Miscellaneous trail stuff

(Mike)                                                             3 March 2011
I'm not gonna worry about organizing this, so my thoughts will be kinda random.

Pacific Crest Trail

The Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail (AKA "PCT") runs about 2,650 miles from Mexico to Canada--through the entire lengths of the states of California, Oregon, and Washington.  I round up the distance we will actually hike to 2,700 miles, and I justify my math by including some of the additional distance we'll have to walk off trail to acquire supplies. The trail climbs 57 major mountain passes, traverses 19 major canyons, and borders more than 1,000 lakes.  The highest point along the trail is reached as it crosses over Forester Pass, Calif. at 13,153 feet elevation.  There is a little of everything along the trail; deserts, mountain peaks, glaciers, lakes, rain forests, prairies, forest fires, lotsa beautiful scenery, and clear cuts (esp. in Washington State).  The trail actually goes right through four cities as well.

The PCT is said to require around 6 million steps to complete it. This might work for me, but Jan's stride is about 5" shorter than mine (yet still pretty long for one who is 5'-1" tall), so she'll probably have to budget for around 7 Million steps. Most people hike the PCT going from south to north and that's how we plan to do it, beginning at a PCT monument on the Mexican border 1/2 mile south of the tiny town of Campo, Ca., and terminating at the Canadian border near Manning Park, B.C.  An edited version of an ancient Chinese proverb states that "...a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step".  We hope there will be someone at the starting monument willing to take our photo as we launch our first, significant step.  Perhaps some Homeland Security guys will be hanging around, as the monument is located right beside the infamous "wall" (in which case, it's likely that we will be automatically photographed).

The idea of the trail was conceived in1902, and the PCT was finally completed in 1968 with the conjoining of several existing shorter trails and then by filling in the gaps through acquisition of land, or with easements, and by constructing new trail sections.   Generally, use of the trail is limited to equestrians and hikers (no bikes, or motorized vehicles), exceptions being where local usage is governed by a unique jurisdiction with different rules.  Because of the random way in which the trail developed, together with issues of topography and private property rights, etc., the PCT winds around such that the approximately 1,000 miles that a crow would fly from Mexico to Canada has morphed into a convoluted pathway totaling approximately 2,650 miles.  It is, as are most footpaths, very crooked, and it often meanders west, east--and even back south--for long distances. We will have to travel about 2 1/2 times as far as the crow.

"Through-hiking" means hiking the entire distance in one season. Often people "section hike" the PCT (in pieces), some taking as long as 20 years to cover the entire distance.  Jan and I plan to "through-hike" the entire distance this summer because we are fortunate enough to have the time to do it and we sorta doubt that we have 20 years of trail hiking left in our aging bodies. We're gonna take a bit over 5 months to do this project, beginning on 15 April and finishing around 23 September.

Why are Jan and I hiking the PCT? We don't know why ('cause we can..., 'cause it's there...--no rational reason comes to mind, really). I've spent a bit of time hiking in the beautiful N. Cascades and each summer, around the first week of September, I've encountered several happy, worn-out and raggedy, through-hikers (they are easy to recognize--one's sense of smell is the first indicator). The hikers have been in their final 90-mile push to complete the hike. I've always thought I'd like to try it.  At some point Jan and I were discussing it and one of us (we can't remember who) suggested we give it a go. There is no guarantee that we will actually finish the hike, as there will be many challenges along the way. It is a grueling trip, but with some worthwhile potential rewards of a personal nature. Right now, Jan and I are very busy preparing, and we're a bit stressed because we don't want to forget anything and we seem to be running out of time.  We have purchased train tickets to San Diego so we now have a mandatory time  line (the train leaves the station on 10 April).  If we do this pre-hike stuff right, then the actual walk should be simply a matter of following the trail. Life ought to then become very simple, with only a few concerns: eating well enough to stay energized, staying warm (or cool), and staying dry--and making sure we enjoy this one-time greatest hiking experience I can imagine.

