Why you should not read the motivating story "wild" and watch the film with the same name with Reese Witherspoon. The longest hiking trails

The route of the trail passes away from large settlements along picturesque corners wild untouched nature. It is the westernmost and second longest route of the Triple Crown of Hiking.

Geography

The route of the Pacific ridge passes through the territories of the states - California, Oregon and Washington, and also partially (about 12 miles) through the territory of the Canadian province of British Columbia at a distance of 160 to 240 km east of Pacific coast USA. Altitude ranges from 43 meters above sea level on the border of the states of Oregon and Washington, to 4009 meters above sea level in the Forester Pass area in the Sierra Nevada mountains. The southern end of the trail is near the village of Campo (English)Russian on the US-Mexico border. The northern end of the trail is on the US-Canada border near Manning Park. Midpoint near Chester (English)Russian near Mount Lassen (Lassen Volcanic (National Park)). The route runs through 7 national parks USA and 25 national forests.

Story

The idea of ​​​​creating a route belongs to the oil tycoon Clinton Churchill-Clark as an analogue of the existing one on east coast Appalachian Trail by combining many regional hiking trails into one from the Mexican to the Canadian border. In 1932, Clark organized Pacific Crest Trail System Conference, bringing together volunteers who from to years. were engaged in the development of the route and the study of the area where it was supposed to lie.

Officially, all work on laying, arranging and marking the trail was completed in 1993.

Route Features

The traditional route for most travelers along the trail is from south to north. Only a few, about 5-10%, travel from north to south. This is due to a small climatic "window", i.e., a period of snowmelt in the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountains. The duration of the entire route is from 3 to 6 months, which largely depends on the preparation and experience of the tourist.

Temperature regime in summer it fluctuates from +40 degrees Celsius in the Mojave Desert (Spanish. Mojave) and low mountains, to small sub-zero temperatures in Celsius on passes high in the mountains.

It is forbidden to travel on any type of transport, including bicycles, along the route. For cyclists, there is a 2,500-mile (4,000 km) parallel Pacific Crest Bicycle Trail.

Time record for complete passage The route is owned by Joey McConaughey of Seattle. He covered the route in 53 days 6 hours 37 minutes. However, Joy set this record not without the help of a support group of his friends, who delivered food and other necessary things to the right points on the route. Breaking time record complete itinerary Heather Anderson alone, without outside help, has covered the entire distance in 60 days, 17 hours, 12 minutes.

The first successful attempt to overcome the route in winter period owned by Justin Lichter and Sean Forry. They started their journey on October 21, 2014 from the border with Canada and ended on March 1, 2015 at the border with Mexico.

The entire route can only be traveled from south to north. From north to south, the entire route is impossible to pass, since it is allowed to cross the Canadian border towards Canada at the point of intersection of the route with the border, and back towards the United States, the border can only be crossed through special checkpoints, the nearest of which is located 50 miles from the trail.

Every year at the end of April, on the 20th mile of the trail from the border with Mexico near Lake Moreno, a Kick-off day is held - a gathering for tourists traveling the route for the first time.

Along the entire route there are so-called "Angels of the trail" - volunteers involved in maintaining the trail and campsites, helping tourists, for example, by organizing hiding places with drinking water in dry areas.

In 2012, Cheryl Strayed published a book called Wild. Dangerous journey as a way to find yourself." The main character of the book goes on a 1100 mile hike along the Pacific Ridge Route. Since July 2012, for several weeks, the book topped the New York Times Best Seller List. In 2014, the Hollywood film adaptation of the book was released - the film "Wild" (Eng. Wild). The book and the film contributed to the greater popularization of the route, including among tourists from other countries.

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Notes

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An excerpt characterizing the Pacific Ridge Route

At the appointed hour, powdered and shaved, the prince went into the dining room, where his daughter-in-law, Princess Mary, m lle Bourienne, and the prince's architect, who, by his strange whim, were allowed to the table, were waiting for him, although this insignificant person by his position could not count on such an honor. . The prince, who firmly adhered to the difference in fortunes in life and rarely allowed even important provincial officials to come to the table, suddenly proved to the architect Mikhail Ivanovich, who was blowing his nose in a checkered handkerchief in a corner, that all people are equal, and more than once inspired his daughter that Mikhail Ivanovich did nothing worse than you and me. At the table, the prince most often turned to the dumb Mikhail Ivanovich.
In the dining room, enormously high, like all the rooms in the house, the household and the waiters who stood behind every chair were waiting for the prince to come out; the butler, with a napkin on his hand, looked around at the table setting, winking at the lackeys and constantly darting restlessly from the wall clock to the door from which the prince was supposed to appear. Prince Andrei looked at a huge, new to him, golden frame depicting the genealogical tree of the Bolkonsky princes, hanging opposite the same huge frame with a badly made (apparently by the hand of a house painter) image of a sovereign prince in a crown, who was supposed to come from Rurik and be the ancestor the Bolkonsky family. Prince Andrew looked at this family tree, shaking his head, and chuckled with the air with which one looks at a similar to a ridiculous portrait.

