Hiking The Pacific Crest Trail: Day 88

The number of PCT thru-hikers greatly reduces after Lake Tahoe. Why? It is considered amongst many that Sierras is the most beautiful & challenging part of the PCT. Once a hiker is done with Sierras and arrives to Lake Tahoe, the realization settles in of the fact that we are STILL in California, and we STILL have about another 600+ miles of Cali before we move on to Oregon. PCT completion rate is approximately 20-26%. Many people simply get bored and don’t find enough motivation to get through the miles. We have witnessed many people drop off the trail for various personal, financial and health reasons. Some over work their feet so much that a stress fracture is caused, putting a hiker off trail for several weeks at a time. Others, spend so much time and money in various towns that they burn through all of their savings and don’t have any funds to continue the trail.

The number of PCT thru-hikers greatly reduces after Lake Tahoe. Why? It is considered amongst many that Sierras is the most beautiful & challenging part of the PCT. Once a hiker is done with Sierras and arrives to Lake Tahoe, the realization settles in of the fact that we are STILL in California, and we STILL have about another 600+ miles of Cali before we move on to Oregon. PCT completion rate is approximately 20-26%. Many people simply get bored and don’t find enough motivation to get through the miles. We have witnessed many people drop off the trail for various personal, financial and health reasons. Some over work their feet so much that a stress fracture is caused, putting a hiker off trail for several weeks at a time. Others, spend so much time and money in various towns that they burn through all of their savings and don’t have any funds to continue the trail.

It is a bit sad that some hikers are so mile oriented that they miss out on the beauty of the trail which could only be noticed in quiet moments. At one point we too got sucked into the mile marathons, and it was not fun. Half way through the Sierras we realized that we have not had a single fire at camp. We were so worried about coming into camp early, going to sleep and waking up early, that we were missing out on the small enjoyments of being out in the wild. It was interesting to see how even on the trail, our minds were still working as if we were back out in the society – always rushing to get from one point to another. If we didn’t meet our mileage goal for the day, then we would get stressed because we have more miles to do tomorrow. We were punishing ourselves for not making “good” miles instead of simply enjoying the experience. At first, I thought I would read at least 5 books while on PCT. Yet, halfway through I realized that I haven’t read a single page.

One evening before going to bed, Serge and I had a long talk about how we feel about this hike. We both came to a conclusion that although it would be nice to finish the trail, most importantly we want to enjoy it. That night we made a fire and before going to bed I asked him what time are we waking up, his answer was “I don’t know”. I liked that answer.

Coming out of Sierras have made us much stronger physically. We could feel the strength in our legs and the overall endurance has increased after being out on the trail for 2.5 months. Realizing that we are stronger and can walk bigger miles and still have fun (like swim in the lakes, get to camp early, read our books and still take breaks throughout the day) gave us hope for finishing the trail. We did our calculations and it turns out that finishing the trail by the end of September is very doable. We don’t have a golden date yet, and really don’t want to set one. But we are excited and believe that we can finish this trail.