A Romp Through the West
Day: 0
Miles: 0
Speeding through night towards San Diego, J said, “So don’t hate me, but would you entertain the idea of not starting hiking tomorrow, and taking a beach day instead?”
I instantly hated the idea. Another day of STILL not starting? Then my exhaustion punched me in the face and told me to come to my senses.
The great fount of knowledge, the internet, tells me that more and more PCT hikers are starting the trip EVERY DAY. Every day. And while my engineering exam looms frighteneningly large, the extra week and half to starting hiking seems like a long ways away.
Which is good, really. I’m not ready. I finally went to the dentist today, and now I’ve got to cram in a root canal along with all my other chores. I should have gone to the dentist last month. Last year, or even the year before would have been the real adult thing to do. The only thing worse than procrastinating my 3 year overdue dental appointment to 3 weeks before I start hiking would have been to not go at all… So there’s that.
This adult business is still a stretch for me sometimes. I’ve got high school buddies with four kids and counting, and I can’t make myself a dental appointment. I wonder how they do it. Does becoming a parent magically make you more responsible? Maybe it’s some hormone, your body secretes during pregnanacy. Or perhaps there is an evolutionary reason why you can’t remember your first 4 years of life. The universe was just trying to cut your parents a break.
Speaking of parents, J’s were in town this weekend, taking a sunshiney break from what’s turned out to be a very long northeast winter. Seems like it’s been 75 and sunny here forever. (We had a partially cloudy day a week ago, with what *might* have been the faintest sprinkling of rain, and half my office congregated on the balcony to watch it mist.)
J and I took his parents up the Santa Ritas one day and then on a jaunt on Mt Lemmon the next, to squeeze in the whole eco-spectrum of saguaro to oak to ponderosa pine. In an extra stroke of luck, Mt Lemmon was blooming with every wildflower I’ve ever seen.
We did two 7 mile days in a row… I’m really tired… I’ve got a feeling the PCT is gonna be a rough start.
There are so many tiny odds and ends that I still need, that I just know I need, for this trip. I keep acquiring these bits, flotsam and detritus of gear, tiny LED lights, bitty leathermans, featherweight mirrors, lengths of skinny cord. I don’t think I’ve made it all the way to the lightweight mentality yet – what’s lighter than lightweight? Nothing. Oh well. I’ll shake the crumbs out as I go. Can’t turn myself into hiker trash overnight.
Today I went to REI to fill my need for consumer goods. The aisles filled with nifty gadgets and ingenious gizmos failed to contain almost everything I was looking for. Shiny items all down the row and an empty hanger for me. I paid for most my new, pricey crumbs with a refund on a broken water filter (if anyone decides to buy the katadyn vario, be careful with it – the intake nipple broke off on the first use). Despite having had the filter for years, the first time I tried to use it was a few weeks back, and it broke. Looks like I’ll be replacing it with something else.
Then when I tried to take it back at the checkout, the manager at REI informed me that the return policy had changed. What?? Isn’t the magical return policy the entire reason anyone shops at REI? I always wondered how that policy was working out for them; turns out it wasn’t. (For the curious, you can now only return items within the first year after purchase.) After hassling me a bit the manager ended up giving me the refund anyway, looking the whole time like I’d spat in her breakfast. Serving up favors with a side of scowl, I guess. I can’t see the point of helping somebody out if you’re just going to be mean about it, but I’ll take the refund and skedaddle.
I wish it was time to go, that all the chores were done and apartments cleaned and boxed and licensing exams writ and nowhere to go but forward.