This article talks about one of the longest hiking trails in the US and in the world - Pacific Mountain Trail*- and also about the author's attempt (successful, by the way!) to cover the entire route in one summer.

*Note: The most correct translation of the name of the trail (Pacific Crest Trail), in my opinion, is exactly “Pacific mountain path” or “TGT”, and not “Pacific Ridge Route” (PRT), as in Lately it began to be called as a result of the decision of the translator of the book "Wild" (Wild). My thoughts on this can be read in the discussion of the Wikipedia article. This moment worries me because I am writing a book about my journey through the TGT. In a few weeks you will be able to start reading it. - Richard, 05/09/2018

Introduction

All along west coast America, from Tierra del Fuego to Alaska, stretches the world's longest mountain system - the Cordillera. In the center North America The Cordilleras expand and split into several parts. The ridge in the eastern part is called rocky mountains, and the western edge of the Cordillera is represented by such mountain systems as the Sierra Nevada (California), the Cascade Mountains (Oregon and Washington) and the coastal ranges of British Columbia (Canada). Along these heterogeneous ridges rising above the coast Pacific Ocean, and the "Pacific Mountain Trail" (hereinafter "TGT" or "PCT" - from "Pacific Crest Trail") was laid. Its length is 4270 kilometers.

The start and end of the route for most long-distance travelers are the Mexican and Canadian borders, respectively. Only about 5-10% of people who go hiking on the PCT become "southerners" (SoBos or south-bounders), who go from north to south. North-south trekking is often considered more difficult due to the shorter hiking season, with snow melting later in the northern Cascades than in the relatively low, dry mountains of Southern California. I will be a "northern": I will start at the Mexican border, like most.

The beginning of my hike is timed to coincide with an event that is held every year for a freshly minted group of long-distance walkers in the park near Lake Morena on the 20th mile of the trail. This year it will take place on April 25 (4 days after writing these lines!). Accordingly, I start on the 24th. The organizers of this free (for long-distance walkers of the current season) event are a close-knit group of people who opened the trail together in the seventies. Since I am going on a route without company, I want to take this opportunity to get to know most of them who are undergoing THT this year at once. Many of them, if not most, also go solo, so, probably, almost everyone will be interested in new acquaintances. I think it will be easy to get to know each other. Despite the differences in origin, culture, professional activities, etc., everyone has a lot in common. One way or another, we all went through a similar path to get here. Further, our common experiences will bring us even closer.

As a rule, non-binding alliances are formed on extra-long tourist routes - companies that can “dissolve” in a day, or maybe in a month. Each long-distance traveler is autonomous in terms of equipment and food and goes according to its own schedule. At the same time, no one canceled the need for communication. In order not to break away from the company, you have to adapt: ​​adjust the pace of walking, postpone the solution of physiological needs, change plans for visiting settlements. When the individual needs of the participants begin to diverge too much, they part ways. But the path is long, and it is possible that you will cross again after 10, 100 or 1000 kilometers. Several hundred people set out on the Pacific Mountain Trail each year. Some prefer to go (or are forced to go) alone, others - in the company. Everyone is looking for the optimal ratio of loneliness and society.

Geography and climate

The natural environment of the Pacific Mountain Trail is diverse. In Southern California, these are low, arid mountains and semi-desert. In central California, there is the high Sierra Nevada (“snow-capped mountains” in Spanish), built of granites, where for more than 300 km you do not meet a single road (and this is in the most populous US state!). IN Northern California the route passes along low forested ridges, and in Oregon and Washington - along the Cascade Mountains, which are interrupted only by powerful river Colombia is on the border of these two states. Oregon is characterized by densely forested plateaus with isolated snow-capped volcanoes, while Washington also has more typical folded mountains.

In the desert and low mountains, temperatures can reach 40 degrees or more, but in general temperatures will stay in the range of 15-25 (10-30?) degrees during the day and 0-10 degrees at night. Sub-zero temperatures are likely at least several times during the hike, therefore, despite the summer heat, most long-distance walkers take sleeping bags designed for temperatures from 0 to -10 C. It must also be taken into account that in a very thin body, resistance to cold decreases.

The climate along the west coast of the United States is markedly Mediterranean, i.e. precipitation falls mostly in winter and dry in summer. Undoubtedly, high mountains create their own microclimate, but even in the highlands a month can pass without precipitation. In California and Oregon, there are areas where you need to walk 30-40 km to the next water source. In the mountains of Southern California, late spring snowfalls are possible, and in the northern part of the Cascade Mountains, prolonged rains often begin as early as the second half of September. In the Sierra Nevada, the snow on the passes usually melts by July, but the bulk of long-distance hikers get there as early as June and encounter vast snowfields and full-flowing streams that need to be waded. The amount of snow in the Sierra Nevada can be tracked on special websites.

