[pct-l] Hiking alone

[shelly skye]

I'm mostly a lurker here but I read with interest everything (almost)
that comes over the list serve. I have had a hard time trying to
figure out how to jump into conversations but here goes.

For at least ten years I have been dreaming of hiking the PCT. I am
very close to retirement now, five semesters away (but who's counting)
and then I'll be free to hike as long as my legs hold out. Being a
planner, I have tried to address my fears in a step by step fashion.

Fear #1 - Hiking alone. As a woman currently age 57, I have a full
lifetime of stories and experience to tell me to be fearful when in
strange environments.

Fear #2 - Can I do it? I've been sitting at a desk for the past 21 years.

Fear #3 - Bears!

To address these fears, a few years back I decided to hike the JMT
thinking that it would be a good test of being alone in a wilderness
area where bailing wasn't too easy and a good test of my physical
ability, not to mention psychological strength. I found that indeed,
one is rarely alone out there if one doesn't want to be. I met and
hiked with some interesting people and also really enjoyed being on my
own. After the first bit I became more comfortable with the idea of
bears, in fact I never saw a bear, but I did practice stealth camping
principles. No sleeping where I cooked, etc.

The "can I do it" part was more of a challenge. In fact the last night
in Crabtree Meadows I wrote in my journal " I can't believe still
don't know if I can do it". Yet 18 miles the next day brought me up to
Whitney and back down to Whitney Portal, tired but victorious.
Confidence (for me) can only be earned the hard way, by doing
something hard and succeeding.

Once these fears were addressed it became clear that I had other
issues of concern I would have to face while hiking the PCT.

New fear #4 - Hiking in the heat

New fear #5 - Lack of water and water management

New fear #6 - Hiking in areas where there was much more road access,
thus more of a likelihood of crazy, dangerous critters. The two legged
types.

So last summer I decided to thru-hike the Tahoe Rim Trail which had
all three of these elements and a safe way to see how I do. Voila, I
managed to meet and address all three of these scary, to me, fears. So
again, my confidence level increased and some of the things I thought
could stop me on my PCT hike are things I have done before and been
successful.

Some people might read this and think, "Geeze, she sure carried around
alot of fear" and it may be true. However one of the benefits of age
is knowing who you are and what limitations you might have. Also how
to mitigate those limitations. Or even how to change ones self-imposed
limitations.

I hope this has been helpful to someone who might have similar concerns.

Shelly
(With a lifetime of nicknames but no trailname)