Post Trip Thoughts

Sunday, July 6th, my first day at home: 

I slept in a bed last night! I have to say, it was quite nice. I uploaded my photos to my computer, read my journal over, and added my trip statistics:

elevation	miles	Location
3700	6.1	Mt Whitney
2500	12.3	Mt Whitney
3690	16.5	Forrester Pass
2476	10.5	Glen Pass
800	10.5	Rae Lakes
3360	10.7	Pinchot Pass
1874	10.5	Mather Pass
2350	16	towards Muir Pass
2550	19	Muir Pass
3450	16	Piute Pass
0	5
26750	133.1	Totals

I even impressed myself with the final numbers! Not bad for a first-time solo hike!

I hiked from right to left on the elevation profile above, from Mt. Whitney to near Muir Ranch Trail to take the Piute Pass trail out. Each peak on the grid is a pass noted above in my mileage table. Wow!

Otherwise, my first day back was mellow, and I didn’t want to go out and see anyone. One friend came over and heard my stories, and otherwise I just had to chill at home, in complete quiet.

Monday, July 7th:

I went to the dentist to have my rear molar crown glued back on, and left there $200 lighter. But I was overjoyed that the tooth could be saved, and I am chewing properly again. Blisters are still healing, as are also the raw skin areas from sunburns on my tummy, top and sides of ears, and backs of hands. The heat welts on my thighs seem to be clearing up fast now that I am not exposing that skin to the sun. I saturated my entire body with coconut oil because my skin was so dry everywhere.

Saturday, July 12^th: one week after returning home: 

I’ve been to work Monday through Friday, and found it busy and a little hard to synch with it, particularly at the first of the week. By the end of the week I was finally caught up with two weeks missed plus the current week, not bad progress! My spirits still soar, and I’ve been hoping to find the time to write this blog to share with the many people who have asked me about my trip.

I cried leaving the mountains because it made me feel small, so insignificant in what can feel like such a big and cold world. How could I fit all that I experienced into this little body vessel to take it back home? Was that even possible? The conclusion came to me that I needed not to fit into a sort of smallness, but to bring the expansiveness into my everyday life, to never lose that.

On the first day of my solo hike I met Pillsbury. She told me about an cartoon that appeared in Backpacker Magazine – June 2014 issue, and it was a doddle by PCT hiker “Doodles” (Katie Lei) in which she compared how PCT hikers were like 5-year olds. PCT hikers all up and down the trail were chuckling over these similarities, which I will share here:

We go to bed at 8:30

I need to dig a hole!

We walk places in lines

Still not getting a job!

Talking to yourself and creating elaborate fantasies in your mind

Going by silly nicknames

Eating food off the ground

Playing outside

Needing a bath

Having emotional meltdowns for dubious reasons

Realizing you need to poop RIGHT NOW

Happy to accept candy from strangers

Wearing the same clothes everyday

Poking things with sticks

Picking one’s nose in public

And my favorite: becoming best friends forever with total strangers

 

Back with my fun car again

Two weeks after returning home, Saturday July 18, 2014: 

I have mostly healed and peeled on blisters and sunburns but the raw burn on my right shoulder continues to itch all through the day. I’ve been tired, so I know my body needed some time to catch back up to itself. Yet my spirits still soar, and it only takes a moment to look outside at the trees or the undulating forest near my home to transport myself back in spirit. That spirit lives on within me and is easily drawn back up to my joyful mind. 

What an enriching experience this solo-hiking adventure was for me. I remain ever grateful for all that I have received, which is far too much to list in any writing. Joy to you all, that you too may experience the peace, joy, and oneness of Nature.

In the cosmic Aum, Sitabai “Sky Pilot”