I am still surprised how busy in-town zero days can be. You think that you have a lot of time to take care of everything that you had planned to do while hiking earlier. Yesterday, in Mammoth Lakes, first I had a large breakfast (very important thru-hiker activity) & then visited 3 different stores to research and buy new shoes & glove liners. Old ones were completely gone. Post that, went to the big grocery store to buy the resupply food till the next stop & as usual, got overwhelmed by the number of the items available, picked up excess items, realized I can't carry all this, put back a lot of stuff and still ended up with extra food to carry. Next stop was the pharmacy to get blister-care bandages, then a decent sized pizza lunch and then back to the room to sort and repack. Speaking of blisters, I have got 2 till now and I had to prick one of them with a needle a few days back and then cover it up. First time, I had to sterilize the needle in a flame and then poke at the hard skin of the blister till the liquid came out. No pain though (& you thought I was going to spare you all the gross stuff 😄). Coming back to my zero day, before all this, I had to finish laundry and clean out the tent, sleeping bag etc as much as possible. Finally, dealt with time-critical emails and messages as well as planning for the next couple of stops, and before you know it, it is time for dinner and bed. Not having a car and depending on the city trolley system adds to the time & effort. Of course, all this is still a luxury and an in-town day is always much appreciated. I always overeat too and burn it off in the next few days.
My old shoes with holes and tears after 900 miles of hiking in the desert & mountains. It kinda felt sad to throw away shoes that had only been used for 2 months 😬.
I had gone to the post office to pick up my bounce box (i.e. the box of stuff sent from the previous stop) & take out what I needed, when I noticed this stuff inside the PO. Guess bears need to use the town PO too.
Today, after another good breakfast, I took advantage of Guy & Beatriz's offer to drop me back on the trailhead.
Guy stayed back for another zero day to take care of some medical issues. It is tough to lose his company but hope to see him on the trail sometime before he exits at the end of the Seirras.
Devil's Postpile National Monument as seen from the trail. Check this out on Google if you haven't seen it in person. Cool, hexagonal shaped close-packed pillars of rock.
Some fine looking bridges on the trail
My campsite next to the trail but sheltered from wind, as close to the next pass (Donahue Pass) as I could today before sunset. I had planned to go another mile or so, but it was becoming a pain to way-find in the snow fields.
So, one of the questions I have been asked time and again is what do I think about while I am hiking 9-12 hours a day. For the most part, it is focusing on trail itself. Especially in the Seirras, the trail is so gnarly with rocks, roots, water crossings, water puddles, loose soil & scree etc that you have to focus to prevent getting tripped or worse. Also I think about the upcoming elevation changes, where the next campsite would be, when to have breaks, how heavy this darn backpack is, what should I eat soon to make it lighter, etc. Typically I stop for 10-15 mins for breakfast about 2 hours after I start hiking in the morning and then another 15 mins for lunch after 5-6 hours from start. In between, I do have trail mix type of snacks on the go. In the Seirras, there is not much of a concern about water, but I do have to fill up my water bottle from one of the streams when it is close getting empty. So all this is thinking about the trail which takes about 50-60% of my time. Rest of the time, it is thinking about what I will do at the next town stop, what I will eat there (told you hikers are all about food), what food I am missing etc. Also a lot about people in my life (incl all of you), past events, what I might want to do after the hike ends etc. Pretty much normal stuff that all of us think about everyday. Of course, there is a lot of missing people and things that one does in regular life. This is essentially my "job" now and that's what occupies most of my mental bandwidth at this time. I have to admit that hiking full-time as the "job" is a great luxury. It is physically tough and mentally challenging, if only 'cos it is so long, but it is a choice that I made and I am grateful to have this opportunity.
Anyway, I hope I have answered some of the questions. I will talk more about this later too. I don't want to get too mushy & touchy-feely 😄.
Data:
D-46
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