I've walked 800 miles so far

Poststructural Pub
1

Just thought I’d post an update in case anybody is interested.

I’ve walked 800 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail so far. I walked from Campo, California next to the corrugated metal fence that forms our border with Mexico to Bishop California which is about half-way up the state. It’s 800 miles because the trail isn’t a straight line.

Most of the time the trail is like a community of fellow hikers, almost a party on foot. But as time goes on I’ve spent more time alone and found this to be a challenge, especially lately in the Sierras, where I’ve spent whole days alone doing scary things.

I have been walking usually around 20 miles a day. My longest day was 28 miles in Southern California. In the Sierras I’ve been doing 17-19 mile days.

I endured walking through desert with 5.5 liters of water on my back, hoping I’d make it to the next water source. Fortunately these days people leave large caches of water for us poor pilgrims. I lucked out and had very mild weather all through the Southern California deserts. I think only one day was above 100, and most were in the 80s.

I have reached the High Sierra where I have encountered challenges I’ve had trouble facing. The high mountain passes are still covered in snow and are at times slippery due to being wet or icy. Route-finding in the snow is tedious. The altitude challenges me more mentally than physically. I’ve been fearful of some potentially fatal creek crossings still to come. I’ve felt lonely and scared at times because I’ve been doing this alone most of the time.

I ran too low on food and began rationing it. I climbed 6 12,000-13,000 foot mountain passes, the most difficult one eating only a peanut butter and jelly tortilla, an energy bar and a small handful of nuts and raisins before my ramen dinner at the end of the day. I drank liters of lemonade to try to fool my stomach.

Due to altitude (which makes me emotionally volatile) and insufficient food, I left the trail at Bishop Pass thinking I would just go home to the family I missed. When my head became clearer I realized I didn’t want to leave the trail after all.

Instead, I’ve decided to take a break to wait for my boyfriend who has all next week off. We’ll return to the trail together and enjoy some of the beautiful Sierra wilderness. I will skip the potentially fatal creek crossings that lie between me and my goal as well as a few, but not all, of the high passes.

My PCT hike won’t be pure, but it will continue.

It’s strange being home again. Real life happens on the trail. Nothing is better than having everything you need on your back and a community of friendly people everywhere you go. The joy of finding a cooler of fruit in the desert or getting a ride from the same exact total stranger who gave me a ride last week is magical. Being able to order the biscuits and gravy with my eggs, bacon and pancakes is great!

I look forward to getting back on the trail. My trail name is Piper because I play my pennywhistle. People seem to like it, bad as it is.

2

That all sounds really awesome! I’d love to do something like it one day. Best of luck on the trail ahead. :thumbsup:

3

Yikes.

4

That just so does not entice me, but I’m glad you’re having a good time, at any rate.

djm

5

What you’re describing about trail culture, and the personal experience is similar to what I’ve heard from others.

When you first talked about it I wasn’t sure you really meant to go, but I was wrong, huh?

Great experience and kudos to you! Keep us updated.

6

Good for you!!

7

so, do ya think ya; could have picked a worse year?

I’m okay with altitude, it insufficient food that makes me emotionally volatile.

Good timing on the break though! Maybe they’ll get some of the fires sorted out.

Congratulations!!!

8

Sounds like the trip of a lifetime.

Cheers.

9

I walked through one fire that was burning all around me. It was surreal. Living in Southern California where the fires are like fire storms and people run for their lives it’s really strange to see a fire that burns so languidly you can just walk through it.

The sad thing about the fires is that where there were trees mostly there won’t be trees again. Only in the High Sierras have I seen any regrowth of trees in any burn areas I’ve walked through.

In the first 700 miles I can’t remember a stretch longer than one day that I didn’t walk through a burn area. In the following 100 miles I still walked through more than one burn area.

Climate change is real, it’s happening right now, and it’s sudden, not gradual. Don’t expect the forests to be there for your kids. It’s turning to chaparral and desert as we speak.

10

Diane, that is so cool! I hope to be able to do something like that before I’m senile.

11

when i travel the pacific trail or the appalachain trail, that’s when there are going to be nice, quiet, green hovercrafts with attached dining cars and extra oxygen. walking is not my idea of fun. and there better be suprise caches along the way of belgian chocolates and french bread with homemade butter and ice cold sparkling water.

you are taking pics, aren’t you?

12

Another big hike is the “Longest Walk 2”, a Native American group that is crossing the US from the pacific coast to DC. http://www.longestwalk.org/

13

of course she is :smiley:

14

Glad to hear you’re gonna keep going, Diane! What a great way to experience the natural world, and learn a lot about yourself, to boot. I’m envious.

15

Here are the pictures. They’re not all that great. I would just snap a picture of the trail every now and then to remember. In the Sierras my digital camera wouldn’t work above 9000ft. It would work below. Very strange. The screen would just be white and the little door over the lens wouldn’t close and it wouldn’t take a picture. So I used a disposable camera. The disposable gave me poorly exposed pictures and I had to limit the number of pictures each day.

http://picasaweb.google.com/dianesoini

16

Your trip sounds wonderful. I use to have some strange experiences with altitude. Once I thought I was going to fall off the trail, thing was so flat you could hardly roll let alone fall :laughing: I tried to live by James Wilkerson’s book Medicine for Mountaineering Chocolate was a big help for me, M&Ms. :pint: How do you resupply? Post Office?

17

:laughing: yeah, I kinda liked the one on Forester too!

Might want to mess with the naming convention of the Albums, they don’t sort well chronologically.

18

To resupply I send myself a 3.5 gallon bucket up the the trail as I go. It contains things like sunscreen, sections of the guide book, medicines, toiletries, toe nail clippers and sometimes extra food. Also very important is something to wear when I do laundry and a bathing suit because hotels often have a no street clothes in the pool policy.

If I think a town won’t have a decent store I have my boyfriend, who is at home, send a package to the post office. Sometimes if a town has a good store I’ll buy too much food and mail the extra to the next town.

Along the way I’ve stopped at an outlet mall for new shoes and an REI for a new backpack. I’ve also ordered maps and shoes on the Internet. The shoes were a little tricky so I ended up ordering on the phone so I could be sure that they got the right address (it didn’t fit in the web form) and that I got shipping that would actually send to the remote location. The maps were easy because they guy who sells the maps understands the conditions of the hike.

Some unusual things that have happened:

  • I slept one night in an Indian casino. I got a ride to the casino by calling a cab from the trail.
  • I got a ride to town from a guy I met on the trail. The next weekend the same guy picked me up when I was hitchhiking 60 miles ahead.
  • I pushed myself to hike 26 miles one day and when I got to the trailhead, somebody handed me a beer, told me to have a seat in a chair, and a party magically appeared with fellow PCT hikers from all over the trail. It degraded into drunken debauchery. Then I got a ride to a hotel at midnight.
  • I found a trekking umbrella in the trash and have been using it ever since.
  • I found a pair of brand new shoe inserts while sliding down snow on a steep mountain pass on my butt.
  • I found two cold beers on the trail. I didn’t take them, though.
  • I’ve seen only one rattlesnake the entire time. I’ve seen one bear, but not in the Sierras.
19

Wow. Amazing post. Hang in there.

20

Hey! was that snake a Boa? Wow! How big?