On my run today I started thinking about food on the hike, but then realized I was getting ahead of myself in planning. I shifted my thoughts over to the climates we will face on the PCT. For most of us, that will be starting in the desert.
The amount of dry territory thru hikers must cover is daunting. Take it from someone who grew up in Burkina Faso, heat can make you a bit loopy. The unforgiving sun, the constant cotton mouth, the desire for just a little bit of shade, the lack of privacy (low and sparse brush) I'm excited for all of it. At least it is dry heat. That makes it feel not quite like 100F.
Temperatures should range between 50-120F (10-49C). In April the Pacific brings storms but the area is pretty dry by mid May. The trail follows the mountain range mostly, going through the San Jacinto Mtns, the San Bernardino Mtns, and the San Gabriel Mtns where pines should make for a much welcome respite.
The obvious problems in the desert are sun, heat, and water. I will hike nocturnally and only be eating uncooked/previously prepped food to save my skin, water, and weight (I won't have to carry a cooking system for awhile, if I really start missing it I can have someone send it to me.)
I feel like after all of this I need to inspire myself. The desert is typically where people go to find themselves. You mind starts mimicking the landscape; there is no place to hide. What is often considered infertile ground becomes a place for plants to adapt and specialize against all odds. This landscape is the perfect metaphor for the beginning of our journey.
"Time and space. In the desert there is space. Space is the twin sister of time. If we have open space then we have open time to breath, to dream, to dare, to play, to pray to move freely, so freely, in a world our minds have forgotten but our bodies remember. Time and space. This partnership is holy. In these redrock canyons, time creates space--an arch, an eye, this blue eye of sky. We remember why we love the desert; it is our tactile response to light, to silence, and to stillness." - Terry Tempest Williams, Red: Passion and Patients in the Dessert
"“I’ve crossed these sands many times,” said one of the camel drivers one night. “But the desert is so huge, and the horizons so distant, that they make a person feel small, and as if he should remain silent.” (76) Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
"Lion King" shows how his trip began and shares about the brutal heat.
http://www.youtube.com/v/AM1V-JZit5M?version=3&autohide=1&feature=share&autoplay=1&autohide=1&attribution_tag=gRl_FbX6GWFCyH5Op_WZGA&showinfo=1
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