accompany him along the way and/or provide  food drops to help make this trip successful. So if there is a way you can contribute, jump in with any way you see fit. Venture in for a few days, or be in Mammoth toward the latter part of July 2013. Follow along with RonBo on his website

If you wish to donate to the TeamFox Parkinson’s Research.

You can do so by visiting Ron Bauer’s website:

Hiking For a Cure

He is doing this through TeamFox (visit his personal TeamFox site here).

Check out RonBo’s website. He has provided some great content on the John Muir Trail. You can keep informed of the planning and arrangements that are being made. If you care to add to your Things to Do This Summer List just give myself, or RonBo a shout-out. It is all about experiencing the backcountry, adding some kindle to friendship, and increasing the awareness of Parkinson’s Disease, and touching the heart of someone that is very special in my life.

My Little Bro – Ron.

My Little Bro-Ron

Related articles

• Parkinson’s Awareness Week (buzzydoesmountainmayhem.wordpress.com)
• Making the Best of Life with Parkinson’s: Interview with Davis Phinney (http://pdpatient.wordpress.com/2012/04/02/exclusive-interview-with-davis-phinney-13/)

Posted by Randy Bauer