A Big Fat ZERO!!!

-Day 6-
Saturday, August 9th, 2014

0.0 PCT Miles
Zero Day at Spectacle Lake

PCT Mile 2420
0ft elevation gain and loss

North Cove of Spectacle Lake; Early morning calm

My pack exploded in my tent; lol

Slept unbelievable last night!!  So warm and comfortable, using my Z-Pak 20 degree bag as a quilt and not even using my liner.  Bit too cool for just the liner, but not cool enough to zip the bag up.  What a wonderful dilemma to be in actually.  The bugs are virtually non-existent.  The conditions could not be more perfect; literally, could not be more perfect.  There will be times on the trail where one will have to walk in some pretty miserable conditions.  Rain, blowing sleet, desert heat and dehydration; dust stinging your fact as it sand blasts your epidermis layer away in microscopic increments.  But, when you only have three days worth of food left and still have 50 miles to go, when the weather that is coming through could last for 5 or 6 days, you can't just sit and wait it out.  Food feeds the furnace, and without it, conditions can get difficult; especially, when the weather conditions are hypothermic and hostile. That's when you have to pull it in and dig deep to keep moving; staying focused on making sure everything but what your wearing stays dry and that once camp is set, it continues to stay dry.  Huh, sounds easy right? I have pretty much been a fair weather hiker/climber.  When you are going for a few days close to home, you can adjust time frames to accommodate better conditions.  Don't get me wrong though, I have walked in my share of pretty miserable conditions, for up to three days, then was usually out and back in the comforts of civilization.  On the PCT, that may not always be the case.  I could walk for the whole 4-6 day stretch in bad conditions.  Just thinking about it makes me squirm in my chair; but, I know that's the reality of hiking the PCT.  Hopefully, I will remember that when the time comes and I am in it.  Just remember the mantra and say it over and over; this is temporary, this is temporary, this is temporary.  Huh, in fact, looking at that, it makes me realize, that EVERYTHING is just temporary, isn't it.

The day was spent just hanging out doing a lot of napping, reading, listening to music; just simply letting this place soak into my soul for future reference.  Jim took his morning swim along with his in-laws black lab.  Once he is done with that, he announces, "I've carried that raft for 55 miles, I'm going to inflate it and go fishing". Good luck Jim!!  Not me, I have every intention of expending as little energy as possible over the course of this day.  Jim's brother and sister in-law, packed up and headed out to Glacier Lake for a day hike.  We will re-convene this evening for dinner.

 Jim and I talked for a bit about the plan for tomorrow and looked over the elevation profile on the Half Mile Maps for this section.  A lot of up and a lot of miles.  It's going to be another hot one too. This layover day has been a great reprieve for the balls of my feet.  The heels are no longer an issue what so ever.  Unfortunately, taking the insoles out, has been a disadvantage for the balls of my feet.  Hey, but, I'm still walking and that's all that matters and I refuse to let this put a damper on an otherwise flawless hike.  This spurt of inspiration was short lived, Time for another nap :)

Nap, Nap, 

and Nap Some more

Andy and Claire made it back in the late evening.  We all had dinner together, sharing our day with each other.  Then we just hung out talking about so many things, laughing a whole lot, and watched as the moon came up over the horizon.  It was time for bed.  Hiker midnight actually came at midnight for a rare once.  I was glad to have the rain fly on tonight.  That moon is brilliantly bright!!  It so makes me think of my two daughters.  I time warp, and they are little girls again in my mind's eye.  Baths are done and they are all wrapped up in their footie pajamas.  I'm reading them a bedtime story:

"Good Nite Moon, Good Nite Stars"

The thought of this time, so long ago now, fills me with joy, but at the same time sadness.  Sadness not only for the normal sense of loss as your children grow up and move on, but for a sadness I can't seem to yet accept.  A sadness that comes from not having seen my youngest daughter now in over a year and a half as she struggles with the illness of addiction. The thought of the difficult, deep, dark times, as we struggled with what to do,  what not to do, intervention, detox and rehab, half way house, home again, and relapse.  My eyes water, my throat thickens; I have to stop typing and just weep for a bit, as I have done so many times now over the last eight years.  Let it out for a moment, drop the guard that protects me from not being able to continue on.  The guard, that I think, makes it possible for me to keep walking, even when the weather is kicking the crap out of me and I only have two more days of food left and a hundred miles yet to walk...

"Good Nite Moon, Good Nite Stars"  I love you.....