Kennedy Meadows (north)

I'm camped here Deadman campground, soon to take off on a five day horse packing trip. I'll be with four friends, one guide and a cook---named Sandy. Not to mention horses enough for all of us and whatever gear/food needed for the trip. Everyone else is going to lake and fly fish but this is wasted on me. I'll just ride till we get somewhere and then hike around while my friends search for the perfect trout. 

I attempted to shuttle hikers up to Sonora pass but no one needed to go today. When I drove up there this afternoon, no one was there needing a ride back! I tried, I really did. No matter, I invited three PCT hikers to sleep in my campsite tonight so at least I can help that way. 

I'm thinking there is a pile of fun in my future. 

Gear Sale

In order to fund my quest for the lightest tent possible I must, finally sell off some of my other gear. Not all of it mind you, just some of the best stuff.
Here goes.

A Torsolite by Pacific Outdoor Equipment. This was the first really wonderful torso pad that wouldn't break the back of the user. It is truly for the torso only and most people use their packs under their legs, or another closed cell pad under the whole thing. It weighs 8.8 ounces and it is made of tough fabric. It measures 18 inches at the top, 13 inches at the bottom and it is 32 inches long. This would be good for folks who want the extra comfort of an inflatable but don't want to worry so much about the thing springing a leak. Check out the reviews on the web. I paid $79.95 for it and will sell for $40 plus shipping. I probably have 20 nights on the pad. It did not come with a stuff sack.

The Notch by Tarptent. I purchased this last year (2012) at the Kick Off and probably used it on 15 or 20 nights of my section of the PCT. It weighs 26 ounces without poles or stakes. I used Ti stakes and my trekking poles in place of dedicated poles. This is a very comfortable tent and very popular. I would keep it but, I need to fund the new tent. I added two additional attachment strings to the peak of both sides as I was in some gnarly desert winds and feared the tent would blow down. The second picture shows what I added and that I seam sealed the whole thing afterwards. SOLD!

The Notch

You can see the attachment with super light string.

And here you can see where the attachments are. On both sides.

One more cool thing about this tent is that the net portion can be removed and either used on it's own or you can use only the outside. There are two very functional vestibules. Quite a versatile structure.

I paid $259 and will sell it for $180, plus shipping.



I am also thinking of selling my The One, made by Gossamer Gear. It is a great little shelter, weighing in at 17.4 ounces on my scale. I say I am thinking of selling it because one of the zippers is acting up and I will have to see if I can fix it before actually selling it. I bought it in 2009 and paid $275 for it. I used it over two or three seasons for short jaunts of a few weeks so I probably have 30 to 40 nights on the tent. I just found out this will cost me $75 to get the zippers replaced so I don't know if it is worth selling once I factor in the cost of shipping it back and forth. Any ideas?

The One

OK, that is it for now. Let me know if you are interested in anything here.

New thoughts

I was chatting with my acupuncturist Caroline a while back and we got on the topic of my hike and how I felt about the trip. I recounted some of the issues I was discussing in the previous post when she said, "You know, you can try again. Just because you weren't successful the first time doesn't mean you won't be successful if you try again." Silly as it sounds I had never really given myself the option of making a second attempt. I think mostly because of personal responsibilities and the complications of leaving home for such a long time. Oddly enough her words had an immediate impact on my mood and since that time I've been seriously considering taking another wack at a thru hike. Caroline told me she and her partner are planning to hike most of the trail in 2014 and that I was welcome to join them when they started hiking north from Idylwild next spring. I don't know if I would be able to keep up with them as they are both excellent athletes but the idea of having people to share the experience with is appealing, on many levels.  

If I am to make another attempt there are something's I know I must do differently if I am going to give myself the best chance of being successful. First, I must start the trail at least twenty pounds lighter than I started the trail last time. Thirty would be even better. Why? Simply put, less weight on my bones is less weight to carry up and down hills. Add in gear, water and food and you can see why less weight where I can control it will be be beneficial, to put it mildly. 

Secondly, I must minimize my home contacts to town stops. My constant connection with home was one of the problems I had in getting grounded on the trail. Always in two places mentally I never did well at either and it made the hard times even harder. So, no in between resupply stops contact will help. Or so I imagine. 

Thirdly, I must eat better. No candy bars and other empty foods, simply because they are easy to carry and get in towns. They effect my energy levels and I wonder if some of the difficulty I had in 2012 had to do with the crap food I ate. It's easier to eat that way on trail but it isn't a good choice for my overall health and mental well being. In this vein I'm going to contact a super hiker I know, with the trail name of Shroomer, who managed to eat well on the last big hike he did. He'll be a wealth of information, he's a master cook and a generous soul. 

Last but not least is the physical shape I must be in to have the highest likelihood of success. That simply means miles on my feet with weight in my pack. Nothing fancy. 

