Day 0--I Know I Said I Would Never Do It Again...

Written: 19 Apr 2021

Two years ago, when I finished hiking the Appalachian Trail, I was sure I was done with thru hiking, and I even said as much. I think my exact words to my hiking buddy, Prometheus (bringer of beer), were, "I am done with thru hiking."

He laughed and said, "That's what you think now, but wait a couple of months, and you won't be able to help yourself. You'll start planning another one."

And he was COMPLETELY wrong! It didn't take a couple of months. It took about one month.

By February, 2020, my planning for a southbound hike on the Pacific Crest Trail was pretty well advanced, when nature intervened to remind us all who is really the boss.

But, after our year of living dangerously, it is, once again, time to throw a loaf of bread in my poke, jump over the fence, and hike into nature, which, when you think about it, is a lot less risky than, say, going to a movie theater.

As the process played out over the last year, the weather data convinced me that northbound (or NOBO, as the smart hikers say) is the better direction for me this year. This winter was a below average snow year for the southern part of the PCT, meaning that an earlier and easier passage through the Sierra Nevada range of mountains (about 700 miles into the hike). At the same time, it was a much higher than average snow year in the northern Cascades of Washington, meaning that it might be July before I could safely begin a southbound hike. So, I'm going NOBO.

This will be so different than my AT hike in many ways, not the least of which is that I will be so far from home, that hopping if the Trail for a visit with family will be nigh impossible. On my hike of the AT, I got of Trail and came home for various things 5 times. That really won't work on the PCT do when I said goodbye to my dad this morning, it was with the knowledge that I might not see him again for 5 months or more.

Also, I appoach the PCT much better informed by experience than I approached the AT. Back in 2017, when I started my AT hike, I really didn't know what I was getting myself into. I probably don't know what I am getting myself into this time either, but at least this time I know that I don't know what I am getting into. I'm definitely wise enough to know not to claim this will be a thru hike. I will hike as far as my legs will carry me. If they carry me 2,650 miles (more or less), then it will be a thru hike. If not, it will just be a hike. Either way, it's going to be fun!

As with the AT, I'll be contributing a dollar for every mile I hike to the Fisher House Foundation, a great organization that provides (among other things) free lodging and support to the families of sick and injured service members so the families can focus on healing. If Charity Navigator had a six-star rating, Fisher House would earn it so you can be sure that every dollar goes to the cause. I'm not asking people to give to Fisher House (or any charity, for that matter... that's a personal decision), but one of the nicest things that happened to me while hiking the AT was learning that some others had made contributions to Fisher House too.

Anyway, I'm writing this at 37,000 feet in a flying metal death-tube, hurtling through space somewhere over Oklahoma, heading to Dallas and thence to San Diego. Twenty-four hours from now I'll be at ground level, letting my Brooks Cascadia 15s carry me past the little town of Campo, California at 2 1/2 miles an hour on my way to Canada.

Come on along with me, if you are so inclined.

Sea Otter Fact of the Day: Sea otters have the densest fur of any animal--up to a million hairs per square inch. For perspective, the average house cat has about a million hairs on its entire body!

If you want to locate me on a map you can cut-and-paste this link to my MapShare page: https://share.garmin.com/ProcrastinatorsJourney

The tracker updates every half an hour or so when I'm hiking, and you can message me there too.

Alternatively, you can contact me via email (chriscotts @ aol.com) or leave a message in the comments. I'll answer when I have connectivity.