7 weeks until launch

Seven weeks tomorrow I will leave Canada to begin the process of walking back to Canada.  Seems convoluted but it makes total sense to me.  So let's see. I decided I wanted to hike the PCT in around June of 2010.  And now I only have 49 days left until that dream manifests itself into reality.  Strange feeling.

As I have started telling friends and others about my grand adventure, several recurring questions have been asked.  They include:

"Are you hiking with anyone?"

My answer to that question is no and yes.  No, I am not starting the trail with anyone I know.  But, 50 people will start the trail the day before me, 49 other people will start sometime on the same day as me and another 50 will start the following day.  So it is unlikely that I will spend a huge amount of time in isolation. 

"How will you get food on the trail?"

My plan is to shop at the seemingly abundant small markets and gas station convenience stores that are near the trail.  Luckily I was born with guts of steel, so provisioning out of a 7/11 does not put as much fear into me as it probably should.

"How far will you walk each day?"

Standard answer is around 20 miles.  This is always the point where I differentiate my old marathoning friends who nod and say that is not so far from my more normal friends who think that is insane.

"Will you carry a gun?"

OK, just kidding.  I live in Canada.  Nobody asks that question!

"How have you been training for this hike?"

At this point I squirm a bit and start talking about the weather.

Well, that is likely the last useless pre-hike post.  Hopefully next post will be from the trail.

Yet Another January Update

So the permits for this year's PCT hike have all but been snapped up and I am happy to say that I got mine. The trail is administered and maintained by a not for profit group called the PCTA.  They provide an invaluable service to PCT hikers by allowing us to hold a single permit rather than the dozens that would otherwise be required (and hard to get in some National Parks).  But in recent years they have implemented a daily cap system of 50 permits per day to soften the impact on the trail.  Yesterday was permit day!

I had planned on starting the trail on May 3rd.  But when about 2,000 people try to log onto a registration system at exactly 10:30 am, things do not always go as planned.  Anyhow, I ended up getting a start date of May 7th instead.  Not a big deal.  With the huge amounts of snow that have been falling in the Sierra this year, a bit later start date is not amiss.

The other bit of planning that I am engaged in is the pre-PCT trip.  Our daughter and I are going on a father/daughter road trip which will culminate in her dropping me off at the southern terminus of the trail.  Seems even "adult" children in university get pretty giddy at the thought of a couple of days at Disneyland and Universal Studios.  Apparently we have to try butter beer and buy wands at Harry Potter World.  Hey, the wand might come in handy at some of the stream crossings in the mountains!

Well, back to the couch for some more intensive training.  

January Update

Well, according to the count down clock on my computer, I start hiking the PCT in 106 days and a few hours.  Way better than the 2400 or so days I have waited prior to this!

As most of us know, California has been in the throws of a terrible drought for the past 5 or so years.  This has meant there has been very little snow pack in the mountains ranges such as the Sierra.  Well, old Mother Nature has decided to make up for all of this lost water in a two week period.  From all accounts, it has been snowing like crazy pretty much everywhere above 6 or 7,000 feet down there.  The picture below was taken at Donner Pass near Reno this week.  And, guess what.  The PCT goes through Donner Pass.

 

This is a photo of a chairlift at Mammoth Mountain.  Guess which trail also goes right past Mammoth Mountain!

 



Oh well, I am planning a late start (May 2 or 3) so hopefully most of this will be melted by the time I get there.

So you would think that the matter of hiking a trail would involve little to no paper work.  Well, that is true of the PCT, but there is some.  Got my campfire permit for California (you need this to operate an open flame stove in the wilderness of that state), joined the PCTA (not compulsory, but I like what they do) and prepared my application to enter Canada at an uncontrolled border crossing.  The next big one will be January 24th when the actual PCT permits go up for grabs.  They are free but are limited to 50 per day. 

One very odd thought has crept into my melon lately.  All the hiking I have done up to now has involved fairly rigid itineraries.  We had to make it to such and such a camp or refugio because of reservations or lack of opportunities to camp past that point.  Well, on the PCT, there are no such restrictions other than the availability of flat ground to lay my tired body upon.  So, I will have to work out which philosophy is going to work for me.  Do I start out in the morning aiming to hike to a predetermined flat spot, or do I start out in the morning aiming to hike a certain number of hours and then find somewhere to camp.  May sound like potatoes potattoes to some but it is an intriguing dilemma. 

A Book Review

Yes, I have read Wild.  I have also read I Promise Not to Suffer, A Blistered Kind of Love, Cactus Eaters and several other accounts of PCT hikes.  When you wait 7 years to do a through hike, you have plenty of time to read.

But this book review is not about any of the above mentioned titles.  It is about the first known complete through hike of the PCT, entitled The High Adventures of Eric Ryback authored by Eric Ryback.  I stumbled upon this book totally by happenstance, and I must say that I am very glad that I did.

First, a quick synopsis.  At the tender age of 17, the author decided to attempt a southbound through hike of the as yet to be completed Pacific Crest Trail.  He set up five food resupply points, rummaged around for whatever maps he could find of the trail/route and headed out on his own.  His total pack weight when he had a full compliment of food was 80 pounds.  From his description, late spring/early summer of 1970 was a heavy snow year.   

