From campsite at PCT mile 1796.9, elev. 6135, walked 14.82 miles (plus 5 mile "excursion" with significant up's and down's) to PCT mile 1801.82, elev. 5815, total up/down +1942/-2247.
Dear Trail Friends
Here I am (and you with me) at a creek collecting and filtering five liters of water - no water for over 20 miles on the trail ahead - and I allow about 1 liter every 8 miles, plus 1/3 L each for making breakfast, dinner, coffee, and for drinking overnight.
If I knew for sure I would be hiking to Mazama (my next resupply) tomorrow I'd only need 4 liters, but that was a big stretch even when I first contemplated it--33.4 miles in two days -- and now, having had a little special "excursion" today (taking the wrong trail about 2 1/4 mi down to a lovely lake and, after realizing my mistake, having a long, steep climb back - a little harrowing because after a bit the gps told me I was getting farther and farther away from the nearest trail access - but I lack the ability to bushwhack directly to the lost trail, especially up steep rock cliffs, so I had to follow the trail back to the point where I went astray. And of course when I got back to the PCT I had to walk a 1/4 mile in the wrong direction before discovering my mistake --) so that I hiked an extra 5 miles, some of it very steep uphill, which would bring the total for the two days, if I decided to still hike into Mazama tomorrow, to 38.4 miles. A bit more of a stretch for a gal who used to think 15 miles a day was more or less her max, and that if she did 20 or near 20 two days in a row she was likely to injure herself. )
Photo 1. The beautiful morning light in the woods not long after I began my hike (at 6am -- I "slept in" til 5 this morning).
Photo 2 and 3. Beautiful mountains to serve as Bonnie's wave and to hold that balancing of joy, pain and transience involved in Bonnie riding her wave. Take your pick, sister, and know I am out here surfing the strange bittersweet mystery of this world right alongside you. Let's all ride the waves and go for our dreams in the moment of being alive.
Photo 4. And 5. The lakes, the beautiful seductive lakes that lured me off the PCT and down, down, down. I had looked at the apps and I knew we were by heading for any lakes, but did a worried thought cross my mind? No, I just hiked happily through the beauty, deep in a reverie about choosing the 10 best things that had happened to me in my life (I chose at least 60 to include in the top 10). A reverie, by the way, that might never have happened had I not taken the wrong turn. A striking thing: I allowed myself to include rich and memorable experiences that did not have "happy endings," desired outcomes, completions. Another step toward learning to live with and even bless all the unfinished business and loose threads in my life? It felt wonderful to acknowledge the goodness in experiences that were incomplete, or ended in hurt or catastrophe. I think the idea that goodness has to be impeccable and permanent is part of that mother complex of mine, part of the longing to return to some lost paradise or womb.
Photo 6. When I finally found my way back to the PCT ( more than two hours after I left it), I looked to see how the crossroads was marked. There were large beaches pulled across the trail to block the wrong way I took. Amazing that I walked over them without noticing there was an alternative trail. Makes me think my unconscious actually wanted to head down to the lakes, and my goal of getting to Mazama be damned. (I had hoped to get to Mazama by tomorrow for some "trail magic" -- a hiker named Rattles and her boyfriend Nomad are being met by Rattles' parents who want to provide three days (fri-Sat-Sun) of trail magic food to hikers. I thought it would be a fun time to see more of the thru hiker culture. I wasn't really due in Mazama til Tuesday (which was already 2 days ahead of my original schedule) and I knew I would arrive easily Monday. But it seemed like a fun challenge to aim for Sunday. It is clear to me that beyond some kind of hero archetype, or a need to push myself, there is a very childlike pleasure and sense of play in calculating times and miles and playing with schemes about how far I can get in how much time. The calculations are fun, the tracking and seeing if I can do things in less time is fun.
To be continued
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