PCT Day 100 – SoBo Flip – What is in 100 Miles?

Zero in Bishop, no hiking.

Total PCT miles hiked: 1358

Due to our early start Keith (Starman) and I arrived at the Sierras when there was still a lot of snow, and decided it wasn’t safe to attempt a crossing given my skill level. We elected to flip up to northern California and hike southbound (SoBo) back to where we left off near Lone Pine – giving the snow a chance to melt out. During this flip the PCT milage will be counting down, but I’ll include a tally of our total milage hiked so that you can keep aprised of our progress in a linear fashion.

The end is looming, closer than I would like to believe. The approach of the northern terminus is like a stone thrown in a vast, calm pool—it’s ripples reaching out and out until even in the stifling heat of central California, I can feel them. These ripples tell me that as surely as the sun will rise tomorrow, there will come a day when I will run out of time, of weather, of chances to finish my PCT hike. While that may still be months away, it demands action in the immediate.

As a result of both Keith and myself getting sick on the trail, and an impending schedule, we’re going to skip about 100 miles of the PCT. Specifically we’re going to skip the section between Mono Pass and Bishop Pass, along with the section between Kearsarge Pass and Mulkey Pass. And in all honestly the only reason I’m worried about this choice is because the online thru hiking community can be absolute garbage to anyone who they feel doesn’t thru hike according to a strict set of kinda arbitrary rules. But that’s also a pretty crap reason to make a choice. The bigger truth is that almost everyone we’ve met on the trail has skipped some miles here and there. Sometimes it’s due to injury or illness, heat, fires, or closures, sometimes it’s to accommodate weddings or graduations or the birth of a siblings baby, sometimes it’s because people miss their trail family and are tired of hiking alone. And it’s all ok. A thru hike is a made up activity with no winners or losers and nobody gets to judge or rate anybody else’s hike. It’s all ok.

So we’re electing to skip some miles on the PCT that we did while hiking the JMT last year. Because while the Sierras are a beautiful special mountain range, they’re also a repeat for us. And they are not the most important thing.

It is more important for Keith to be able to take the time off trail to attend the bachelor party and wedding of one of his best friends. Because those things only happen once, and you only have so many best friends, only so many special moments to share with them. It’s more important for us to heal from being sick so we can enjoy our hike, not unnecessarily abuse our bodies in the search of absolute completion of the trail. It’s more important, for both of us, to see new views in new parts of this wonderful country than it is to travel the same stretch of trail we’ve hiked on or near for years. And it’s more important for us to get to the northern terminus in time for Keith to return to work in late September. Because while this hike can feel all consuming, it’s not all there is to our lives.