Yesterday we started at 5:36. Today we broke camp by 5:35.
For framing purposes I need to write an essay on what a game designer would call tile fatigue as it relates to backpacking. It relates to backpacking because something similar can happen.
Tile fatigue is when a game player hits the same tile set too often. They get tired of the game because they are tired of the tile set (the scenery) if other elements (such as social or group actions) don’t divert them.
To explain at better depth what a tile set is, the bottom line is that most terrain in many games (like Diablo 1 & 2 or Age of Empires and Age of Kings) uses what are known as tile sets.
Tilesets are collections of small, reusable images called “tiles” arranged in a grid. Each tile represents a small part of the game world. A tile can represent a piece of ground, a segment of a wall, or a decoration. By arranging tiles in different combinations, detailed environments can be created quickly and efficiently.
Backpacking scenery and trail is like going through changing tile sets. When it starts to get repetitive people get fatigued, especially if the tread of the trail is difficult or unpleasant and the social element is empty (as happens in off season backpacking or when your demographic ages out).
On the Appalachian Trail the fatigue happens in the “green tunnel” of Virginia where each day starts to feel the same. In fact hikers refer to it as the “green tunnel blahs” or similar names because it is so well recognized.
On the PCT it often strikes in Oregon where every tree starts to look the same. It is even called the Oregon blahs.
Ideally with changes in weather, the social milieu and the changes that hit as you hike each trail the sense of newness does not wear out too quickly and momentum will carry you.
For Happy6 and I, hiking the Sierra section in July started to feel like work rather than fun.
So last night Happy6 asked me about how I felt. Bottom line is that it turned out both of us were willing to support the other in hiking on but …
We had seen this tile set, this type of terrain, before. There wasn’t really much new about it.
If we hadn’t missed the complete Sierra section several times for various reasons and hadn’t hiked other places it would not be the same as other trail but with rockier trail.
It was strange to be tired of the tile set, so to speak, of a real world location.
So we decided to do a 19+ mile day (mostly down hill) and head back to Reds Meadow to catch the bus back to Mammoth Lakes.
We did our water crossing again. Knee deep. No flow or current. Later in the season that spot has stepping stones. Right now they are a couple feet underwater.
On the way back we ran into one of the families we had met.
The other family we knew we would not see again. They had spent four days and numerous mishaps getting to the campsite three miles from Reds Meadow.
The ones we met had an experienced local hiker dad and a goal of 3-4 miles a day or so.
He suggested Duck Lake to Duck Pass and out. He thought it would be six miles from where we met rather than nine. Pulled up a Garmin map which seemed to show that.
The advantage to taking that route was it would be something new and we might see a duck (we did indeed see a duck and ducklings).
The downside would be more uphill/ascent on the route than the one we were planning on.
We decided to go for it. So we did. It turned out that it only saved a mile and a half. But we met some delightful people as we asked for directions to the bus/trolley. A great 18.3 mile day.
The people we met drove us into Mammoth. That saved us from trying to catch the bus at Reds Meadow or the Marina parking lot.
I’m glad we took the Duck Lake route. It was new and had a lot of people on it towards the end of route.
When we got to Mammoth Lakes the last bus to Lone Pine had already gone so we got a discount hotel room, had showers, washed our clothes and had pizza.
We each ate half a pizza and a scoop of ice cream.
Just a note on demographics.
Again there were more female than male hikers. There were also a surprisingly large number of well trained trail dogs. Some couples (though today they weren’t the majority). One family with kids under ten years of age.
We saw a mix of tents. Mostly we saw free standing tents. Most of the tents we saw were also orange or orange and white with one white tent.
We saw many Osprey packs though the PCT hikers were mostly in HMG (Hyperlite) packs with a smattering of Kakwas and other packs.
As a note. I think preparing made me less interested as I kept encountering exactly what I was expecting to see rather than exploring new trail.
We have a history of getting off trail right before fires or snow hit an area. I’m glad this time the fires hit other locations though no fire at all would be better.