365 days later

Three hundred and sixty-five days ago I embarked on a hike that was to have lasted six months and tallied 2,650 some miles. The hours since that day have been filled with wonder, hardship, elation and sadness. I managed to hike <700> miles before I threw in the towel yet since the day I quit, I have been in a state of confusion. I tried, I really did, to be OK with choosing to stop hiking the trail but somehow or other I just could never make it stick. Yes, I had nasty blisters; yes, I had some kind of weird stomach bug; yes, 700 miles is a long way - and a great accomplishment if that was the aim. But my goal was something else and no matter which way I look at it, I just didn’t make it happen.

Last winter was tough. Aside from my usual lack-of-sun blues, lurking over my shoulder was this failure. This not-accomplishing of a dream I have had for more than ten years. Why wasn’t I able to stay on the trail? Am I not tough enough to struggle through the hard times to make something extraordinary happen? Where did my will power go? I’ve managed to live through 60 years of life…what did I do wrong?

Too many questions, not enough answers. Over this winter I would talk with friends and they would, understandably and kindly, respond with “You walked 700 miles, I couldn’t do that!” True, or maybe not true, but this is what they believe about themselves, and me. If I could believe this as well there would be no problem. But, as I’ve stated before, it just wouldn’t stick. I’ve continued to carry around this nagging sadness that would not go away, no matter what I did. All around it’s been a tough winter.

Spring is here. The class of 2013 is hitting the trail and they are doing much the same as I did last year.  Feelings of hope, anxiety, excitement and fear rule the day for most wanna-be thru hikers and I imagine there are lots of these kinds of feelings floating around in the southern part of my state. While I sit here in my hometown, many miles away and surrounded by green grass, citrus trees and an ocean breeze, kindred spirits are moving north. I pull weeds and they make miles. My thoughts are ever with them.

So I find myself asking, what are the qualities they have that I don’t have? What could I have done differently? What is it? Why? How come?

As I said, it’s been a very hard winter…

FINALLY!

Sorry about my lack of posting here. What is wrong with me? Well, my brain went from trail things to home things in the speed of light. I managed to hang tight till my home was vacated and since then, I've been cleaning, planting flowers and generally nesting. I've thought many times about this blog and what I want to say about my trip but somehow the words have remained in my brain and haven't pushed their way forward. I think I was feeling pressure to sum up the whole shebang in one go but really, this is to much to put into one post. So I have decided not to sum up the whole thing and just post my current thoughts about my hike and how I might have done things differently to get a different outcome... as in finish the trail in one go.

Three things I could have done differently

1. I spoke to Angela on most days. One would think, as I did, that this would be a good thing. Logically it would be good to have home support as much as possible, yes? But as it turns out, no. Daily contact from home made it harder to be where I was. I always knew what was happening at home and when things got hard on the trail, my thoughts went to home and how much I was missing and really, what the hell was I doing out here anyway? In case anybody wonders, it is really hard to be in two places at once. As a result I did a lousy job at both.

2. I really should have started the trail with 30 less pounds on my frame. I had hoped I could drop weight quickly but for whatever evil reason I didn't, and the extra weight played havoc with my body. Those deep blisters I had were a direct result of pounding, day after day on my old dogs. Plus, just the general fatigue of carrying thirty pounds of weight on top of the pack weight I carried. Do the math and it doesn't bode well for long distance success.

3. Lastly, I would have been helped by hiking more training miles before the trip started. My goal was to be up to 15 miles a day, three times a week prior to starting the trail but the reality turned out to be more like 12 miles, 2 or 3 times a week. That doesn't seem like much of a difference, and without the other challenges it might not have been too much trouble but with all the other things factored in, it was problematic.

People have been very kind to me. Saying that 700 miles is a lot (and it is) and they would never be able to do it, etc. All true maybe but still, I will probably always feel some disappointment at not meeting my goal of thru hiking the PCT in one go.

                         People on the trail looking out for eachother. A nice thing.

September 6th Home

Phew! I'm home. The last two days were full of road miles with yesterday coming in at an eight hour day. Just like a job-yikes! My truck is filled to the gills with gear, treasures of every kind and five weeks of accumulated dirt and dust. I can't move back into my place for three more weeks so it looks like I'll be juggling everything for a bit more time. I must remain calm...

This will be my last post for a while. I will be doing a recap here in the near future, once my brain filters through these last few months and pops out something intelligent, or at least intelligible. I'll have a long list of people to thank when I come back and hopefully more photos. So don't hold your breath, that would be counterproductive, but do check back in here in a couple of weeks.

Until then... roadside blackberries.

September 4th Hwy 5 South

Sitting in a Black Bear Diner, waiting for my salad to arrive. I left Eugene this morning and I made it to Grants Pass just in time for a lunch break. Yum. I've been jonesing for this salad for days. Hope it's good.

I am definitely ready to get home. I've visited myself out for the time being, even though I haven't seen everyone I had hoped to see. There just never seems to be time... or maybe energy, to get everything done. Oh well, next time.

Over these last few weeks my mind has been in two distinct places. Back on the trail and what that has meant to me, as well as what I've learned about myself in the process. Another part of my brain has been in the planning stages of the new building projects I've got rolling about in the 'ole noggin. This sure makes the miles fly by!

That's it for now.