The Importance of Friends Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
Read Time / 2 Minutes
Theme / Friendship
My wife, Jan, spent most of September backpacking the John Muir Trail (JMT) in the California Sierra Mountains with our friends Michelle and Carissa. The JMT is a 211-mile-long wilderness thru-hike, starting in Yosemite National Park and finishing on the summit of Mount Whitney (the tallest mountain in the lower 48 states).
They spent six months preparing for the trip: getting permits, figuring out logistics, dehydrating food, and training with full backpacks. This is a post that Jan made the final day of the hike at their last off-trail resupply point. It’ll speak for itself.
“I’m calling it,” Michelle said this morning, after hobbling to and from the bathroom. Just like that, our JMT journey came to an end.
Are we disappointed? A little. We were so close—just two big passes left: Forrester and Whitney. So close. Are we proud? Absolutely. We spent 19 days, 185 miles, in the backcountry tackling the hardest thing any of us had ever attempted.
Ironically, it wasn’t Michelle’s cancer that took us off the trail. It was a slip on a wet rock and a strained groin. And yet, she kept going for another 48 hours. Michelle says she doesn’t even know how she made it down from Kearsarge Pass. A trail angel carried her pack, but she still had to walk more than four miles down on her own. And she did. Our girl is incredible.
But this journey was never just about getting from point A to point B. It was about the experience—the one God had planned for us. It was about soaking in His creation, leaning on the prayers of others, and doing something truly difficult together.
Some have asked why Carissa and I didn’t go on to finish the JMT. Carissa and I never even considered finishing without Michelle. That was never an option.
One post in the John Muir Trail Hikers 2025 Facebook group really moved us. Early on, we’d crossed paths with Brian, who later shared a few highlights from his journey. One of them was this:
Most Inspiring Story: The Idaho ladies I met on the way to Red’s Meadow—especially “Honey Badger,” who was hiking the JMT with Stage 4 cancer. And to think I sometimes find myself complaining about my nagging knee… I said a prayer for you every night, Honey Badger. Go, go, go...
Michelle, our Honey Badger, is ferocious, tough, tenacious—a fighter through and through. And though the JMT chapter is now closed, Michelle is far from finished. Her fight against cancer continues—and so does her strength.
Finally, find yourself a friend—or even better, two—who will stand by you, do life with you, lift you up, and challenge you to be your best self. It’s worth it.
Ecclesiastes 4:9–10, Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor. If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.”
Doug Hanson, MBA
Wealth Advisor
208.697.3699
doug@christianwm.com
