Hiking Through the Trees

At Mile: 1267.9

We are firmly in Northern California now, the most mysterious of the five sections of trail (Desert, Sierras, NorCal, Oregon, Washington). Prior to the start of our adventure we heard rumors about everywhere else: the Sierras are beautiful but difficult, the Washington section gets rainy, the Desert is long and hot, Oregon is easy enough for consistent 30+ mile days. Nobody mentions NorCal. We didn't know what to expect.

Here is what we have discovered so far:

1. Less mosquitos. Not no mosquitos, but most certainly less mosquitos. We get the odd bite here and there, but there has been nothing like the swarms we encountered in and around Yosemite.

2. There are trees. Glorious trees. Gone are the waist high scrub bushes of the desert and bare alpine slopes of the Sierras, where patches of trees were scattered and inconsistent. Here we are walking through lush, towering pine forests. Here my dorky sun hat gets tucked away well before sundown. Here cool air hides in the shade offered by branches heavy with needles. Here our beautiful mountaintop views are revealed to us slowly, at first in brief glimpses, and then all at once when we reach the top and have truly earned them.

3. There is still water. It isn't as plentiful as the streams of snowmelt we grew accustomed to in the Sierras, but there is enough. There is nothing more refreshing than drinking icy cold spring water straight from the earth. Have I mentioned we stopped filtering our water 500 miles ago?

4. We are hiking machines. All the obstacles that slowed us down before: being out of shape, having to carry 30 miles worth of water, altitude, piles of rocks that made natural momentum-destroying steps on the trail, all of those things are gone. David and I can now hike uphill for 4 straight hours and we don't need to stop to catch our breath. Our natural pace is faster than ever and our average daily mileage has increased as a result. We have had to readjust our expectations when making plans, because the town that used to be almost five days away is now less than four and we can leave town in the afternoon and still hike 15 miles before dark.

5. It is hot. I know that this summer is hot pretty much everywhere. But we live outside. And we hike all day. It only takes one time getting dressed in the morning and feeling the damp, clammy, residue on our sweat soaked clothes that did NOT dry overnight to feel absolutely disgusting. When we hitch rides into town, we apologize for whatever stench we carry with us and discreetly open the car windows.

6. It is still very dry. There is no soil, only dust. And the trees that fall down in this glorious forest don't rot and return to the earth, they dessicate. They stack up like terrestrial driftwood. And the forest is a tinder box. It is not on fire yet, but it's only a matter of time.

7. California is enormous. David and I are almost to the half way point of the PCT and after that we will still be in this gargantuan state for 350 more miles. It seems like NorCal is the most common place for hikers to quit the trail and we get it. There is something demoralizing about the amount of time it takes to get to another place.