[pct-l] I love Diane's posts...

[Jeffrey Olson]

I was hiking north on a section hike in 1994. I was going into a Ph.D 
program in the fall. I'd not heard of Ray Jardine and his approach to 
long distance hiking. My gear consisted of a Jansport D-3 (which I'm 
thinking of using again - just the frame, abandoning the pack itself.  
Just curious...) a two and a half pound bag, abluet stove, gallon pot, 
the fly froman old North Face tent, leather boots, and lots of fleece 
and rain gear that I seldom used.

I met a fellow in Grace Meadow just before Dorothy Lake who had started 
a month after the pack.  He'd adopted Jardine's "techniques" hook, line 
and sinker, and was doing 30 mpd.  He was not only catching up to the 
herd, he was in the kind of space I, at 42, was intrigued by.  He'd read 
Jardine's book, made his clothes, or bought the cheap shirts and pants 
and shoes -I don't remember those details.

He'd adoptedthe "system" Jardine had proposed in that first edition of 
his book.  He was alone.

The reason I'm writing this is that I followed Anish on facebook - 
minorly - and totally rooted for her and am so in awe of her attitude 
and her ability to do 40s day after day.

I contrast that to this fellow I met 20 years ago who was not only on 
his own edge, but the edge of what long distance backpacking is all 
about.  We sat by a bend in Falls Creek and talked for almost two 
hours.  I knew he was giving up mileage for human companionship, and I 
felt honored that I was interesting enough to hang with.

Aday or two later I walked by a spot on the trail that matched the space 
he'd said he spent the night before we met - yes, I was that slow. It 
was like some critter had had a mating ritual and totally shaped a space 
underneath a 20' heavy limbed pine/fir tree.    I was a bit disgusted he 
hadn't at least spread the pine needles out after making a bed of them.

He'd made his quilt.  He admitted that when it dropped much below 40 
degrees he struggle to sleep, to stay warm enough to sleep. Jardine's 
system was fine if you camp low and hike "HIGH"

I totally get that. You gotta be HIGH!!!

But you gotta match your SYSTEM to the conditions, and make choices 
based on parameters you've determined in advance.

Common advice is that you can plan your trip, and you'll lose your plan 
in the first week.  You have to be open to what the trail gives you.

At the same time, if you have a well-developed and trialed SYSTEM of 
gear you can have really broad parameters of comfort.  The hard part is 
recognizing when you're at the edge of your SYSTEM.

This is where experience comes in.  I read journals and don't believe 
there's a lot of "honesty" - emotional honesty in them.  It's more about 
he said, she said, we did - I did...

One of the reasons Cheryl Strayed's book is so popular, and gaining, is 
that she's emotionally honest.  I haven't gone to one of her author 
talks, but apparently, she's capitalizing on "being-on-the-edge."

My personal response to the "capitalizing" is that all of us that have 
hiked longer than a couple weeks have experienced "The Edge."

I love reading the queries from new persons on the listserv. 98% of the 
questions have been asked before. But it's so refreshing to get inside 
of someone else's hopes and trepidations and control issues.

Read Jardine, and you realize it DOESN'T MEAN A GNAT'S DIFFERENCE WHAT 
SHOES YOU WEAR.

That said, worrying about what shoes to wear is part of the progression 
to trail competence.  Trust you'll get there.  You will...

Jeffrey Olson
Rapid City, SD


On 9/12/2013 5:49 PM, Diane Soini wrote:
> When I was hiking the PCT, if I was ever unsure of a "luxury" item I
> was considering, I would test it out for a segment and if it proved
> worthless, just mail it home. So give your tarp idea a try. If it's
> not a good idea, no harm done. I recommend for a good cheap tarp the
> Equinox 8x10 flat tarp. Not as fancy as a cuben fiber or catenary cut
> tarp of some sort, but cheap.
>
> I will say that I found in the old-growth areas that it was
> surprisingly dry under some of the bigger trees, so I didn't have too
> much trouble with finding a good place to put my stuff while I set up
> my tent. But I was in Washington in August, a cold rainy August, but
> still not October.
>
> I'd keep the tent.
>
> For a pack cover I used a big garbage bag I bought at the Kracker
> Barrel convenience store on White's Pass. It was noisy but it did the
> job and was cheap. I cut a couple holes for the straps and just
> threaded them through, tucked all the excess in behind my back and
> puff-puff-puffed down the trail with my big giant bag, tucking parts
> in that would poof out now and then. I now have a real pack cover but
> have never used it so I can't compare.
>
> I didn't have a real rain jacket. I had an umbrella and a wind
> breaker. This was inadequate. I also had chaps rather than rain
> pants. Also inadequate. It was a cold, rainy August that I was there
> and I could not sit down until my tent went up at night thanks to my
> chaps and also I could not sit down because I had to keep moving or
> else I'd get cold. So yeah, decent rain gear for your body is what
> I'd recommend.
>
> Embrace the foot soakings.
>
> Diane
>
> On Sep 11, 2013, at 10:00 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:
>