ampamp34Something will happen to me on Desolation Peakampamp8230I can feel it.ampamp34ampamp160ampamp9In the summer of 1956 Jack Kerouac hitchhiked from Mill Valley CA to the North Cascades to spend two months serving as a fire lookout for the US Forest Service. Taking only the Diamond Sutra for reading material he intended to spend his time in deep contemplation and to achieve enlightenment. He wrote in his journal that he planned ampamp34to concentrate on emptiness of self other selves living beings and universal self.ampamp34 In letters to friends he proclaimed ampamp34Something will happen to me on Desolation Peakampamp8230I can feel it.ampamp34ampamp160ampamp9Kerouacs experience on Desolation Peak forms the climax of his novel The Dharma Bums and has also been depicted in part 1 of Desolation Angels and a chapter in his nonfiction book Lonesome Traveler.