Final Day at Home

So the most amazing thing has happened over the last five months. Somehow I've managed to spent that time wrapping up my undergrad and prepping for this massive summer undertaking. I've gathered up 90 days of food, boxed it up, ready to ship to myself on the trail. I developed an itinerary for how I plan to cover 2600 miles of trail in just three months. I've put in nearly 350 miles of training, and feel pretty good about my physical condition. I've assembled all the gear that will keep me safe and warm over the course of this adventure. And somehow through all of that, this day seemed to be exceedingly far away. Suddenly, yesterday, as I walked back from receiving my diploma, it was here. Whoa, that hit me fast, because part of me never really wanted, or even expected this senior year to end. I was just having too much fun with everyone, and the end was always weeks or months away, then BAM! Game over. Undergraduate life has been forever locked away in our photos, transcripts, and memories. Now its time for things to get real.

I'm home right now looking at everything that come together for this trip (including a frantic rush to postpone jury duty that came up in June!) For anyone who hasn't followed me from the start though, let me give you a brief recap. This summer I plan to hike the 2,600 mile Pacific Crest Trail, starting at the Mexican border in Southern California and working my way up to the Canadian border. I follow the mountain crest up the center of the state, so no, I will not see the ocean. You can see the route below.

I'll be starting out in the high desert, and will be there for about 700 miles before transitioning into the Sierra Nevada mountain range, including a short detour up to Mount Whitney, the tallest point in the lower 48. After several hundred miles there I will move into the volcanic areas of Northern California, winding around massive volcanoes such as Lassen and Shasta. At the 1700 mile mark I will have finished my first state, and will head into Oregon and the Cascade mountains. As the trip winds to a close I will come through Washington, up to the Canadian border, and just across to catch a Greyhound bus back to the states for my flight home.

If you were wondering, no I'm not crazy, just ambitious. I'm looking to push myself to the limit as I need to walk an average of 28 miles per day in order to finish this before grad school starts again in the Fall.

I'm starting out solo (much to my mother's chagrin) but I fully expect to run into other hikers and spend time hiking with them if we're going the same pace. About 400-500 people attempt the full thru-hike each year, so I won't be the only one out there.

Yes, I do have a satellite emergency button, and I hope never to need it. The nice thing is that it lets me send 140 character check-in texts w/ my GPS location, so that will let me stay in touch even out of cell range. If you want to be on that list for text messages, please message me and I'll make sure to add you to my account.

For supplies, I clearly can't carry 95 days of food with me, so the plan is to box up 5-7 days of food and ship those boxes to post offices near the trail. I'll just have to walk in, show my ID, and I'll be all set for another week of hiking.

In terms of keeping everyone up to date, this will be my primary location for updates, at least when I have cell service. I'll try to post as many photos and entries as I can.

I think that pretty much covers it, so I'm off to pack my bag for the flight tomorrow. Thanks everyone for your support, and I'll see you all in a few months!

Mountain Education Snow Course Day 3 (or) Learning to Fall Down a Mountain

Today was the third and final day of the course. It was definitely warmer out last night, but I wasn't taking any chances, so I slept with my boots in the tent. So much more comfortable to put them on in the morning when they aren't a pair of ice blocks. Unfortunately they were still damp from the soaking they took yesterday in the soft, slushy snow, so I definitely need to pick up a better pair for my thru-hike in the Sierras. These will likely be used as a replacement pair somewhere up in Oregon or Washington depending on how the new pair holds up. I did get some condensation in the tent last night, so that was a bummer. I'll have to try out the inner liner to see how well that manages the condensation issues. We all gathered around our snow table for one last meal together and then packed up our gear and left the basecamp. Ned brought us down to a moderate slope where we began to learn to use our ice axes. The process was: sit down at the top of the hill, start sliding down, self arrest to stop sliding down. Rinse and repeat. Self arrest can be critical through some of the snowy areas as it is the best and most effective way of stopping yourself if you lose your footing and take off down the hill.