The book was written two years after the through hike, and the fact that it was authored by a 19 year old is apparent.  There is a bit too much flourish in the descriptions and the writing style is a tad jerky in places.  But what a tale it is.  I found myself riveted to his accounts of crossing Washinton State in deep snow, route finding his way from the Oregon border to the Quincy area and suffering through the heat of the SoCal deserts.  

What I found amazing about the journal was his ability to seize opportunities to explore off trail adventures.  While at White Pass, he hikes over to Paradise on Mt Rainier and proceeds to summit Rainier.  At Crater Lake, he dayhikes the entire perimeter of the lake.  He takes the notion of a crest trail very seriously when he summits Dicks Mountain (and various other mountains) rather than skirting them like today's trail appears to. 

When you frame what Mr Ryback accomplished (and yes, there are internet bound disputes as to whether he hitched rides around some sections) against what all of us aspiring PCT through hikers want to achieve, it is a bit humbling. 

I suspect this book has been out of print for a while now, but if you can find a copy, give it a go.  

Training Hike

 

So here we are at the end of August, or at the end of the ninth to last month before the PCT as I like to call it. Not really a bunch of new revelations about my upcoming attempt at the PCT.

     

Went on a rather long training hike yesterday with my son on a local favourite called Mount Albert Edwards. This hike involves roughly 10 kilometers of very easy, mundane trail followed by 5 km of fairly tough going in which you gain 900 meters of elevation.  Total round trip of about 30 km or just under 19 miles.  I felt pretty good at the finish, so thus proves that my training regime of time spent on the couch with my very good friends Mr Chips and Ms Salsa is working just fine! I cannot take credit for the photo below as most of our day was spent in drifting fog and rain. But this is what the mountain looks like on a nice day.

 

This is what the mountain looked like on our hike.  Not quite as splendid!

 

I am still aquiring various bits and bobs of equipment, but that process is winding down.  Now I just have to kill about 250 days until it is go time.

 

A Completely Needless Update

So here we are in mid- June, 2016 and my hike does not start until May, 2017.  What news can I possibly have to share?  Well, not much.

 

I have decided on a start date, albeit tentatively.  May 2/17 seems to be a good fit for getting kids shuffled around after their university years are completed etc.  I know that this will be later than most of the hikers, but it does give me some latitude to avoid the worst of the snow in the Sierras should next winter prove to be a big (or at least bigger) snow year.

 

This whole blogging thing on a platform like Blogger is new to me.  I am learning as fast as I can.  Up to now, I have used Trailjornals to journal hikes.  This is a bit more complex, but allows for a more detailed account.  More pictures per post, the possibility of including videos and just being able to customize the look of the blog/journal is appealing to me.

 

Talking of previous journals, here are two journals from previous hikes:

 

The Wonderland Trail 2013 here

 

Tour du Mont Blanc 2015 here

 

Got to say that I am really enjoying several of the journals from this year’s hikers on the PCT.  There are some really good writers and photographers out there this year.

 

Well, back to the couch for some more training.

 

What is the Pacific Crest Trail?

 Well, that is easy.  The PCT is a trail that has a start and a finish and a whole bunch of hiking in-between.  The start is right on the Mexican border near San Diego, California.  More specifically, it is adjacent to the small town of Campo. All of the photos I have ever seen of the start point show a monument which was recently revamped by a great bunch of volunteers.  Right behind the monument is Mexico.  Well, actually, right behind the monument is a butt ugly wall.  But apparently Mexico is back behind the wall. Now, when you think of big walls, it is natural to think of the Great Wall of China. 

 

 

 

Let's call this one the Great Wall of America.

 

Can't you just see tourists flocking to see this mecca for generations to come to behold it's spender and beauty?  And when you think of it, the construction of the two walls had something of an ironic inverse relationship.  The Great Wall of China was build by a nation of cheap labour to keep the marauding armies out.  The Great Wall of America was built by a nation of marauding armies to keep the cheap labour out.

The finish is kind of sort of two places.  The first finish is at the Canadian border.  But apparently, that is in the middle of nowhere.  So, the second finish is a few kilometers (hey, we will be in Canada by then, so metric it will be) up the trail at Manning Park Lodge.  And, given that I am from British Columbia, that means that I will be using the PCT to walk home.  I do not believe there is a wall present at the Canadian border.  But if a certain celebrity reality TV star is ever elected the Head of State of the USA, you can believe that many a Canadian will be petitioning our Prime Minister to get started on one. 

But I digress.

As for all of the in-between bits, well that has yet to be written.  I know there will be lots of walking.  Lots and lots of walking. 2650 miles (notice the acknowledgement to our non-metric American neighbours) or so. Through deserts, over mountains, crossing three states, as high as about 14,000 feet and as low as just above sea level.  Heat, cold, mosquitos, long stretches with no reliable water sources etc etc.  I mean, why would everyone not want to hike this trail? 

I also know that there will be visits to several small towns along the way.  Which is pretty cool actually.  Obviously the main attraction to the PCT is the trail, but I have always really enjoyed poking around in small towns.  Far more that big metropolis's.  I think of it as kind of a Jack Kerouac tour of the western states.  But with lots of walking.  Did I mention that? So there you have it.  The PCT is a very long trail that is comprised of a start, a finish and lots of hiking in-between.  And it should be epic.