From Hiking to Crawling: Lessons Learned on a Long Walk

 * * Upcoming Talks:  March 7, Oregon City Library, 7 PM  //  March 26, Straub Environmental Learning Center, 7 PM  //  April 16, Tryon Creek State Natural Area, 6:30 PM * *

Recently, I wrote an article for my park's--Tryon Creek State Natural Area, Portland, Oregon--newsletter, "The Trillium Times."  It forced me to reflect on my thru-hike (and made me cry a few times), so I thought I'd share.  Enjoy!

“From Hiking to Crawling:  Lessons Learned on a Long Walk”

For nearly three years, walking has been my greatest obsession.  Last spring, I tackled my first long trail—a thru-hike on the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) from the Mexican border to the Canadian border.  From the day I finally resolved to attempt it in 2010 to my first steps away from the corrugated metal fence that is the Mexican border on April 30, 2012, I obsessed with the idea of walking—planning and preparing for a journey I could not comprehend from my temperature-controlled home in Silverton.  For the next 151 days, I was immersed in the act of walking—traveling an average of 20 miles a day to reach Canada before the Washington snows hit.  And every day since those final steps on September 28, 2012, my time and thoughts have been filled with reflecting on and recovering from walking. 

Today, I look out the windows of the Tryon Creek Nature Center where I have just started working as an Interpretive Park Ranger, and I see countless people walking.  All hours of the day, all days of the week.

And so, it is in this light that I would like to write today about walking. 

Let me begin with a few of the lessons I learned during my six-million step journey:

My new park includes "Willamette Stone," the surveyor's monument that is
 the point of origin for  all of Oregon and Washington's public land surveys.  
So, in a round about way, this historic place led me through Oregon & Washington!

• A good long walk takes the weight of years and worries off your shoulders.  You’ll lose as many pounds of actual weight as you do of worry.
• Nothing is so worrisome that you can bear to worry about it for 14 waking/walking hours a day, 7 days a week. 
• Rest is as important as anything else in the world . . . as is water and nourishment.  Without these three, nothing is important.
• Nothing tastes as good as anything after a long day’s walk.
• Anywhere really IS walking distance if you have the time.
• “Walk it off,” is more than just a coaching cliché.  Many ailments, physical and mental, can be cured by a nice long walk.
• Walking is for everyone.  The tall and the small, the young and the old, the injured and the well, the elk, the porcupine, and the goat.  I found them all traveling the PCT.
• If you walk far enough, you will find answers.  You will not find all of them.  Rather, you will find answers you were not looking for and questions you did not know you had.  Rest easy knowing that your question to answer ratio will remain the same.
• You cannot walk away from your problems, only into them.
• Clarity rides on the shirttails of fresh air.
• Christopher Robin was right when he said, “... we ought to eat all of our provisions now, so that we shan’t have so much to carry.” 

And last, but not least, for all those of us who have neither the time nor energy for an expedition-length walk:

• A long walk is nothing more than a series of short ones.

My slowly-healing feet recently walked me around
Mammoth Hot Springs in northern Yellowstone National Park.

The above is what I learned while walking the PCT.  My most valuable lesson, however, came post-trail.

Since finishing the PCT, I have had a limited ability to walk.  In northern California, I developed plantar fasciitis.  1000 miles later, upon finishing the trail, I found I could walk no more than 100 yards—and at a snail’s pace as I attempted to balance pain with distance and pretend that everything was fine.  When I awoke at night with no one watching, I would opt to crawl to the bathroom rather than put weight on my feet.  This drastic transition from hiking 25 miles a day to hobbling to the kitchen has been one of the  most humbling experiences of my life.  My appreciation for the simple act of putting one foot in front of the other has increased tenfold.  As has my awe and respect for all of you walkers—tall and small, young and old, injured and well—who make the time and effort to do it.  It has only been through reflecting on and recovering from the PCT that I have fully grasped the final lesson of a long walk, which is this:

• Sometimes putting one foot in front of the other is the most difficult thing you can do.  It is sometimes also the only thing you can do.