Fortunately or unfortunately, due to the higher temperature last evening, the snow was relatively soft. This made it possible to stop yourself simply by digging in your feet as you slid, so there was less riding on a successful self arrest. On the other hand, it was a low risk environment to learn, so that was positive. I learned how to self arrest from several different positions, namely feet first with and without my pack, and then head first on my back. That was probably the most challenging as you are a bit disoriented and it isn't quite as intuitive which way you want to roll. Its actually quite interesting to think about the mechanics of how a self arrest works. First of all here is an ice axe. The pointed side is the pick, the broader side is the adze, and the point on the end of the shaft is called... the point. The idea behind self arrest is to dig the pick into the snow while holding the ice axe tight to your body and diagonally across your body from your shoulder to your hip. You need to keep it close in so that you can hang on once it bites in and pulls you to a stop. When you self arrest you need to roll over the shoulder holding the axe head so that the pick is the first part to contact the surface. If you roll the opposite way, the shaft will bury itself in the snow, potentially vaulting you backwards down the slope - not desirable at all. Once I figured out the basic idea behind the technique, it really wasn't too terrible to put into practice, although it did take a few tries to become consistent, and then quite a few more tries to do just as well with my off hand.

After a good hour and a half of practice with self arrest, we slipped on our packs and began the 6 mile hike out. It was MUCH quicker going down the hill instead of climbing and traversing it, so we made excellent time. We went back across the lake again, but this time there were definite signs of surface melting on the eastern side. Still nothing to worry about yet, but if this temperature holds for a few more days, I'd be a bit more apprehensive about crossing the lake like we did. We made it back to the cars around 1:45 and I quickly unloaded my pack into the duffel bags and said my goodbyes. I hope to see all of you out on the trail at some point, especially since you all start before me. Sourdough and Don start on Tuesday, so it'll be some time before I see you guys, and I'm extremely jealous that you'll be out on the trail while I'm doing problem sets and writing papers. Phil, I'll probably see you first since you only will have a couple days head start on me. Probably see you somewhere around Warner Springs. Pat and Sandy it was sure nice to meet both of you, and I look forward to seeing you out there. And of course, a huge thank you to Ned, Julie and Snowball for making us all feel like family and providing priceless instruction and guidance over the three day course. Thank a ton, I really enjoyed my time out there, and I hope to see you all soon!

Snow Course 4-16

This morning I woke up around 6:30 to a bit of dew on the inner wall of ny tent. Not a big deal, but I may want to try use the inner liner or the tent next time. It was 29 outside, which would've been done had I not left my boots outside to freeze... That was quite unpleasant and it took a good 30 minutes for them to finally warm up and get loose enough for a good good lacing. I was pretty slow getting glib, but as I was going to have to wait on everyone else I was in no rush. We didn't actually get moving until about 9:30 after breakfast so it was a real strange morning for me... We crossed the lake and started heading up the ridge, aiming for Haypress Meadow where we would hit the real PCT. Ned has quite an interesting take on winter navigation, which is the idea that you don't need to stay on the trail itself but rather you just have to get to the right landmarks. We did quite a few climbs and traverses, learning about the buries hazards you may face. I got really nice traction in my boots and I was quite satisfied with them for most of the day. We saw some really crazy stuff like a 12 foot deep windwell around a tree and a massive cornice off a ridge. From our final desinayion we were able to see Pyarmid Peak, Jack's Peak, Dick's Peak and Aloha Lake. Quite the sight. Starting on the way back a bit before 1 we started sinking in a bit more and then before you know it that had genes to postholing. I did that for awhile to see how it would be and I can see why it would be exhausting. For the unfamiliar, postholing is what happens as you walk on the sun-softenes snow and your step causes you to sink in to your knee or further. It can be especially painful when there is an icy crust or granite boulders below, but we were fortunate to experience neither. After descending about 300 feet via that method we all decided to try glissading, essentially sitting down and sliding down the slope using your feet as brakes. That was much faster, much less tiring, and frankly just a lot of fun. The big problem I faced was with all the postholing, my feet were constantly under the snow and my goretex boots started leaking. By the time we hit camp my feet were soaked and I was quite happy to change socks and air out my boots. We also took some time to learn about avalanche pits to assess the snow pack and also how to build a snow cave. With that we wrapped up the days training and retired for dinner and conversation. This is quite a fun group and I really do hope I get to see them all out on the trail this summer. I'm the last of this group to start so I should be passing most everyone at some point. Tomorrow is self arrest training and then the flight back home. This sure flew by and now it will be harder than ever to wait for ny start on re 18th, especially knowing that Don &  Sourdough will be there as of Tuesday!

PHOTO: Pyramid Peak

Mobile posting?

It looks like I'll be able to post updates here from my phone over the summer ( when I get service ). I'll get a chance to test it our this weekend in Lake Tahoe when I do my snow backpacking course in the mountains.

Trail Logistics: Food

One of the first questions I hear whenever I mention that I'll be hiking for 3 months straight this summer is "So what are you going to eat?" or "Where will you get your food?". Fortunately for me, there are a bunch of great options.

