In the Pacific Crest Trail Hiker’s Handbook, Ray Jardine identified the town of Wrightwood as a hiker black hole where hikers stop and never get back out on the trail again. Concerned about this, he advised hikers to not stop there. I didn’t stop there because I was afraid of being sucked in.
When I hiked, I felt there was a black hole at Sonora Pass, where I and several others were almost sucked off the trail.
I have been reading online journals of people out on the trail this year and I would like to identify another possible black hole. Fifteen miles into the trail, at least three hikers have decided that they are too injured to go on. One hiker, hiked fifteen miles, said she almost died of dehydration and flew back home. Another hiker, hiked the first fifteen miles, was attacked by a hummingbird, fell down, hurt his knee and flew home. Another hiker hiked the first fifteen miles and thinks he may have a stress fracture in his foot, so he went home.
I don’t know what my strategy will be for getting through this, but just being aware that it’s there helps.
My black hole was at the Oregon border. It really got me while I was planning though – Oregon just happened to be the point where the black hole in my plan manifested 🙂