[pct-l] the one month mark.

[chwillet at indiana.edu (Christopher Willett)]

I didn't feel much different at the one month mark.  I rolled into Kennedy
Meadows at exactly the one month mark, but I felt I was still
transitioning into the thruhiker stage.  From the border to Big Bear I
felt like a weekender.  From Big Bear to Agua Dulce, I just felt like a 
tough weekender.  The transition really came between AD and Yosemite. When
I reached Tuolumne Meadows (54 days), I felt like a long distance hiker. I 
still couldn't bring myself to tell non-thru hikers that I was planning to 
go to Canada.  I just didn't think I could do it.  But, it was making 
Tuolumne that was really the breaking point. I think I had set Tuolumne up 
as a very important psychological point before I left.

By the time I reached Sisters, I knew I could make Canada.  Strangely
enough, I still couldn't tell non-thru hikers what I was doing.  I just 
didn't want to get into a long conversation with them and have to 
answer the same questions over and over again.

Chris

On Wed, 15 Oct 2003, Michael Helmut Arnold wrote:

> 
> --- CMountainDave@aol.com wrote:
> > Ever hear the phrase "Freedom of the Hills? I enjoyed the total freedom most 
> > of all. One can't get that feeling on a two week trip. One gets it only after 
> > a feeling of permanence is felt after about a month with five to go. As far as 
> 
> Thru-hikers I met a couple of years ago at Stehekin also described the "one month"
> mark as a sort of turning point, where mind and body habituate to the hike and
> the "real world" fades into the distance.  
> 
> I"ve been curious about the "magic" of the one month mark ever since.  This has recently
> become more than idle curiosity, as I am considering section hiking the PCT in approximately
> one month chunks - unfortunate timing if the one month mark is so pivotal.
> 
> Is the one month mark magical?
> I would be very interested in hearing of thru-hikers experiences/thoughts regarding
> turning points in there hiking experience at the one month-mark, and/or at other
> times along there hike. 
> 
> Michael Arnold (no trail name yet!)
> 
> 
> 
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----------------------
Christopher Willett
Department of Mathematics
Indiana University
831 East Third Street
Bloomington, IN. 47405-7106
(812)-855-1883
chwillet@indiana.edu
mypage.iu.edu/~chwillet