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78 BACKPACKER 03.2014 P H O T O B Y P A T I T U C C I P H O T O WHEN THREE FRIENDS and I— at my suggestion—set out to thru-hike the 210-mile John Muir Trail in a week in August, the first wrestling match with self-doubt occurred on day three. Blasting out 31 miles a day, we were hiking from inky predawn through nightfall. This put us on a daily colli- sion course with the brutal High Sierra afternoon heat, a malign and merciless force that could sap the will to continue from a Tarahumara ultrarunner. That particular afternoon, our mouths and nostrils caulked with dust, our feet feeling like overcooked burg- ers on a greasy griddle, I turned to my friend Mark and spoke arguably the most absurd words to ever cross my lips: “I hope this isn’t starting to feel like a death march.” D I ST I  ENDURANCE