No Miles
Mileage : 0
The climb out of Belden is 5000+ft, and i had no intention of doing that today. Realistically the only time to tackle a climb like that in the middle of summer is in the cool of the morning, and given i had gotten up late today following Pan's birthday celebrations, i planned to tackle the climb the following morning. Belden is too small to do any real resupply, and too small to have anywhere with wifi or internet connection, so oddly i didn't have any chores to do. The high point of the day was getting in touch with Sophie, with whom i hadn't spoken since Yosemite Valley a couple weeks ago, and after that i spent most of the day by the river with Shady Acres and two of his friends who had come up to hike with him for a couple days. Towards the end of the day Chick-Chack and Starfox turned up, and the three of us headed across to the Braatens', some local trail angels who put up hikers in their cabins. The three of us spent a couple hours chatting about our experiences on the trail thus far, and talking about the fact that in the the last couple hundred miles or so there had been a substantial number of people dropping of the trail, and we wondered if any of the people we have been hiking with would end up leaving. Sourcream, the young canadian guy who started on the same day as myself, Chick-Chack, T-Rex, Rocky, Mr Green and Hoopdreams, with whom i have mostly stuck with up til now, is the only person we know personally that has left. He decided he had accomplished enough for his needs, and decided there was no need to carry on. A few hundred miles ago (i have taken to expressing time in miles hiked) I would have taken a dim view of this, but now I am much more laid back about it. Each hiker should hike his or her own hike, and not judge others for deciding to take a different path. Although the only 2 things that pull me off the trail are an injury or family emergency, it did make me wonder about continuing. More accurately, it made me wonder about stopping. The Mexican and Candian borders are just arbitrary lines drawn on a map, and don't really represent a physical barrier, e.g the sea, to a hiker so why place so much importance on it? Why stop there? Why not continue up into Canada and beyond? I find it difficult explaining even to myself why i'm out doing this trail in the first place, so I understand that if Sourcream feels he has gone as far as he needs, he doesn't need to explain himself to anyone. After reaching the conclusion that all of us are out here with different aims and objectives, and that it is unfair to judge other people for making decisions that aren't inline with one's own, i went to bed contemplating the enormity of my own objective for the following morning : A 5000ft climb in the hot summer sun.
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| Brenda Braaten |
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| Belden bar and restaurant |
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