[pct-l] Onion Valley/Kearsarge commercial horse resupply

[CHUCK CHELIN]

Good evening, all,



I’ll second Piper’s comments about the hills.  Years ago when I first got
interested in long-distance hiking I read an account of the travels of a PCT
thru-hiker, and he said that after a while the length and grade of hills had
become meaningless.  At the time I thought a statement like that was a bit
arrogant, but after I had engaged in lots of training and had covered
hundreds of miles north of Campo I began to understand he was correct.



Beginning hikers face hills with dread; knowing there will be rubber legs, a
racing pulse, stops at every-other switchback to cough-up a lung, and
possibly the loss of stomach contents somewhere in the process.  Once one
gains “trail legs” the length and grade of hills is only of mild interest,
and then only in the context of travel time rather than effort.  An
experienced hiker doesn’t really run out of gas on hills he/she just
automatically and unconsciously slows down a bit -- perhaps taking somewhat
shorter steps -- and just powers up the hills.  A stop on the way, or at the
top of a grade, is more to admire the view than being necessary to recruit
strength.



As I recall, the only grade I’ve planned for was the climb north from
Tehachapi Pass.  Knowing I would have a full-plus load of food for Kennedy
Meadows, lots of water to the next reliable water source miles up the trail,
and that I would likely be starting in the hot middle of the day after a
hitch, I deliberately throttled back and conserved energy.  That has always
worked for me, and even with a deliberately moderate pace I seemed to get to
the top in no-time.



Steel-Eye

Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT – 1965

http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye

http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09


On Mon, Jan 3, 2011 at 3:19 PM, Diane Soini of Santa Barbara Hikes <
diane at santabarbarahikes.com> wrote:

> This is one of the true gifts of hiking the PCT. The complete
> elimination of that anxiety over going up hills. Sure, sometimes I
> would crest a big mountain and see endless ridges ahead of me and
> know that I was going to hike up and over every single one of them--
> probably today--and feel a little crestfallen, but then I'd just set
> about doing it and forget all about it.
> On Jan 3, 2011, at 1:41 PM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:
>
> > I always get a chuckle from the folks that check the elevation
> > profiles for
> > each day trying to determine how hard the day is going to be.
> > After a while
> > you just realize it doesn't really matter how much up or down there
> > is - you
> > are just going to hike it and enjoy it anyway.
> ...
> >  this new
> > information made no impact upon our plans - we were both going to
> > be hiking.
> >  I see hills or weather the same way - they are just a part of the
> > trip/experience.
> >
> > Enjoy the PCT.
> >
> > Day-Late
>
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