Day 53 and my son goes dark - Part 1 of 2

It was late at night, I had gotten out of bed to post three blog entries I received via email from my Son.  Adam has been on the PCT trail for 53 days and, as we agreed, he would email me content for me to post on his blog.

Up until he got in to the Sierra Mountains, I would receive daily emails to be posted.  However, cell phone in the Sierra is not good and, as expected, there would be days when I would not receive any email update. But, he still spotted every evening, so I could assume he was safe and making progress - that I would get updates when he got to a WiFi cell phone coverage area.

So I posted his day 53 update late.  This post was unusual. He ended it with the suspense of a popular mystery writer. He wrote:

I went back to bed wondering about Kate.  I expected to get an update the next day and was on pins and needles all day.

Then he went dark.

The next day there was no email update. That is not unexpected since he was in the Sierra.

But, there was also no spot that night.  Based on past behavior, he didn't spot when he got into a town or resupply facility.  So, not getting a spot was not unexpected since he was only a day's hike from his next resupply.

But, normally in a resupply facility, he has WiFi or cell coverage  So, the combination of no spot, no email was unusual. 

That combined with a missing friend hiker was really worrisome.

I worry all day.

My mind made up all sort of possible scenarios, none of which were good.

The next day he was still dark. No word, no spot, no email. I worried all that day as well.  The scenarios got worst.

On the third day of not hearing anything from him, I called his wife to see if she got word from him.   She hadn't so we talked about what could be going on. To keep her from worrying too much, I made up a few good scenarios, but felt they were not too feasible.

I'm going to leave this now.... Got to get busy doing other things.  I'll finish this later. 

Testing blog posted via email

A father's view of his son hiking the PCT.

(this is a test of sending an email to my blog for posting).

By helping my son, Adam, post daily updates to his blog while on the PCT does take time.

It also is not without worry and concern.

When yourchildren grow up, leave your home and become independent adults, you do not get visibility into their daily activities.  You don't get to see them make mistakes, take risks they shouldn't, fall down, get hurt, encounter danger, or do things that would drive you crazy.  The adage: "What you don't know, won't hurt you." applies.  

If they don't share these things with you, you can assume they are safe, happy, and healthy.  Of course, you can assume the opposite but that will drive you crazy, so often, we assume they are OK.

So, when one of them takes on an adventure like hiking the PCT, you know it is dangerous.

Many people deal with this by asking the child to give them frequent updates  as to their safety. Since many trails do not have cell phone coverage, it is not possible for them to call or text you.  A common solution to this is to have them us a device to 'spot' their where-a-bouts with an "I'm OK" message.  When they spot, you get a email and a pointer to a website showing their exact location.

My son, who hiked all the 14, 000 foot mountains in CO did this when he hiked. I would see this spots and know where he was and that  he was OK.  If he escaped death on the mountain, I would know it after the fact by reading his blog about it.  But, since it was after the fact, I knew he was alive and safe. 

But, his hiking the PCT and asking me to do his daily blog updates is different. It is like having a window into his risky activities that I can watch and worry about his safety.  Because he does encounter bears, mountain lions, bad weather, falls, raging creeks, and relationships issues on the trail, I see daily that he is at risks. And, I worry daily for him.

So, I suspect many parents of thru-hikers have these worries and thought that maybe I should start blogging about a parent's view of a thru-hiker.  

What do you think?

Posting updates on Adam's PCT blog

Before Adam, my son, started his 2600 mile hike on the PCT, he asked me if I would update his blog for him.  Wanting to help and keep track of him, I agreed.

We did some prototype tests. He gave me access to his onedrive cloud storage where he would store photos.  He would send me emails and I would create a post and add pictures.

Even though we did prototype tests, when he started it was painful. I have a slow internet access. On good days it runs 4 - 5 meg download and .5 upload.

Initially I would download his photos in a zip file (that was over 20 meg), then I would insert each picture that was anywhere from 2 - 6 meg.  That took forever!.  I can't just copy and past his email for Google's blogspot makes assumptions as to the background color and it comes out crappy.

So, it took me a while to learn to copy text only, resize the pictures before I upload them and other tricks.  I created a Google map to show his location and update it nightly from either this spot or I determine the location from his blog content.

About two weeks into doing updates, it got interesting. There were so many people he would write about, I was having a hard time keeping up.

 So, I created a page to keep notes of trail names.

Then I was curious about the people and tried to tie their blogs, vlogs and facebook posts to Adam's.  This is interesting to see how different people view the same part of the trail differently.

How come he gets to sleep with five woman?

Stay tune for this may get more interesting.