What are you doing?
I am hiking the Pacific Crest Trail
What is it?
The PCT is a national scenic trail that begins at the border of Mexico, goes through California, Oregon and Washington, and ends just over the border in Canada. It is 2,660 miles long. It may be traveled by foot or by horse and it passes through deserts, mountains and forests.
How long will it take you?
About 5 months
You’re walking for 5 months??
Yep!
Why are you doing that?!
The short answer – because I want to. The long answer can be found here.
How many miles per day?
I will average about 20 miles per day. Some days it will be higher and some days it will be lower depending on heat / elevation / snow / rain / wind / cold / exhaustion / how much sugar I’ve eaten….
I have planned 20 days where I just rest and do no walking at all.
What about Bears?
Hopefully I will see a bear because it will be awesome to see a bear in the wild, and hopefully it will be from a safe distance! There are brown and black bears on the trail (no grizzlys!).
But what about the Bears??
Yes, seriously there will be bears, but bears are pretty cowardly creatures and they aren’t out to attack you. Providing you follow the rules and are sensible, bears are nothing to worry about. I’m more worried about heat stroke and dehydration than anything else.
Are you taking bear spray?
No
Are you taking a gun?
No!!
Do you carry all your food?
I have planned how much food I need to carry between resupply stops. Sometime you can resupply on the trail, sometimes you have to walk or hitch a ride to a nearby town. I will need to carry from 2 up to 7 days worth of food at one time. Sometimes I will send a resupply package from a big town further up the trail when it becomes hard to buy food from certain areas.
What do you eat?
When I’m on the trail it will be a lot of dried stuff, things that come in a bar shape, peanuts, chocolate etc. My day will probably go something like this: walk an hour, snack, walk a couple of hours, snack, walk an hour, snack, walk a couple of hours, snack, walk an hour, snack, walk a couple of hours, snack, walk an hour have a hot meal and a hot chocolate (I do like a hot chocolate).
I am taking a small stove called a Jetboil. They heat water super fast which you then add to your dried meals and wait for them to rehydrate.
When I get to towns I will stuff my face with pizza, burgers and ice cream. Because I can.
How big is your bag?
I have a 58l rucksack (an Osprey exos 58). It weighs around 8kg not including food, water and fuel. It can weigh up to 13kg fully loaded.
Here is my bag with most of my kit:
Where do you stay?
In my tent mostly (Big Agnes Copper Spur UL1). There will be opportunities to stay in hotels or hostels or motels or people’s homes along the way, but it will mostly be in my tent (which is roomier than it looks!)
Are you walking along the coast?
Because Pacific is in the name a lot of people assume I am walking along the coast. Apart from flying in to San Diego I won’t be near the coast. The trail follows the crest of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges which lie 100-150 miles inland and run parallel to the Pacific coast of the USA.
How do you go to the toilet?
You go off the trail. You dig a hole. You pull your pants down. You do your business. You pull your pants up. You fill in the hole. You take your toilet paper away with you.
How do you charge your phone?
I am taking an external battery pack made by Anker which will hopefully keep all my electronics charged
How do you keep clean?
Well I’m going to be pretty dirty but good old baby wipes will help me feel a bit fresher and there will be a few opportunities for a shower along the way.
Are you going to shave your legs?
No.
No really, I’m not.
Do you have a good pair of boots?
I have a great pair of boots, but I’m not wearing them for the PCT. The norm for thru hikers is to wear trail runners. They are lightweight but sturdier than running trainers. They are breathable and quick drying.
A popular shoe on the trail is the Brooks Cascadia, but I don’t find these suit my foot, so I have chosen the Salomon Fellraiser, teamed with Dirty Girl Gaiters and Injinji toe socks
Who are you going with?
I’m going by myself.
By yourself??????
Yep! But I will meet people once I’m there. But the window of opportunity for this trip is fairly slim and the amount of people attempting it this year is bigger than ever so the likelihood of me being alone, even if I wanted to be, is very small.
Are you scared?
Yes! I am scared. I was scared on my first day of school, I was scared when I learnt to drive, I was scared when I jumped out of a plane. I am scared now. But all of those things, and more, turned out ok. So will this.
Have you read / seen Wild?
