Trail update #2: gritness!
Our campsite. You can see the rain in the distance but we got lucky and stayed dry
Today, while walking uphill in the rain, I coined the word 'gritness' to encompass what we're getting on this trail: grit and fitness.
For one thing, the trail is *hard*. If you cover the almost exactly 900 kilometers and 53,000 meters of altitude gain in eight weeks — as we are planning to do — you need to accomplish more than 16 kilometers and 1,000 meters of elevation gain each day, not accounting for any rest days. And of course the trail starts and ends at sea level, so any climb is matched meter-for-meter by an equivalent descent. To put it in imperial terms, every day is at least 10 miles and up and down about 3,000 feet, or an average grade of more than 12%. What I'm trying to say is: this hike is no joke.
But you know what? We're doing it. We passed the one-third mark and the 300 kilometer mark nearly simultaneously and every day we feel stronger on the ups and surer on the downs. So far, thank God, we all remain hale and healthy: no injuries and really only mild (if surprising) aches and pains at the end of the day, like the way the intrinsic muscles in your feet can feel exhausted after a steep climb.
We're mentally tougher too. A few days ago on the second alpine ascent of the day steep enough to require me to pull myself along with my hands, Joe paused to catch his breath. "You know," he said philosophically, "this is pretty hard work."
"It is," I agreed. “But climbing up here is literally the only way to see all of this.” I spread my hand across the panoramic view below us. We agreed, it really is worth it.
