I returned home from the Camino one month ago today. The past month has been that of re-integration. Getting used to being home, figuring out a routine, starting the search to get back into the job market have occupied my days. Coupled with the aforementioned has also come a phenomenon I have experienced from time to time over the years. I have learned to expect it, and to some degree learned to deal with it.
PCT
The last week has been somewhat of a whirl wind of news. I had planned to hit the PCT again for a week in Mid-May with two friends. Unfortunately, that trip has been cancelled due to Brian’s grandmother’s failing health. Hospice has given her less than a week. At which time we will be heading to North Carolina for the funeral. Not knowing exactly when we will be heading that way, makes it really difficult to stick to a hiking plan. Additionally I dont think it fair to my friends to keep the hike scheduled, and then at the last moment have to cancel.
I’m sure in the future, I will make it out to the PCT with these two.
I also received some news from my father. He has had a some health problems over the last month and had major surgery a couple of weeks ago. He had some minor complications, but seems to be on the rebound. He has had several MRIs and PET Scans over the last months, and in one of them, they discovered he likely has lung cancer in his right lung. Over the next week, he will undergo more tests to determine what his treatment options are. He has decided against most forms of chemo or radiation. He has watched several family members go through radiation and chemo only to have their quality of life ruined. It may have given them additional time, but at a poor quality of life. I can understand where he is coming from for sure.
At the moment, it’s a waiting game. So, its been a rather rough week.
Tuesday of this week, I went to visit our friends Tony and Molli. I had not seen them since a few days before my departure to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. I wanted to catch up with them and share my experiences from the trail.
As with all good friends, you can go weeks without talking to them, and pick up immediately where you left off. We caught up quickly and shared stories. They are preparing to hike the Camino de Santiago. Their departure is roughly a month away. They are getting excited to hike through a small part of France, and all of Spain.
Unlike the PCT, hiking the Camino is substantially different. While in any given year a few thousand people hike the PCT, last year 240,000 people hiked all or part of the Camino. It’s a hugely social event, with people coming from all over the world to complete the trek. You pass through multiple towns and villages every day, and generally stay in varying degrees of accommodations from Hostel to hotels. Resupply is a non-issue. The distance is substantially different. Most pilgrims (as they are called on the Camino due to its religious nature) hike a total of 500 miles.
They both lamented planning for this trip is a breeze. Get to France, and start walking. While not quite that simple, the logistics are substantially less than a traditional thru hike.
If you would like to read more about it, check out the wiki article.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camino_de_Santiago
After spending the better part of a day, and having them basically convince me to join them on the Camino, I hit the road home.
Yes, you read correctly. I will be joining Tony and Molli on their hike of the Camino. The plan at this point is to leave on May 28th, and return on July 12th. I feel as if wanderlust has taken over at this point. When I talked to Brian and Austin about going, Brian simply replied, “well, I expected you to be gone the whole summer. Go enjoy yourself.” I really don’t know where this man came from. He’s so supportive. Austin thinks it would be crazy not to go. His rationale is the timing and opportunity are perfect, and I may not have such a scenario come available in the future. I can agree with his logic.
I’m sure my ever faithful readers will be glad to see me go as I will return to blogging every day!
Below are the questions people asked, complete with my answer for each.
What was my “high” and “low” from living on the trail? What was my high and low from preparation for the hike to returning home?
High and Low is a game I first learned of from a movie called “The Story of Us”, with Michele Pfeiffer and Bruce Willis. It’s a game they played with their children each day to learn about their day. What was their high and low of the day. Meaning what was the best moment and what was the lowest moment. It’s an exercise several friends and I play from time to time. You can learn a lot from someone’s experience by hearing their highs and lows.
What was my high and low from living on the trail?
This is a rather difficult question as there were a lot of highs and many lows. My high would have to be the simplicity of trail life. As I told a friend of mine, I had 5 priorities on the trail. I hiked, I ate, I slept, I took care of my feet, and I wrote posts for my blog. Those were the basics every day. With this simplicity, it allowed for a lot of time in my head, which was the primary reason I was out there.
The low of trail life would have to be the absence of my friends and/or loved ones. I realized I am no longer the loner I used to be. I prefer the companionship of friends and family to share in the experience. as opposed to going alone. I needed the time alone to sort through some things, and found the time invaluable. I realized spending 5 months alone on the trail would have been nearly impossible for me.