Yes. My thoughts are here
How are you training?
I walk everywhere I can. I wear my trail clothes all the time so I make sure I am comfortable in everything and nothing rubs. I wear my shoes as much as possible to get my feet used to them. I carry my pack everywhere (and although I get a lot of stick about it at work, I’m finding this one of the most useful things). I’m stretching more often to reduce to possibility of injury. I get off the train a couple of stops earlier and walk home. I’m doing a long walk (10 miles or so) with loaded pack at the weekend.
And I get super excited when new kit gets delivered to work and have to test it out straight away…
How can I sponsor you?
I am fundraising for Cancer Research UK and you can sponsor me by visiting my Just Giving page
7 weeks to go…
If you liked that, then you might like this...
844 million people globally don't have access to clean water. That's 1 in 9 people. In 2018 this is not ok.
I fundraise for Just a Drop in the hope that if I walk thousands of miles for clean water then the people who need to won’t have to. Find out more
Hey, how are you finding the Jetboil? Would you change it to something else if you had to pick a stove again?
Keep going north!
Reading this over again and crying at how amazing you are!
Very simular gear and weight as I had. We must have read the same prep material!
Switched from Jet Boil to MSR windburner stove as it had better wind protection characteristics. (It was a couple ounces heavier) Learned this after watching the Swiss Army cook in the open with a stiff wind blowing while my Jet Boil was sidelined.
Did away with the interior water bladder, and just carried Gaitoraid liter plastic bottles for water. Didn’t like it. Found filling it up too fiddly, could never tell how much I had drank or how much was left. Doing away with it allowed me to shed 8 oz of weight….plus it stopped me from carrying too much water and unnecessary weight.
Speaking of water, I rarely filtered after I reached the Sierras. Only if I had to take water from a lake or pond would I bother. Otherwise I always looked for the small springs for water without filtering. It was a calculated risk, but I hated the squeeze bottle process, and it took too long.
Carried and used one of the light weight hiking umbrellas. Once I started using it regularly, I became the umbrella evangelist. Hats are too hot, and since I am follicly challenged I needed the sun protection. Additional benefit, it kept the top of the pack cool where I carried my daily food rations. It kept my chocolate from totally melting on those sunny days.
The other natural benefit was the rain protection. I rarely had to put on rain gear, as it provided enough protection from all but driving rain, which luckily for me I mostly avoided the entire hike.
For a tent, I used the Zpack Duplex. I was going to take the same Copper Spur you had, as I already owned one, but the Zpack was lighter, (2 lbs) and so much roomier. Downside it is not free standing (you have to really peg it down) and did have a slightly bigger foot print.
Over all, I was very happy with it, as me and my entire “Kit” including the Osprey pack could fit inside tge tent with room to spare.
Other tent benefit, the cuben fiber is 100% water proof and does not sag or stretch during a rainy night or heavy dew.
Condensation was not an issue for me.
Good air flow and tent slope design meant I rarely had anything but some rare minor dampness on my sleeping bag.
Good netting and bug protection.
Bathtub floor was water tight.
Used a tyvek ground cloth.
Curious which Zpack quilt you had. I got the 10 degree one. Was glad I did, as I chill easily.
Shoes. My most important and labored decision. Went with Lone Pine Altras. 3 pairs for the 2700+ miles I walked and not one blister!! My 2 pair of Darn Tough socks are still going strong. Love their life time guarantee! The heels and toes still look like new.
I loved the jetboil. I’m going to upgrade it this year though for one with a simmer feature.
I too ditched the bladder, too much hassle getting it back in my pack when I refilled it, and not knowing how much water I drank.
I only didn’t filter twice, I was scared about getting sick!
I like the copper spur, I like that you don’t always have to stake it out and you can use it without the fly. Not a big fan of cowboy camping!
I had a 10 degree one too. It was a bit warm in Northern California, but I was grateful for it in Washington and the Sierra!
BTW… I never saw a bear. Did you see a bear? Lots of bear scat in Northern California, but zero in the Sierras where it was mandated you had to carry that darn bear cannister.
I did see one Bob Cat, but that and deer was as wild as it got for me.
I saw 2. I think. I only saw their backsides as they were running away!