Jan, still a blonde

Jan is a pretty lady, a blond (with help from Rudy and his paint bucket). Jan would like to entice our friend (her hairdresser), Rudy, to join us for a short stint about 1/2 way up the trail (bringing his bag of tricks). We both like Rudy, as he is a really nice and fun-loving kinda guy but (sadly) there is this about Rudy: Rudy appreciates (no, unapologetically craves) creature comfort, and does not like to smell bad. Rudy has told Jan that he simply cannot believe she is doing this stupid hike. He thinks it is crazy! Rudy is not going to join us on the trail. In consequence, I have been told that as we progress along the trail an exciting metamorphosis will ensue. I can hardly wait, as I think Jan will be quite attractive in a steel grey hair mode, and as Jan wouldn't think of allowing anyone but Rudy to work on her hair, she plans to just let nature take it's course.
                                                                                
Ages:
Jan and I are a bit more "chronologically advanced" than most other through-hikers. In fact, aside from a few ancient redwood trees, we expect to be just about the oldest living organisms on the PCT this year. Most such hikers appear to be in their early to mid-20s.

Credits:
I credit Jan largely with making this thing happen. Her role has been crucial in planning, organizing and assembling our resupply stuff. Her hiking experience is relatively limited and yet she has amazed me with her creative and constructive ideas. Perhaps because she hasn't done this sort of outing before, she easily thinks outside the box, and she seems willing to try just about anything. Upon retiring from her career as Community Relations Director at the City of Burien, Wa., Jan went back to college and became a Certified Personal Trainer and then worked for a few years at a gym.  We have drawn on her past experience and knowledge while training for the hike and also while choosing and organizing our food.  She has a good knowledge of nutrition, she knows a lot about proteins, carbs., fats, calories--even omega 3s n'stuff.  She's also kinda "nerdy" about it (here's a portion of a nutrition spread sheet that she created for our trip):

Food	Serving Size	# of Servings	Calories	Fat	Carbs	Protein
Chili Beans	1 c	4	840	4	144	60
7 grain cereal	¼ dry mix	5	700	10	140	30
Ingredients for Trail Mix
Trail Mix Nuts, Pretzels etc.	1 cup	1.5	1040	66	101	31
NV Oats& Honey Bar	2 bars per pkg	3	570	18	87	12
Pro Bar	1	3	1110	54	144	24
Snickers	3.7 oz bar	2	998	25	64	8
Olive Oil	1 tb	1	120	14	0	0
NF Dry Milk	1 cup	2	180	0	26	16
TOTAL			7013	267g	994g	216g

Altogether, we plan to consume the following:
                  600 vacuum bags of thoughtfully planned out meals  (all good, healthy stuff)
                  450 snickers bars (for calories, fat, protein, carbs)
                  100 bags M&Ms (for calories, fat, protein)
                  450 Pro Bar bars (complete meals in themselves)
                  450 Nature Valley bars (carbs)
We're obviously not gonna starve, in fact we will likely have a little left over to contribute to the "hiker boxes" at each leg of the trail.  The main thing is that we will not come up short (we've done that a couple of times in the past and that is not pleasant!) and we don't want to lose a lot of weight, either.  We will no doubt eat better than all other through-hikers.  While I have helped out with the food by doing my share of the shopping, cooking, dehydrating and packaging, all the thought, the calculations, and the planning were Jan's province.  There is nothing like the anticipation of good, healthful chow to keep one scooting along the trail with a good attitude.

We will be receiving boxes of supplies (mostly food--mostly dehydrated stuff) at prearranged places along the trail.  Jan's daughter, Michele, has agreed to mail them to us periodically, for which we are grateful.  My son, Adam, is going to take care of some business concerns of mine during my absence, sort out my mail, and start my car now and then, etc.
Both Jan and I have arranged for "auto-pay" online bill paying--it pretty much works like this: each month, my creditors will tell the bank how much money they want and then the bank will send it to them (that's not how I've done business in the past and it makes me a bit nervous!). We will carry an iPhone on the trail, which we hope will function (at least when we happen to be near a "wired" town) as a phone, as a note pad, as a camera, a GPS, and an Internet connection). Of course, we'll have to plug it in to an electrical outlet somewhere now and then.  We do have a solar charger for the iPhone, but I'm dubious and of course there is no way to test it around Seattle at this time of year--at a tanning salon, maybe(?).
In our previous post, we mentioned our friends, John Hand and Charlie Hyde, both of whom have given us helpful advice and coaching.

