[pct-l] Worst parts of the trail and ways to get though them

[Diane Soini of Santa Barbara Hikes]

On Nov 1, 2012, at 10:00 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:

> From: Daniel Zellman <danielzellman at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [pct-l] Worst parts of the trail and ways to get though
> 	them
>
> Would folks with some experience under their belt be willing to say  
> a bit
> about which sections you found to be most physically and/or mentally
> challenging and/or rewarding?
>
> For example, almost everyone seems to say that they slowed down
> significantly, and ate a lot more, through the Sierras (from Kennedy
> meadows through to Tuolumne, I guess).

My mileage was about 15 miles a day until around Big Bear. Then it  
was 20+ until around Forester Pass. Then it was around 15 in the  
Sierras. Then it went up close to 30 and sometimes more for  
everything north of Sonora Pass.

>
> Were you eating twice what you ate in SoCal?

I actually ate very little in the Sierras because I ran out and sort  
of lost my appetite because I was eating so little. I went to Bishop  
and man had I shrunk. No boobs.

My eating actually started to pick up after about 300 miles and  
stayed pretty level after that. I did my hike in two large chunks a  
year apart. On my second year my appetite was even bigger and just  
got bigger and bigger. It got to the point where I was fairly weak  
and muscle-wasted from all the hiking and lack of protein and any  
section longer than 5 days required so much heavy food that it was  
very uncomfortable. I took the alternate road walk route after the  
Bridge of the Gods mostly because I couldn't handle the weight of my  
food.

I ate 7 plates of food and 5 cups of coffee at Timberline Lodge. I  
only stopped because I couldn't slouch in my chair anymore. I could  
have kept eating, probably forever.

>
> Which other sections did you find particularly physically/mentally
> demanding and/or rewarding?

I found Washington to be both physically/mentally demanding and  
rewarding. I thought it was the prettiest part of the entire trail,  
at least the first section and all the rest beyond Snoqualmie Pass. I  
found the section of Washington between White Pass and Snoqualmie to  
be the most depressing and unrewarding. I think that was my lowest  
point on the trail. It was raining hard all the time, I couldn't see  
any views, there wasn't anything really very interesting, the rain  
forest was just so claustrophobic. How does anyone live there and not  
kill themselves? I really wanted to quit.

What was physically demanding for me about Washington was that I'd  
get to a summit and see nothing but endless ridges in front of me and  
I'd know that I was going to have to climb every single one of them.  
Today. But I made big miles anyway and that made me feel pretty  
strong. Meanwhile, the trail seemed really narrow, a deep narrow  
trench. It did not match the width of my legs when I walk. It was  
very challenging for me to walk in the trench. I felt I had to alter  
my gait abnormally and walk heel to toe. My gait was already totally  
abnormal from all the walking anyway and this just made it worse.