Serendipity of a start date, training and adulting

48 DAYS!!

April 23rd is coming so quick!!

I recently found out that my start date was also my amazing Grandma Gin's birthday.  I feel like this is a little serendipitous, not sure if she'd be all for what I'm doing and I know she'd be very worried and concerned lighting candles at church; but I kind of feel that perhaps she'll be a guardian to watch over me in a way.  This hike is truly a very selfish endeavor on my part but I'm ready to do something for myself.  I've been a people pleaser all my life and this is a dream and aspiration I've had for 10 years now, and it's coming to fruition.  I know that to quit ones job and disappear for 6 months in the middle of the prime of ones career isn't understandable for everyone, working and saving should be a priority right...well I'll just have to restart that process after fulfilling some wanderlust on the PCT

I've been adulting pretty hard recently as well preparing for my PCT thru hike.  Being a responsible adult means putting financial plans in place if something were to happen, purging possessions that are no longer necessary, obtaining a storage unit, paying off bills... if anything all this makes me feel like a productive member of society just to turn around and be "hiker trash" for 6 months.

Training is going well, I've been trying to get a long hike in daily to start getting some hiker legs going.  Recently I've also been testing and becoming familiar with my gear by setting up my tent to make sure I don't look like too much of a rookie when I get to the trail and cooking some meals with my MSR pocket rocket stove... first attempt was not the best success as I boiled over the water making couscous drowning my stove.  I've been working on downloading podcasts and music for the siestas in the desert heat.  Overall, it's been fun to dial in my gear, expectations/anticipation of things to come and seeing all the hikers that have started the trail post pictures to social media.  Every day it becomes more and more real.  

If you have a favorite podcast or some music that I should add to my list please post below. 

Tillamook Forest Coast Range of Oregon

Views for days

Pre-Hike Gear List

Base Weight is 15.5 lb

For those that like to look at gear lists and wonder what someone uses for a thru-hike I've included a list of my expected gear that I'm going to use on the PCT.  This gear typically changes and hikers adjust certain items along the way.  There are many seasoned thru hikers that will even do a "pack shake down" for you to try to lighten your pack even more.  I'm pretty happy with where my base weight stands.  How to calculate base weight: Everything in your pack minus "consumables" ie: food, water and camp fuel.  You can factor another 7-15 lbs for consumables depending on the stretch of trail you're on.

Anyone have any questions about a specific piece of gear or why I chose it, let me know.

Gear that will be worn	Brand
Shirt	Patagonia Capilene Cool Daily Sunshirt
Shorts	Adidas Running shorts
Sungloves	Outdoor Research Active Ice
Socks	Darn Tough 1/4 Cushion Hiker sock
Buff	No brand
Underwear	Exofficio
Gaiters	Dirty Girl Gaiters
Trekking Poles	Black Diamond Ergo Trekking Poles
Shoes	La Sportiva Wildcat
Carried Gear	Brand
Tent	Zpacks Duplex
Sleeping bag	Enlightened Equipment Revolution Custom 10 degree 850 Down Quilt
Backpack	Zpacks Arc Haul 62L
Sleeping bag stuff sack	Zpacks Medium Dry Bag
Tent Stakes	(8) Easton Titanium stakes 6 inch
Sleeping pad	Nemo Tensor Insulated pad
Inflatable Pillow	Cobiz medium
Sleeping shirt	Patagonia Capilene Baselayer
Sleeping Pants	Smartwool insulated pants
Rain Jacket	Arc’teryx Alpha AR
Rain Pants	Art’teryx Beta SL
Camp Shoes	Teva Sandals
Puffy Jacket	Columbia Down Puffy
Gloves	Mountain Hardware Waterproof light gloves
Cooking Pot	Vargo Titanium BOT 700
Stove	MSR Pocket Rocket 2
Headlamp	Petzl Rechargeable Tikka R+
Cat hole digger	The Deuce UL Trowel
Waterfilter	Katadyn with 3L water collection bag
Navigation/safety	Garmin inReach Mini
Utensil	Sea to Summit long handle spoon
Photo prop	The Stickpic
Battery pack	Anker
Food bag	Ursack Major bear bag
Multi-purpose tool	Victorinox Swiss Army
Sit pad	Thermarest Z Seat
Socks	2 pair Darn Tough 1/4 cushion hiker
Hat	Patagonia Stocking Hat
water bottles	(2) 1 Liter Smart Water bottle
Additional Gear to be used	Brand
Bear Can	BV500
Ice Ax	Petzl Summit
Micro-spikes	Hillsound

