[pct-l] Mistakes

[Junaid Dawud]

Ok, so in 2006 I set out to thru-hike the pct. At that point I had   
hiked no farther than 60 miles at most. I was an avid and adventurous   
day hiker and short distance bakcpacker, but i was by no means a real
backpacker. The first mistake I made was pushing too hard going into   
mt laguna because I wanted to be there by noon. It ended up resulting   
in what was probably a small tear in the menial miniscus. I used  
aleve  and a knee brace, and just toughed it out. It took over a month  
to  feel right again.

The second mistake I made (or perhaps actually the first) was having   
shoes that were too tight in the toe box and ultimately just too   
small. My foot ended up expanding in the desert and I wasn't able to   
replace my shoes soon enough to prevent some unpleasant blisters.

My third mistake was to send too many resupply packages. I should  
have  relied more on the local grocery stores, which were often just  
fine to  resupply out of. I should have sent fewer, smaller, more  
'specialized'  resupply packages.

Next, would have have to be the one that cost me completion: too many   
zeros, neros, and side trips. Beware of the town vortex, the purely   
lazy zero, and the appealing side trip that only takes a couple of   
days. All of these add up, and before you know it, you're getting   
snowed on in Oregon, ridng out storms in washington, and eventually  
having to face the fact that the 3 feet of snow that just dumped on   
you during the last two nights isn't going to melt until spring.

Next would be drinking untreated water in KM. Then, sending a package   
to VVR, I think the owner was shady. This year I'll be trying to send   
it to mono hotsprings, a few miles down the road, with a free campsite
and HOTSPRINGS.

I sent my package to shelter cove via usps rather than ups, so it   
never arrived. I had to use the hiker box to resupply.

Those are probably the main ones, but I'm sure there were tons of   
other small mistakes.


Junaid aka speshul 41