Pacific Crest Trail hiker shares tips, travel stories

Some people give up months of their regular life to through-hike the entire 2,650-mile, Pacific Crest Trail in a single season, but others, like El Cajon resident Dana Law, doggedly complete one small bit after another, year after year.

“I’m a sectional hiker,” Law, 70, told a small group gathered for his trail talk at the Encinitas Library Wednesday.

That means he’s had to repeatedly find people over the years willing to shuttle him to each new trail segment, then collect him a few days and miles later. One kind friend once drove him from Oakland to the eastern side of the Sierras, just so he could do a trail section, he recalled.

A professional magician for some three decades, Law began his hike-the-entire-Pacific-Crest-Trail project in May 2003. He started at the Mexican border with two companions, one of whom refused to accept that he could quickly become dehydrated. That guy ultimately passed out partway through the first day and they had to have a helicopter come rescue him, Law said, adding, “we never saw him again” on the trail.

Law finished his final, 31st segment —  a multi-day hike through Washington’s rainy and rugged North Cascades mountains to the Canadian border — on Aug. 22, 2016. Not one to let a new opportunity pass by, he then began a multi-year, sectional journey along the 800-mile Arizona Trail. He ultimately completed that last fall.

Now, he’s pursuing something that’s far closer to his home because he’s finding as he gets older, that “I love backpacking, but I don’t like camping.” He says it takes hours to pack everything up each morning, and that gets tiresome.

As a respite, he’s created a route where he can go home at night. He calls it the San Diego County Trans Urban Walk — a meandering route from the Mexican border to Temecula, passing through many of the region’s open space preserves. On Tuesday, he plans to hike the final segment of the route he’s crafted, and then he’ll have to come up with a new challenge to squeeze between family trips to Europe, magic performances, and presentations at area libraries. He’s scheduled to give his next hiking talk in January at the Borrego Springs Library.

A fan of travel writer Richard Halliburton’s “The Royal Road to Romance” as a child, Law did his first distance hike decades ago when he and his son decided to go from Torrey Pines to the Salton Sea, essentially “bush-whacking” parts where there was no actual trail, he recalled. These days he sticks to designated trails and he’s under orders from his wife to check in via a satellite-connected phone twice a day.

His tips for people who want to follow in his footsteps include:

• Exercise frequently each week to keep in shape. (He uses a rowing machine, does Crosstrek, and “ruck-sacks” where he carries a 40-pound weight in a backpack around a 2-mile course.)
• Use walking poles because they offer stability and help with upper body conditioning. Also, wear long pants, not shorts, and don’t forget your sun hat.
• Keep the food simple and light weight. (He often eats macadamia nuts, dried salmon and beef jerky, and admits to bringing ramen noodles for dinner.)
• Welcome opportunities to make new friends. (He finds hiking buddies through online groups of fellow sectional enthusiasts, and brings along a tiny, lightweight bag of magic tricks to keep fellow travelers entertained.)
• Try not to let your fears prevent you from venturing into the outdoors. (He’s hiked more than 3,500 miles and reports that he’s only ever seen one bear.)