Thoughts From The Trail

Sunrise in the mountains

As I walk mile after mile, day after day, I have the time on the trail to think about what I really want to get out of this experience.  How do I want to spend my time and what do I want to see?  I don't mind the challenge of walking all day, every day.  What I do mind is feeling the pressure to go a specified number of miles without having the time to enjoy where I am at the present moment.  Sometimes I need time to take off my shoes and air my feet and dry my socks, but because I am a slower hiker, I often feel I must only take a five minute break, grab a snack and eat while I walk.  I pass other hikers sitting under a tree eating, writing in their journals, enjoying the view.  Later, that same hiker will overtake me.  They've enjoyed their day, AND put in the miles.

Hot, dirty feet!

Happy feet in frigid creek!

Considering that I drew a permit at least 6 weeks later that what would have been ideal, plus I'm older and slower, plus unexpected things come up such as weather, injuries or equipment problems, adjustments to the itinerary must be made.  Thankfully, Marv has been a tremendous help reading blogs of hikers ahead of me and other research to help me decide how to proceed.  He has become much more than a resupply guy.  He has been promoted to trail advisor and experience planner.  Major adjustments have had to be made and will be shared as I write future blog posts.  Marv has shared with me surveys that have been done over the last several years as to what different sections of the trail have to offer.  We are able to look at statistics of what parts of the trail the majority of hikers loved and the parts they didn't enjoy.  Since I have limited time left (I'm still in California), and want to enjoy my time more, we are making a new plan. Priority is given to:

• What are the most epic portions of the trail, not to be missed?
• Which portions can be skipped as less interesting, or that could be hiked in other years in small sections as independent hikes?
• What are the elevation gains and losses in order to allow more days when more climbing is required?
• How much flexibility can be put into the itinerary for zero days or just to more thoroughly enjoy certain areas of the trail, or to navigate unexpected technical portions that just require more time to pass through.

The things I love:

• Early morning hiking, then watching the sun come up.
• Taking mid-morning and late afternoon breaks to cook major meals (especially if it is near a water source)
• Soaking my feet or taking a dip in cold water during a hot hiking day.
• Beautiful forests and vistas.
• Wildflowers and mountain meadows. 
• Nice flat camping sites.
• Sleeping outside in the fresh air with the tent flap open to the stars.
• Reading in my tent in the evening. 

 
Things I like - not so much:

• Hiking in the desert.  Especially when it is hot and dusty and there is seldom anything interesting to look at.
• Animals bumping my tent in the middle of the night.
• Pack problems, when my day is spent adjusting to move pain from one place to another. I've come to hate the red pack, and not for its color.  It is a torture device!  Not near as comfortable as my ultralight Exos.
• Eating when I'm not hungry (happens more frequently, as nothing sounds good except crackers...I love multigrain crackers anytime)
• Hiking steep uphill, especially if it goes on all day.
• Hiking in wet shoes.
• Mile after mile of rocky, technical trail...what I call the ankle twisters. 

Ankle twisting trail

After the dessert section, Marv has a solar job further north in Bakersfield, CA.  This is a good time for me to move further north as well.  Hopefully, I'll get to higher elevations and cooler weather.  Just before we left Casa Grande we had the frame of our new 5th wheel reinforced and the trailer raised to accommodate our high-sitting 4-wheel drive truck.  As we are traveling down the freeway, all of a sudden the right rear of the trailer is way over to one side.  We slow down, take the next exit and find a flat place to park.  Marv quickly figures out that the bolts holding the springs to the axles were not properly torqued when the work was done, and now one has broken and one leaf of one of the springs is missing.  We unhook the trailer and I stay with the trailer while Marv drives to the next town (20 miles away) to find a part to at least temporarily fix the problem.  Luckily, he was able to get us back on the road for the few miles me had to go to our destination.  He did a permanent fix after he finished his solar job.

Thank goodness this guy can fix anything!

While Marv is working, it gives me a few days to heal my feet and work on a new itinerary, based on all the points I made above.  It turned out to be a good time to be off the trail.  Summer Solstice is "Hike Naked Day" on the PCT.  Again, I'm too old and modest to hike naked, but others on the trail have no problem as they post their pics on the PCT Class of 2018 Facebook page.