[pct-l] mistakes I made while hiking the PCT

[Diane at Santa Barbara Hikes dot com]

I cried all the time on the hike. I was a blubbering idiot sometimes.  
I was grateful for the solitude so nobody could see what a wreck I was.

You know, I have read a lot about people struggling with the heat at  
the beginning of the trail. I wish there was a good way for people  
who don't live down here to train for it.

I have learned a lot over the years dayhiking in Southern California.  
Learning about my body and water has been huge.

I've been dehydrated a million times. It really isn't that big of a  
deal to get a little dehydrated. You can get over it easily by  
drinking water.

The real problem is when you find yourself drinking a lot but you are  
still dehydrated. No matter how much you drink you can never feel  
your thirst being quenched. Then you start to feel really horrible.  
Weak, queasy, thirsty and generally not good.

When this happens you need to lay off the sugary stuff. Stop eating  
energy bars and drinking sweet drinks, and stop drinking the plain  
water, too. It's really hard but if you are having this unquenchable  
thirst and are feeling worse the more you drink, you have to force  
yourself to stop drinking and have something salty. You might have to  
cook a little soup or maybe you'll have some Pringles or something  
extremely salty in your pack. Not gatorade! Real salt. A diet  
lemonade with a big pinch of lite salt will do, but no sugar.

After you get enough salt in you, you will be able to drink water  
again and be able to quench your thirst. You will start to feel  
better, but it might take a little while.

I have read so many journals of people starting out and I can tell by  
reading them that this is happening to them. Living here in Southern  
California I have had this happen to me so many times that I can  
recognize it and fix it before it spirals. I had it happen to me  
coming in to Walker Pass. I recognized it, forced myself not to drink  
anything until I could make soup at the campground and get some cold  
water out of the trough. It was really hard to do, but I lived. At  
least it was all downhill.

I have a crazy boyfriend who loves to wake up on 100 degree days and  
he'll say to himself, hey I think I'll go hike Hurricane Deck (the  
hottest, remotest most awful place we have here where the sun bakes  
the rocks to the consistency of broken china dishes and there's no  
water anywhere). He went out there once on an overnighter in 100  
degree temperatures with only water and energy bars and loppers to  
cut his way through the bushes. I decided to drive up to meet him on  
his way out at the trailhead with cold drinks and salty stuff. Here  
he comes barely alive stumbling down the trail. He nearly cried when  
he saw all that stuff. He had almost killed himself by not having  
anything salty and he wasn't sure he was going to make it out of  
there. He's nuts, but together we've learned a lot.

Sorry this was such a ramble.


On Mar 9, 2010, at 3:04 PM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:

> I know that grown men aren't supposed to cry, but I cried three  
> times on
> the trail.