Friday, March 01, 2019

In two weeks, I’ll be starting a hike of the first 1130 km/702 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail (also known as the ‘desert section’). In 2018, I spent four months hiking the second half-or-so of the PCT from Burney to Canada. The moon moves slowly, but it gets across the town, okay?

Following my 2018 hike, I had a conversation with a dental hygienist that went like this:

Dental hygienist: How are you today?

Me: I AM EXTREMELY NERVOUS.

Dental hygienist: Oh, does something hurt?

Me: I ate chocolate all day for four months and almost never flossed.

I was expecting that to be a big deal, but she just laughed and asked the equivalent of whether I was back on the wagon. Maybe I needed to elaborate on ‘ate chocolate all day’, add a ‘literally’ in there, but amazingly I had no cavities. Fluoride is a powerful substance.

Regarding chocolate, my long hikes have gradually been ruining me for all trail food and I still can’t look at chocolate bars or chips the same way as before PCT 2018. And granola, HA! I have a baggie of granola left over because of the spork mishap, and I’m going to eat it this year! Old, stale granola will be no more disgusting than new granola!

Other than the food situation, I’m excited to get on the trail and see the beautiful SoCal desert. This week I purchased more tent stakes for that beautiful hard SoCal desert ground. I also want to learn how to insert earplugs so I can actually sleep in my Altaplex in strong winds, but I don’t know if I have enough courage.