[pct-l] For newcomers...

[Jeffrey Olson]

One of the great attributes of this listserv is that everyone is on the 
virtual trail, on our best behavior when we meet someone, and as the 
relationship develops and deepens, we show our warts. 


I remember meeting Gizmo, Donkey and Godman on the second day of their 
section hike (stevens pass to Whitney) and crossing paths for 500 miles 
or so til I left the trail.  My friend Deniece and I passed their tents 
a couple mornings in a row, chortling about sleeping in.  We actually 
met them face-to-face hiking up past Spectacle Lake.  It was a 17 mile 
day for us, and we were absolutely wasted.  Gizmo got the falls section 
and stood on the bridge and howled.  Deniece and I, she at 39, me at 54, 
laughed in appreciative, tired humor - the enthusiasms of youth.   The 
three had just graduated from college and were "doing their tour."  We 
veered off to the lake while they took our recommendation and spent the 
night on the ridge above. 


I drank many beers with them at the brewpub in Cascade Locks.  Gizmo was 
a philosophy major, musician and angst driven.  Donkey was an engineer 
and big thinker, from working class roots, and as down to earth as any 
22 year old man can be.  Godman was a wanna-be-lawyer on his way to 
Boalt or some such prestigious law school. 


I'm in contact with all three, albeit once a year emails.  Donkey 
stopped by a year ago on his way to Oregon to start a new job that would 
send him to India to work with different villages, teaching them how to 
build environmentally friendly stoves.  We smoked some very, very strong 
pot - I'm an intermittant smoker now - we have a random drug testing 
policy at work - and I wasn't used to be really, really high with other 
people in the room.  We ended up playing scrabble for hours after 
reminsicing about our 05 trip. 


The point I'm making is that intense relationships develop rapidly on 
the trail.  When Jane and I were hiking from Lassen to Whitney in 1991 
we met the northbound pack, and spent time in Sierra City with a couple 
guys with whom we bonded intensely.  And we weren't even hiking with 
them.  When the busyness of day to day civilized life is sloughing off 
like old skin, I found I revel in being with someone who can manage my 
intensity.  For the most part, that's other thru- and section hikers.  
The people who leave drinks and offer rides - trail angels - were really 
nice, but to me, they always seemed a little outside.  I appreciated 
their efforts and concern, but the bonding wasn't there.  Appreciation 
is huge... 


Hiking as a couple insulates.  The long conversations within lack of 
surfacing civilized bus-y-ness simply don't happen.  I'd be interested 
to hear if this is so for others who have hiked as couples.  When I've 
hiked as a single person, I can meet someone really quickly, and really 
deeply, and the bond generated could be lifelong - if my bus-y-ness when 
I re-enter the regular would let me take time to visit, or even call.  I 
remember meeting a thruhiker in 1994 next to Dorothy Lake who'd started 
a month after the pack, and was about to catch them.  The hour we spend 
together was magical.  We exchanged info, but neither of us did anything 
after our trips.  That's probably normal.  Is it??? 


I also have found that the younger you are, the more likely you are to 
be uncomfortable being alone.  Have others seen this too??? 


Let me say I'd much rather hike with a lover than alone.  The memories I 
have of the 30 days I spent on the trail with Jane in 1991 are some of 
the most powerful in my life.  Some of them do involve sex - I will just 
say that making love in a sun-filled meadow at mid-day 100' off the 
trail on a blue foam pad is simply wonderful. No weirdness here.  Just a 
really, really fond and vibrant memory...  The conversations that go on 
24/7 with a lover do nothing but add to the intensity of being on the 
trail and losing bus-y-ness.  My next trip - hopefully in 2010 - will be 
with a someone who can become a lover, at least an intense friend. 


A little less, I'd rather hike with a friend than alone.  I've been 
hiking with Deniece for five years or so, a week each summer, and her 
husband "loans" her to me.  I joke, but it's almost true.  His idea of a 
vacation is a B&B in London and a play every night.  She's a friend, and 
because she's younger, can outwalk me when I come from work to the trail. 


When I start a section hike, I'm usually out of shape. My folks put a 
pack on my back when I was eight years old, and my body remembers what 
hiking is.  If I am able to hike for four or five weeks, I move beyond 
the "potential injury due to pot belly" stage into feeling vibrant and 
powerful.  I read a book a couple years ago named, "Why Michael can't 
Hit."  It was written by a sports physiologist and he argued that bodily 
memory is pretty much cemented by the age of 15.  The earlier you start 
a sport, or anything for that matter, the greater the possibility is 
that you'll be good at it.  When I hit the trail, I'm home...  As long 
as I don't sprain an ankle, I'll drop a pound a day until homeostasis... 


I find it amazing how quickly the bus-y-ness drops away now.  A week 
alone and I'm walking down the trail ready to meet someone 
soul-to-soul.  The sloughing is quicker as I grow older and spend more 
time on the trail.  To be sure many times the early 20s hikers and I 
meet, but it's awkward.  A couple summers ago on a section hike I met 
two men and a woman at Richardson Lake in the central Sierra.  I'd 
camped at one end of the dirt 4 wheel drive tracks, and they came in 
late and camped at the other end.  There were lots of mosquitos, which 
don't bother me much.  That was the topic of our conversation as I 
headed out at 6AM.  They were waking up and coping while I was on the 
trail and reveling.  I wanted to bond, but it wasn't there... 


In 1994 I was camped at Lemiti Creek in central Oregon, in my tent an 
hour before sunset, reading, dozing, ready to sleep.  Five guys came in, 
set up camp 20' from me, built a fire, and proceeded to smoke pot and 
get wild.  20' away...


Finally, I got up and pretended I was a loony, excoriating them for 
being noisy in the gentle quietness of Oregon's forest, but finally 
accepting a couple hits from mediocre pot.  I still got up the next 
morning and left before they were stirring... 


I'd rather hike with a friend than alone.  But you know, I'm planning to 
hike for a month this summer from Castella to Bend or Mt. Hood - 
depending on mileage - alone.  I get really quirky when I hike alone.  I 
become hyper-aware and time slows to a crawl.  I like it when I'm out of 
shape.  I walk and lie down, nap, read and then sleep, and that's it.  
When I get in shape, and have done my 20 miles by 3PM, I'm antsy.  I 
don't have experience pushing the mileage beyond the low 20s - I guess 
it's my frontier.  I don't read when I'm in shape.  I need something 
else.  Hmmm... 


I think that's why I've accepted I like hiking with a friend.  It's like 
developing an idea with a someone and writing a manuscript together.  I 
have my life and they theirs, but we have a common project - hiking - 
and that's enough...


Jeffrey Olson
Martin, SD
"Jeff, just Jeff," said to the cadence of "Bond, James Bond."