Day 29: Rauros Falls
First, a personal achievement: I've hiked three hundred miles1 on the PCT š
In the list of āthings I partly regretā, I have to include todayās detour for the backpack swap. Four hours (and a good burger sandwich) to get rid of my 40-liter Hyperlite Unbound (I felt sad to let it go š) and swap it with a brand new, 55-liter Durston. Iām not thrilled about the material (I would have preferred the Dyneema2 fabric), but I had to make a choice between availability and aesthetics/taste. Since the 40-liter one had become a snare for my shoulders, I preferred to make the change as soon as possible. Iām more worried about how it will withstand a heavy rainfall but I donāt think it matters too much. And now I have another backpack to add to my collection. Hooray!
Another pretty intense day today, and Iām afraid Iām chasing too much the people walking ahead of me or passing me. I donāt think theyāre going that much faster, but even five or ten percent is enough, and the distance becomes significant until you stop. Amen. Letās always remember that I decide the rules of my PCT: not Fabio, not Alex, nor anyone else faster or slower than me.
In my self-talks, I returned to the issue of social media again, and why I believe that, in the long run, they are harmful to most people, including myself. I thought about Seneca and, again, Dino Lanzaretti because I think he was inspired by the Latin philosopher. I donāt mind walking alone, but I havenāt tried to be really alone yet: thereās always someone I know waiting for me at the camp-spot Iām heading to.
Tomorrow I would like to start listening to audiobooks. I canāt decide whether to continue Jack Reacher (even though I donāt remember much of the book I started a few months ago), or to start David Foster Wallace or Sciascia3, both short books (a few hours at most). Iām also saving todayās episode of Morning for later because it will be a long day: weāll probably do another thirty-kilometer stretch, Iād better have some stuff to fill the time with.
About 480 km.↩
Maybe it will be worth making a post where I try to explain the jargon of some of the materials used in the backpacking world. If I remember correctly, I have a degree in materials science.↩
I want to read āA Supposedly Fun Thing Iāll Never Do Againā and āThe Disappearance of Majoranaā.↩