And with that, I bid you farewell.  I am out for a short ramble on my new favorite Tryon Creek trail, Big Fir.  Perhaps I’ll see you out there.

If I Could Do It Again . . .

 * * Upcoming Talks:  March 7, Oregon City Library, 7 PM  //  March 26, Straub Environmental Learning Center, 7 PM  //  April 16, Tryon Creek State Natural Area, 6:30 PM * *





This is one of the most frequently asked questions post-trail.  Right up there with, “How many pairs of shoes did you go through?”  Let me say right off that I do not have any regrets about my hike.  However, if I had known then what I know now, there are things I would have done differently.  For those of you headed for the trail and for my own reminder to my future self, here they are:

By the time we left Crater Lake,
we had finally ditched most of  our extra gear.  Nearly 2  lbs.

Gear

Overall, I was happy with my gear selections.  I might have gone with the Big Agnes Fly Creek instead of the TarpTent Contrail, considered more seriously the MSR Pocket Rocket over an alcohol stove, picked the iPhone over the Droid Razr Maxx, and definitely have found a better solar charger than the PowerMonkey.  But, mostly, with gear, I would have just ditched it sooner. 

Items I sent home included:  zip-off pants (traded for shorts), extra socks, extra sports bra, a mug, hot hands, 50% of my first aid kit, 3 extra stuff sacks, the lid to my pot, a small Nalgene, an emergency blanket, an extra USB charging cord, my camera case, an extra camera battery, the “Lid” I bought for my Granite Gear pack, a couple of folds of my Z-Lite, dental floss (which I added back), a pack towel, half of my spare cordage, half of my roll of duct tape (wrapped around my trekking poles instead), a small journal, the “data book,” the baskets for my trekking poles, ace wraps, extra inserts (should have used those), my Crocs (handy in the Sierra crossings—not after!) 

I started with a base pack weight of 18 lbs; I was down to 16 lbs by Washington.  In Washington, I also sent my TarpTent home and shared with my cousin (the Contrail can squeeze two in a pinch—I also shared this with my 6’1” mate when he hiked with us).  So, I dropped to just over 14 lbs, but added foot braces and athletic tape for my feet, rounding me out to a solid 15 lbs.  Given my size and weight, I should have been at 15 lbs from the get-go.  If I did it again, I would start with less.

Timing

If we had started earlier, we might have called it a night as soon as we hit this!

Gumby and I finished in 152 days.  Not bad considering our tortoise pace.  We hit the Sierras on June 15 and made it to Canada before it snowed or really even started to rain.  If I did it again, I would start the trail two weeks earlier, hitch down for Kickoff (ADZPCTKO), and then hitch back up afterwards.  We could have benefitted from starting slower and from having a 2-week head start.  Since we were not fast hikers, we took less zeros and more neros to keep pace and make it to Canada before October.  We never stopped anywhere for long and skipped a number of town stops.  It would have been more relaxing if we had given ourselves more time in the beginning.  AND, we would have had more trail magic!  In the back of the Herd, you miss some of it by mere days . . . 

Food

I packed all of my food ahead of time and had it shipped to me in 25 resupply packages.  Overall, I would stick with the buy-and-pack-ahead-of-time method.  However, I would have done three things differently. 

Worth the extra weight to spend over 2 weeks straight in the Sierras.

1)  I would have made sure I LOVED every food that I packed and not tried to save myself money with food I felt “okay” about.  Any food I settled for back home, I hated midway through the trail.  I also portioned out five months worth of jerky ahead of time—bad idea, it rots and molds in three weeks.  My shipper (my mate) had to pitch all of it. 

2)  I would have resupplied on trail a couple of times.  A few of the stops had great resupply stores; although many did not, I wish I had planned to resupply on trail a couple of times to give myself new food selections.  Food is an obsession on the trail—something new to obsess about is a blessing.

