Camel cccthru-hiker

A 4200km single trail hike across an entire country? That’s enough endurance in itself for anyone. Of course it is, the Pacific Crest Trail is a huge undertaking for anyone whether you be a purest looking to do every mile, a more flexible thru-hiker or even a section hiker. As I’ve touched on in previous blogs however, I really enjoy the physical and mental demand of endurance events and challenges. I know plenty of people who share this feeling and I have found them out there. I have seen countless people push beyond their perceived limits and achieve incredible things in the initial brutal 700 mile desert section of the PCT.

Even within the context of a 4200km hike I had always planned on going further to test my limits. To be perfectly clear I am not claiming to be in the same stratosphere as those pushing incredible FKT’s (fastest known times) on these long distance trails. I’m simply an okay endurance enthusiast with enough time in the game to know that given enough time I can go far.

I had my first really long push between the Post Fire front and Tehachapi in the latter sections of the desert. Having built up my trail legs over the previous 500 miles and worked my way through hotspots and blisters I knew that my trail legs were solid. After strategically and as safely as possible making my way through the first major wildfire on Trail, I sat down for dinner in Hiker Town with fellow hikers Lucky (from Townsville, Aus), Maurice and Dian (from San Francisco). A lot of our group had made the wise and safe decision to hitch hike around the 40 mile section from Green Valley to Hiker Town to avoid the potential danger entirely. There are many reasons to skip sections on a thru-hike and the threat of being engulfed in flames while surrounded by dense vegetation is right up there.

Having completed 28 miles for the day a joke was made by Maurice about it being a funny idea to continue through the night to catch up to the rest of the group. Although he wasn’t being serious this was not a crazy idea as night was approaching which meant perfect conditions for what lay ahead. The Los Angeles Aqueduct is a water system built some 111 years ago to create a man made river from Northern California to help supply the rapidly growing city. This 17 mile section is flat, hot and very exposed. It is followed by a climb and then descent down to the town of Tehachapi. In total this 41 mile stretch is generally dreaded by PCT thru-hikers and most opt to do it at night. In fact there is a 24 hour challenge to complete this stint in to get it out of the way and test your limits. I initially laughed at Maurice’s comment before pausing for a second and simply saying, “I’ll do it.” So I cameled up (drank heaps of water), had some food and coffee, said farewell to my crew and headed out at about 11pm. The LA Aqueduct section went pretty quickly and I soon found myself winding up the climb toward Tehachapi. I enjoy ascent and it is for sure my strength so this section was a lot of fun with the sun coming up behind my back. It wasn’t until the descent where the fact I’d been awake for close to 24 hours really kicked in. In the end I felt pretty good until about the last 5 miles where I found myself doing silly things like sitting in places without shade for short breaks before realising what I was doing and jumping up again. Sleep deprivation is the trickiest factor of these long distance ventures outside of injury, hydration and nutrition. I eventually stumbled my way through the final few miles to the spring where most people hitchhike to Tehachapi. I was super lucky as some trail angels happened to be checking on a water catch and they gave me a lift to town as well as choc chip cookies, lemonade and fresh fruit. I’d made it, in total 69 miles in 30 hours and I’d completed the 24 hours challenge in 12 hours. I’ve ran further on trail before but never with all my hiking gear and camera. I was feeling good, what could I do next? That night I slept in a hotel room with my trail family that I had caught up with. With my circadian rhythm completely out of whack I talked in my sleep asking Becca semi consciously, “would you like a soda?”

Following my unplanned 69 mile push I began to think about a more organised 100 mile push. We were approaching the end of the desert section and the famous Sierra mountain range was just ahead. The Sierras will form a different challenge with a lot of elevation gain, potential storms and snowy conditions. This wouldn’t be the place to try for 100 mile continuous hike. It was decided then, I would attempt to do 100 miles in this last desert section before reaching the gateway to the Sierras, Kennedy Meadows.

