[at-l] REALLY long distance hiking...

[shane@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Shane)]

> Wouldn't your hike from the tip of Baja up to Barrow, Alaska
> have been more than 5000 miles?  Its got to be around 5000 miles
> anyway.  Just curious.

Intent to drag it out of me anyway, eh, Rick?  :)

To be honest, I don't know.  Somewhere in there, I really lost all track.  I
don't even know if I could work it out, because I don't even know the exact
route I took because I sometimes was lost...and sometimes I didn't care.

> That's one thing I have noticed a lot among really committed
> long-distance hikers.  People like the Owens, Baltimore Jack and
> yourself are to my mind, in a different league, but remain
> extradinarily modest.  Its a really cool that you all have
> gravitated to this list.  Your hike stands out in
> particular, however.

In the end, it's just another hike.  Even this guy:
http://www.walkingman.org is just another hiker.  Every day is a dayhike...
Some of us just take far more zero days than we should...

> I am most curious of the route which you took.  Did you follow
> the coast up Baja?  Once you got to the States, did you follow
> the PCT, or retrace your steps of your earlier rambles down the
> CDT?  Or did you take another approach.  How about when you got
> to the Canada? Was weather a factor?  I think you may have said
> that trip was done in a year's time, right?

Well, this is what I usually give out when pressed, so here it is, for all
the glory in it:

I started in San Lucas November 15.  I had intended to hike back to San
Diego and fly back home for Christmas, but I didn't make it in time.  From
San Lucas I went along the west coast to Migrino.
Then I paralleled Highway 9 to Pescadero. After that, I wandered lost until
I crossed Highway 1 and found myself in Villa Cons...something...  I was
pretty hungry during that time.  I made my way back to the west coast and
north to resupply at San Ignacio where I stopped for a few days.  I found
the people there more friendly than anywhere else in Mexico.  A few small
towns were after that, but the next one I remember was Cardenas because it
was a REAL town and not some village of the damned. Then I crossed over to
San Filipe and stayed there a few days.  Back across to Rosarito was some
pretty rough country, and my mood matched.  From Rosrito I went pretty much
straight to San Diego and took a week off.  Baja is about 400 miles long,
but I figured that I did about 700 on foot in just over 70 days.

I didn't go home, since I had missed Christmas, and instead decided to walk
to Canada and then to Alaska.  I loved California and dallied there too
long.  It took me almost 100 days to make it to Oregon.  I can't remember
most of that route, and I'd have to check my logs.  None of it was on the
PCT as I recall.  I rode about 100 miles in an open box car in California,
and some would consider that 'cheating', I suppose, but at this point I
wasn't planning on going all the way to Barrow. Trains are great for seeing
the country and taking a break at the same time. I wasn't paying as much
attention as I should have because it didn't matter as much if I was lost,
but I wasn't following the PTC at the time; I was hiking mostly along the
coast.  I did mostly follow it from California to Canada.  I really crunched
those miles and crossed Washington and Oregon and was into Canada 36 days
after leaving California.  I saw few people, and avoided them when I could.
I wasn't interested in company.  Canada to the major part of Alaska is about
500 miles in rough terrain and crossing a lot of water. I recommend a stop
in Lakelse Lake.  They had good food there.  Once you're to Lakelse you
start crossing Lava Beds, which is hard on your knees, ankles and footwear.
Once I saw Mount Edziza, I turned I stopped for a few days in Whitehorse
where I got new boots and some extra gear.

I got sick in a town called Dawson, and while holed up there made up my mind
to go all the way to Barrow.  I had been thinking about it ever since
entering Canada, but I hadn't actually decided.  I was in great shape
(probably the best shape of my life) and despite the fact that the cold
would probably catch me and kill me before I made it, I decided to set
myself up to be killed.  (Yes, I had those kinds of demons.)  It was going
to be a very different hike from here on out - do or die.  I made some quick
arrangements on the phone, and then two days later hitched into Alaska
rather than take the thirty mile road walk. A day later I was met by some
friends who knew what I was up to and they changed out a lot of my gear and
gave me my rifle, which I had shipped to them before going to Mexico.  I had
intended to hike in Alaska - just not going to Barrow.  After a lot of, "I
wouldn't do this if I were you." from my friends, I gave them some letters
to mail and walked away.  From then on I was all on my own for the rest of
the hike - no resupply, no retreat, no surrender.  The worst part would be
covering the 350 miles between the Arctic Circle and Barrow.  In the end it
took me five months to cross Alaska, by a route that isn't very clear to me
even after trying for many days to work out my exact route.  The maps aren't
as good as they could be. I managed to get resupplied twice - once just
before the big white wall to change some gear - and get word out three
times, but for the most part I was on my own - and I wanted it that way.

I learned a lot of things along the way.  Man CAN live by meat alone, but it
gets old after awhile.  250 pounds is easier to pull in a pulk than carrying
50 pounds on your back.  High winds coupled with very low temperatures
aren't a big problem if you keep moving, but if you stop, you will die.
This creates a serious problem that requires a unique solution.  There are
many ghosts in the middle of nowhere.  A Polar Bear carcass will keep you
warm all night, but will stink so bad that you wish you hadn't had to learn
that fact of life.  The Aurora Borealis is a strange and beautiful thing.
Polar Bear does NOT taste like chicken.  After awhile, not all ice looks the
same.  I prefer walking in Mexico to surviving in Alaska.  A polar bear fur,
properly fleshed, will keep you warmer than all sorts of synthetic crap on
the market today.

My favorite memory about Barrow is coming into the Inn.  It was actual over
a year since I had started.  I told them I had just walked up from Canada
and needed a room.  Nobody believed me, and I didn't care if they did or
not.  I didn't make a big deal out of it.  I was in a lot of shock.  Perry's
ghost was on me, and had been haunting me for three weeks.  I couldn't tell
if I was more afraid of Perry or of the polar bears.  I was just very glad
to have exorcised a lot of demons along the way.

It was a lot of fun, but if I tried it right now it would definitely kill
me...

Perry's ghost still haunts me, and when I close my eyes I see white instead
of black...

I'm very happy to be a day and weekend hiker now.  The little hikes mean
much more to me than the big ones...

Shane