The Trail Provides

A few entries ago my buddy Gino asked me if I had been given a trail-name yet.
Trail-names are a funny thing. At this stage of the hike, the majority of the PCT thru-hikers have been anointed a trail-name of some sorts by their fellow hikers. It’s a lot easier to remember hikers by their trail-names, and there are plenty of people out there whose real names I honestly don’t know. Some trail-names originate through appearance, others through consistent types of behavior, and some are made up as a result of funny occurrences along the trail. To give a little impression of what we’ve got hiking around us in the bubble, I’ll sum up some of the trail-names (some of which you’ve possibly already have read about): Pops, Photo-op, Jukebox, Bane, Weezy, Bird-man, Brightside, Murph, Bogey, Slinky, Fire-feet, Mountain-Ninja, Croc, Rad, Grizz, Dr. Strange, Bluebeard, Snow-white, Turtle, Two-Beers, Tumbleweed, Back-Track, Out-Back, Wizard, Song-bird and many more. There are plenty of opportunities along trail when trail-names may be suggested to a hiker, and its really up to them to embrace them or not. When I was working in Manchester, I spend quite some time with a colleague who, whenever a great song was played on the radio, would cheer out enthusiastically: Oooh Big Tune!! I really liked that phrase to show appreciation for a great song, and adopted it. And so after repeatedly exclaiming the phrase, after a couple weeks of hiking it was suggested I’d take on the trail-name Big Tune. I wasn’t completely sold on the name, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try it out, and started reluctantly introducing myself as such to other hikers. In the past weeks I several times cast the name aside, and adopted it again, still not really sure if it was a right fit. I didn’t mind, I figured the right trail-name would come to me eventually. Also, trail-names are not set in stone, we’ve seen hikers change trail-names mid-hike. In a later stage of the trip, Photo-op suggested a new trail-name to me, listing the following reasons: – I always look for the least slanted spot to camp on, giving up campsites which others would deem more than okay. – I like to joke about conspiracies along the trail. He proposed I’d be called: Flat Earth. After that, when people asked me about my trail-name, I told them truthfully that I was still making up my mind about both of the suggestions, not sure if either of them was right for me. It was not until the day of the summit of Mt. Whitney that something changed. I’d told Rad about both names, but he’d only remembered Flat Earth. The day of the summit when I was napping, he came to my tent and called me out: “Flat Earth, Flat Earth, are we still going the summit Mt. Whitney at 1400?” It was the first time that somebody called me by that trail-name, and I liked the ring to it. The same day, I suggested the name to the Canadian Family, and they really liked it. I decided to try out the trail-name for the day, and started introducing myself as Flat Earth to other hikers we met during the ascent. After a couple introductions, I knew it was right. That day I embraced my trail-name, and when I met Photo-op and the others a couple of days later, I told them I had taken it on. Another reason I like the name, is that my degree in Earth Sciences makes me fairly confident that the Earth is in fact not flat. I guess that’s some kind of irony… Also, the Netherlands is probably one of the flattest countries in the worlds. So given all those reasons it seems a pretty good fit.
And no worries, I still call out “Ooh, Big Tune!!” every once in a while, whenever a banging tune comes along.
Alright, back to the High Sierras.

It was still real cold this morning when packing up to leave our lovely lakeside camp-spot. We got ready to leave before 0800, and the general consensus was that we needn’t rush today; there was a very long and gradual descent and 5 miles of climbing at the end of the day, which would make for an 18 mile day.
Yesterday my feet had gotten wet during one of the many stream crossings and it had left the soles of my feet slightly irritated this morning. During the descent I started feeling a slight pain which resembled the feeling of getting a blister on the sole of my left foot. I stopped to apply some leukotope on the hot-spot, to find that my skin had cracked open, and had left me with a shallow cut in my foot. Not ideal. I taped it up and hiked on. Within 5 minutes I reached the biggest stream to cross yet, and saw the others already on the other side of it. Because I knew what wet socks had done to my feet already I was determined to keep my shoes and socks dry for after the crossing. I took them off and waded through the water bare-foot. It was so cold It felt like tiny daggers were stabbing my feet, and half-way through I regretted my decision. It was worse than swimming to the island at Ray Lakes. Pretty miserable I sat down to dry my feet and to recover from the pain. The added mental baggage of the new cut in my foot made for a weary mindset. It was not long after that when 2 JMT hikers joined us on the river bank, heading into the other direction. One of the 2 ladies, asked us: “Hey, are you guys PCT-hikers? Do you want any food?” Immediately I confirmed in joy, because even though I’d brought enough to get me to Mammoth, I would be cutting it pretty close. Fear of running out of food during a stretch is annoying and with hiker-hunger a consistency in our days on trail now, I did not look forward to have to ration the last two days. The JMT-hiker, Katie, was super thrilled herself to ditch some of her food, because she had packed out way too much. She started unloading her bear-can and we couldn’t believe what she was willing to get rid off. I ended up with enough oatmeal for two extra breakfasts and some six or seven extra energy bars. Pops and Jukebox were delighted to get similar amounts of food too. For all of us this extra food would make for no more worries regarding our meals for the remaining 3.5 days. My sour mood was instantly uplifted, and I thought once again: The trail provides. Thanks again to Katie, our trail-angel for the day! To make that encounter even more special, a doe came wading down the river, nibbling on some of the branches along the riverbank. Quite a sight.

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. We hiked on to a lunch spot along the stream, chilled out for 2 hours, and started with the climb of the day. It became pretty steep pretty fast, but because we had had a mellow morning, we made it a good ways up the pass. Tomorrow there’s 3 miles of climbing to get up Selden Pass. We’re camped in a pine forest along the mountain ridge, and got into bed early. Let’s see if we can keep up the 18-mile days tomorrow too.
Is there something I’m not seeing?
Something you’re not telling me?
Cause I’ve been hearing different stories
I don’t know what to believe