Another problem of long-distance walkers is various kinds of insects, most often mosquitoes. As we move north, we kind of run away from the onset of summer, and then we catch up with it. Almost all "northerners" in all years, sooner or later, face endless swarms of blood-sucking mosquitoes.

Forest fires are also possible, flaring up in summer and autumn. In the event of a fire near the route, information (in the form of a sign?) will definitely appear about the need to get off the trail and bypass the burning area.

Equipment

The choice of equipment for TGT follows from geographical and climatic features. The Pacific mountain trail can rightfully be considered the birthplace of modern ease of walking. Ray Jardine honed his methods here, and later other craftsmen. It was at the TGT that long-distance walkers for the first time began to massively wear not heavy boots, but light running shoes. In contrast to the Appalachian trail, where there are a lot of unprepared people with any kind of equipment (movement along the trail is facilitated by tourist shelters placed every 20 km), most long-distance walkers on the TGT are at different stages of ease of walking. Here you can often see backpacks with a base weight of 5 kg or less. Lightweight backpack and beach view” have already become the norm here over the past 10 years.

My own choice of equipment is also determined by the experience of hiking in,. I already have a stable set of equipment. In addition, finances now do not allow much experimentation with new equipment. Here I will briefly describe and justify my choice of basic equipment:

• Backpack: in the south - "Zip" from Mountain Laurel Designs (40-45 liters), in the Sierra Nevada - "Pinnacle" from Golite (70 liters), in the north - "Blast 36" from Zpacks (50-55 liters) or " Zip. Changing backpacks in the Sierra Nevada stems from the need to use additional equipment (ice axe, crampons, and the obligatory bear-proof food storage container). In addition, the distances between resupply points are greater here, and more food will have to be carried. Probably at the beginning of the Sierra Nevada, my backpack will weigh about 18 kg.
• Sleeping bag: Rocky Mountain No Sniveller sleeping bag from Jacks ‘R Better (which strange names!) throughout the route. It is comfortable both at +10 C (if it is slightly tilted away from the body), and at -5 C.
• Hammock: Ultralight hammock from Grand Trunk (formerly The Travel Hammock) with homemade mosquito net. Why a hammock? There are several reasons. It is easiest to fully relax in it if you need to wait out the hot time of the day, and the wind blows you from all sides. It can be hung in one minute on halts to escape mosquitoes. Finally, it can be installed anywhere where there are trees, and sleep will be equally comfortable every night. No need to look for a level place or clear the ground from branches and pebbles. If I later decide that I don’t need a hammock, then I’ll just send it home.
  See the video of my hammock and net here:
  
• Rug: evazot mats in various sizes from Gossamer Gear. Due to the use of a hammock, I take about 120 grams more rugs than usual. Below zero in a hammock it will still be cold from below, therefore, at such temperatures I will sleep on the ground (I take a 90x250 cm rescue blanket as a bedding).
• Awning: 160×265 cm cuben from Mountain Laurel Designs. Its area is enough to hang over a hammock in moderate rain without much wind, if you pull it diagonally. At heavy rain most likely I'll sleep on the ground. I'm looking for a way to avoid tangling the guy lines.
• Cloth: my favorite polyester shorts, windpants and windbreaker. This time, instead of a polyester Golite T-shirt, I take a thin merino wool T-shirt from Icebreaker. It weighs 40 grams more, but it does not bulge, which is especially important when entering civilization. Sometimes I will wear an open cap with a visor from Golite, probably over a towel to protect my ears and neck from the sun. But usually I will go under my favorite reflective Golite Chrome Dome umbrella. I also use Icebreaker merino wool thermal underwear. I will wear it at night so as not to stain my downy sleeping bag. At the beginning of the trip, I will still have a down vest weighing 160 grams. from Montbell. And, of course, briefs - polyester and quick-drying, from ExOfficio (1 pc.).
• Shoes: going to go in sneakers Inov-8. First, I wear already worn models 320 and 315. Then I will order 305 or maybe 335. Among the entire Inov-8 line, it is the models 305, 320 and 335 that have the thickest cushioning layer.
• Socks: I have developed a sock fetish, especially merino wool socks (Smartwool). I have accumulated a fair amount of them, which I hope to use up during the campaign. I also want to try thin polyamide socks, which are much cheaper than wool socks. Maybe I'll take one pair of thick socks with me for the mountains of Southern California and the Sierra Nevada. I hope during the trip to finally decide which socks are best for long summer hikes.
• Burner: spirit lamp "Caldera" from the company Trail Designs. I decided for a long time what to take - a Bush Buddy wood-burning stove or a Caldera. Or don't use a torch at all. I ended up choosing Caldera because it's faster and easier to cook than Bush Buddy. It is also better protected from the wind and does not smoke the boiler, and I want buckwheat for dinner, and not cold 🙂 It also turned out that alcohol (antifreeze) is easy to get in “tropical” towns and is sold in small bottles or even on tap. If I was walking with two people, I would probably choose "Bush Buddy" for the sake of weight savings.
• Bowler:"Titan" from MSR. My version of the Caldera is fitted to the dimensions of the Titan.
• Trekking poles:"Adjustable Goat Poles" by Titanium Goat. To take or not to take, that is the question. In the end, I decided to take it, because it is always easier to send it home than to ask for it.
• Flashlight: Tikka Plus XP by Petzl. It is likely that in the hot semi-desert I will sometimes walk at night, and there is nothing more convenient than this headlamp. For this, the tiny "Photon" is not suitable. I take it only as a spare (it weighs only 6 grams). When I no longer need to walk at night, I will send a headlamp home.

