Ahh, the dreaded vendor lunch. Pizza and dressing-drenched lettuce sit in my stomach like half-set concrete, and I’m pretty sure it didn’t taste good enough to be worth it. The Sprite was pretty delicious though. Tonight is book club, and I’m going to have to be good. (No baked brie! /sob)
Our book this month was about a woman who sets out to recenter herself by hiking (most of) the Pacific Crest Trail, which runs roughly parallel to the better known Pacific Coast Highway. Two important points of distinction: the trail is for pedestrians or equestrians and it RUNS ALONG THE CREST OF THE MOUNTAIN RANGES. The endeavor is serious business. And the idea that it’s something I need to accomplish was firmly planted in my mind. Then I found these fun facts:
The Pacific Coast trail is not unique! and is actually the "intermediate" one in the Triple Crown of Hiking.
Appalachian Trail is 2,184 miles long and gets several thousand thru-hikers a year (about 450 complete)
Pacific Coast Trail is 2,663 miles long and gets about 300 thru-hikers per year (about 180 complete)
Continental Divide Trail is 3,100 miles long and gets a couple dozen per year (completers in the single digits)
Hiking the Continental Divide Trail is totally on my bucket list now. It goes through my claimed-home state, Wyoming. (I was born in Utah, but didn’t live there long at all.) And I’ve wanted to go on an extensive backpacking trip through Yellowstone ever since reading accounts of its early explorers in school. I almost feel like this is what it will take to prove I’ve accomplished my goal: to be in good enough shape to do anything I want to do.
Bobby’s comment made me chuckle: “How about you lower your sights there Sacagawea, and we hike the narrows from start to finish?” The Narrows is a 16-mile trail. (In my head, I'm thinking, "Pffft, is that all?" but I've never hiked more than 7-9 continuous miles. 3100 miles in the Rocky Mountains? Am I insane?) My picture today is me picking my way carefully through the water in The Narrows, which is the name of the river trail at the north end of Zion National Park. It can be treacherous if there’s a lot of rain up river, but it was just muddy that day.
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