Food, company, and "Trail Angels":
We have major concerns about what we will be eating. "Gas Station Gut Wad" is apparently available within walking and hitchhiking distance of most trail heads that we will pass, but we are leery of that stuff. Last summer, we met a through-hiker who told us that he had subsisted on nothing but Snickers Bars and Pop Tarts for the entire length of the trail (but he was in his mid-20s, and he may not live to see 40 at that rate). He did subsequently complete that hike. We plan to pick up a food resupply box every 3-7 days (at about 45 to 140-mile intervals). I have been phoning all the (approximately 35) places where we hope to have boxes sent in order to confirm addresses, get their permissions, etc. Most of the places are U.S. Post Offices, some are stores, and some are the private homes of helpful people who happen to live near the trail. I phoned one guy in Calif. who's name I had, concerning resupply, and he told me to simply mail him the packages and then to phone him from around Kennedy Meadows (about 120 miles south of where we want to pick up those packages), telling him approximately when we plan to be passing by a certain trail head, and he said he'd drive our stuff there and place it inside a bear box at the trail head for us to pick up! Those helpful people are referred to as "Trail Angels", and they have become institutions along the PCT.  Some have been known to invite through-hikers into their homes, allow them to shower, do their laundry, and spend a night!
My friend, Dan Villwock plans to accompany us on the trail between Chinook Pass and Snoqualmie Pass, and we hope Jan's sister and brother-in-law (Cheryl and Al) will join us in the Sierras to hike for a couple of days. They will personally deliver our resupply boxes when they arrive.  Tom and Danell Krebsbach are considering meeting us in Stehekin in order to buy us a celebrity beer preparatory to our last week of the hike.

Bear Cans (not to be confused with "Beer Cans"). "Beer Cans" can often be found strewn alongside  trails and at the bottoms of lakes and creeks, especially toward the end of hunting season. "Bear Cans" are supposed to stay inside PCT hikers' backpacks, at least during the day.

Throughout most of California, we will be required to carry Bear Cans. Nope--Bear Cans are not containers in which bears go to the bathroom. Bear Cans are strong, clear plastic canisters in which food can be transported and stored and which none but the smartest and most persistent bears can open.  They are barrel shaped and are of a large enough diameter that bears are unable to fit them into their mouths and walk off with them.  Most bears lack the motor skills and finger dexterity (and patience) to be able to get their huge, klutzy fingernails into a tiny hole and manipulate a weenie little trigger that unlocks the can (their poor eyesight probably works against them here as well). I imagine these cans might really infuriate a hungry bear because one can look right through the clear plastic and see all the goodies inside (but then, if bears are farsighted...), well anyway, apparently they work.  It is recommended that the cans be placed on the ground at least 200 ft. from one's tent so that one doesn't have to listen to the bears fussing and cussing all night.

*#!*#**!

If a hiker is caught on the trail by a ranger sans the requisite bear can, it is likely that the disgusting offender will be written up and then frog-marched out of the forest (next stop: Abu Ghraib!). While camping in the N. Cascades, I usually hang my food bag in trees and I've never had a bear problem.  We have lots of bears here in Wa. (a couple of years ago, I saw a total of 18 in one season).  Washington bears are not as clever as California bears (Ursus Intelligentis) but--hey, it seems only natural that the smart ones would live in California, home of some the nation's most celebrated and accomplished  actors and political leaders. These Calif. bears have reputations. I recall that Yogi Bear (Augie Doggie's buddy), who I think hailed from Jellystone Park, often referred to himself as being "...smarter than the average bear", and I suspect Yogi was of this same species.  I've read of documented cases where a resourceful California mother bear, being either too old, fat or lazy to climb a tree, would send her kids up to fetch a hanging bag (fact)! The Bear Can regulation is enforced in order to save the lives of the bears. A lot of those "Park Bears" earn their livings plundering the food caches of hikers, they then forget how to forage in the manner of normal bears, they get lazy and begin to prefer Pop Tarts, Fritos, beef jerky, marshmallows, and other tasty and healthy stuff that hikers carry (like, who'd want to go back to grubs, ants, berries and leaves after sampling that stuff?).  They lose their fear of people (people being the really dangerous animals in the woods) and then the rangers have to go out and shoot 'em (the bears, not the people). The cans cost $65 and weigh well over 2 lbs.--and we'll have to have two of them.  The manufacturer suggests the cans might also be used as camp stools (small consolation!).  Actually, as much as I dislike hauling this extra weight around, the regulation seems perfectly reasonable and fair to me.

