Almost time

I really don't like this time of getting ready for a long hike. Time is short, I've got stuff all over the floor and boxes almost full of necessary stuff. Having to make final decisions about gear and trying mightily not to keep adding stuff, for "just in case." After all these years you'd think it would be easier to resist the pull, but it's not. Plus, no matter how hard I try not to do so I always seem to hurt myself just prior to taking off. This time it's my low back. I'm sure it'll be fine in the end but it puts a kink in my training. Good thing I'm only planning 12 mile days for the first week.

Training hike in Nicene Marks State Park - Janet Fine photographer (and hand)

I just posted a document and images of the clothing I'll be wearing/carrying on this trip. It's under the page Gear Planning for 2016. I'll post the rest of the images and data once I finally get it ready and written down. In the meantime I have (mostly) finished my resupply boxes and will be sending off three on Monday. I can send UPS boxes all at the same time as they are going to private businesses and the three week limit the Post Office has won't apply in those cases. I much prefer to get most boxes sent before I leave so I don't inconvenience family any more than necessary.

Not sending this many. This is from before I had to chnage my plans. Now I only have 8 boxes and one bear canister.

Snow coverage

I'm showing a screen shot of a map which shows snow depth along the first sections of the PCT planned for this summer.

The top center is where the trail crosses highway 5 in southern Oregon and curves west before dropping south, then north and into the higher mountains. As you can see there is light blue along the first part, along the Ca/Or border. Then the snow doesn't register as deep till the trail gets down below the town of Etna and the last section before Castilia. Castle Crags area.

From the feedback I got online yesterday, by folks who live in the area, the snow is deep, the ice is treacherous, the downed trees are many and folks have turned back rather than try to push through this part of the trail. Well damn. It looks like I'm gonna have to adapt and change my plans. I have no death wish.

My new plan is to start at Castilla and head south, leaving on June 30th instead of June 12th. That northern section is just too much for my skill set and I don't want to be out there alone in difficult conditions. So once again my best laid plans need to change with the circumstances. In that vein I purchased a train ticket from San Jose, CA to Dunsmuir, CA and will start walking south June 30. Decision made!

Snow!

And it just keeps snowing! Northern California just got dumped on last weekend and it's still pretty cool up north, which means the snow isn't melting very fast. So what to do? There is still almost three weeks to go before I take off but no one knows what the trail conditions are on the ground. Will there be impassable snow? How many blow downs will there be? I don't guess I'll need to worry much about water for drinking but what about stream crossings?

Washington, south of Packwood Glacier

While this photo was taken in Washington in August, the snow I might encounter in N. Cal would likely be in the trees with an unknown number of down trees blocking the trail. Some smaller and low to the ground which require crawling, some really big like the one L is climbing over here. Either way it gets very tiring trying to hike a trail that isn't yet cleared for the season.

Another option I am considering is to hike north from Southern Oregon where I got off the trail in 2012. There will still be snow on the ground and probably trees down as well, but the trail itself isn't as exposed, meaning less steep and rugged. Let's say, fewer cliffs to fall off of. That part appeals to me somehow. I'm basicly a chicken when it comes to dangerous situations and prefer not to expose myself to unnecessary risk, especially when I am hiking solo.

So I'm on the horns of a dilemma. I have to mail my first resupply box by early next week and where I mail it is dependant on which way I'm gonna hike... north or south. Help!

Doing the details

One of the things that is good about having backpacked a fair number of miles on the PCT is that I know how much consumable stuff I use on a daily basis. Because of this I know, for example, I want to have packed two wet wipes per day and two quarter squares of blue shop towels. You know, those thick paper towels you've seen around. I cut each big sheet into fours and this is what I use instead of toilet paper. Mostly because it's tougher and I don't have to carry as much at a time. I'm sure the wet wipes are self explanatory 😜. 

How I figure this out is to look at my Craig's PCT planner and based on the data I in putted, I know that in box 9 I'll need to have 4 days of these items in the box for the next section. As well as other stuff like shampoo and laundry soap. 

This may seem like a whole ton of work but a little time up front means I'm carrying the least amount of weight between resupply stops. Plus, it gets the trip out of the theoretical realm and into the "it's really gonna happen" place. 

