Sunday, July 25, 2004
St. James Day
Cannot let St. James' Day pass, especially as it is a Sunday in 2004, and thus this is a holy year in Santiago de Compostela. The front door of the cathedral is open, and today throngs of people have gathered in the Obradorio to celebrate. In some ways, I wish I could be there (or given that it is already tomorrow in Spain, that I could have been there). At my age and given my temperament, I am really not that fond of large crowds, so I probably would not have enjoyed being there.
Instead today I took a long solitary hike on the Pacific Crest Trail northward for about 8 miles from Chinook Pass. It was far more solitary that I expected, for aside from a couple with two dawgs, and about 5 other hikers, I encountered almost no one except at Sheep Lake, only about 1 1/2 miles from the parking lot and a popular picnic destination. That has been the story on all 4 hikes I have been able to make in the past few weeks, a near absence of crowds or even other hikers. On Thursday I hiked the PCT north to Lake Valhalla from Stevens Pass, and aside from 3 women with their 4 dawgs in the day use area at the lake, I encountered no one.
Today I did encounter my first through hiker of the year, a young man who is into ultralight walking. He has been on the trail for 3 months since starting at the Mexican border, with another 2-3 weeks of hiking to the Canadian border, yet his pack was only a little larger than my daypack for a 6 hour hike! He was using one odd thing, it made me notice him when he was still a mile or more away, an umbrella, useful on this bright and sunny day. I did not think to use sun screen (or an umbrella) and I have a bit of a sunburn in consequence!
Instead today I took a long solitary hike on the Pacific Crest Trail northward for about 8 miles from Chinook Pass. It was far more solitary that I expected, for aside from a couple with two dawgs, and about 5 other hikers, I encountered almost no one except at Sheep Lake, only about 1 1/2 miles from the parking lot and a popular picnic destination. That has been the story on all 4 hikes I have been able to make in the past few weeks, a near absence of crowds or even other hikers. On Thursday I hiked the PCT north to Lake Valhalla from Stevens Pass, and aside from 3 women with their 4 dawgs in the day use area at the lake, I encountered no one.
Today I did encounter my first through hiker of the year, a young man who is into ultralight walking. He has been on the trail for 3 months since starting at the Mexican border, with another 2-3 weeks of hiking to the Canadian border, yet his pack was only a little larger than my daypack for a 6 hour hike! He was using one odd thing, it made me notice him when he was still a mile or more away, an umbrella, useful on this bright and sunny day. I did not think to use sun screen (or an umbrella) and I have a bit of a sunburn in consequence!
