[pct-l] Contemporary Thru Hiking

[Scott Bryce]

Sara Dyehouse wrote:
> Ultimately, I may make it only a week or a month.  Sure, I will be
> disappointed if I don't make it to Canada, but I hope that I will be
> more proud that I did all that it takes to go and that I succeeded as
> long as I did.  Somebody on this list said something to the effect
> that the real failures are the ones who don't go at all.  I agree.

This attitude is so right on!

When I realized that hiking to Canada wasn't going to happen, I sat in
my hotel room in Idyllwild and cried. Seriously.

I tried, and I failed, but it wasn't all failure. I managed to get
myself to Campo and walk north. That is something most people won't do.
I had a dream (I still do) and I took steps (literally) to make that
dream happen. That is something most people won't do. I failed to make
it to Canada, but I succeeded in dong the first 150 miles of the trail.
I can view it as a failed through hike attempt, or I can view it as a
successful first shakedown hike, learn what I can from the experience,
and try again.

Someone I met on the trail complained about how much the trail winds
around as it skirts private property near Campo. I responded that I
didn't care if the trail ran around in circles, I was on the PCT!

I got off the trail at Mount Laguna with a bad knee. As I sat at the
Mann's in San Diego, icing my knee, I asked Sandy Mann what she would do
I my situation. She said I should try again, otherwise I would always
wish I had. I knew she was right. The next day I was back at Mount
Laguna, determined to get at least as far as Scissors Crossing. I didn't
make it to Canada, but I got farther than Scissors Crossing.

I have a lot of friends who did not know about my through hike attempt.
It sounds funny to them when I tell them that I went backpacking last
May, but I only made it 150 miles. To them  that is a big
accomplishment. In a way it is. I don't belong in the same class as
those who walked all the way from Campo to Manning Park, but I do belong
to a larger, but still unique, group who tried and went farther than
most people ever will.