Dirt - Tuesday, July 1

"Life is maintenance, then you die."

We all have a constant string of maintenance tasks in front of us. Mow the lawn. Clean the bathrooms. Vacuum the carpets. Wash the car. Make the bed. Change the oil. Launder the clothes. Paint the house. Buy new tires. Do the dishes. It seems the list goes on forever.

As adults we accept this aspect of life, but as kids it comes as a rude disruption to the more important activity of life, play.

"Why do I have to make my bed every morning? I'm just going to unmake it tonight when I go to sleep?"

"Why put my toys away tonight? I'll just get them out again in the morning?"

"Why do I have to take a bath? I'm just going to get dirty tomorrow."

After 3 months of hiking I find myself asking these same types of questions, and see my fellow PCTers obviously answering them with their actions.

We stink. I mean BO to the max. So, why don't we wash daily? One answer is that there is no infrastructure when hiking that supports ready cleaning. No shower. No hot water. No soap (soap is taboo out here because it pollutes the streams and lakes). No bath towels (too heavy). And in the case of the desert portion, no water.

The other answer is the same as a child's. What's the point? I quit hiking at 6:00. Camp gets set up and dinner cooked and it is 7:30. If
I have water, a method of carrying it away from its source and some way of drying myself I can get clean. But, my clothes are still filthy. Am I to put my clean body in filthy clothes? And within 15 minutes of the start of hiking in the morning I am sweaty and stinky again and will compile the sweat for 12 hours of hiking. So we just stink. And are filthy.

After I hitch hiked from
Mammoth Lakes to Touloumne I exited the car right in front of the thru hiker's tables where some hikers I did not know were seated, sorting their resupply boxes and talking. I introduced myself as a fellow thru hiker. They stared in disbelief and then asked why I was so clean. Cleanliness is what separates a thru hiker from the rest of the population. Too clean and you are shunned. An outsider. Not one of the clan.

So how do you tell if someone is a thru hiker or a homeless person? The labels. Look at a thru hiker's filthy clothes and you will see beneath the dirt Patagonia, North Face, Ascent, Mountain Hardware, Marmot, Mont Bell, and other logos on their expensive clothes. Those logos are missing on a homeless person. Another characteristic can be seen when you look at their dirty faces. Their eyes are alive with the excitement of life. Animated. Twinkling. Excited.

I swam twice yesterday. Once in a lake. Once a dunk in a river. No soap. I wiped myself down with my hands. The cold water felt good in the middle of the hot day. Then I slipped my filthy clothes on, shouldered my pack and within 10 minutes was sweating up the trail. Refreshing, but not cleansing.

I woke at 5 this morning and was on the trail by 5:45. It took a little longer to break camp this morning because I put up a tarp last night. Thunderstorms were booming away to the east as I set up camp and I didn't want to get up in the middle of the night to erect my tarp if they came overhead, so as a preventative act I slung it up last night.

I had the preferred breakfast of the thru hikers, Pop Tarts. 400 calories, no cooking and can be munched on while breaking camp.

There was dew on the grasses of the meadows I traversed, signaling that there is still moisture in the air. If clouds begin to appear in our crystal blue sky before noon there is a good possibility thunderheads will form. I put my raincoat (Mountain Hardware) on top as I packed.

I passed some unfamiliar tents next to the trail as I hiked by in the early morning light. Later in the day I met their occupants as they passed me, Jay Bird and Boots, a 50 something couple from Maine; Pine Cone and Wind Song, two 20 something girls, a graphic designer and a chemist, both from Portland and Shutter and Captain who I have been leap frogging for our third day.

Just before lunch we reached a milestone on the trail, the 1000th mile from Mexico. Pine Cone and Wind Song did a song and dance routine to celebrate the moment. Very cute. It is fun to think back at all the adventures we have had over those 1000 miles.

I camped at mile 1007.4 while everyone else hiked another five miles. I had covered 18 miles for the day and there was no water in the next 10. I did not want to attempt a 28 mile day nor lug water to dry camp nor gain the 1200' the trail immediately climbed so I camped near the last creek and waited until morning to tackle the hill and dry distance.

It was only 3:30, a very early arrival time. Mostly, I relaxed and caught up on my blogging. I also washed socks, shirt and underwear in the creek.

The mosquitoes were greatly diminished now that we had traversed Dorothy Lake Pass and were on the dry eastern side of the Sierra.

The stars were magnificent through the trees. Tomorrow, I hope to do 25 miles to put me very near an even 60 miles from South Lake Tahoe. Right now I am 85 miles away. At 20 miles a day, I will arrive Sunday morning for my hitch to the Reno airport.

I need a day or two to shower, scrub myself and launder clothes before I get on a plane. It will take some effort to remove three months of stink.