3)  I would have stopped more often.  There are two ways to plan your resupply.  One is to stop as often as possible so that you carry as little as possible between stops.  The other is to resupply less and carry more so that you have to pull off trail and hitch to town less.  Overall, I was happy with the places I chose to pull off, but there were times I went for a longer haul when a stop would have been simple and made my pack a hell of a lot lighter. 

Oh, I guess there is one more thing:  I would have carried less food.  I planned for nearly 4000 calories a day.  It’s a good number.  It turned out to be a little too much for 5’ 3/4” me.  I pulled into town with extra food 23 times of the 25 times I arrived.  Extra food is extra weight.  1 lb of extra food is 1 lb added to your base weight.  I would not have shipped myself less, it is nice to have the option of more, but I would have ditched more in the hiker boxes.

Photos

I wish I had taken more of these traditional landmark photos!

I took 3,000 photos.  If I were to do it again, I would take more.  More photos of the mundane parts of the trip and more photos of my fellow hikers—once you are back at home, the mundane on trail feels special, and the people are just as important as the places.  I also would have asked others to take more photos of me—it can be a little weird to ask people to do this (which is why I didn’t that often), but once you are back, you wish you had more candid shots.  Get over yourself and be a little vainer, you’ll be glad you did.

Travel

I hiked the trail with my female cousin, Gumby.  I cannot tell you how many times I found myself glad to have another around to share beautiful sights, funny stories, and end-of-the-day chats with.  And how often I was relieved to have someone there when I was crazy with the monotony, irate about my malfunctioning electronics, so sick I wanted to cry, so in pain that I was crying, and so exhausted that I just did not want to take another step.  Both joy and misery love company, and the trail has an overabundance of both. 

152 days of cousins!

That said, if I were to hike the trail again, I would take a few more solos.  I loved the company.  I also could have benefitted from hiking on my own more.  If I did it again, I might still go with a companion; I would just plan for sections of solos.  Oregon is the perfect place for a little one-on-one with the trail.  Washington and the Sierras are better with friends.  As in all things, think balance is the key.

Things I Would NOT Do Differently

I would not plan less.

I would not plan more.

I would not research gear more.

I would not pack less food.

I would still carry a Smartphone and a camera.

I would still carry a SPOT.

I would still have printed and electronic versions of HalfMile’s maps.

I would still have gone 18 days straight in the Sierras, resupplying once at Muir Trail Ranch.

I would still treat all of my drinking water.

I would still go to Kickoff.

I would still hike 1000 miles with plantar fasciitis and finish the trail even if it meant that 4 months later I would still be hobbling and unable to hike more than five.

The trail is an unforgettable experience.  There is no place for regrets.  Only new plans for next time.

Gear Review Part 3: Electronics

 * * Upcoming Talks:  March 7, Oregon City Library, 7 PM  //  March 26, Straub Environmental Learning Center, 7 PM  //  April 16, Tryon Creek State Natural Area, 6:30 PM * *

I carried more electronics than some, less than others – certainly more than I had ever carried on a backpacking trip before.  Would I have gone with less?  The short answer is no, despite the extra weight and hassle.  Here’s what I brought:

SMARTPHONE:  Droid Razr Maxx & Otter Box Defender

I had never owned a cell phone before this Smartphone.  I thought I would get rid of it after the trip.  I have not.  However, I no longer have a landline or internet service, either.  I love/hate my Smartphone.

Catching up the outside world, near the Dinsmores, Washington.

PROS:  Better battery life than most phones, big screen, weathers well.  Extremely handy to have a phone available and internet in the palm of your hand (when a town is big enough to have service.)  Takes “good” photos.  Speaker sound is better than some.  Lots of memory.

CONS:  It is a beast and a little too big for my little hands.  The battery life is NOT as great as it says it is.  I bought the Razr Maxx over the iPhone simply for the battery life.  My cousin, Gumby, had an iPhone.  Her battery life was just as good as and better than mine.  My camera stopped working on three separate occasions – making it impossible to take photos to upload to my blog.  It would stop for a day or so and then miraculously come back.  This is fine when there is a Verizon store on the corner; it is not when you are in the middle of one of the most gorgeous places on earth, hundreds of miles from a Verizon.  The apps are okay – nothing to brag about.

