Lake County >> Carl Porter has a thing for long walks.
The Lakeport Elementary teacher taught in Japan before becoming a Lake County educator, where he discovered what is called extreme walking, a sport involving treks of sometimes mind-boggling distances. Extreme walkers tackle endurance treks such as the Pacific Crest Trail, which reaches from Canada to Mexico and takes about six months to complete. Sometimes extreme walkers even make a trip across the United States.
While Porter hasn’t tackled a distance quite that long, he did recently complete a stroll around the entirety of Clear Lake, hugging the shore whenever possible. The 73 mile journey took him three days, from the morning of Thursday June 4 to the evening of Saturday June 6.
An avid hiker, Porter traverses much of the county with a couple friends, traveling along the numerous trails of the many mountains. “One of our friends never wants to do the same hike twice so we’ve seen a lot,” Porter said. “If you mention a mountain I can tell you a lot about it.”
However, they’d never made a trip around the lake before. Porter thought it was about time. “I wanted to see just all the views,” he said. “With bikes and cars you can’t really take your eyes off the road. It’s been really important in my life. I love the lake, so it’s been really fun to see it.”
He viewed many sights he hadn’t discovered before, despite living in Lakeport all his life. He moved to the county at the age of three and spent his youth in the Lakeport school system. During his trip he saw developments, long lost names that have gone out of business and, of course, different views of Mount Konocti. At one point, he saw what he described as a round shape where it looked as though a volcanic eruption occurred. “It’s so beautiful to see the way the mountains are formed … I’ve never even seen that before and I’ve lived here so many years,” Porter said. “It’s hard to summarize all of the things you see when you walk around.”
It’s a trip which hasn’t been made often, presumably due to the length as well as the number of cars people are likely to encounter along the way. While there are many hiking clubs around the county, they mostly keep to the mountains, where they’re not in danger from motorists. And it’s for this reason Porter wouldn’t walk the United States. “I don’t want to be near cars if possible,” he said.
Though Porter didn’t have issues with motorists, when he makes the trip around the lake again, in a year or two, he’ll take High Valley Road and avoid Highway 20. His trip will be longer, but that’s the way he likes it. He’ll probably spend four nights to stretch out the walk and see even more of Lake County.
In addition to his concern regarding cars, Porter had to face a few other difficulties. He dealt with some heat rash from his socks and a nasty sunburn on the back of his hand, as well as shin splints and soreness. He even ran out of water before arriving at the restaurant on the first day, not anticipating how many fluids he would lose. But he pushed through. “I just love walking, I can’t explain it. It’s just a pleasure to do it,” he said. “I just like the feeling that I could see all of the county by foot.”
Porter’s hiking friends weren’t keen to make the trip with him, but the solitary walk worked out just the way Porter wanted it. “I didn’t want to go with anyone else because I wanted to make sure I wasn’t distracted,” he said.
Even though he started out his journey solo, he ran into some friends along the way. Two of his students saw him at a gas station, he caught the attention of one of his former colleagues, one of his hiking buddies passed by him, and a UPS driver glimpsed him in three separate locations. Two strangers even offered him a ride.
While Porter may be a walker and a hiker, one thing he is not is a camper. He stopped to eat at restaurants along the way, from Richmond Park Bar and Grill in Kelseyville to Pit Stop in Northern Lakeport. He stayed at hotels on Thursday and Friday night. The people of Lake County again proved their helpfulness when the innkeepers hung around until Porter could make his late check in time of about 9 p.m.
Porter didn’t inform many people of his plans to hike around the lake until after he finished. “I was a little bit shy about telling people when I was doing it, because you’re never sure if you’re gonna make it until you take the last step,” he said.
At the finish, step count was at an estimated 146,000 steps.
He left from near his home on 16th Street in Lakeport, and made a giant loop, ending back where he started. The beginning was strange, heading one way and coming back a different route. “That was a weird feeling, to walk south and then two and a half days later come back to the same spot,” Porter said.
Though 73 miles may seem daunting, and the journey had its challenges, Porter insists that people are made to make such a trip. “I think we’re built for walking, human beings,” he said. “It’s something we can do better than most other animals on the planet.”
Porter has never let his affinity for walking go to waste. He’s traveled all over the country, walking different cities that interested him. After receiving a one way ticket to Virginia to visit his sister, he took a Greyhound bus across the country, back to California. He departed the bus in Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Oklahoma City and Albuquerque, and walked the places. In a couple weeks he’s heading to Manhattan to visit a friend, and plans to traverse some of the city. He doesn’t mind the cars when there are plenty of good sidewalks.
But even with all his traveling, the trip around Clear Lake was by far his longest walk. “It was really quite a thrill and I can see why people would go further and further,” Porter said.
Jennifer Gruenke can be reached at 900-2019.