Food: I'll be hiking for approximately 10-12 hours each day, so the primary concern is the quantity of food that I'll need. Based on a couple rough approximations, I expect to consume about 6,000 calories a day. I'll adjust as I go, but it does mean I have to be very conscious about my food choices. Pretty much anything is fair game, and its amazing how your mindset changes when you go shopping. "Normal" people go into the store and look for low calorie foods, whereas I'll be looking for lightweight, high calorie foods. Bring on the Pringles, pop tarts  and snickers! My main staples will include instant potatoes, beef jerky, minute rice, Knorr sides, trail mix, and muesli (oats, nuts, raisins etc). I'll only be cooking dinners, so everything else is meant to be eaten with no preparation in order to get me back on the trail as fast as possible.

Resupply: 6,000 calories a day translates into something like 3 lbs of food. Obviously I won't be carrying food for the entire summer with me, as I'd need a team of pack horses to move it all. Instead, I've planned out a quick and easy resupply strategy to minimize the amount of food I carry, without causing too much disruption to my schedule. Every couple hundred miles (or less) the trail comes within a reasonable distance of a town, and I will use those opportunities to get new supplies for the upcoming section. My strategy revolves around the use of 'mail drops', essentially shipping packages to yourself for pickup at the post office. I'll pack up a dozen boxes of food before I leave, and have those shipped to various post offices along the way. There are several advantages to this method: I get exactly what I want in the box, I can buy in bulk, and I get everything quickly and easily in one place. Of course, I will supplement my diet with fresh foods at local grocery stores, along with the occasional luxury of a steak or burger in a restaurant while in town. The main disadvantage to this method is that I have to time my town arrivals around post office hours so I can actually pick up my package. As it stands now, I plan to do about 12 of these mail drops, along with a number of other small stops to pick up perishable foods along the way.

As it stands today, I have planned out my itinerary for the first 1,000 miles of my trip, and I'll be developing the last 1,600 miles over the next week. The nice part about all of this planning is that it gives me a pretty good familiarity with each section of the trail, so by the time I get out there I feel like I'll really know and understand what I'll be hiking through each day. 94 days to go!

The Pacific Crest Trail

I've been blessed with a truly amazing opportunity this summer - three months free of school, work, or any commitments. How did this happen? I have a job offer to start next January following graduation from my Master's program, and I will graduate in December without needing any summer classes, or research. Therefore, I have a perfect opportunity, rather the perfect opportunity to take 3 months off and do whatever I wish - sort of an early graduation present if you will. Three months is an awfully long time, and there are countless options for what I could do with that break, something I've spent quite some time considering.

The first allure is Europe. I could take off and spend months going between hostels in Europe, relaxing, taking in the culture, and enjoying life. Many of my friends will be doing just that, and it sounds like a wonderful option. Another choice would be to go globe-hopping, visiting as many sights and attractions as I can before I run out of time or money. Yet the option that has been the most attractive has been the idea of setting out into the wilderness on the West Coast, along the Pacific Crest Trail.

A little background. The Pacific Crest Trail runs 2650 miles from Mexico to Canada along the mountain crests of California, Oregon, and Washington. It traverses desert, forests and mountains, and runs within a stone's throw of Mt. Whitney, the highest point in the continental US. It was designated a National Scenic Trail in 1968, and along with the Continental Divide Trail and the Appalachian Trail, is part of the triple crown of American long distance hiking. Unlike the Appalachian Trail the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) is meant for both pedestrian and equestrian use, so the path itself is relatively smooth and avoids the dreaded rock scrambles seen in other hiking trails. Every year several hundred individuals attempt to 'thru-hike' the trail, walking continuously from one end to the other, and this summer I plan to join their ranks.

The typical pace has people spending 5 months on the trail, covering approx. 18 miles each day. I have no such luxury due to the start of classes in August, so I have exactly 95 days to cover the full 2650 miles if I am to finish within the summer. This means I will be hiking an average 28 miles each day, including time to pick up more food every week or so. I've begun a training regimen with the goal of putting in 500 training miles before I step off the plane in San Diego (442 miles to go). I'm also taking a 5 day shakeout trip over spring break to practice with all of my gear and get a feeling for how my body reacts to repeated high mileage days.

I'll be adding more detail as the trip gets closer, but for now I'll close with a link to my favorite Pacific Crest Trail highlight video.

98 days until I hit the trail!