The base weight of my backpack will be about 5 kg (7 kg in the Sierra Nevada). A hammock + an additional mat weighs half a kilo, and a camera kit (Canon G7 + spare battery + Charger+ card reader) weighs another half a kilo. In the Sierra Nevada, I carry a heavier backpack, a bear canister, an ice ax and crampons (claws would be more correct), which add two kilos.

Plans, intentions, nutrition

Based on last year's experience in Colorado and the prices of California hotels, I decided that I would not spend the night in the cities. An overnight stay in a hotel unsettles me a little, and dubious amenities - a shower, a washbasin and a toilet bowl - in my opinion, do not justify the price of accommodation (usually around $ 70-100 for a double room, but there are no single rooms). Thus, I will immediately reduce the cost of my trip by 500 dollars compared to the average tourist on the PCT. But you still have to get or buy food in cities. It is possible to avoid forced overnight stays in the city only through planning: you need to enter and drive into the city before lunch, so that there is time to do all the work and return to the trail before evening. At the same time, you need to know in advance the opening hours of the post offices where you will receive the parcels. I made myself an approximate travel schedule with information about all settlements, post offices and libraries (where there is Internet). Fortunately, there is more than enough information now, both in books and on the Internet. On the net, you can even find an almost complete set of amateur PCT maps that are superior in quality and detail to the official ones.

Having only the experience of one 40-day hike, and even then not completely successful, I cannot be sure that my body will allow me to cover all more than 4000 kilometers of the route. If I have to leave the trail ahead of time, so be it. But I will do my best to reach the end. In particular, my layout this time will provide me with the required amount of calories, as well as a reasonable ratio of fats, carbohydrates and proteins (about 40:50:10 in caloric terms, respectively). I learned last year's lesson in malnutrition in Colorado. My planned layout at the beginning of the trip will be approximately 1100 grams and 5000 kcal per day with the possibility of increasing. Since I will be buying products from out of state at the lowest possible price and mailing packages to me, I will be able to adapt the layout to my needs and still continue to "reap the benefits" of this method of restocking. However, it is impossible to predict in advance what will make you sick in a month. I will replenish my standard food set with vegetables and fruits from stores, as well as other products as I wish. My base 5,000 kcal costs about $9, plus about $3 for shipping (I'll usually get food for 3-5 days at once). Considering shopping trips as well, I'm hoping to hit $500 a month for food. Other expenses will be kept to a minimum, unlike most other trekkers who typically spend $3,000 to $5,000 per trip, including hotel rooms, visiting restaurants and changing equipment.

Planned basic diet (approximate, subject to change):
Breakfast: Granola (fried muesli) 200 g, whole milk powder 50 g
Dinner: (stretched in time for the whole camping day with meals every 1-2 hours) various kinds of bars with a maximum of natural, not processed ingredients - 400 g, dried bananas 100 g
Dinner: buckwheat 150 g (from a Russian store, because there is no normal buckwheat in the USA!), salmon 50 g, olive oil 40 g, dried onion 10 g, biscuits 50 g, peanut butter 50 g

As you can see, it comes out to 1100 grams and approximately 5000 calories. It is necessary to cook on a burner only in the evening, and then only to heat the pre-soaked buckwheat. I like all the elements of the diet to taste (even very much). But if anything, I can refuse this layout partially or completely and take other products in stores along the way.

I know from my last year's campaign that after some time I will have an information hunger and a desire to strain my brains with some kind of mental work. Along with food supplies, I will also “order” printouts of some interesting texts. I will take notes and report at least in a nutshell about each day, and then post them on the Internet (on). I found an ftp platform that allows you to edit websites without downloading any software. I want to attach to the records one photo per day. My schedule is to have Internet access approximately once a week.

