[RedHot25]

Well, to bring this thread somewhat full circle, kudos to Farkas in his reflections: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calga...iser-1.6554569

After 162 days and thousands of kilometres travelled, Jeromy Farkas is days away from completing a campaign like no other.

Earlier this year, the former Calgary mayoral candidate set out to hike the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). It's a 4,270-kilometre route running from the Mexican border, through California, Oregon and Washington and back north to Canada.

He set out to raise funds for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Calgary and Area — and has collected about $115,000 so far — but as he nears the end of the hike, Farkas says he's also had time to reflect.

"I thought that I understood what teamwork was. And in hindsight, I really didn't. Not until you're climbing an ice wall hand in hand with somebody beside you. If they fall, you fall. And if you fall, they fall," he said in an interview on Daybreak Alberta.

"It doesn't click until you're in situations like that. And I think it played out in some of my political career. Looking back, in hindsight, I realize there's quite a bit of ideological jackassery that just has no place out here on the trail."

All of that is behind him now, Farkas says, and he doesn't want to beat himself up over things he could've done differently.

"I think I got a lot of things right when I was in politics. I got a lot of things wrong, but there's a lot of time out here to think, to dwell, but in a constructive way.… I think it's really been eye opening," he said.

"The trail doesn't care about your cockiness, it doesn't care about your overconfidence. It doesn't care about any of that. It only cares about what you can bring to the table and the work that you can accomplish with the people who are out here with you."

As he approaches the finish line of his journey, he says he's grown in ways he never realized he needed to.

"If I walked into the southern California desert the same way that I walked as a city councillor into some of these city council meetings, I wouldn't have escaped alive," he said.

"The fact that so many former political rivals have stepped up in such a big way to support me has been eye opening to me on a personal level."

Farkas set out to raise $50,000 but says he reached that goal before he left Canada. He then aimed for $100,000, which was raised halfway through his trip. The goal is now $125,000.