Day 1: Don’t Die – The Walk

Blog #5

Being at the top of the south end is very shocking, including the concept of falling, breaking your ankle, and not even making it 1 meter of the 4,260 meter trail.

At the beginning of the more than hour-long speech, the most important thing you needed to know, as advice, was: “Don’t die.”

The campfire speeches the night before were unique in that I had never heard much of the advice before, despite watching hours of YouTube. Hitchhiking «just Paul», never closing the door until you get your bag out of the back seat to prevent people from mistakenly leaving with your gear, which makes your poles obvious, because cross country hitches don’t use poles, and you’re more likely to get picked up if you’re a PCT hiker trying to get to the nearest town.

Papa Bear’s advice on water was simple: 1 liter for 4 miles and 2 liters for dry camping. He also told us that catching up on fluid intake was different from “cameling,” which actually hurts.

Oh! Here’s the next place to get water!

Then came how to cross rivers, and you should only do 10 miles a day for the first three weeks, and only then increase it to 12. This is even more conservative than I thought, but a third of people who go off trail do so in the first three weeks due to overuse injuries. The first aid lecture that pretty much explains everything that can go wrong, from joints to hypothermia to heat stroke, it all depends on water. It’s the driving force here. The first priority is: where is the next place to get water?

I can’t say enough about how amazing this CLEEF camp and the people who run it are. The advice and helpful nature is second to none. Camping for $15 is fair, but the tips and then how they give you a hearty breakfast on launch day are already angel territory.

I also learned that they mean it when they say that the hiker’s midnight is 9 pm, and if you wake up at six, you’ll probably be the last person awake.

My home for the next six months.

So the first few days you learn that while the trail is huge, flat, wind-protected spots are not common and you often camp near other people.

Dirt road

That trail dirt gets into every corner.

The term trail dirt was very evident when I woke up the first day and had about a third of a cup of the finest sand I have ever seen inside my tent. By the end of the first day, everything I owned, including every article of clothing and every inch of my body, was covered in dirt.

California winds have proven to be better than us, and even the most experienced backpackers need two people to help set up their tents and then stack stones on the stakes. And that didn’t work for everyone. Some people gave up and just slept on top of their tents.

hiker’s hunger

My original food stash from day 1.

Because of my weight loss program before I got here, I started what’s called hiker hunger with a vengeance long before it should have hit me. On the third day, before going to bed at 9 pm, I ate a full package of tuna, a full box of macaroni and cheese, a four-serving package of mashed potatoes, a large brownie, five tablespoons of peanut butter, 80 g of pure whey protein isolate powder, and the last 1/3 bag of cheezies and Moon Cheese. Feeling like I could eat another box of macaroni and cheese, I finished it off with a Snickers bar, understanding that I needed more food for tomorrow.

trail trash

While I try to eat healthier, hikers eat like garbage. Ramen bombs and chocolate bars are the norm in terms of weight and calorie count.

It took day 4 to see an intimidating snake lying on the other side of the trail with its 2 foot body daring me to approach. I’m not sure it was poisonous, but I did know that the three rattlesnakes I saw the next day were.

The first was clean, about a meter long and thick. That snake saw me coming and got out of the way before I got close. I told other hikers there was a rattlesnake there and they immediately went looking for it in the bushes. This reminded me of the advice that most people who get stung ask for, and this seems to be exactly the case.

The second was a redder color, also three feet long, and when I heard the rattle, I looked down and the rattle was about six inches from my foot as the snake left the trail.

This snake was the queen of the trail and was very happy to make us wait until it was good and ready to walk away.

The last one of the day was maybe 18 inches and was just sitting on the trail and not moving. My trail partner was tossing twigs and pebbles, and this young snake said, «Go!» He coiled around a cliff on one side and a sheer rock wall on the other. He knew he had me. After several minutes, having established who was boss, he slowly slithered away.

Being outdone by a teenager might be an appropriate place to end this blog. Plus, it’s 9:40 pm and therefore already time for bed!

Next time I will talk about how my body behaves after 7 days. Some good, some very bad.

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