Can't sleep because I drank too much coffee this morning, so, blog time. I'm in Chester, which is a small town in Northern California, 8 miles from the PCT. I've decided I'm going to let my knee heal completely before I return to the trail. This may take several days. The worst case is it takes several weeks and I end up needing physical therapy to get the kneecap tracking right. In that case I'd need to put off completing the PCT for another year. Huge downer. I've made it halfway, which is pretty incredible though. There was a hiker this year doing his second PCT thru-hike. 100 miles into the trail he tripped, fell, and broke his wrist. Another hiker in 2013 broke his ankle on day 1. It can happen to anyone, and there's an element of luck in successfully completing a thru. My mistake was pretty much bad decision making though. I wanted to race through NorCal and Oregon, pushing to complete 27, 28, and 29 mile days heading into Sierra City, a good bump up from my previous days in the mid-20s. It was just too much too soon.
This delay in my hiking pace means I'm seeing people on the trail whom I haven't seen since the desert. Most of the time, I don't remember them, but they almost always remember me, maybe because I'm one of like eight people of color on the trail. I'm usually good with names, but all these white lanky bearded dudes in sunglasses blend into each other.
Earlier today, I ran into the guy who gave me a ride into Quincy. He's a Swiss-French section-hiker with limited English, but he does this amazing rapid charades thing that I'm able to understand almost as well. Nice guy who's enjoying his retirement and can't stand driving an automatic on hilly California roads.
Random gear notes. I got the Helinox Passport 120 cm adjustable trekking poles. These are the lightest poles I've ever tried, possibly lighter than most carbon poles despite being aluminum. Only downside is the length is too short for most pole-supported shelters, but I've got my BD Alpine Carbon Cork poles for that. These will be my speed poles, I love being able to whip them forward each step. The Big Agnes Copper Spur is working well. The inner mesh tent pitches very quickly and the pole design seems to handle winds well. The tent comes with taped seams and is overall a more polished product than TarpTents. I haven't used the rain fly much, but it is a little annoying to put on the tent and stake out, versus the pre-connected fly on my TarpTent. It's a tradeoff I guess, just gotta be zen about my tent pitching.
This delay in my hiking pace means I'm seeing people on the trail whom I haven't seen since the desert. Most of the time, I don't remember them, but they almost always remember me, maybe because I'm one of like eight people of color on the trail. I'm usually good with names, but all these white lanky bearded dudes in sunglasses blend into each other.
Earlier today, I ran into the guy who gave me a ride into Quincy. He's a Swiss-French section-hiker with limited English, but he does this amazing rapid charades thing that I'm able to understand almost as well. Nice guy who's enjoying his retirement and can't stand driving an automatic on hilly California roads.
Random gear notes. I got the Helinox Passport 120 cm adjustable trekking poles. These are the lightest poles I've ever tried, possibly lighter than most carbon poles despite being aluminum. Only downside is the length is too short for most pole-supported shelters, but I've got my BD Alpine Carbon Cork poles for that. These will be my speed poles, I love being able to whip them forward each step. The Big Agnes Copper Spur is working well. The inner mesh tent pitches very quickly and the pole design seems to handle winds well. The tent comes with taped seams and is overall a more polished product than TarpTents. I haven't used the rain fly much, but it is a little annoying to put on the tent and stake out, versus the pre-connected fly on my TarpTent. It's a tradeoff I guess, just gotta be zen about my tent pitching.
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