Mark's Reflection/ PCT SoCal Section

...A tall ship, and a star to steer her by....
     I love a long walk more than sailing,  and my star of choice would be our sun,  but otherwise this line of poetry makes as good an explanation of why I hike as any.  We all would have different lists of just what a "good adventure" might be,  but we ALL need adventure in our lives.  Hiking long trails is high on mine.  Where matters of course, but not as much as I believed it did.  And with whom is perhaps even more important to me than I previously imagined.  This section-hike of the southern pct clarified a few things.  Turns out that I hike mostly as I live... as part of a couple.  Even though we often hiked without conversation for long stretches, it was a companionable silence.  Struggles, success, joys, beauty, heat, cold, everything shared as naturally as our tent.  We breathed our own breaths and sweated our own sweat, but for me the experience remembered seems wholly tandem. 
     I recall being concerned about water, heat, snakes, blisters, boring terrain, and not having enough to eat.   Except for a few moments, NONE of these were a problem.  Flowers, and beauty were to be found every day.  A few days we even hiked next to sparkling, flowing water nearly the entire day!  (up Mission creek, and down Deep Creek)  We found and enjoyed swimming spots and hot springs.  Though we had a decent physical base to begin, we started slowly.  We limited our mileage by walking slowly, stopping often, and camping early.  We gave ourselves time to adapt, and I tried to ignore the wacky trail routing and just hike the trail.  The daily mileage began to get higher, and easier.  By the last week, 20+ days still left time for two hour breaks or soaking in the lake or creek and were almost automatic.  I remember marveling that we were less tired than half the miles would have been just a few weeks earlier.  And less sore than the same hours spent in a car would have made me.  With joyous amazement we discovered that we could walk, with all the possessions we required, over 20 miles day after day, and get stronger.  And love it!  We felt like REAL hikers!  This trail, like many in the sierras,  reveals itself with enticing horizons.  Now none of those horizons are out of reach for more than a few days.  "Give me my backpack, my companion, and a long trail to walk upon..."