[pct-l] Beginner experience level

[Diane Soini of Santa Barbara Hikes]

Wow, Dan, your description gave me tears. I was not dealing with  
sobriety (well, I was sober but that wasn't an issue) but I had all  
the same thoughts, feelings and experiences. When people think that  
the constant walking north is somehow missing the greatness of  
traditional camping they don't really understand what else is  
happening for us out there.

On Mar 11, 2013, at 10:34 PM, Dan Engleman wrote:

> My experience of hiking the PCT was like Diane's.  I couldn't wait  
> to see what was around the next corner.  Hiking from horizon to  
> horizon was a dream come true.  I never had a campfire, got hooked  
> on no cook meals, and I ate my daily fill long before I ever set up  
> camp for the night.  I hiked solo (so my hiking partner was my 35mm  
> camera); for me that meant up before the sun, hiking well after  
> dark, and 7,000 pictures to play with when I got back home, at the  
> end of the summer.  I wasn't sure what the impact of hiking 2,650  
> miles without any radio or MP3-like device would do to me (and I am  
> still accessing the damage) but I do know it was the right choice  
> for me.
>
> Being that I am a recovering alcoholic there was no weed or alcohol  
> on the trail for me.  God bless those that hadn't already drank up  
> their life's quota already, but I maxed out on my limits many full  
> moons ago. I didn't talk about my sobriety unless someone was  
> offering to buy me a beer, or offering me some of that magical pain  
> killer that can be smoked, added to trail mix, or to an evening  
> meal.  I just want to say that I recieved nothing, but  support  
> from those who learned that I had a goal of saying clean and  
> sober.  I share this info for those in the Class of 2013 that have  
> yet to prove that they can hike the PCT and still hang on to their  
> sobriety date!  I have been clean and sober for a long time and I  
> needed to stay that way, it was not the easiest four months of my  
> sobriety, but it may be the most rewarding.  All I can say is "live  
> in your own truth" and all will be well.
>
> Sometimes I think it may have been nice to have had more  
> experiences with the social aspects of the trail, but a primary  
> goal for me was to grieve the loss of both of my parents and I  
> thought hiking solo would be the best way to give them the time  
> they (and I) deserved.  It was really unfortunate that my job had  
> swallowed me up around the time they passed, but the PCT gave me  
> four months to let my thoughts, feelings, and memories flow from  
> sunrise and sunset.   My dad was a bit of a sunrise/sunset fanatic;  
> he used to say "would you look at that" whenever he saw a  
> spectacular sunrise or sunset and I always thought that was a  
> really odd thing to say, since we were all already "looking at  
> that."  He was actually trying to express something that went  
> beyond the pretty colors in the sky, but at the time I didn't have  
> a clue about that level of spirituality.  As far as grieving on the  
> trail for my mom goes, every flower or critter I passed by "spoke"  
> to me of her fragility, resiliance, strength, and witness. At some  
> moments, I thought I must be channeling St Francis of Assisi as  
> animals that normally would flee from me would walk toward me  
> instead of away; for whatever reason I gave my mom and dad credit  
> for those moments.
>
> I just wanted to share with the "class of 2011" that it is likely  
> that you will experience many "ineffible moments" on your PCT trek;  
> it makes me smile when I think about what is in store for all of  
> you. I predict that there will be many times when you experience  
> something really special and you will attempt to capture the moment  
> (with your camera or with your journal) but the only place it can  
> be really be recorded is in your heart of hearts.  At first I would  
> wish that I could share that "special moment" with someone else,  
> but the fact of the matter is that the moment was uniquely mine to  
> enjoy and that was  always be a really great (and suprisingly  
> awkward) moment for me.  So, I would invariably end up pausing for  
> a brief moment, thinking  "would you look at that,"and then I would  
> resume "heading north" with a renewed bounce in my step ...
>
> I would also like to say to the Class of 2013 that hiking after  
> dark was another unexpected pleasure for me; it always added a new  
> dimension to my "day."  Prior to the PCT I had rarely been out  
> hiking after dark, at least not on purpose.  I liked the way the  
> dark flipped my attention from the visual world to what was going  
> on in my immediate surroundings and especially to what was going on  
> within me.  I realized that I might be missing some scenery, but  
> the experience was always so odd and intriguing that I hiked after  
> dark a lot.  I didn't really put a lot of thought into it, it just  
> became the way my days would come to a close.   You would think I  
> was setting myself up for a really poor campsite, but what usually  
> transpired was a journey to the top of the next crest (or the one  
> after that).  It always surprised me when I was able to eek out a  
> little more sunlight, settle into my "night rhythm," and eventually  
> I would find a temporary resting place that met my needs.
>
> I rarely camped by water, but tried to make a point to have plenty  
> of water when I did stop for the night.  I wasn't all that  
> intersted in dealing with midnight visits from all the nocturnal  
> animals that lived in the neighborhood and I came to prefer camping  
> out on the highest crests whenever I could.  I also liked to shoot  
> for a certain water sourse near the end of my day and then travel  
> as far as I could beyond.  It was a psychological boost for me to  
> know that when I woke up in the morning I was already well on my  
> way to the next certain water source.
>
> I love to hear about other approaches to the trail.  I discovered  
> that I loved to be on the move, so that is how things panned out  
> for me.  If I hadn't started at the end of May, I might have  
> adopted a slightly different routine, but I suspect I will be  
> chugging along at about 85% of my ability (from sun up to sun down)  
> the next time I hit a long trail.  Good luck "class of 2013" ...
>
> Dan (711)