Stay tuned. I'm almost done with dinners. 😃

Dehydrating - working on dinners

I do love making dinners for my backpacking adventures. I currently have six meals, times nine, planned for my up coming section hike. Tonight I began dehydrating 5 cans of Trader Joes chicken chili, (4 more to go), a killer dinner in the outback. I'm also dehydrating pasta, to add to a few other meals. Images to follow. 

Yummmmm. Food is good. 

PCT section hike in 2016

If all goes according to plan, in early summer I'll set foot on the PCT at mile 1716 and walk south till I get to Tuolumne Meadows at mile 942.  Totaling 774 miles, give or take, I plan on taking somewhat less than two months to hike it, averaging around 16 miles a day. I have 6 months to get back up to hiking shape, which might be a bit difficult, but I'm gonna give it a go. I've begun the planning phase, which is super beneficial because it provides focus to my training. Planning includes, for me, looking at resupply stops, seeing whether or not I can resupply some foods at that stop and if not, what I'll need to send myself in each box. Some folks might find this tedious but for me it's part of the fun.

A few of the 33 boxes I had for my 2014 thruhike attempt

My current plan calls for 9 resupply boxes sent to myself at nine different stops. Some of these towns, such as Dunsmuir, have good grocery stores so I'll only send myself breakfasts and dinners, picking up lunch/snacks in that town.  Some stops, such as Belden, have no stores at all so I'll have to include everything I need to get from there to Sierra City, 5.9 days ahead. Speaking of dinners I will rotate through 6 dinners over the whole trip which turns out to be 51 dinners. How do I know this? I use Craig's PCT Planner which is a fabulous resource for folks wanting to hike the PCT. You plug in your start and end spot, plus dates, input hours walked per day and miles per hour and it gives you great data to help with planning. I also recommend Yogi's PCT Guidebook which has lots of information about towns along the way as well as best shipping options. 

So that's it for today. I just wanted to get the rust off of my blogging fingers and announce my intentions to do a big section hike this year. If I'm successful this summer then I hope to be able to finish off Oregon and Washington in 2017 and have this PCT bad boy done!

Big Meadow Campground

As you might guess I didn't hang out at Tamarack Lake and instead walked back out to my van, arriving at 4:10. Just enough time to get my bear canister back to the forest service office before closing. I got there at 20 till the hour but, who knew? They close at 4:30. I went to the door anyway hoping to beg myself a door opening and some poor soul was trying to lock up. She kindly took my canister and a few minutes later, while I was divesting myself of accumulated trash in their trash cans, she told be all was well! At least I didn't have to wait till opening tomorrow to return the dang thing. 

I looked at my maps and I couldn't see any FS campgrounds along highway 50, which seemed surprising to me. So I dropped in at the outfitters there in So Lake Tahoe (nice folks) and they told me about this FREE campground off of highway 89. There are 11 sites and you can stay for up to 7 nights. The only downside is there is no potable water but who cares? I got a gallon o'water in the van so I'm good to go. 

Nice big spaces with lots of room between sites. And I was very happy to see this. 

I hope folks are being respectful of the fire bans. I know some people don't feel the camping vibe if they aren't sitting around a fire but as a lifelong Californian, fire makes me nervous. 

As usual while sleeping in my van in an unfamiliar place, I didn't sleep well and awoke at 3:30PM. I ruminated till about 5:00 when I finally realized I didn't have to lay there till daylight and could just take off for home. Yea! Off I went into the dark of early morning. Highway 50 never seemed so downhill. I managed to hang on till I got to Placerville, where I stopped off at Mel's Diner for a good breakfast. 

I do love driving and seeing my state,  but as I moved farther west, and time passed, I needed to pulled off and snooze for an hour or so. I guess the coffee didn't really kick in like I'd hoped.   Back on the road I remembered there was an IKEA right at the junction of Highway 80, west and east. Hum...

Fun as always, though I managed to get out of there forking over less than $7.00. Yahoo!

Finally home. I love going away but still, I love coming back to my spot. Looking at the next project... an El Niño inspired retaining wall. I have some post holes to fill in the very near future.