BOTTOM LINE:  This phone is fine.  I would definitely bring a Smartphone if I did it again.  I kept a backup of HalfMile’s maps on it, used it for photos, to call home, to organize trip logistics, to play games on to relax at the end of a long day, to keep this blog – I wouldn’t go without one.  I just might use an iPhone instead.

OTTER BOX DEFENDER:  The Otter Box Defender is a bit bulky, but it is great.  I had no problems with moisture, dirt, or dinging.  Get one!

MUSIC:  SansDisk Sansa Clip 8G MP3 Player

The Sansa Clip is tiny and perfect.

I never, ever listen to music while hiking or running, but it was recommended for the PCT, so I bought this little Sansa Clip.  It saved my sanity.  I put pick-me-up music on there from Jazzercise as well as music I normally listened to.  I also had friends send me MicroSD chips with new music and with books-on-tape.  The new music and the books were essential to my mental health.  I highly recommend an MP3 player that can take chips so that your loved ones can send you a mental boost from afar!

PROS:  Small, light, easy to use, tons of memory, and takes a MicroSD chip!  I have never owned an MP3 player, and I could figure out how to use this little guy.  A fair amount of features considering the size and cost.

CONS:  The battery lasted about 6 to 8 hours.  It seemed to last longer with books-on-tape than with music.  Sometimes it turns off for no reason at all.  You have to hold the power button for 30 seconds for it to reset.  This always fixed the problem.

BOTTOM LINE:  Bring an MP3 player.  Put books and pick-me-up tunes on it.  You’ll need them both.  The Sansa Clip is great.  Charged with the same cord as my Smartphone!

CAMERA:  Canon PowerShot ELPH 300

I knew I wanted a camera in addition to my phone camera for higher quality photos.  While my phone did well, my camera did better.  Now that I am home, I am glad to have some fantastic scenic shots from the camera.  I also took videos although I have yet to process them.

Macro on the Canon.  The wildflowers were amazing the entire trip.

A camera is better with lighting
than a Smartphone.

PROS:  This camera does really well with low lighting and macro shots – two things my Smartphone camera does not.  Canons seem to be very intuitive, so it was easy to figure out the features without reading every page of the manual.  The battery also lasted far longer than I expected.  I carried a second for a while, but eventually found that I could make it to town and recharge the battery without it dying in between.

CONS:  My lens jammed about halfway through the trip.  This camera is not rugged enough for consistent outdoor use.  Although it held up through to the end of the trip, I lost the ability to zoom somewhere in California. 

BOTTOM LINE:  I recommend a real camera in addition to a phone camera.  Canons are great.  This particular model is adequate, but probably not the one you want.  Find something more rugged.

HEADLAMP:  Black Diamond Spot LED

I love headlamps, and hands-free lighting is essential on the Trail.  I ditched this one in Tehachapi.

PROS:  Bright with a fresh battery.

You will night hike.  You want a headlamp that lasts!

CONS:  Heavy and it eats lithium batteries for breakfast. 

BOTTOM LINE:  The BD Spot went through batteries ridiculously fast.  I went to K-Mart in Tehachapi and bought a lighter and far, far cheaper Energizer LED headlamp.  I tossed my Spot in the hiker box and used the Energizer clear through to Canada.  The only downfall of the Energizer is that it likes to turn itself on when stuffed in your pack – however, it does have a red lens!  The Spot is not worth the weight or the cost; my cheap Energizer was better.

SOLAR CHARGER:  PowerMonkey eXplorer

I carried a solar charger to keep all of my electronics alive.  This particular model uses a solar panel to charge a battery.  And then you use adapters to charge your electronics from the battery.  It was useful, and I was glad I had one.

We were constantly putting our panels in the sun.
Gumby's is positioned behind her on a rock.

PROS:  Kept my electronics alive.  The battery can charge by solar panel or through a USB. 

