Foods and prep

Well, that 7th grade cooking class I took has faded from my memory. I have to look up the details of measurement conversions. Thus, the note on my cabinet.... who can remember such things?

Also, it is really fun to plan for 5 months of exercise related foods. For the first time in many years I have given myself free rein to eat candy. Wow. Costco = lots'a stuff.

I'm afraid to tally up the costs of this adventure.............. and I ain't even half way done with the spending!

"The Herd"

It looks like my projected hiking schedule puts me right smack dab in the middle of the group of people hiking the PCT, aka "The Herd". Fortunately I will be leaving earlier than most so I won't be in the middle of the pack the whole time. This particular schedule will have me finishing the trail on 9/28, though hopefully I'll finish the day before, 9/27/12. I hope to cross the Canadian border on my 61st birthday. Wouldn't that be cool?

Below you see the schedule put together by a guy named Halfmile. He analyzes the data from each year then puts together schedules for 4 month, 4.5 month and 5 month hikes. I show the 5 month plan. Unfortunately I had difficulty with the formatting so not all the columns line up correctly but you get the idea.

Most Hikers- 5 month hike duration [151 days]

Campo                                         PCT                          Segment                    Total                           MPD     

                                                      Mile                           Days                           Days                           Avg

Campo                                         0

Agua Dulce                                454                             33                               33                               13.8

Kennedy Meadows                  703                             16                               49                               15.6

Sonora Pass                               1018                          25                               74                               12.6

Ashland                                      1720                          33                               107                             21.3         

Cascade Locks                          2155                          19                               126                             22.9

Manning Park                             2664                          25                               151                             20.4

OMG, what a mess.

OMG! Look what has happened to my kitchen. I've only made 36 dinners but my kitchen is in turmoil! Not that I am fussy about stuff but it is hard to find what I need. 36 down, only 114 to go!

Coconut Lime Shrimp

Thanks to Dicentra and One Pan Wonders I am bringing lots of good food on this long backpack trip. You see here one of the 26 rotating meals. Rice, mushrooms, mixed veggies, coconut cream powder, ginger, shrimp. soy sauce and red peppers. Wow! Not only is it good, it's easy to put together ahead of time and only takes about 2-3 minutes to prepare. My favorite kind of cooking!

Incredible

Sleeping quilt

I've been putting off this project for a really long time... maybe five years or so. It is a synthetic quilt, sandwiched between two layers of ripstop nylon, very thin. After sewing it up and quilting it with black yarn, I then needed to sew a foot box for my tootsies. This bag is rated to about 20 degrees. It is a kit I bought from Ray Jardine and his website. If anyone is interested in making your own gear, check out his website.

There was some serious cussing going on around here last night

I chose fuchsia as the upper color... obviously not because of its "natural" hue but because I get tired of all my stuff being beige, brown and other muted colors. The bottom is black.

It won't get lost in my pack!

Voila!

new motto

Life is uncertain... don't sip!

ear cover thingie

I don't know about you but first thing in the morning these days it is really cold... as in 38-40 degree cold. I know, I know, that isn't cold for lots of folks but for hiking, my ears get really cold. I resist wearing full coverage hats though, because I get too hot. SO, I've been thinking of how to construct an ear cover that will velcro closed over my ears, work with the visor, yet leaves my head free to expel the extra heat I am generating. I could have bought a simple headband kind of thing but what fun it that? What do you think?

With visor

Simple closure

I generally wear a visor, year round in cold, rainy, hot weather. So this design is perfect for my favorite one. The material is a wind blocker fleece, stiffer than most and dual colors, black on the inside. To hide the dirt?