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Day 17

Day 17

VeeStamats May 13th, 2022
Mr. Clean's 2022 PCT Thru-Hike

I’m learning that decisions are infinitely more difficult on trail.

Today we let ourselves sleep in due to the cold temps, waking up to below freezing air as we slowly packed up and hit trail. We had planned on a 15 mile day to keep miles low while I was still recovering from shin splints and to see how things went. The hiking was very mellow; the trail rarely had any grade changes, and we had many opportunities for water. But small decisions kept popping up: do we hike 15 today, leaving 20 for tomorrow? Do we take this terrible campsite or keep on hiking in hopes of finding a better one? Do we take a break due to pain or keep hiking because it doesn’t seem like an overuse injury? If I’m still feeling pain by tomorrow, do I call the traveling PT to get checked out?

Most of the time, there is no clear right answer or choice. As with most decisions in life, we weigh the pros and cons, and do our best to reduce the stakes for our decisions, and deal with the consequences. The challenge now with an overuse injury is that any mistake we make could possibly be trail-ending for me. This has been weighing on me, and is something I pondered today while hiking.

Today the pain was really minimal which was amazing! At mile 15 we decided to keep on to a camp spot 3 miles further, thus reducing the mileage for the following day (which is looking like a mostly downhill day, which is far worse for my shin splints). I think we made the right decision, and tomorrow we look forward to hot springs and a quick resupply!

Previous: May 12th, 2022
Next: May 13th, 2022

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