Finding Confidence in Thru-Hiking
Jeff Garmire
After 700 miles of thru-hiking it felt as if we were stuck. It was a record snow year in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and the few of us that had made it through to Kennedy Meadows targeted June 15th as our date to push through the highest point on the trail. At 20 years old I simply was a follower of those with massively more experience. I had started the trail carrying an external frame backpack, loaded up to 55 pounds at the start. My young back fought through the strain, but eventually the pack couldn’t take it and the metal frame broke.
During our down days waiting on the snow to melt I made a number of friends that I remain close with to this day. Together they worked to outfit me with a collection of pieced together gear that would drastically cut my pack weight, and also provide a more comfortable finish to the trail. It was throughout the process of using our dental floss to sew a hip belt onto a backpack from the hiker box that we bonded. I needed their help and they were so gracious in lending me their skills and experience.
Kennedy Meadows did not have cell phone service, and in 2011, it was sporadic at best along the Pacific Crest Trail, but that was for the best. During our miles together on the trail we were completely present. We enjoyed each other’s company and got to know one another without any external distractions. If it takes a month of interactions with a new friend to finally break into the inner levels, our friendships blossomed in a fraction of that time. It only took me hours to build trust instead of months. Coming from college, and social interactions that are largely centered around parties, this was the true experience I was searching for.
As a group we entered the Sierra Nevada Mountains. We didn’t know what to expect or what to bring. But, after a week together we had extreme confidence in one another. At the first major creek crossing we all linked arms around each others waist and trudged across. We were a team. It was the days before the popularity of GPS, and we worked together to draw on each others’ navigation skills. Turning the map each way and setting a compass right in the center we worked to pin point which names matched to which mountains, and when we made it up and over Forrester pass (the high point of the PCT) we let out shouts of excitement. We relied on our maps and each other to cross a massive snow field covering the official trail. We weren’t fast, but we proved right in our navigation. It was a bigger and more intense confidence boost than I had ever felt. It was as if life was supposed to progress at this speed and relationships were meant to feel this true.
We continued together through the Sierra and battled numerous dicey situations. On the way down Kearsarge Pass a member of the group took a nasty fall right on his shoulder, immediately dislocating it. He couldn’t carry his pack, so we all worked together to get him and his gear down to Onion Valley Trailhead. And when we finally reached the trailhead we helped him relocate the joint. His injury became our injury and we didn’t stop until we found a way to work through it together.
The commraderie continued for 200 miles, but due to injuries, changing schedules, and the vast number of ancillary factors present in a thru-hike (especially in 2011) we eventually split up. In total we only spent about two weeks together, but it is a bond and accomplishment that feels more pure and runs deeper than any other hike, relationship, or record that I have accomplished since.
Whether it is the simple purity that comes with being a novice at 20 years old attempting a completely foreign challenge, or if it is that relationships just build more naturally throughout shared miles, I am not quite sure. But what I do know is that the bond and relationship remains today. We may not even see each other once per year, and some of my friends are well beyond thru-hiking, but that two week period remains as one of the most influential experience in showing what is truly possible when you have the right team, trust each other, and empower each other to use the skills that they bring to the table.