Everything else is unknown! I would like to finish the route by the end of August with an average speed of 35 km per day, but this is just an assumption. If you have any questions, write on the forum.

Introduction
I hope that readers will forgive me for the length of this report and for the fact that all aspects of life on the trail are covered, and not just what is related to easy-going topics. I considered it expedient to post the entire report without abbreviations due to the novelty of such multi-month trips for the Russian-speaking audience.

To learn more about the hike, read my article "". You can also learn more about the technical characteristics of the route using the Bearcant website. At the beginning of each day of the report, there is a mile where I stopped for the night. These miles can be found on the Bearcant route profiles.

So...let's go!

04/23/2009 (Thursday). Day 0

Couldn't sleep at night due to work. Even on the way to the Detroit airport, I was finishing one important task on my laptop while my girlfriend was driving. Farewell to her turned out to be chaotic and tearful. At the Denver airport, I met three guys from Detroit who are also starting the TGT hike tomorrow, but are not up to date with basic information, for example, that the day after tomorrow there will be a very important event - the annual meeting of long-distance walkers by the lake on the 20th mile of the trail. I enlightened them as best I could and had my travel schedule photocopied, containing the addresses and opening hours of post offices and libraries with the Internet.

I was taken from the airport to the home of a couple called "Scout" and "Frodo" by young volunteers who just love helping out on the road. Such people are called "trail angels" (trail angels or saviors). In the car, I met a young man named "Rafiki", a poultry specialist from Vermont. Later, we went to the supermarket with him, where for $15 I gained 10 thousand kcal (my goal is at least 500 kcal for $1). It seems that he and I share a common “hatred of cars,” as he put it. I made a superficial acquaintance with 20-30 long-distance walkers and examined the backpacks scattered everywhere. I was surprised that there were few ultra-light and frameless, although I have not seen backpacks with a volume of more than 70 liters. The most popular brands are ULA, Osprey, Granite Gear, Golite. After a delicious and very hearty dinner, I was assigned to a house not far from Scout and Frodo, where I went to bed, full of new impressions and emotions.

04/24/2009 (Friday). Day 1.

Day hike: 32 km, temperature (min./max.): 8/20 degrees, altitude (min./max.): 700/1000 m, overnight: 900 m. Mile 20.

Early rise and breakfast. We loaded our backpacks into the cars and drove off. Sitting next to me was a 71-year-old man who is going camping with his wife and daughter. Anticipating a hot day in the desert near the Mexican border, I drank too much water, as a result of which I had to stop the whole caravan so that I could run out into the bushes :)) An hour later we drove up to the monument near the village of Campo (Campo), and I quickly took a picture and started alone, fixing the time: 7.45 am. Although I had already met several interesting people, I still wanted to go alone so that I could enjoy the moment and enter a calmer, more relaxed state.

Many guys experienced such an emotional upsurge that they walked very fast or even ran. I tried to keep a normal pace and periodically stopped to rest and eat. I even hung up a hammock and slept for an hour. Margaret, an environmentalist from New Hampshire, caught up with me, and we walked together for several hours. She carries food for a whole week at once, and her backpack weighs about 20 kg. We saw two rattlesnakes and all kinds of lizards. By the end of the day, she had a few blisters on herself, and I had pain in a ligament or muscle in the plantar surface of my right foot. I drank almost 4 liters for 32 km. of water and gave a liter to another long-distance rover, who by that time had already drunk all his water and complained of thirst.

We reached Lake Morena on the 20th mile of the trail. A huge number of people gathered at the campsite at the kick-off event, somewhere around 300-500 people. These are people who have gone through TGT in the past or want to do it in the future, “angels” (patrons of the trail) and other people who are interested in the trail, and long-distance walkers of our year. I didn't feel like interacting with crowds, but it was interesting to see the tents, awnings and other shelters, as well as the pavilions of light equipment manufacturers such as Gossamer Gear, Tarp Tent, ULA, Six Moon Designs and Trail Designs. The event is organized at a high level. Long-distance walkers of the current year are fed for free in the morning and in the evening, which I took full advantage of 🙂

04/25/2009 (Saturday). Day 2

Transition: 0 km, temperature: 7/17 degrees, altitude: 900 m, overnight stay: 900 m. Mile 20.

In the morning I walked around the campsite and photographed the shelters in use while the people were still sleeping. It was interesting to see so many tarptents (single-layer tents of the TarpTent brand), as well as illiterately installed awnings (apparently, for many it was the first night under the awning). During the day there were many lectures on topics important for long-distance walkers. For me, there was not much new information, because I read about everything in advance. The most important presentation concerned the condition of the water sources for the first 1100 km of the trail. Everyone was given a printout with updated source information.

