Hi loyal readers. I've been putting off this "I'm injured so I had to end my hike" post for about two weeks (not exactly the easiest thing to find motivation for) but uh, that's what happened. My sore knee never really got better. It's a dull pain that I was able to hike through for the most part and still put up decent mileage, but it didn't seem to improve at all when I rested it a bit and I didn't have time to take an extended break before the window to finish before winter would close. I really wasn't looking forward to dealing with it for another two months. My leg was getting stuck on roots and rocks fairly frequently I guess because I was dragging it a bit, so I started calling it my snaggle leg.
I've been taking it pretty easy for two weeks now and it still hurts after ten minutes of jogging, which confirms to me that it was the right decision to call er a hike early. It also didn't help that I was so alone the whole time. I hiked with people for a total of four miles. I would camp alone probably five out of seven nights. I like some time alone but I didn't need such an extreme exercise in isolation. There was also the pull of being able to join my mom and sister on a little Californian vacation, watching what was a first place Blue Jays baseball team and not going into debt to finish the hike.
Wow this is a crappy blog post. On the plus side I made it to the end of Oregon, almost 1000 miles. I'm happy I was able to get out for five weeks and have come to terms with the fact that this wasn't my year. Trying to "squeeze in" a thru hike is a recipe for failure. Luckily the trail aint going anywhere. Oregon, 450 miles, was beautiful and fairly flat, I was able to finish it in 14 days, putting up a few days around the 40 mile mark. The highlights of the trip were hiking around the ominous Mt Rainier and Mt Hood, Washington and Oregon's highest peaks, which I have some pics of below, and also Crater Lake in Oregon, which I didn't get any pics of.
It's back to Southern Ontario for me now, getting in some rent free living, and into the real world where I have to shower and can't eat spoonfuls of icing or marshmallow creme whenever I want.
I've been meaning to listen to that ted talk about the merits of quitting.
Big shout out to Killer for finishing the whole trail just a few days ago. 7700 km hiked in 17 months, what a beast. We met on trail near the Washington/ Oregon border which was really cool.
I'm also selling some gently used trail runners (pic below) if anyone is interested, hit me up.
Go Jays.
"Be where your feet are. Enjoy the moment. There'll be a day when there won't be another day."
-Clint Hurdle, baseball manager
San Francisco. The Godfather films and Apocalypse Now were edited in the green building.
Blue Jays playing in Anaheim!
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