Footlooze who I was still hiking with hundreds of miles later pointed out that Robin Bird Spring was exactly 100 miles to Kennedy Meadows. So once again I watched my trail family head off as I spent the day at the spring waiting for the 40 plus degree Celcius day to pass so I could move with optimal conditions. At 4pm I set off from the spring knowing I’d come across all the hikers I’d seen come through the water source that day. It didn’t take long to find a large group of them as a trail angel had set up trail magic just 15 miles into my mission. I politely declined a beer but did accept my new favourite soft drink (root beer), some fresh fruit and chips. After hanging with the other hikers for 15 minutes or so I said my goodbyes and headed out on trail. It didn’t take long for the sun to set after this and I was now navigating using my head torch. A few more miles in I came across my trail fam. This also marked 1000 kilometres on trail. Although I had began working in miles, as that made a lot more sense doing a US thru-hike it felt pretty incredible to know I had walked every single step. My previous longest bushwalks had been two seperate occasions of 250km. I chatted with my trail family for a bit, they wished me luck and I headed off into the night. Everything was running smoothly as switchbacks wound through forests of Joshua Trees. The moon beamed an eerie orange glow and combined with the strange and random growing patterns of the Joshua tree made for an interesting sight. The trail angel who had set up the trail magic I’d passed earlier that evening was a local hunter. He informed me that the area was full of mountain lions and to check I wasn’t being followed once in a while. With this in mind and with sleep deprivation beginning to creep in I began to feel uneasy. The wind was up and I was jumping at the slightest noise. I opted to cease running as I had been taught that prey runs and I needed to be a predator. I kept a solid hiking pace and began to feel at ease again when a dark shadowy figure appeared in front of me. This figure was lean and long but with a huge cat like head. I immediately sprang into action yelling all sorts of expletives at the animal. It worked, the what I now believe to be a juvenile mountain lion scattered for the safety of a rock outcrop. I continued my verbal tirade as its huge eyes stared back at me from a safe distance. Once I knew I had intimidated this soon to be apex predator I made my way further along the trail, checking my back every 50 metres or so to be sure I wasn’t being followed by the young mountain lion, or even worse it’s mother. Now wide eyed and awake I continued along the trail toward Walker Pass as the sun rose. I was thankful to now have a much less chance of mountain lion encounters but knew the heat was now coming. It’s summer in Southern California and this section was notoriously hot and low on water sources. In fact without trail angels maintaining a couple of seperate water catch’s it would nearly be impossible to travel by day.

It was at about this point when my feet began to hurt. It was a burning sensation at first that just got more and more painful as I went. I first noticed the pain 30 miles into my adventure and by the 38 mile mark I couldn’t walk. I’d realised over those eight miles my grave mistake. My toe socks had finally torn apart during my 69 mile push a few days prior and instead of replacing them with what I knew I grabbed some free cotton socks from a hiker box. These socks had been rubbing all night and now my feet were on fire. It got to a point where I slumped to the ground, threw my poles and assessed the damage. Was my big 100 mile push over after just 38 miles? My feet were red but they were so callused up I didn’t initially see the blisters that had formed underneath which were causing immense pressure and pain. So for the next few miles I moved very slowly. Stopping for micro naps of four minutes or so as the pain made me realise how sleep deprived I was. I decided that this wasn’t going to work so I took my shoes off to look at my feet again. I’d had one previous blister back near Big Bear City that had formed under a callus and it had taken me some time to cut into it and release the pressure. I gritted my teeth, got the scissors from my Swiss Army knife and made a deep incision. My suspicion turned out to be correct and both feet although initially stinging suddenly felt less inflamed. I managed to get moving again and made my way to the half way point at Walker Pass. It was really hot by this time and I wouldn’t get an reps until I climbed out of the desert floor again. I ran into another local hunter Greg who was setting trail cams close to the trail. We had a chat for a while and he gave me some icy poles and we shared a beer from his truck. After he left for town I found some shade under a Joshua tree and went to sleep for four hours to wait out the heat. I set off again around 5 pm. My feet were still very tender and I was only 50 miles in but I was determined to keep going. I climbed up Walker Pass and made it another 9 miles very slowly. It got dark and the wind picked up again. On top of this, the trail becoming exposed, as if just cut into the side of the mountain. I didn’t have my usual confidence in my balance and each step was pure agony. I decided that my single push was going to have to be re-evaluated. I made a high camp and hoped that my feet would be better in the morning.

I awoke to feet that felt much less inflamed and after some blister surgery, I set off on my way. It was no longer a pure 100 miler but I was keen to try and get the remaining 51 miles done in one push. I went through stages of feeling good and not, all based around the condition of my feet. By this stage I was 1100km into a thru hike and my body had adapted, I had just essentially burnt the soles of my feet which made for rough going. I eventually made my way to Kennedy Meadows having been on trail for 57 hours and moving for 45 of those. It didn’t go to plan and now my focus will switch to climbing the high route of the Sierras where I may only make 3 miles a day at times. I am looking forward to pushing long distances again in the fast and flat Oregon sections. The Pacific Crest Trail with its perfectly groomed trail and gradual switchbacks is truely an endurance junkies playground.