Diary - Mile 1263.5
Unexpectations.
Before I started the PCT, I’ve heard that North Cal was flat and boring. Well, I gotta say, to me it’s neither flat nor boring. Whoever spread that rumor was probably very athletic and not very much into lifting his eyes to enjoy the scenery.
Yes, it’s not The Sierra with dramatic granite peaks, snowy patches on top and crystal clear lakes below. But here, the mountains are lush green, fully covered in pines and firs, the lakes are dark and mysterious, the rocks have patches of yellow, green and orange moss, bright green moss covers trees in the forests from the bottom to the tip of every branch, making them look very “strokeable”, smoke from the wildfires quietly lingers in the dimples of the hills, and every morning, bright red sun highlights the colors of flowers and the herbs that grow in the meadows.
If that’s not beautiful then life must be really unimpressive to some.
Of course, there are days that are not that great.
What was unexpected to me, was the humidity. I did imagine North Cal to be drier. Instead, in some places it’s like being back in the desert, with few water sources, dusty roads and even though temperature is only around 34C, humidity makes you sweat like a piece of cheese in the oven. Walking uphill through exposed burn areas, sweaty from hair to toes, covered in dust, with everything sticking to you and no prospect of showering anytime in the nearest three days makes a pretty miserable day. If you added mosquitoes to this (and thanks god they weren’t there), this would be a perfect place to torture people, by driving them into mental distress. On days like that I have conversations with my brain that go more or less as follows:
Brain “Remind me again, why do you do this to yourself?”
Me “Vacation.”
Brain “You could spend 5 months in literally any place in the world that is more comfortable than this, including rewatching “The Office” for the 40th time on your sofa, yet you choose to wake up at 5 AM and haul your sweaty ass up some dusty hill, smelling like a homeless person, eating dehydrated chickpeas…why don’t you quit and go back home?”
My argument is always the same “Back home there are also crappy days.”
My brain gives up. Mostly because what else is there to do? Turn around? And what? Walk 3 days back to the nearest town behind you? That’s kind of the same as walking 3 days forward to the nearest town ahead. Also, brain knows that once I am on top of that hill, I will look at the view, listen to the silence and forget all about that sweaty climb. As my favorite Vipassana phrase says “This, too, shall pass.” Both the nice and the ugly. Whether you are home or in North Cal.
Over the last week we have received more generosity from random strangers than on the rest of the trail taken together. A nice family has invited us to sleep over at their A-frame cabin near the lake, our lunch was paid for again, we got so many drinks on the house or paid for, even got keys to a bright green Mahindra jeep, with no walls and a tarp roof, to drive ourselves to the campsite in town, get set up and come back for dinner.
Now my plan is to hike the big burn area, caused by Dixie fire in 2021. In the recent couple of days the weather has been a bit crazy in the neighborhood- heatwaves, storms, so I can plan all I want, but I guess I’ll see what happens.
