Mystery injury solved

So, I had my doctor's appointment, and after an XRay, it turns out that I severely overworked my trapezius muscles, the extremely large muscle that connects to your back, neck and shoulders, which is why I had neck pain and stabbing shoulder pain as I hiked along the trail. It's possible this was done due to an overloaded pack. This doesn't sound like a big deal, except that I let it get to the point where severe weakness and possible nerve damage was starting to occur, hence having difficulty having a beer in Snoqualime Pass.

The good news is that it doesn't require surgery. The bad news is that there's no easy fix. I just have to rest it out, which means that my 2024 PCT Thru-Hike is completely over and unsalvagable. I'm upset about that, but here's everything that went wrong with my hike:

• I moved it from a NOBO to a SOBO due to uncertainty with work
• Juneuary hit and Harts Pass was snowed in during my initial attempt
• I post-holed into a tree well and fell off the trail into a tree. I was fortunate enough to just get away with minor bruises
• Condensation formed in my tent and my down Enlightened Equipment Sleeping Quilt went from a 10 degree quit to a 30 degree quilt
• I broke trekking poles and fell on my ass on one of the easiest parts of the PCT
• I twisted my ankle
• I switched to my old backpack, thinking that would help, and then it near immediately fell apart
• I sprained my trapezius muscles, causing intense pinching pain due to extreme overuse

Oh yeah, there's also all the fires. In Washington State alone, only one section right now is NOT on fire, and that's the section after the one I ended my hike at. So, I had extremely shitty luck hiking the PCT the first time around.

Would I do it again? Yes, most definitely!

The first thing that I would do is stick with the gear that works. I regret buying a single wall tent, and I'm glad that I didn't buy the super fancy $1000 Durston tent and went with a cheaper Six Moon Designs tent. The reality is that I live in Canada, and even when I don't live in Canada, I hike and camp in colder temperatues on average than a NOBO thru-hiker in the desert. This means that there's going to be a ton of condensation and it also means that I have to keep my quilt dry at all costs. In warmer weather, unless I'm in the high alpine, I would rather have a hammock anyway since they're simpler to put up and tear down, and they're easier to keep clean. I'll pay the ultralight penalty if it means I don't sleep in dirt 90% of the time.

But I'm done with Single Wall non-freestanding tents. The weight savings isn't worth hypothermia and my first night on Harts Pass was the coldest that I've ever been. Honestly, I'm mostly done with tents in general and I much prefer hammock camping but that's not an option in the high alpine.

The second thing that I would do is get trained to hike in winter conditions. I've snowshoed before, but I don't have my AST-1, and I wish I did because there was no way I felt comfortable up on the PCT in June without avalanche training and snowshoes. I know that people would say that snowshoes are worthless in heavy snow in Washington State and that you're going to posthole anyway, but when the snow is crustier, it's actually easier for the snowshoes to work and keep you from postholing, since it's not good skiing snow and you're not going to need as large of a surface area. Snowshoes also have Crampon-Like teeth and not the nonsense Microspikes that do nothing in slush.

The third thing I would do is keep up a training regimen. I DID do this leading up to this year's attempt, but here's what I actually did:

• April 30 - Shakedown Packrafting Trip to Chekamus Lake - Chekamus Lake is only a 5 mile trip, and it had no real elevation gain, and while I increased by baseweight to over 40 lbs using the Hyperlite Mountain Gear Porter 80 pack, and I tested out the new gear, this was too short of a trip to really count as real training.
• May 9, 2024 - Windy Joe Training Hike - This had 2788 ft of elevation gain and was a 12 mile return day hike that I did to get used to hiking in the snow. It took three hours to climb the mountain in four feet of snow without snowshes and two hours to get back down. I only used microspikes and assumed that the PCT would be similar to Windy Joe without taking into account that Windy Joe's terrain is not very challenging and it's just a big ass hill.
• May 13-June 6 - I biked three times a week, because I hate the gym - This was actually stupid and only made more sense if I wasn't doing the PCT and instead was bikepacking. Yes, physical activity in general is better than no physical activity, BUT being able to crank out 100 km of distance on a mountain bike doesn't translate at all to hiking due to the different muscle groups used.
• May 17th - Joffre Lakes - I just went here because I never went here before. I wasn't that impressed. Someone is going to die up there when they're not wearing Microspikes
• May 23rd - Grouse Grind - I still suck at the Grouse Grind, I think the pregnant lady who easily passed me on the Grind later gave birth on the Grind showing that maybe I should give up on this whole hiking thing because I'll never be as hardcore as that family.
• May 30th - Circle Route to the PCT Norther Terminus - This was only a 12 mile loop with 2500 ft elevation gain that included a creek crossing. I lost my phone at the end of this attempt
• June 6 - Bouldering - I suck at this. I SHOULD have done this more, because it would have exercised my Traps and I wouldn't have the stupid ass pain that took me off the trail
• June 7 - Find my phone - This was only 770 ft of elevation gain, and it was a three hour hike to find my lost phone.

To be fair, a LOT of people do ZERO training to get ready for the PCT, and that was obvious with everyone dropping out at Harts Pass. That being said, I should have done more training and what I really should have done is taken a ferry and hiked the local long distance trails like the Sunshine Coast Trail or the Vancouver Island Trail (minus Cape Scott, because Fuck Cape Scott in May). The problem is that there's thing called Winter that makes it nearly impossible to do any hiking in the mountains due to the whole avalanche and getting hypothermia and dying thing. That goes back to the second thing which is getting trained to do winter travel.

But what about the gym?

What about it? I could have trained at the gym more, and I probably will soon but the thing is that I HATE the gym, and I especially hate my gym. I usually get a membership at the gym that's closest to my house, and currently that gym is a gym full of assholes who don't put the weights back and actively pick fights with others on the weight racks. The last thing I need when I'm doing a set is some guy getting all fucking aggro and trying to pick a fight with another guy while I have 40 lb dumbbells over my goddamn head. I don't know if it's too much T or what, but it pisses me right off because I'm just trying to take my fat ass and get the smallest amount of exercise since most jobs don't even let you have enough time to shit, let alone exercise. Fortunately, I'm now unemployed/self-employed so I can work out more.

I SHOULD go to the Climbing Gyms, but I think I get judged for only climbing for two hours since I suck at climbing and my arms get tired and my hands feel all torn to shit after two hours. I am still very out of shape and weak, and I definitely feel judged at every climbing gym I've ever been at for not trying hard enough. It's pretty shitty, to be honest.

The fact is that working in tech has destroyed my health and fitness, which wasn't totally stellar to begin with, I'm now taking this break in employment to reassess things and try and reverse some of the damage. It's extremely tricky to do, due to the fact that health and wellness is full of pseudo-scientific woo as well as Anti-Vaxxers and straight up fascist trash, which is why I lean towards outdoor adventure acitivites intead of living in a gym or hiring a personal trainer or doing Yoga. I'm sure the Yoga stretches are good, but I REALLY don't care about the spiritual aspect, I just want my muscles to not be stiff!

So, now what?

I will be hiking the Pacific Crest Trail again, but I have no idea what that looks like right now because the PCT isn't the only adventure out there. There's also the fact that while I'm not desperate for a job right now, I'm technically still unemployed and I need to find a way to make money while I'm not on trail to do things like pay the mortage and all the other things.