This past weekend, I went to PCT Trail Days to meet up with some of my trail family, and to join in on the festivities at Cascade Locks, Oregon.
Driving over the Bridge of the Gods into Cascade Locks was surreal. I remembered walking over that bridge. It was weird to not be a hiker. But by the end of the weekend I was already looking at far out, looking at gear, planning timelines. What if I hiked the trail again? I feel like I have unfinished business with the PCT and there are many, many things that would do differently next time.
By the end of the trail, I had figured out my gear and my shoes. I had figured out the pace that worked for me to hike, although in retrospect I spent much of my time hiking someone else’s pace. What if I could do it differently? For much of the trail, I was afraid to be alone on the scary parts of the trail, and I opted to stay with people who were toxic in favor of not being alone. And then I ended up hiking alone through those sections anyway. What if I could do it differently next time?
I have about 6 or 7 months to train and get back into shape. I was trying to apply to physical therapy school by the end of this year, but with my injuries, things got delayed and I won’t be able to apply this year anyway without killing myself in the process, and I don’t want to do that. So I’ve felt restless recently, wanting to do something, missing the trail. I thought about getting a bike and doing the Great Divide Mountain Bike Trail, but after this weekend, I think it’s the PCT.
One of the things I really struggled with on the trail was the heat, and what I’m thinking about now is structuring the trail in a way that I can hike certain sections first to avoid the heat, and wildfires, and then reverse direction and finish the other sections after once it gets cooler.
I’m thinking about two options – the first is to hike North from the Mexican border to about South Lake Tahoe and then Skip up to Ashland and hike to Canada and then either go back to Ashland and hike South to South Lake Tahoe or go to South Lake Tahoe and hike North to Ashland.
The second option I’m thinking about is hiking out north from the Mexican border again to about South Lake Tahoe. And then going SOBO from the Canadian border back to South Lake Tahoe.
All of these scenarios would help me avoid the heat in Northern California as well as some of the wildfire seasons. Hypothetically. But who knows how things are these days.
When looking at my Lighterpack from last year, my base weight was about 25 lb which is actually kind of crazy heavy, and now my pack is down to about 15 lb. I’ve shaved off 10 lb just by getting rid of random stuff and swapping out a couple things. I also found the absolute right pair of shoes and insoles for me 800 mi into the trail last year. One of my major issues was that my feet grew more than two sizes and I had to keep getting new shoes and I had all kinds of logistical issues getting the right pair that zero drop. I love my Merrell Moab Speed 2 shoes and my Form insoles.
I think I also didn’t have a very good ankle brace, and I’ve since gotten some that are a lot more sturdy and provide a lot more support. So if I were to do this again, I’d probably wear an ankle brace on both ankles and not rely on leukotape or flimsy braces, even if they’re lighter weight.
One of the other things I would do differently is to be completely and utterly ruthless about my pace. I would hike my own hike this time and cut loose anyone who jeopardized it. I’ve developed so much more confidence in my hiking skills after hiking the Sierra by myself and escaping a forest fire alone in Oregon. Not that I’m any kind of expert, but I do kind of know what I’m doing. There were too many times on trail that I deffered to someone else, thinking they had more experience, and it turned out that I had made the right call and should have just listened to myself.
I didn’t write about this in depth in my blog at any point, but there were certain things happening at home that were extremely stressful and quite fucked up, and that really took away a lot of my energy and that will absolutely not be the case next time.
Another thing I would do differently next time is to train differently. I did a lot of walking with my backpack prior to the trail but I could have done even more stair climbs and really working to strengthen my ankles more, and that will be key for keeping my ankles happy. I would probably even want to go up to somewhere at elevation prior to the trail because I live at sea level + the trail starts at about 2,000 ft elevation which doesn’t even sound like much, but but it did get to me.
I have no way of proving this but I think the trail food in and malnutrition probably contributed to some of my injuries and even though I tried to send myself food, I’m pretty sure I didn’t eat enough protein and was lacking in various nutrients. I think there are probably ways of handling that better next time.
I also really mastered planning my day to day by the end of the trail as well as figuring out resupply logistics in town and I think I found myself delayed a lot of times waiting for boxes at the post office or I wasted money sending myself dehydrated food but because I didn’t really know how many days of food I needed, and I ended up wasting a lot of food so I think I could do that a lot better next time.
The person I hiked a good portion of the trail with was overly concerned with having access to Wi-Fi and I think next time I really wouldn’t need to stay in hotels as much as I did last time. I really didn’t mind doing rest days on trail and spending more time outside.
Towards the end of the trail, I also figured out which electrolytes worked for me and that’s a really big thing, especially with dysautonomia and so I think going through the desert could be a lot better next time, especially not hiking with somebody who was rushing me. I did better getting up early and hiking during the cooler parts of the day, and I think that would be key.
Overall, I just think I have a lot more confidence in myself and going into another thru hike would be a better experience. This isn’t an official announcement or anything and I’m not really committing to hiking the trail, it’s just something I’ve been thinking about. I think enough time has passed that the concept of doing another thru hike is now crossing my mind.
It was so nice to see some of my trail family. It’s been hard adjusting back to “normal” life, and feeling like I belong in civilization. There is a wild part of me, that only other wild people understand, and it felt like home to be surrounded by those people again.
At the end of the weekend, one member of the tramily started throwing up and asked us to take him to the emergency room. He likely had norovirus after coming directly to PCT Days from the Appalachian Trail. We all waited at the urgent care for 2 hours for him. He kept saying to go ahead without him, but as always, Warpaint said, “Ohana. You’re family. We never leave anyone behind”.
