Well, here we are about to dip into single digits on the countdown to our start date! With Southern California getting the weather it did last weekend, the last minute things we need to take care of and the angst of the last few days there is a rollercoaster of emotions we're both going through. But we know dealing with the ups and downs are going to be a big part of the experience and are trying to embrace it all as best we can (the cold weather being the thing we feel most confident about at this point, but that can always change).
This thru hike couldn't be coming at a better time for us, and needless to say we are anxiously awaiting April 1st to hit the trail!
With the move of all of our belongings coming to a close, and the remaining few days to make last minute gear adjustments ticking away, Kristin and I have spent alot of time reflecting on how far out of our comfort zone we are stepping. I'm sure alot of PCT hikers experience these initial emotions and second guessings that come along with making the possibility of this journey a reality.
But hey, that uneasiness is probably why more people don't attempt this type of thing, right? However, realizing that we would regret NOT attempting things like this thru hike much more than we could ever regret anything that might happen as a result of it is comfort in itself to knowing this is the right thing for us to be doing right now.
There are is alot of talk out there in the hiking community of how each person has to be realistic about their expectations for themselves and the trail while hiking the PCT. This cocept of "Hike Your Own Hike" or "HYOH" was very interesting to both of us considering with so many things in life there is a "set" way of going about something, or many people would have you believe anyway. So needless to say, when starting to research the trail we had it in our heads that there was a set way people were able to succesfully hike from Mexico to Canada. Also needless to say, the more and more we read other hiker's trail journals and the other available literature on the PCT and long distance hiking, we found maybe as many different ways of going about hiking as there have ever been PCT hikers.
So keeping this mentallity in mind, it made it much easier to find what worked for us, not to mention telling off the occasional REI or other hiking store employee for trying to tell us we were "silly" to not take items like waders and the biggest sturdiest boots available for the Sierras.
Along with helping us find what we think will work best for us gear wise, we were able to apply the HYOH philosophy to how we felt we wanted to strategically hike the trail. This is not to devalue any other hiker's philosophy on hiking the trail, but we found that we could settle for no less than what (again in our opinion) we thought to be the best way to make this type of journey: "No Skips, No Flips".
What this means to us is that we are aiming to have a path of unbroken footsteps from Mexico to Canada. Yes, we will leave the trail for short periods of time to visit family and attend the Kick Off, but will pick up again from where we left the trail. If there is a detour that we must take, we will take it and make that our PCT. What we will aim not to do though, is skip sections and come back to them later. This is why we've elected to start early in the season and try to allow time for unforseen delays, injury, etc. Not that we will respect anyone who does less or view their hike as "lesser" than any other, this is just what we hope to accomplish on our hike. Every hiker is different wether they be a day hiker, section hiker or thru hiker and we hope to be able to spend time with them all. After all, HYOH.
People ask us what our plans are for after the trail, and to tell you the truth we don't have any right now. We've always had one, and that' one of the reasons we initially felt apprehensive about making this commitment. Quiting our jobs and having no real place to call our own was a big ledge for both of us to peer over, however, we're FULLY commited to this journey and hoping to learn alot from it by staying open minded and flexible. Hopefully by the time it's all said and done we'll know what we might like to do next....wherever that might be. But that's for the trail and those we meet along the way to help us decide.
