The last week has been a whirlwind of last days of work, last minute housework, and “last meals” . I’ve had probably ten last meals in the past week. Who knew it would be so hard and stressful to figure out where to eat! Continue reading
Hiking With Jason
Detached From Reality
Page 12 of 13
As I hike the Pacific Crest Trail I will be carrying a Delorme Inreach SE. This
In 20 days I’ll begin my 2,650 mile journey from the California/Mexico border to Canada. On a scale of 1 to 10 my excitement goes to 11. I still have two weeks left at my job. It’ll be a bittersweet moment on my last day. I’ll definitely miss my coworkers but I sure as hell won’t miss the 25 mile commute with all the slow idiots in the fast lane. In 18 days I will be heading to California to see my cousin on my way to San Diego and then to Campo. The hardest part will be saying goodbye to my bad boy Loki and my kitty cat Suma. Luckily I have a friend that will take care of both of them and my parents will be checking in every other week. So I know they are in good hands. Continue reading
Trail mix. The fuel of many hikers. M&Ms with obstacles. One of the more calorie dense options for trail food that you can snack on all day to keep that forward momentum. Now you could be boring and just buy 20 lbs of premixed trail mix. Or you could make your own by visiting your grocery store that has bulk bins. Making your own obviously lets you include whatever you want in that delicious salty goodness.
Planning a resupply strategy is extremely tedious, time consuming, and incredibly important unless you’ve found a way to survive via photosynthesis. Since it is physically impossible to carry all the food necessary for a 5 month thru-hike resupplying periodically is necessary. There are a few ways to go about doing a resupply. Mail food to yourself ahead of time, buy as you come across towns, or a combination of the two.
There are a lot of terms and slang that hikers use on the trail and I’m sure I’ll be one of them. Below is a list of some of the more common ones that are used.
Base Pack Weight: The weight of your pack excluding food, water, and other consumables.
Cache: A supply of food or water left on the trail for hikers.
Cat hole: A hole you dig to poop in. Classy.
Cowboy Camp: Camping or sleeping with your tent. Only the starry sky above you while you look like a burrito to hungry bears.
Dry Camp: Camping without a nearby water source.
Flip Flop: Skipping a section with the intention of completing the section but in the opposite direction.
Gorp: Good Old Raisins and Peanuts or just trail mix. Continue reading
Planning a 2,600 mile thru-hike, where do you even start? For most it may seem overwhelming due to the sheer amount of information you need to research. Luckily for me, I’m a weirdo and I absolutely love it. I have no problem spending hours upon hours researching gear, resupply strategies, trail food and reading other’s blogs. That’s my idea of a fun day. So here is how I went about planning my thru-hike.
TL;DR: Read trail journals and PCT related websites, patiently research gear using past hiker’s gear list as a template, and plan your resupply using Craig’s PCT planner. Continue reading
Whenever I tell people I’m hiking the Pacific Crest Trail I almost always get asked the same questions. Some of them are pretty ridiculous.
Are you crazy?
Most likely.
I get asked this question quite often. Apparently quitting your job, walking 2,650 miles to Canada, sleeping with bears, and hitch hiking with strangers are not seen as rational decisions. Yet for some reason whenever I tell someone about my upcoming journey they talk to me for quite awhile, ask lots of questions, and usually finish by saying they are jealous. So maybe they are jealous that I’m crazy? I don’t know. Continue reading
Most of my time and energy was spent researching what pack, tent, and sleeping bag I would bring with me for 5 months. In my opinion this is the most important decision a thru-hiker will make. When it comes to these items lighter is better. These are the items you definitely do not want to cheap out on. You can easily save at least 2 pounds or more for each item over your general backpacking gear if you look into small companies that focus on ultralight gear. Zpacks, ULA, Gossamer Gear, Enlightened Equipment, and Tarptents are just a few companies that offer quality products that are extremely light. For me personally I saved close to 10 pounds when I switched my pack, tent, bag, and sleeping pad. Had I known or been introduced to ultralight backpacking sooner I could have saved myself a lot of money and back strain. Continue reading
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