[pct-l] Being away from civilized life

[Diane Soini of Santa Barbara Hikes]

I probably talked about town as much as anybody else, including the  
venerable Billy Goat who I talked about what we were going to do in  
town plus what we did in the previous towns for half an hour. We  
talked about the beauty of the trail for five minutes. And what was  
our activity in town? Eating.

I and the people I talked to were hungry. It wasn't that we didn't  
bring enough food, it's that the food we brought wasn't refrigerated,  
fresh, ample or abundantly available. It didn't have bubbles or ice  
or 5% butterfat. Walk 20 or more miles a day and these things may  
become important to you, too.

We also talked about town because of the people we met along the way.  
Town became where I caught up with people I met and met new people to  
remember. Town becomes a part of the trail in that respect, part of  
the trail community.

I only spent perhaps 5 days of the entire 6 months I spent hiking the  
PCT hiking deliberately (as opposed to leap-frogging) with another  
person. I hiked the trail in two sections, 2008 and 2009, with a  
little additional section in the Sierra this year. I forged my own  
route from Santa Barbara to Hiker Town via trails in the very lonely  
and very remote mountains behind Ventura/Ojai/Filmore. I saw no  
footprints on that portion of my journey except for those of bears. I  
had a very solitary, wilderness experience throughout my entire journey.

I feel that I lived outside of civilization for 6 months. I came to  
dislike walls and ceilings, dislike pillows and padding, dislike  
paying to sleep, dislike cars and noise and the way civilized people  
shout when they talk. I still looked forward to town for the chance  
to rest, the shower, the laundry and mostly the food. It was indeed a  
necessary evil. We are not rugged individualists living off the land.  
We are just backpackers and we're dependent on modern technology to  
accomplish this incredible journey. Not a single person on the trail  
could have done it without the help of the internal combustion engine  
and cheap oil at the very least.

Town also marked my progress in a concrete way.

You can take zero days on the trail, but you still have all these  
tasks to complete when you get to town. It becomes more efficient of  
your time to take zero days in town so you can complete your tasks  
and return to the trail. No need to stop at every town. No need to  
party with frat boys if you aren't interested. No need to visit some  
of the famous trail angels if you don't like crowds. It's not a total  
either/or thing.

My point is you can enjoy town, look forward to it and talk about it  
and it doesn't take away from having a wilderness experience.