What was my high and low from preparation for the hike to returning home?
The high in this instance is all the support I received from everyone. It was reaffirmed I have surrounded myself with amazing people.
The low. Not realizing sooner I wasn’t planning a thru hike. In actuality, by deciding to thru hike the Pacific Crest Trail, I in essence created a job for myself to focus on during a very difficult time in my career. It gave me something to focus on. It gave me clarity of purpose. I realized about two weeks before I left, the proceeding several months weren’t about a thru hike. It was about staying busy, and reaching the finish line of my job. However, since I had “planned” to do a thru hike, I set out on the trail. About two weeks into the trip, I was pretty certain I wasn’t going to hike to Canada, but I was getting trail therapy, and definitely needed it. By the time I reached Big Bear, I felt cleansed and accomplished and knew I could go home with my head held high. I had hiked 266 miles in less than 3 weeks.
Are you disappointed you didn’t make it to Canada?
Not in the least. The only disappointment I feel is I don’t have day to day trail life to share with my readers. Everyone that provided feedback and encouragement, thank you. I have learned I like to write, and I like the feedback I receive from writing.
Where do you go to the bathroom?
For number 1, I would step just off the trail and water a tree or shrub. For number 2, there are a few Leave No Trace principles that come into play. You should attempt to be 200 feet from the trail, and any water sources. You should dig your “cat hole” at least 7 inches deep. So basically, you dig a hole, squat over it, and do your business. Leave No Trace methods have changed in that depending on whom you ask, you are supposed to pack out your toilet paper, since it decomposes very slowly. Ultimately, I believe this has become a bigger issue since the majority of people don’t bother burying their feces deep enough and animals dig it up spreading the toilet paper all over. Personally, I always dug a hole a minimum of 8″ deep. Also if there were rocks available, I would bury everything after finished, and would cover my filled in hole with a few larger rocks. This served two purposes. 1, difficult for animals to move and dig up. 2, it signals other humans, hmmmm pile of rocks, I shouldn’t dig there. I did not pack out my toilet paper as I was confident my holes were deep enough.
Do you ever bathe while on the trail?
I only bathed once while physically on the trail. Handiwipes become your friend in that you can keep your private areas and arm pits relatively clean in between showers. At white water creek I splashed around in the creek and washed off the salt and grit from my body. By no means was this a formal “bath”. I did shower when in town. I showered in Warner Springs at the community center. I showered (multiple times) in Idyllwild when I had a couple of days rest. So while on the trail, I had a pretty serious smell about me. You become accustomed to your own smell very quickly. What becomes “smelly” is the sickly sweet smells of soap, hand sanitizer etc. Day hikers smell sickly sweet too from the soaps, shampoos, deodorants, and perfumes/colognes. The smells of the modern world.
What wildlife did I encounter?
The trail in Southern California is largely void of large wildlife. Near creeks and streams I would see many more birds than I would see on the side of a mountain. The “wildlife” that stood out most? Ants. There are ants EVERYWHERE. All shapes and sizes, all colors. Some bite, some don’t. All want anything edible you might have.
A list of large wildlife I saw is as follows:
- Red Tailed Hawks
- Blue birds
- various other birds that I have no idea what they were.
- Many species of lizards
- Bees! While bee populations might be struggling in crop rich areas due to insecticides and what not, Bees are thriving in the back country. On a daily basis I would pass active hives, and or trees and shrubs covered in flowers, and thousands of healthy bees.
- 4 donkeys
- 2 black bears (in captivity in cages, used as movie stunt animals)
- 2 mule deer
- A snake (no idea what kind)
- A rattle snake (eek)
- Several dogs (a couple were friendly, most were not, which is normal on the trail. Dogs become very protective in the back country)
Are there hookups on the trail?
From what I have heard and read, there are on trail romances. If I were in that position, any sort of sex would be reserved for AFTER a hot shower in the next town. Personally I don’t think I could get intimate with someone who hadn’t bathed in a week or longer. I’m sure there are those whom do partake, I just wouldn’t be one of them.
Was I ever “scared” while out there?
The short answer is, no. The longer answer is, there were a couple of days I was definitely more apprehensive than others. Hiking in Mission Creek where I encountered the rattle snake, and the 1 or 2 day old Mountain Lion tracks, had me on high alert. I would say this was my most tense day. In reality, mountain lions rarely attack people. However, being in the rather narrow canyon and seeing the prints added to the feeling of being trapped. I was happy to hike out of the canyon that afternoon.