Pack weight:
Our full packs weigh in at approx. 18 lbs., and 13 lbs., respectively (but that is not counting food, water, and fuel)--my pack will be the heaviest of the two (I dunno why...but I guess I eat the most). One gallon of water weighs 8 lbs., and it is recommended that each hiker carry two gallons per person through the desert areas (so, do the math--I'm afraid to). We plan to not use much fuel, as our only hot meal will be supper, and for that we will only have to rehydrate the stuff we're now dehydrating, and then warm it up. Each day, an hour or so before supper, we'll just put the dried food into a plastic bag with water and let it rehydrate while we hike.  I don't know how much our food will weigh, but it will be way too much. We're not packing nearly as "light" as a lot of other hikers.  There are some who spend really big money on special equipment in order to reduce their pack weight a tiny bit--and they become obsessively anal about it and talk about it constantly--they call those guys "Gram Weenies".  We have a tent, two air mattresses, and a few other luxuries which many others eschew--we've even got a small (1.5 oz) stove! Our tent (actually, a nice and roomy, 3-person, double-wall tent) weighs 3 lbs. 10 oz., my empty pack weighs about 2.5 lbs, and we (well actually, Jan) made ourselves a wonderful quilt which weighs less than 3 lbs. and obviates the redundancy of carrying two individual sleeping bags. I can envision finding personal REI-type items intentionally strewn along the trail for the first 100 or so miles similar to what I've read of the wagon train routes over which early pioneer settlers traveled and jettisoned possessions in order to lighten their loads.  At some trail heads, there are "hiker boxes" into which one can put stuff one is tired of carrying.  Some (gram weeny) through-hikers intentionally plan to eat out of these "hiker boxes" in order to save both money and weight.  I'm confident that we will eat very well, and nary a single Mountain House freeze-dried meal will ever sully the inside of our food bag.  That stuff is awful!

Jan vacuum sealing food

Anyway, we plan to enjoy this trip, and we hope we get things in order prior to our leaving home.

We have had, at various times, two food dehydrators running in my kitchen--they're going right now. Boxes are stacked up all over Jan's and my condos. We purchased a small freezer for storing semi-perishable food until the last minute.

That's about all I know at this time about this PCT business.  Gentle Readers: I sense your attention beginning to wane.  On subsequent posts (like maybe every two or three weeks), I promise less talk and more pics (like maybe a half dozen photos with captions--and that'l be it)...

If you're interested, there is a lot of really swell additional information about the PCT here.

I think this is gonna be a really great experience, and I can hardly wait to begin.

Enough, now. Maybe I can get Jan to share her thoughts.

Sunday's Turn of Events (and a little background info)

Plumbing hassle

A big hike. 
      
For those who may not know of our planned hike of the Pacific Crest Trail, this blog (or journal) is all about it.  We'll fill you in.

We have canceled today's training hike due to some kitchen plumbing issues.  Mike is removing his garbage disposal--in fact, he's throwing it away as it was a nuisance and has caused problems, like right now being in the way while he's dealing with a plugged sink drain pipe (the obstruction is back inside the wall). He has made three trips to Morgan's already, but says it usually takes five such forays so the job may not be done for awhile.  We've been learning some new words this morning (Mike explained that it was"plumber's talk").

Pacific Crest Trail

We are on a countdown--less than six weeks to go before we get on Amtrak and travel to San Diego and catch a bus to Campo, California where we will take the first of our six million steps (totaling 2,700 miles) to Manning Park, British Columbia.  We're going south by rail because neither of us enjoy flying these days (it used to be fun, pre Bush Administration).  

Life right now is a bit chaotic.  We have two food dehydrators going day and night, preparing stuff for our 450-plus meals.  In between resistance training at the gym and 12-15 mile hikes on alternate days with weighted backpacks, we've been packaging food in "breakfast", "lunch" and "dinner" packets with a vacuum pack Food Saver.  This might not sound like much ado, but don't forget: we're retired folk.

