Landis sets out on 500-mile trek

Camp Sherman resident Madeleine Landis has set out on a 500-mile trek along parts of the Pacific Crest Trail and John Muir Trail.

“I reached 50 years old and decided if I were going to do this, I better do it now. I wanted something with five and zero in it and a 500-mile trek seemed to fit,” said Landis.

Landis was to start from Clairtappaan Lodge in California, a structure her father helped build in the 1930s. After seven to eight weeks on the trail south, she ends her journey at Kennedy Meadows through Walker Pass.

“I hope for rewards — of introspection, walking meditation, immersion in wilderness,” she told The Nugget as she prepared for the trek. “I’m studying Zen Buddhism and besides practicing zazen, or sitting meditation, some in that tradition do long walking meditations in the mountains.

“It will also be cool from a geographical point of view to walk into, through and out of the Sierra Nevada and connect all the gorgeous places I’ve hiked in and experience the popular places not yet seen,” she said.

She will be resupplied nine times during her trip. She plans to average about 10-miles per day and will have friends join her for parts of her trek. Husband Tom Landis will meet her and bring the resupply goods.

“I’m coining a new term which is ‘deep hiking’. The concept is to hike around 10 miles a day with time to swim, botanize, do camp chores like bearproof my food, photograph, write in a journal, meditate…. and stay out longer between resupplies,” she said.

Along her trek, Landis plans to climb Mt. Whitney (14,494 feet) and will reach 13,180 feet along the trail at Forester Pass. Her gear will weigh about 35 to 40 pounds including food and water. She has some of the latest lightweight trekking equipment including titanium cooking utensils.

Landis will also be carrying a Brunton ADC weather forecaster, a high-tech, lightweight piece of safety equipment. A vegetarian, Madeleine has prepared dried and freeze-dried foods for her journey.

Freeze-dried dinners, dried fruit, crackers, gorp, cheese, miso, mushrooms, and dark chocolate were neatly packed in nine plastic boxes containing most of her food for resupply points.

Landis started her trek on July 17. She prepared with hiking, cycling and yoga.

Landis will celebrate her birthday on the trail (September 1). She has been hiking since age 13.