I also remember the presentation about bears, which was held by an intelligent woman worker of the Yosemite National Park. She spoke about the nuances of bear behavior, the importance of storing food in bear-proof containers in the Sierra Nevada, and how to behave when meeting a bear. When a bear invades your personal territory (for example, a tourist camp) - she explains - you need to show him who is the boss: make noise, seem big. angry and generally more dominant. "Could you show us how to do it?" asked a voice from the audience. The woman instantly went berserk, screamed in an angry voice and, aggressively waving her arms, took several quick steps and kicked the bear-protective tank, which flew off to the side with a roar. It was so unexpected and spectacular that there was an energetic applause in the hall.

On the street, Rafiki and I carefully examined the equipment in the pavilions of various manufacturers, paying attention Special attention on the quality of tailoring. It seemed to us that Gossamer Gear and Six Moon Designs had a slightly worse quality, although they have cool designs. I tried to approach the head of each firm and find a topic for a short conversation. In addition, among the long-distance explorers of past years, I found the author of a very detailed and interesting report on the PCT, which I read at home, and thanked him for his work. I spoke to an older woman about my foot problem and, on her advice, I bought several sachets of vitamins and minerals in instant powder form.

I entered a homemade gear competition and placed fourth for a map bag and a hammock net. Many of the presentations were not serious, and for some reason there were few participants, although it was clear from the shelters in the camp that there were a lot of do-it-yourselfers here. The winners approached the prize table in order and chose something for themselves. Surprisingly, the value of the prizes did not correspond to the “innovations” shown, and no one before me paid attention to the best and most expensive prize. It was just a piece of paper, obscured by another prize, offering "any product from ULA." I immediately grabbed it, not believing my eyes. A light, solid frame backpack will come in handy in the Sierra Nevada when I have to carry a bear-proof container and other additional equipment. Hearing what was written on paper, then the third-place participant of the competition approached me and persuaded me to exchange prizes, saying, “I really need a backpack,” to which I smiled embarrassedly, not knowing what to answer.

During the day, dozens of people came up and asked about my wonderful blanket jacket, they say, whose production is it, did I sew it myself, etc. It is cold to stand still on the street, and everyone is cold even in their down jackets. For dinner, we were fed American-style hamburgers, hot dogs, and potato and egg salad. I told a few of my friends about the new backpack in an undertone, and they could hardly believe that I was telling the truth. Yes, and I myself, probably, have not yet fully believed it.

Dinner. Everything is organized at a high level.

04/26/2009 (Sunday). Day 3

Trek: 34 km, temperature: 0/22 degrees, altitude: 900/1850 m, overnight stay: 1800 m. Mile 41.

Having had breakfast with the people in the early morning, in the cold (zero degrees!), I packed my things and hit the trail at 7.45 in the morning. Many left even earlier than me, and some, unable to withstand the crowd, washed off in the evening. So "late" I started because I had to talk to Brian Frankl, the owner of ULA and choose a backpack model. I took from him, of course, the most expensive version of the backpack with all the options, but not out of greed at all, but because this is exactly what I need for the Sierra Nevada. Brian is generally a model of goodwill and politeness, he noted everything and agreed to send me a ready-made backpack directly to Kennedy Meadows, where the Sierra Nevada officially begins. Yesterday I suggested to Rafiki that I use my new ULA backpack before and after the Sierra Nevada. he complains about his Pinnacle, but we all understand now that it will be too difficult to coordinate our schedules so that we can pass the backpack to each other in the right place at the right time. In addition, the backpack will only get before the start of the Sierra Nevada.

By 9 o'clock it was already hot, and I took out an umbrella. I walked alone, but crossed paths with 20-30 long-distance walkers during the day. Many, if not all, complain of calluses and various pains in the feet. One obviously inexperienced guy is walking in sandals and has already rubbed his skin under the belts to the point of blood. I went down to the river to swim, deciding that I should take every opportunity to refresh myself in the water. I saw a rattlesnake and some non-venomous one. At the intersection of the trail with a dirt road, people (“trip rescuers”) were waiting for us, offering cold drinks. I didn't take anything because I had enough water. After lunch, we started climbing into the low Laguna Mountains, and the view of the pines especially pleased me. It was already evening when I approached a group of long-distance walkers at a paid tourist camp. I decided to spend the night with them and contributed 3 dollars to the common cauldron. Two friends from Seattle went to the post office in a nearby tourist village and shared with us "extra" supplies. Their diet is only about 3000 kcal per day and consists mainly of expensive tourist special food. This group was fun and interesting. I hung a hammock for the first time and made a windscreen out of my poncho. My foot still hurts, but barely noticeable. The mood is excellent. I feel that my long-awaited trip has finally begun.

04/27/2009 (Monday). Day 4

Trek: 37 km, temperature: 5/18 degrees, altitude: 1200/1800 m, overnight stay: 1200 m. Mile 64.

