[pct-l] Books

[Diane at Santa Barbara Hikes dot com]

On Apr 19, 2009, at 9:42 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:

> Books

The only book I had to read was the guide book. Some evenings I  
barely had enough time to read it. I often fell asleep before the sky  
was dark.

My mom sent me a letter and a magazine article to Agua Dulce. I saved  
it and spent the first night out of Agua Dulce reading it. I realized  
then how much I missed having something to read.

But oddly I never got anything else to read. Instead I had my  
pennywhistle and whiled away my boring moments playing tunes. It  
really helped when a tune would get stuck in my head. I could just  
play the tune away.

Lots of people bring books. They bring just pieces usually, from what  
I've heard. I met a woman who brought magazines. I think magazines  
would have appealed to me more because when I'm hiking I don't have  
the attention span for reading a long piece of literature. However,  
modern marketing and news REALLY SUPER STRONGLY got on my nerves, so  
I probably would have burned any magazines. I think I would have  
really loved having the Lord of the Rings on an iPod, but I always  
feel so tethered to all these needy electronics and never wanted to  
bother with yet one more device to have to charge.

As for water, I'm struggling with the urge to bring too many  
containers. I had capacity for 5 liters and it was too much for me. I  
ended up needlessly hauling around pounds and pounds of extra water.  
I still have the same capacity this year, but it's portioned  
differently. I hope I can overcome my insecurity around water.

It worries me also because today I drank almost 4 liters of water.  
That is so unlike me.