Before I started on the PCT from Campo, I thought endlessly about how many miles I should walk per day to achieve my goal of hiking from Mexico to Canada. On the trail, I met more folks who focused on their daily mileage goals. It was nice to meet or exceed my daily goal, and disappointing when I did not. After a few days, I figured out having such specific mileage goals was a stressor I didn’t need. So just before the new moon in April I decided to dispense with goal-setting, and when the new moon arrived I embraced a plan of letting my body decide when to wake up, when to rest and when to stop for the day. The one exception was the need to find water sources in the desert.
Letting my body make these decisions has been a new kind of freedom. I usually wake up at just before sunrise, but sometimes I sleep later if I need the extra rest. And after hiking all day long, I’m usually asleep by 8:30pm. I know, it’s a boring routine. The system has worked so far. My physical body continues to gain strength and recovers each night. Mentally, the avoidance of meeting a deadline or a goal has reduced my stress. Funny, how much retirement has changed my perspective. My work day was usually scheduled from 6am to 6pm.
I watch the stars until I fall asleep. I don’t have to check in with anyone but me on when to wake, when to eat, when to take a break, when to stop hiking for the day, when to sleep. Friends on the trail ask me: “Where are you camping tonight, Pak Dave?” My initial answer was: “Wherever my feet decide.” Because my feet always wanted to stop at 1pm, I changed that to: “Wherever my body decides.” We usually self-caucus around 5pm, and decide how much energy we have left. Sometimes it’s a lively debate with the feet and legs voting to stop early, and the rest of my body voting to push ahead for a while. What often decides the question is if there is an especially inviting place to camp. However, since there have been few such places in the past 700 miles of desert hiking, we usually set up camp around 6:30pm. In the stretch ahead, I may be stopping earlier to do some fishing or reading by a lake. Other hikers like to hike long past that time, and I’ve seen some folks on the trail at 2am.
As you can see, 10-12 hours on the trail each day allows for some really boring self-dialogue, but once in a while some fresh thoughts as my perspective changes from city-life to trail life.
Canti,
Pak Dave