Zero in Big Bear – no hiking
“Are you going all the way through?” That was the most common question I was asked in the first week on the trail. The answer always the same: “that’s the plan!” Because it’s never really certain that you’ll finish a thru hike, the best you’ve got is a plan. A plan and the hope that you’re one of the people who loves it enough to stick it out. A plan and enough luck to avoid injury and illness. A plan and the dream that this new wild adventure is really what you’re looking for.
This morning I learned that Crispy quit the trail. The week before it was Quadzilla. Since starting the PCT three weeks ago I’ve heard whisperings and stories of folks who quit on their first day or before the end of their first week, about others who were forced off the trail due to injury. Each time it’s sad, each time it hits close to home, the knowledge that someone’s dream is over. The months or years of preparation that lead to the start of the trail has come to an abrupt end for them. Statistically speaking, it will come for most of us.
I can’t imagine quitting the trail is anything but hard, not less so because the hiking community will view it as a failure rather than a personal choice. I have to assume that Crispy and Quadzilla did what was right for them and their relationships and for that I can hardly fault them.
We rarely give enough credit to those who try something new, even if they end up hating it and abandoning it. And this dichotomy of success or failure is what makes it so hard to try new things, because it feels like if you don’t complete what you started, don’t line up with the standards set by the community, then you’ve failed. But in reality, you’ve just learned. Learned that something wasn’t your cup of tea, learned that other things are more important, learned what makes you happy. How can you fault someone for learning?
So to Crispy and Quadzilla, I hope your choice to get off the trail brought you peace, and I hope it feels right for you. I really enjoyed the time we got to spend together. Best wishes, my fellow hiker trash.
What a beautiful post. Leaving the trail has to be tough but we need to applaud and embrace those who do leave for whatever reason they do. Bravo. It must be right for them.
people who quit the PCT within a day a week are big failure because they did not prepare enough and because of their mistakes they have taken a thru hike permit out of someone else hands who might have been more prepared. the story of the failures should be more put up front so people might stop thinking it is just awesome and great to hike the PCT.
I agree to a certain extent. People should not be trying out backpacking on a thru-hike of a trail like the PCT. You are right in saying they have taken or at least postponed somebody else’s dream. That is not to be applauded. However, that description does not fit all who quit or even all who quit within the first few weeks. So, I wouldn’t make that a general statement, but I have applied it to specific people.
Wow… the elitism in some of these comments. Yikes! It reminds me a lot of the AT stories of people not making it or being driven to hike unprepared because of a book or a dream. YES, some people are not prepared — this happens even on Everest summit attempts, too! But that is life. You’re never going to be able to police preparedness and it’s ridiculous that you would hold up these people as failures or examples just because they dared to dream. And what about the people who do everything to prepare but find themselves sick, exhausted, or just ready to quit? It happens. The best thing to do, in my opinion, is to be a welcoming, open hiker community. People will learn from those hikers who experienced the PCT or other long hikes and if they feel safe, they’ll ask questions. They’ll think clearly. They’ll plan more. Being elitist and negative about newbies is the thing that makes people try to prove the naysayers wrong, often with little assistance or support.
You can call it elitism, but it’s common sense that trying to thru hike the PCT as your first backpacking trip is not sensible. The sensible thing for anybody, myself included, is to take some shorter trips to find out if this is something for you and to learn what you don’t know. It would be akin to me going from flat 15 mile weekend rides to entering a double century (200 mile) bike race. It’s not smart and is bound to end in failure. There are no short cuts plain and simple. Nobody in that race would have any sympathy or say, at least he tried.
This doesn’t apply ti everyone who fails to complete the first 100 miles, the first 700 miles, or the entire PCT; however, there are people who were most definitely not prepared, and no amount if want to attitude is going to change the fact that they were going to fail. I see no point in applauding someone for being foolish and unprepared.
I very much agee, and I found it a little disheartening that some readers kind of missed the point of this post. While I do think folks need to be prepared for the trail, it’s not really fair or feasible to police who attempts a thru hike. Besides, some avid and skilled hikers find out that thru hiking isn’t for them while relatively new hikers fall in love with trail life.