I slept like a corpse in a hammock. Everyone had already left the tourist camp when I got up and went to the shop of the village of Laguna (Mt. Laguna), which opens at 9 am. Around exorbitant expensive store(bought: 6400 kcal for $20) hung out a large number of diverse people. Today I walked mostly alone. The trail passed through a chaparral with views of the desert from the east, which started just a few kilometers from the trail. By evening, I caught up with the guys from Seattle and unrolled the sleeping bag on the sand in a dry riverbed.

At seven in the evening.

04/28/2009 (Tuesday). Day 5

Trek: 21 km, temperature: 7/22 degrees, altitude: 700/1200 m, overnight stay: 700 m. Mile 77.

I got up at 4.10 (super!) and hit the trail at 4.50. It is very pleasant to walk at this time of day. In the morning, the pain in the right foot returned, accompanied by a new inflammation of the ligaments on top of the foot. It is not good. I caught up with the guys I met on the first day in San Diego. Rafiki's leg hurts too, but in a different place. Others suffer from calluses. Rafiki and I went down the path to the track (Scissors Crossing), where large stock drinking water in plastic bottles. It was decided to stay 1-2 days in this place to give the legs a rest. It seems that most long-distance walkers try to walk too much at the very beginning of the trip, when the joints and ligaments are not yet accustomed to constant stress. But there is nowhere to hurry, because the Sierra Nevada (a thousand kilometers away) is still littered with snow until mid-June.

We stopped the car and drove to the small town of Julian, where we took a free shower, set up in the parking lot behind a small camping equipment store. The owner of the store sympathizes with long-distance walkers and rides Scissors Crossing 1-2 times a day for them. Then I went to the library to work on the Internet and bought more groceries. Before the hike even started, my uncle and I decided to meet on the road at mile 151 and walk together for two days, but for this I would have to walk 40 km a day for four days to get there on time. Here is stupidity! The body is clearly not yet ready for such loads. Therefore, I contacted my uncle and arranged to meet directly at Scissors Crossing. But now I have to do nothing for two and a half days. At least the foot will rest, and the inflammation will pass.

Yucca at dawn.

04/29/2009 (Wednesday). Day 6

Transition: 0 km, temperature: 4/26 degrees, altitude: 700 m, overnight stay: 700 m. Mile 77.

Day. We went to Julian again, spent an hour on the Internet, picked up food in small shops. Then we hitchhiked to a car camping 5 km from our parking lot and swam in the pool there along with 5 other long-distance walkers who spent the night at a camping site at a reduced price. Despite the hot sun, the water is just icy, but invigorating. By the end of the day, the pain in the foot and ligaments was almost gone. Rafiki moves out tomorrow morning, and I stay to wait for my uncle.

We return from the car camping in the evening.

04/30/2009 (Thursday). Day 7

Trek: 0 km, temperature: 8/32 degrees, altitude: 700 m, overnight stay: 700 m. Mile 77.

Day. I went to Julian on my own again, leafed through the last ten issues of the Skeptical Inquirer magazine (“skeptic researcher”) and learned a lot of interesting things. It's boring without a friend and other acquaintances, although in Julian I cross paths with other long-distance walkers I don't know. I was driven back to the trail by an interesting couple. The wife makes the TGT hike on horseback (this is allowed in most places), and the husband accompanies her in a car and carries a "spare" horse. Here is the darkness! Logistics in terms of complexity is incomparable with a hike.

05/01/2009 (Friday). Day 8

Trek: 34 km, temperature: 15/30 degrees, altitude: 700/1350 m, overnight stay: 1000 m. Mile 98.

I woke up at one in the morning and hardly slept anymore. I thought about various topics, probably under the influence of the articles I read. I met my uncle at the crossroads at 5.30. He is a big lover of the desert and all kinds of wild animals. His wife brought him and went home herself. We began a long, moderate climb up a cactus-covered ridge. It got hot. I drank a liter of water for every 7-8 km. Uncle managed to capture several horned lizards and then released them unharmed. He also really wanted to see at least one snake, but he was not lucky today.

By the end of the day, the pain in my foot again made itself felt, and my uncle complained of calluses. He is all dirty. Almost all the long-distance walkers are dressed like him, in trousers and shirts. Many have already become like homeless people: dust sticks to everything wet, forming wide, dark stripes where clothes are soaked with sweat. I am still quite clean compared to them, because the fabric of the clothes is different, and I sweat less thanks to the reflective umbrella and more revealing clothes (shorts and a T-shirt). In the evening I surprised my uncle with my equipment. He had never seen anything like it before, so he asked a lot of questions and took pictures of my things.

05/02/2009 (Saturday). Day 9

Trek: 23 km, temperature: 9/21 degrees, altitude: 900/1350 m, overnight: in the city. Mile 112.

