Some final gear choices…

Sometimes I really hate being a Libra. Should I do this…. or should I do that? This costs big bucks and is warmer and lighter, but I already have X and that should be fine. Don't waste your money on a few ounces… But, a few ounces here and there add up to pounds and you aren't getting any younger you know. You get my drift.

Last week I hurt my low back and strained my iliopsoas, making it hard to stand up straight much less hike with a pack. Since then, and with more pressing concern for the lightest pack I can manage, I've popped for some additional gear, all lighter of course. And expensive - but beautiful.

Voila! Behold a Zpacks 10 degree quilt. 19.5 ounces of warmth in a quilt - $420. Everyone, but everyone I have spoken to who has this quilt absolutely loves it and thinks it is the best bag on earth. I don't know about that part yet but when long distance hikers rave about gear, Shelly listens.

Bearing in mind that quilts don't have hoods how will I keep my head and neck warm in big cold? Since a hood isn't necessary everywhere I opted to buy a hat/hood to pack and wear only when I need it. I'll start with it and when I get to Washington in fall I'll have it sent to me again. 1.3 ounces, $65. 

Yum, warm.

To round out the final (to this point) gear choices I decided to sell the tent I had and go with the Zpack Hexamid Solo Plus. Total weight 18.5, including ground cloth, stakes and stuff sack. WOW. Also $475 - double WOW. But it is palatial and better suited to my needs than the other one. Again, great reviews from long distance hikers who've lived in them for months at a time.

So there you have it. The most up-to-date choices I've made and will be going with in less than two months. I only hope my back/iliopsoas trouble clears up soon so I can get back out there and keep walking. Heat, stretch, ice. My new mantra.

This and that

I just finished dehydrating two pounds of ground turkey and two jars of spaghetti sauce into 8 portions of dried stuff. I'll include 3 ounces (dry) of pasta and some Parmesan cheese and there you have it. Tasty!

That makes 16 spaghetti meals… add this to the Mac and Cheese meals and the Chicken Chili and I've still got a lot to do. Oh well, one foot in front of the other I guess.

Something exciting happened yesterday. I received my permission from Canada to enter via the PCT! It only took a couple of weeks so I guess this is why it's good to do this bureaucratic stuff early. Details, details, details!

One last thing for today. As of yesterday I've lost a total of 21 pounds! I still hope to lose another 4 or so before leaving on my trip but even if I don't, still this will help with my energy levels and my ability to carry the water weight that will be required of all of us this year. Unless something very remarkable happens in the next two months, natural water sources will be few and far between. Well, no need to fret as what is, will be and there ain't no use fighting against it. I'll just have to go with the flow…

More Food and Fire

I met with my friends a couple of days ago and we had a fun, three hour yack. Food, scheduling and how many miles to schlep in each section…on the way to Canada. Once we were done it became clear to me that I needed to get on the food thing or I'd end up eating commercial foods purchased for vast sums of money. So I made my first, of many, trips to Costco…

The current plan is to cook up lots of foods, dehydrate them and pack them into individual meals. I've begun the Turkey Spaghetti, Mac and Cheese with Pork and will soon begin the dehydration of canned chili from Trader Joe's - I can't make it any better. I have some 90 bags of breakfast begun but need to spice them up…oatmeal needs help. I finally tried to make yogurt last night in the manner of my friend Shroomer and I'll be darned if it didn't work! It wasn't as firm as commercial yogurt but it was good enough and tasted fine. I just put a table spoon of plain non-fat yogurt in that baggie, added 1/4 cup of Nido (full fat powered milk) and one cup of water, put it in that black bag for about 18 hours and in the morning, yogurt. Who knew?

The drought. It is getting very scary around here in California. 2013 was the driest year on record in my home state and it appears, though things could still change, that 2014 will be more of the same. Because of fire danger, and knowing I'll be having to schlep many liters of water on any given day, I'm about 90% sure I'll be going stove less for the greater part of the hike. At least through California and who knows beyond that. I prefer to heat my dinners but what with having to carry the extra weight, and having to find fuel canisters in trail towns, I think I'm gonna give it a go. 90% sure. Once I get to Washington I can have my simple alcohol stove sent to me and be able to heat water for a more palatable food experience, as I won't be carrying as much water by then. Plus, it is likely that by then I might be into Fall and may be dealing with cold and rain. It is prudent to be able to heat water, if only for safety's sake.

BTW, if there are people out there reading this blog who aren't familiar with our climate out here in the West and you think you can bring your high humidity habits with you from home, think again. Please, please do not light campfires for any reason, in any situation other than in extreme hypothermia. I'm gonna guess that fires of any sort will be banned this year, throughout California and possibly Oregon as well so there will be no excuse or possibility for confusion. I hate to be a hard ass but I will not be polite if necessary. No fires, period.

