[pct-l] What the PCT is really like?

[Timothy Nye]

OK, maybe I'm different or something, but I never disliked or hated any part of the experience except when I was literally forced to get off the trail. That part I hated, to the extent that the 'listen to your body' advice i received was defenestrated right from the start. If I could keep going, I would keep going; not from any goal oriented obsessive compulsive BS, but because I loved everything about the trail experience. 

For awhile I hiked with a guy that came up short when I was rhapsodizing about the sweet smell of new fallen rain; according to him I saw the positive in everything. To me, he saw negatives. I'd just as soon hike by myself. The lesson there is that the trail is about the people that are hiking it as it is about the terrain which it traverses. It is that part of trail over which you have the most control. Find people that match your mind set. Some want to race through the experience, some want to party, some want introspection...you get the idea.

To those of us of a certain age it reflects the lost freedoms of youth. One where you weren't expected home until the street lights came on and here they never did. Where the natural worlds seamless change substituted for the artificial dampness of contemporary society and its architecture. We are allowed an opportunity to unleash the emotional evolutionary makeup that governs us all through a gradual process of self discovery.

Go ahead and borrow ideas from others as to gear and preparation. Implement what you consider useful. The real advantage of such research is becoming aware of the actual options available to you when you encounter shortcomings in the field.

Look within yourself and you'll find the answers which you seek.

Sent from my iPad

On Aug 14, 2013, at 8:34 PM, Jeffrey Olson <jjolson60 at centurylink.net> wrote:

> Just imagine you hate what you're doing.  You hurt physically, either a 
> pain that floats through all parts of the body or a heavy lassitude that 
> makes you feel like you're walking through mud.  You hurt spiritually 
> because you realize what you're doing is empty and nothing more than 
> putting one foot in front of the other for a reason that no longer 
> exists. And you hurt emotionally.  You are alone and the moment 
> stretches forwards and backwards and the minutes flow so slowly.  The 
> stark realityis the infinite, empty present.  And you're just hurting- 
> heart aching, tears flowing as you walk, or angry and confused - missing 
> friends and familyand the couch and beer and sports and your womanor 
> man.  You feel the waves of suffering just washthrough you.  You want 
> nothing more than to get off the god damn trail and get back to living.
> 
> Believe it or not, some version of this happens to almost everyonewho 
> walks for six weeks or more.
> 
> Jeffrey Olson
> Rapid City, SD
> 
> 
> On 8/14/2013 11:41 AM, Josh Breslow wrote:
>> Hello,
>> 
>> I am planning for my first thru-hike in 2014 so I have been reading trail
>> journals and watching lots of videos on the matter; Class videos, Wizards
>> of the PCT, Tell it on the Mountain, Cactus Eaters, Four Boots One Journey,
>> Yogi's Handbook, etc...
>> 
>> I feel like everything I have read/watched seems to show the good side of
>> the PCT, the polished version. I want to see what the PCT is really like
>> (preferably a movie vs trail journal or book but either is fine), the
>> trials and tribulations of doing such an adventure. Is there something out
>> there that will show me this stuff? Show me the difficulties of having to
>> poop in the woods for 6 months, the achy blistered feet, the moments where
>> you don't want to take another step. The difficult times, not just the good
>> times.
>> 
>> Can anybody recommend something that will show me these things?
>> 
>> Thank you,
>> Josh
>> _______________________________________________
>> Pct-L mailing list
>> Pct-L at backcountry.net
>> To unsubscribe, or change options visit:
>> http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l
>> 
>> List Archives:
>> http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/pct-l/
>> All content is copyrighted by the respective authors.
>> Reproduction is prohibited without express permission.
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Pct-L mailing list
> Pct-L at backcountry.net
> To unsubscribe, or change options visit:
> http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l
> 
> List Archives:
> http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/pct-l/
> All content is copyrighted by the respective authors. 
> Reproduction is prohibited without express permission.