Day 28. Obsidian Limited Entry Area

Day 28. Obsidian Limited Entry Area

mile 1962 to Lava Lake Camp Junction 1982.6

8/6

20.6 miles

Today was one of most scenic days on the PCT— with incredible obsidian outcrops against a backdrop of the the Three Sisters peaks.

I’d been looking forward to this section for a while. Our PCT permits allow us to pass through the Obsidian Limited Entry Area, and it is difficult to get a permit to visit otherwise. I’d learned from the FS Ranger I’d talked to a few days earlier that many tribes get their obsidian from quarries here to make arrowheads and stone tools and have for generations. 

How incredible it is to walk through all the sparkling obsidian. It is interesting to contemplate what an incredible resource this was for tool-makers and to wonder about how far the points from this place have traveled across the vast trade-networks and how many meals arrowheads made from the rock here have provided.

Further on, the trail leads through recent lava flows. It made me wonder who the first people to discover the obsidian area were, how many travelers and traders came here, and how tough it must have been to explore and trade with all this lava. Where there paths through the lava made thousands of years ago like the Zuni-Acoma Trail in El Malpais NM in New Mexico? I really wish I knew more of the history here.

The sobo hikers that I stop and talk to all say the lava section that I will encounter tomorrow are terrible. They say it tears up your feet and takes forever to pass through. They make it sound really rough and terrible.

Then I meet C. who is a section hiker who is singing a different tune. She says the thru hikers are just complaining and actually its beautiful through the lava. We laugh and connect and complain how everyone seems so rushed and its hard to not soak in the general hurriedness. 

Later in the day, I say hello to a sobo thru-hiker has a forlorn look. When I ask how its going she blurts out “I wish this was over.” I feel so bad for her but don’t know how to help. I say the next part through the obsidian is amazing. But I doubt that’s the problem. I wish I could sit down and find out whats wrong. But maybe I'm not the right person to have that conversation. It seems so hard for me to imagine what its like to not want to be out here. I’ve never had the experience of wanting a hike to end— sometimes I think I’d like to hike so long that I feel that way. And part of me thinks maybe its better that I have this longing for more, that I’m still fresh in my love for the trail and I don’t feel the pull to leave.