The semi-desert was replaced by fields with thick oaks. My uncle's feet were already completely covered with calluses. He is at a loss, but still holding on and trying to ignore the pain. We go quickly down to the road where he left the car, and we reach his house in an hour and a half.

05/03/2009 (Sunday). Day 10

Transition: 0 km, temperature: ?, altitude: ?, overnight stay: in the city. Mile 112.

Day in the city in the house of relatives. Despite the abundant Tasty food and a soft bed, I'm kind of confused. Can't wait to get back on the trail. Now I'm hopelessly behind all my friends. In the evening I was taken to Warner Springs, I walked a couple of hundred meters along the trail, found a secluded place, hung a hammock between two oak trees and went to bed.

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Hiking Route: Hobbit Country

Well, the weather is bad. Almost the entire last month was without rain, hot, dry and sunny. Everyone is already used to it, even the weather forecast did not know anything. But! As soon as I wrote about this record in LiveJournal, at 5 pm the words “emergency warning” appeared in the forecast, a thunderstorm appeared in the sky and it began to rain.

Only the administration of my company turned out to have even greater talent, which in advance, six months in advance, chose a day out of the whole summer (August 1st) for an office picnic under open sky, the only day in general from the whole summer, when real rain poured all the time, like a bucket, winter and cold, from which you want to wrap yourself in a blanket and not go anywhere, but only look at the gloomy gray sky from the window. No weather forecaster can do that.

The next day, of course, the sun came out again. And again it became hot and dry, and so all the time. Well, you need to use this, go somewhere in nature.

Here I am interested in who in the USA came up with the idea that everyone should have lawns. What is the use of all this? Only all the time you have to mow and water, a lot of work and you can’t even eat. If we are to grow grass, then I would rather grow kelp algae, I really like salad from them, and it’s good in soup. With watering, the truth would have turned out to be much bigger problems.

But, most importantly, I must say that since I became the owner of my own 1/4 acre of land, wild mountain flowers have ceased to inspire at all. Here, for example, alpine flowers in the mountains.

And here is my lawn in the city of Duval in the morning before the start of the daily weeding (the same amount will grow overnight).

But I digress. To say that I visited PCT is like saying that I was in Russia if I made a transfer at Sheremetyevo. The PCT (Pacific Crest Trail) is the second longest trail in the United States, to walk it entirely from the Mexican border to Canada (and for some reason the trail goes a little into Canada), you will need to walk 4286 kilometers, including 128 kilometers of climb. I have the famous Ira Spring Mountains Hiker's Guide lying around my house. About each route there, at the beginning of the chapter, the distance and recommended travel time are indicated. For PCT, the travel time they literally say is “until the end of your life.” Moreover, according to the law, you can walk along this path from the USA to Canada, but you can’t go back.

The idea of ​​PCT was born in the 30s as a response to the existing east coast trail through the Appalachians. Since 1932, volunteers, the federal government, and thousands of local organizations have been piecing together small regional trails, trying to avoid populated areas and navigate through the beauty of mountains and nature reserves. The titanic work was officially declared finished in 1993, after more than 60 years of work. Ten years after that, a huge mudflow under Glacier Peak washed away a quarter of Section K of the trail and it took the feds another 8 years to fix the trail again by 2011.

Section J runs through the Cascade Mountains from Snocolmie Pass to Stevens Pass. 120 km through protected area alpine lakes, 120 km without a single contact with civilization, without crossing roads or cities. Only bears, marmots, pikas, bighorn goats, deer and mountain lions. In normal years, until mid-August, the fate of this section is still under the snow, but in this hot year everything has thawed by the end of July.

Of course, it is also impossible to say that I visited section J, I went through a very small part of it. Like most people, I was drawn to this section by the description of a section of the path called the Kendall Catwalk. Guidebooks describe this section with colorful words - "a dizzying route along a thin thread of a path over a sheer granite rock" and "very scary."

The fact is that in the 1970s, federal engineers connecting the next sections to the PCT trail could not find any normal way to lead the route through the local landscape and simply dynamite blew their way through the granite wall.

Because of these descriptions, I walked 5 more kilometers than necessary. I got to the point marked on my navigator as Kendall Catwalk. Walked along the path through the rock. It wasn't scary at all. Probably, this is just the beginning, I thought, maybe it is long, and only the starting point is indicated on the navigator. I'll go further until it becomes scary as promised.

And I walked like this for another five kilometers, until the mosquitoes finally ate it. I looked at the views - there are a lot of things, the black sharp thing is Guye Peak, the red thing is the famous Red Mountain, aka Communism Peak.

Well, I swam in the lake. The lakes are beautiful. Far to the right is Lake Alaska. The next one is Lake Ridge. Then - the lake Shchebenka. And in the distance to the left is a lake with an Indian beautiful name Melakva, which means “mosquito” in Indian, because the Indian language is not only beautiful, but also accurate.