Here's pretty much what Mike's condo looks like these days.  Messy!   Boxes and bags of stuff all over the place.

Mike's kitchen

Last night, we tried test-filling a resupply box.  Jan's daughter, Michele, will be mailing these to us along the way, and we could not do this hike without her help.  (When this odyssey is over, we will owe her "big time".)  We figure that she will have to mail at least two boxes to each resupply point in order to provide us with all the sustenance we'll need--altogether around 60 such boxes.  We could likely find some food at stores that are proximate to various trail heads that we will pass by but we--and especially Jan--are kinda particular about our diets.  These 60 boxes will contain only food and we haven't yet even considered all the other necessities such as new shoes (most PCT hikers go through 5 pair during the hike), various clothes for differing topographic and seasonal conditions, section maps and portions of guide books that we will cut up and have sent to us at appropriate times and places. It is a challenge to foresee where and when to send items so that we will  receive food, crampons, ice axes, warm or cooler clothes, replacement shoes, etc. as we need them and not before.  We'd prefer increasing the number of resupply points rather than carrying extra supplies in our packs, because of the weight factor.  And speaking of "weight", we are both anxious about losing body weight on this trip.  Because of the expected energy expenditure in hiking an average of 20 miles a day for several months, Jan has calculated that Mike will probably need a daily intake of between 5 & 6,000 calories and that Jan will likely require at least 2,500 just to stay even.  For Mike, this means he will try to eat at least 2 Snickers bars, three Pro Bars, and 2 Nature Valley Oats and Honey bars each day in addition to three full meals of more healthy stuff--d'you know that there are 280 calories (and some protein) in a 2 oz. Snickers bar (yum!)?  Right now, we are both trying to gain a bit of weight in anticipation of losing some on the trail.
Lotsa things to think about!

We're gonna do this blog (or journal) together.  At times Mike will write it, at other times it will be Jan and sometimes we'll collaborate.  We'll identify the author each time:  For Mike, we'll write "(Mike)", for Jan, we'll write "(Jan)", and a joint issue will start with "(Us)"--clever, huh?  This chapter is an "Us" version.

Each and every one of you, having met and surpassed certain rigorous qualifying standards, have been selected by our Screening Board to be involuntarily subscribed to this journal.  Nothing will be required of you--you don't even have to read it, nor need you comment on it.  You may block it, delete it, or print it and hang it on your office wall.  No questions asked, no tests.  We don't care, as we're writing it as much for our own enjoyment as for that of others.  We won't even ask you if you liked it, so don't fear being found out after having deleted it unread. We plan to take a few photos and jot down a few things as we prepare for our trip, and then after we begin the BIG WALK we'll try to keep a few notes from each leg of the hike, bringing things up to date with a journal entry including some photos once a week or so or whenever we reach a place where we can find some electricity and wireless service.  We have an iPhone (no separate camera), so the photos may not be of top quality, but they'll at least lend a general impression of what we're seeing and doing.

We are indebted to Mike's long-time (50 years long) friend, John Hand, for his help in selecting the iPhone and setting it up for use.  John has for years pressured Mike to visit an Apple Store (Mike finally did, and has now pretty much gotten over his earlier addiction to PCs).  IPhones are incredible!  Now we've gotta learn how to make it work.

Another big help was our friend, Charlie Hyde, of Tacoma, whom we met on a trail last year as Charlie was nearing completion of his 2010 through-hike of the PCT.  Charlie gave us lots of helpful tips.

Our next few posts (prior to our leaving home) will probably include some general information about the Pacific Crest Trail (anyway, what we have heard and read about it), our equipment, how we plan to do the trip, things like that.  Maybe we'll even talk about why we're doing this hike (if we can figure out why--now, there's a really good question...).  Whatever we feel like writing.  Oh yeah, we take questions too ('don't know if we'll answer them, but please ask).

As we said in the beginning, we've got only a little over five weeks before we leave, and lots of things to organize and accomplish in that short time.  We're becoming a bit anxious.  Mike is beginning to exhibit the early signs of a stressy freakout, so we've gotta get busy.

We'll see how it goes....