Socks

Who knew that socks would be such an important factor for hikers? For many years I've been wearing nylon Silver Toe socks, purchased at Sears. Six socks for 10 bucks. For me this has been a good deal and in all that time, no (fiction) blisters. Most people like some kind of blend sock: wool, polyester, whatever, but I love my nylon socks from Sears. However, they are no longer to be found! There are lots of blend socks but no nylon socks. So today I got some 98% polyester, 2% spandex socks to try out... Six pair for $3.99. - crazy, but if they work, I'm a happy hiker.

Who's reading?

Is this cool or what? These are the views to my blog in the last few days. And the countries where the views originated. Amazing.

Pageviews by Countries

Entry	Pageviews
United States	70
Russia	39
France	10
Japan	1
South Korea	1

Fortune cookie

I've been carrying this fortune around for months. Is the message clear? I think so… It'll be my mantra for this event, both the training and prep period as well as beyond.

In that vein, yesterday I bumped my training miles up to 13.5 with a jaunt in Nicene Marks State Park. I added a trail to my usual loop which included some steep up and downs with three water crossings. I doubt if I would have wanted to cross these trickling streams had we not been in the worst drought in California since 1849. The trail would have been slippery and slick with steep drop-offs, had it been wet and rainy. Plus the water would have been hip deep. This was good for me but terrible for the state as a whole. If this trend continues there will many liters of water hauling in my future and trouble all over the state with the extreme fire danger facing us.

Speaking of extreme fire danger it appears that alcohol stoves will be banned throughout the state of California this coming season. I think this comes from irresponsible past users who were clueless as to the dangers of alcohol stoves in the dry climate of California and have damaged property, including starting fires, in the past. Too bad as I don't like to use canister stoves - they are loud, the canisters are wasteful and they are heavy to carry. They are however, much safer in the hands of the foolish. Though, with some of the folks I've seen out there, any stove could be made dangerous. I'm sorry to say it but sometimes it appears as though there are many candidates for the Darwin awards on the trail.

Given all this, the current plan is to take a super small stove called a Pocket Rocket. The stove itself weighs 3 ounces and each small canister weighs in at 3.5 ounces so just the stove/canister itself weighs more than my previous cook system all told. Add in another 5 or so ounces for the pot and other stuff and it almost makes me want to go stove less. I'll have to consider this…

I spent a couple of hours last night working on my resupply plan. I'm using Craig's PCT Planner (http://www.pctplanner.com) which is a great tool for the planning of mail drops and milages. It is the perfect way to organize food drops and manage distances between those drops. Lots of good information on this site. Next week I'll take my plan to my friends house to see if we match up on our schedules and make any adjustments necessary. They've already started making meals for their boxes so it will be interesting to see what they've got going. I'm not sure what I'm waiting for but I reckon I'd better get on the stick asap.

Food

When I am on a training hike my mind has unlimited time to think about my upcoming trek. I think some about gear, whether or not my current stuff will work for the trail ahead, but mostly I have all my gear questions worked out. Much of my current trail thinking time revolves around food ideas for the trip and what is the best way to deal with meals. 

I can't say I have it all worked out but I am pretty clear about some things…mostly snacks, which I normally eat all day instead of official lunches. The reason for this clarity is that I plan to buy most snacks items in towns where I resupply and will eat what I find in grocery stores at these stops. Breakfast last time around was a combo of Via coffee and vanilla flavored Instant Breakfast. Not too sweet, which I like, but they didn't sustain me for very long. I will probably add in some kind of grain based cereal with Nido milk, or possibly try making on-the-trail yogurt like my friend Shroomer does.

This leaves dinner. My most important meal of the day and one that I use much of my brain power thinking about. Last time around I used some popular books to plan a wide variety of meals…I think I had 26 different meals. They were fine at home but some of them weren't really good to eat once I got out there so I am planning a different tack this time. I am asking my foodie friends to come up with recipes that I can make on the trail using dried ingredients and assembling on site. I am targeting spicy foods as they are my most favorite and I hope to have 8 or 10 good dinner meals I will love to eat. For some meals I will make tried and true dishes and dehydrate them so all I have to do is soak them in water for a couple of hours before dinner and just reheat them when it's time to eat.

In that vein I am in process of cooking up and dehydrating some pork loin, slow cooked with BBQ sauce and sliced thin. This will be part of my mac and cheese dinner. Yum. One ounce dried pork with a cup or so of small pasta and powered cheese should be yummy. Add in some BBQ sauce and it is divine. In a backpacking meal kind of way…

More to come…