How many blisters did I end up with?
This is a tough question to answer. I don’t know how many blisters I had overall, but I had 7 spots on my feet prone to blisters. 4 spots on my right foot, 3 spots on my left foot. After about a week, my feet rarely had issue with blisters. I did get a blister in a new spot hiking into Big Bear, which I thought rather strange. Overall my feet did really well and toughened up really quickly. The biggest thing I learned about foot care, if you feel a hot spot forming, stop immediately and tape it. Leukocyte tape and antibacterial cream became my friend. If a blister started to form, I would put a dab of ointment on it, so the tape wouldn’t stick to it, and tape over it. This generally kept the spot from getting any worse, and would allow it to start healing.
How are my feet now? Having been off the trail for 5 days.
In the days immediately following the trail, my feet were in bad shape. They were tremendously sore, and took about a week to recover. Every time I would stand up, I would hobble around a minute or so until my feet got warmed up. While on the trail, I was moving most hours of the day, so they really only had to get warmed up first thing in the morning. At home, this was not the case. My feet also widened/spread out while on the trail. My feet currently do not fit into most of the shoes I own. I am still wearing my hiking shoes, nearly every day. The days I don’t, I wear flip flops. I’m not sure if my feet will return to their normal width or not. Time will tell.
Since I am home early, will I attend Burning Man and camp with Uli Babas?
As much as I would love to, I will not be attending Burning Man this year. My mom has a milestone birthday this year, and it coincides with the burn, so I will not be going. Sad horn.
What did I miss the most while on the trail?
Aside from my social life, the item I missed the most on the trail, was a place to sit. I lamented in a couple of posts how I would love to find a picnic table to sit at. In a few rare instances I did find one. By and large you end up sitting anywhere you can get reasonably comfortable. Smooth rocks, the ground, etc. The worst was typing my blog while hunched over in my tent. I wouldn’t trade the experience however.
I have been home just over a week. I have quickly become accustomed to a shower a day. I have cleaned out my pack and washed my god awful smelling clothes. It truly is amazing how quickly you get used to your own rancid smell while on the trail.
Most of my friends and acquaintances are aware I have returned home. Many have asked sorted questions like, Are you ok? Is anything wrong? Occasionally just, Why?
All have been hugely supportive. I have been given a lot of kudos for “following my heart”. It’s been a real eye opener.
I seem to have more to do at home than I would have anticipated. This has served to keep me busy and get me re-acclimated to “normal” life.
I am really glad I came. While I can’t wait to spend more time on the trail in the coming years, the time spent and the timing in which I returned home seems perfect.
Additionally, I have a friend from San Diego on the trail called Marmot. He’s in the process of deciding what to do this week. There is an Alaskan cold front swooping down that is anticipated to drop some snow in the mountains he is due to cross. He’s contemplating coming home for a few days, or skipping ahead of that section and coming back and doing it at a different time.
The thing about thru hikers, they are generally not equipped to deal with the extreme cold. The gear is heavy, and often not necessary. So you can spend 2600 miles carrying gear that you “might” end up using for 50 to 100 miles. Or, you don’t carry the gear, and take a few days off when the weather turns bad. Most opt for the later.
He will make whatever decision he feels in his best interest, as all thru hikers do.
Many individuals whom I met on the trail have sent texts or emails congratulating me. One went so far to say she thinks of me often, so I have not truly left the trail. Hikers are a special group of people, I am proud to be a part of.
I have had a few people ask if I am going to continue my blog, as they have enjoyed reading about my adventures. I do plan to continue writing it, however I do not know the exact contact as of yet.
One thing that has come up multiple times is people asking different questions about trail life, experiences while out there, etc. If you personally have any questions, please write them in the comments of this blog. I will answer all questions in my blog post Wednesday of next week.
To get the wheels turning, here are a few questions I have been asked so far:
Where do you go to the bathroom?
Do you ever bathe while on the trail?
What wildlife did I encounter?
Are there hookups on the trail?
Was I ever “scared” while out there?
How many blisters did I end up with?
How are my feet now? Having been off the trail for 5 days.
Again, please add your questions to the comments section. Or if you would prefer to remain anonymous, you can email them directly to me at diverja@gmail.com and I will answer them in my blog but not associate your name with them.
Until then.
Walk 