[pct-l] What the PCT is really like?

[Eric Lee]

Josh wrote:
>
The books and videos I have looked into mostly shows the good stuff and not
a whole lot of the bad stuff.
>

I think the materials you've already seen did show the bad stuff, you just
didn't recognize it.  :-)  Those of us who have done a lot of long-distance
hiking recognize it right away.  I know "Wizards of the PCT" and other
videos showed massive blisters, blasting winds, postholing in snow, storms,
bugs, etc.  But it's easy to sit in your living room and think, "Oh, how
hard could it be to deal with that stuff?  It kinda looks like a fun
challenge, actually."  And it is fun for the first few days.  After that it
becomes less fun.  It looks the same on the outside but it gets inside your
head and feels overwhelming.

As several other people have said, the struggles of the trail are mostly
mental in nature.  Blisters and bugs and loneliness and dirt are
ever-present - what matters is how you react to it over time.  Most people
can deal with discomfort for a few days.  But when days stretch into weeks
stretch into months it's a whole new thing.  The real struggle of the trail
is to not let that stuff get inside your head.  Attitude is everything.

Eric