August 13, 2017
Mile 1600.9 to 1632.8
Pacific Crest Trail Thru-Hike: Day 100!
A very comfortable 32 miles today, despite heavy smoke from the nearby fires. Or perhaps a comfortable day because of it—the smoke created a sun barrier, making for a much cooler day. I didn’t even have to wear sunscreen, the sun was a blotted dull red sphere barely penetrating the thick haze.
I saw several people on trail today and tried to be friendly with all of them. I am trying harder to be friendly as a result of now listening to How to Win Friends and Influence People (started after I finished the first Narnia book).
I had a strange interaction with a strange character today. He asked me if I was a thru hiker, and looked perplexed when I said yes. He suggested that maybe I hadn’t been out here for that long, which left me perplexed. Until he followed with “you still have quite a bit of body fat on you,” and, when I had nothing to say in return, looked me up and down and finished with “nothing like it used to be though, eh?”
What? The fuck? That is the kind of thing that happens and churns over and over in my mind for hours. What should I have responded? Should I have been angry and snapped back? How could I have won that interaction? What could I have done besides just walking away awkwardly having nothing to say? But if we’ll take one positive thing about that fucked up interaction it’s that, the entire time, not once did I actually think that my body should somehow be any different. I guess after you’ve spent 100 days on trail and hiked 1,600 miles, body fat is just not something you care about anymore. Any body that can take me that far by carrying itself and all the crap I put on its back is absolutely perfect by me.
We’re 20 miles out from Seiad Valley, so we’ll get there probably mid-afternoon and hang out until the sun starts going down. We’ve heard tales upon tales about the exposed hill leading out of Seiad Valley, where the burn scars of past fires have left a shadeless 10-mile climb. We’ll wait for the sun to set and night-hike the hill as far as we can make it.
The valley of smoke