CONS:  It would take 3 days of solar charging to bring the battery to full power.  One full battery charge could give me one full phone charge.  In short, it wasn’t always enough to keep my phone alive for the long stretches.  The adapter went on the fritz in Big Bear, CA.  The company is in the UK.  I didn’t get my new adapter until 2 months later.  Fortunately, they also sent a new battery because my old one died the day I received the new battery and adapter.  In Oregon, the solar panel connection also started to go on the fritz.  Gumby had the same brand of charger, but a bigger panel and battery.  Hers also went on the fritz. 

After my adapter went bad, I stored the new one in its case.

BOTTOM LINE:  The PowerMonkey was okay enough that I carried it most of the trip.  I sent the panel home new the WA border and just carried the battery as a booster.  There are better solar chargers out there.  I don’t have a recommendation; I just don’t recommend this one.

PERSONAL LOCATOR:  SPOT II Satellite GPS Messenger

Peace of mind.

My cousin and I both carried SPOT locators on our trip.  We checked in every night.  I had mine set up to contact 10 people and tell them I was okay – family, a couple of friends, my mate, my work supervisor, and my mountain climbing leader / Wilderness EMT / fix-it-all / I’ll-save-you friend and mentor.  (Actually, my mate, my work supervisor, and climb leader are all the sorts you want called when things go south.  I had no doubt that they would keep tabs on me and rescue me as needed.)  As two small females on Trail, it was a relief for everyone for us to check in and to know for certain that we were okay.  I was glad to have the SPOT and, personally, would not tackle the Trail without it.

PROS:  People enjoyed following our progress.  Although we did not publicly post our GPS locations, my mom works in GIS and posted a map a few days late.  My ten people also kept all other family and friends in the loop as to where we were and how we were doing.  The SPOT is easy to use and reliable.  I had no problems at all with it.  It only used one set of Lithium batteries.

CONS:  I suppose it is heavy.  And the associated website is a little clunky to use.

BOTTOM LINE:  The SPOT is peace of mind.  For your loved ones if no one else.  It also works!  I had an incident at a fire lookout on Christmas Eve.  The message got out, and the right people were contacted.  We managed to self-rescue and didn’t need assistance, but is good to know that it was there if we needed it. 

OTHER NOTES ON ELECTRONICS

I stored my Smartphone in a cloth stuff sack to keep the daily dust and grime off it.  Gumby would probably advise Ziplocking it at creek crossings – she fell in in the Sierras.  Couldn’t get a new phone until the Oregon border!  (It was on the fritz until then – a constant source of frustration.)  I kept my phone and my camera in my fanny pack.  I kept my SPOT on my shoulder strap.  I kept all other electronics in a waterproof stuff sack.

Get your hands on a wall charger that has TWO USB ports.  I could charge my phone and PowerMonkey at the same time and only occupy one outlet.  Outlets are at a premium at town stops.

"Where's Chris?" and Gauge met me through my blog.
And then saved what was left of my feet for me in Washington.
I cry when I think of how many people helped me through the Trail.

Electronics in the wild *are* frustrating at times.  They will fail.  Their batteries will die.  You won’t have service at times when you could really, really use it.

AT&T might be slightly better overall than Verizon.  (Gumby had AT&T, I had Verizon.)  AT&T is better in southern California for sure and slightly better in the Sierras.  Verizon seemed a bit better in northern California and definitely in Oregon.  Washington was about equal. 

A solid handful of town stops do not have any cell coverage at all and no internet at all.  BRING A PHONE CARD!  I had packed one out of habit (I never had a cell phone, so I was used to using pay phones) and was thrilled to have it when no other options existed.

As much as electronics weigh and as frustrating as they can be, both Gumby and I believe that they are well worth it.  These devices allow you to reach out to family and friends, and they’ll give you the morale boost you need to keep going. 

Blogging was one of the best decisions I made for the trip – all kinds of people cheered me on.  Knowing people were following helped me through the hardest days.  I had more care packages sent to me and more trail angels visit me because of my blog.  I set out on my own adventure.  But I’ve returned feeling like an entire community took it with me.  The electronics were well worth their weight.