June 3 , 2013
25 miles today
Mile 583

One last gorge and then back to the trailhead. Said our farewells to Mr. O’D and began to climb out of the heat. Two mule deer were not impressed with our intrusion. As always, my hiking was low energy after a zero. Plodding along past endless windmills did nothing to lift my spirits. Still, progress was made. The goal was Highway 58 where a water cache was placed. The distance between the start and 58 being 8 miles, on my one-month trail anniversary.

From the PCT handbook, “The shortest route between two points is a switchback.” The engineers who laid out the trail were zealous in their observation of this truism. Back to the Handbook, “A longer switchback is superior to a shorter switchback,” and finally this gem; “The longest switchback of all will win the engineer accolades.” I contemplated these unique design philosophies as I attempted to reach Hwy 58 via a series of switchbacks.

“Gentlemen,” I yelled back through the up swell of history, “your goal is that highway right there, let us go directly to it.” Their response: “A straight line would encourage you to focus on your objective and arrive at it shortly, which is nonsensical. Much better 
to move parallel to your objective repeatedly gaining some eight feet of descent at each turn, after a football field length traverse,” your objective never a distraction. Just mindlessly moving back and forth across the face of a mountain suppressing the maddening urge to hop from switchback to the next straight down the mountain. The PCT is 2,660 miles long. A crow flying from the start to the finish of the PCT would cover 1,165 miles. That’s around 1,500 miles of switchback. Engineers are marvels, perhaps not familiar with the actual location of Canada.

Mr. O’D drove up the 58 to meet us at the water cache. Lying underneath his truck I pondered the charisma of shade. Soon it was time to begin the big climb up from the pass and back into the mountains. But first I had to walk along the freeway for a mile through the remnants of a disposable culture. According to Mr. O’D, who used to collect cans, the five most common cans tossed from cars are in order of commonality. 1) Budweiser, 2) Coke, 3) Coors, 4) Pepsi, and 5) Miller. Now you know.

Arrived in camp, spent from carrying a pack loaded with 6 days of food and 17 hours of water. To take that pack off at the end of the day held commonality with an orgasm. Perhaps even superiority.

Steve Halteman
On the Pacific Crest Trail
Hiking the PCT for the Kids of Escuela Verde

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