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Giving the boots the boot |
July 12, 2000
14,491 feet on top of Mt. Whitney (the highest point in the contiguous U.S.).
1,100 feet (approximately)—our lowest elevation on the trail at San Gorgonio pass.
1,000 trail miles.
902 pack-ups (push-ups with your pack on) completed by Duff—I am a little behind my goal of one per mile. Despite this effort, I still seem to be losing muscle mass—I'd be surprised if I could bench press a well-fed mountain chipmunk.
83 Mountain Lift Energy Bars (and they still taste darn good).
75 lizards sighted on Day 1 (after that we quickly lost count).
74 other PCT thru-hikers met.
61 days on the trail.
57 days without shooting a basketball (Duffy). This was my longest stretch since third grade. Thank goodness I found a hoop behind the store in Toulumne Meadows. The first four shots touched nothing but air, falling at least a foot short. I guess I need to do more pack-ups.
29 miles—the most we've hiked in a day.
24 new sunburns on Angela's poor little nose.
21 showers (each).
20 miles lost on an ancient Indian trail.
19 trail angels (Bob, Paul, Paul, Don, Jeff & Donna, Gib, Terry and Joe, Jenny, Carrie, mystery folks (4) on Hwy 108 who gave us beer, Kevin, Doug, and Earl, and, of course, Meadow Ed).
17 loud, fearful chirps (Angela) while crossing snowfields.
13 John Muir quotations.
12 town stops.
10 rolls of film.
9 dollars per mile hiked so far raised for the March of Dimes.
8 re-supply boxes.
8 slices of boysenberry pie consumed in one day at Vermillion Valley Resort.
6 falls while creek fording (Angela, clumsy little critter).
5 blisters (Duffy).
5 days of treatment with Flagyl for giardia (Duffy).
4 rattlesnake sightings.
3 methods of water purification and Duffy still got above-mentioned giardia.
2 Pocketmails (I stepped on one of them, oops).
2 dead maglite flashlights.
2 hailstorms.
2 pack-ups (Angela). She seems to be getting stronger, though—the mountain chipmunks (well-fed or not) pose little difficulty for her.
1 pair of hiking shoes each (soon to be retired).
1 blister the size of Montana (Duffy).
1 afternoon of rain.
1 blister the size of a pea (Angela).
1 bear sighting (bounding away across mountain chaparral).
1 set of new trail names—the Pines (the two of us together), Lodgepole (Duffy), and Foxtail (Angela). We have taken to calling our long walk the March of Pines.
0 Mojave green rattlesnake bites.
Where are you going?
What do you want to do?
