Another 7/10 of a Percent!

It's been a bit—last week I was grading like a maddened yak trying to get caught up before the break, and this week is The Break. We had a lovely visit with the young Eldeviks on Friday in their sweet little house (and its gigantic yard, perfect for children save for the excessive proliferation of Spiny Death Cacti—John has a strange sense of humor), and Saturday was all about visiting Granny Mel and Bud whom we've not seen for many a long month.

I had planned on doing a day hike on Monday to kick the break off, but once again my more-wonderful-than-could-be-expected wife offered more than I asked—she sent me off on Sunday afternoon. So my plans changed from hiking the Silverwood to I-15 PCT segment to something I've wanted to do since the start: hike down off the mountain completely. So I set off from Cedar Glen and made it down to Summit Valley by the next day--about 20 miles in 23 hours. (Hence the title of this post—my 20 miles is aboutt .7% of the 2,650 mile length.)

My goal was to really see how far I could hike in one day, since hiking the full PCT will often call upon the hiker to do 20 or 30 miles in a day. Clearly, I'm still not there. The odd thing is that I somehow think I should be after doing almost no hiking for years and taking on half a dozen treks in the last 9 months. I still didn't quite make my real desire, which was about 25 miles, but it became clear to me at around mile 17 that I had taken on too much. My legs were responding only erratically to my commands, and I was looking at calling for my ride home after the kids' bedtime, so I cut out early. (An apology to the good people at Los Flores Ranch, whose access road I used to get to the highway, and over whose fence I had to clamber to escape.)

Still, the hike itself was beautiful. I got to see Deep Creek again—I hadn't been down there since the early days with the Scouts—and I finally got to see the famous hot springs which I'd often heard about but never seen. (A nice spot, but so overrun by teenagers looking to party that the litter and graffiti are pretty overwhelming.) The winding canyon down the back side of the mountain had everything from thick pine groves to plunging stone cliffs to rolling grass-sided hills to shifting scree slopes, and though it was warm, it wasn't overwhelming.

I told Joanna that if she wants to disabuse me of the Ten-Year Plan, she ought to just let me go hiking more often—by the time I limp in from a trip like this, all I can think is that trekking for five months would be insane when I'm wiped out after two days. I've got physical stamina on my side, and some nice gear, and that's about it.

Ah, well. That's why it's a Ten-Year Plan, I suppose. Right now, I have to get to writing, which is what I'm doing in the mornings during the break. Your prayers on that front are appreciated.