Common Questions and Lions, Tigers and Bears. Oh My!

Here's a list of some of the more common questions I've been asked when I tell people that I'm off to hike the Pacific Crest Trail in April

1. Are you going by yourself?

• Yes, I am going by myself.  BUT truly, you're not by yourself.  The PCT is a heavily traveled National Scenic Trail that many people hike.  You have day hikers, backpackers out for a week or a couple days and you have thru hikers.  I'm sure it's going to be actually difficult to be alone unless purposefully adjusting your hiking speed or breaks to avoid people.
• Second, I think for me it's better to go alone.  The pressure of hiking together with someone that may be faster or slower, what if someone gets hurt then does the other person feel obligated to stay back and wait for an injured ankle or foot heal.  What if you get sick of one another and you want to split up.  For me, taking this dynamic out of the equation is just simpler.  Does that mean I won't meet people on trail that I'll hike extensive amounts of miles with, no not all.  Actually I hope I do.  And if I decide to hike a long distance trail in the future, if a friend wanted to go I'd consider it. 

2. Are you having a midlife crisis?

• This question is more for my mom :) and some of my friends.... the answer is No.  Yes I'm in a transition in my life and I'm fortunate enough to have an opportunity to make this happen.  So I'm healthy and young enough and this has been a dream for the past decade so I'm going to make it happen.

3. How long does it take (how many miles)?

• It takes roughly 4-5 months to hike the PCT.  It's about 2650 miles in length and on average I'll be hiking 20ish miles per day.  This mileage changes, initially starting out I'm probably going to be doing 15-17 miles per day just to make sure I don't get hurt and then as you get your "trail legs" the mileage will creep up to 20-23 miles or more per day depending on how I'm feeling.

4. What about the bears (or other animals)?  Are you going to carry a gun, bear spray or some other weapon?

• Bear-mania is a thing for those that don't backpack or get outside.  Bears truly are more afraid of you than you are of them.  The limited number of bears I've seen in my many years outside I've really only gotten a glance of the hindquarters as they are running away.  Now is it important to store food correctly, yes but bears aren't a big thing on the PCT.  Honestly, I'm more worried about a little deer mouse chewing through a corner of my tent as I sleep than I am of any large animal mauling me.
• NO weapons.  This just isn't a thing for long distance hikers, yet it's a question that inevitably comes up.  First off, guns are heavy...meaning they weigh about 7-10 pounds loaded, currently my entire backpacking set up weighs 17lbs!!  A gun is nearly half the weight of my entire pack that I'll be using to live out of for 5 months

5. Food and water?

• For food supply, you typically carry 5-6 days of food on you at a time and then you'll make your way into a town to re-supply.  It used to be that hikers would mail themselves re-supply boxes to different outposts along the trail, but what I've found through extensive research is by the time you get to your 4th or 5th resupply box you're sick and tired of whatever Top Ramen or Snickers bars you've thrown in it.  It's much nicer to go into town and resupply with food that you're craving.  As far as water, this is just filtered out of streams along the trail.

Have a question just leave it in the comments.

Permit Day

Permits: Why and How

An odd thing about hiking the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), of the 3 major national scenic trails the PCT is the only trail that requires you to have a thru-hiking permit.  Meaning you get a "start" date and you must then start on that day.  The other 2 trails you can just show up when you'd like and start hiking, not so with the PCT.  The Pacific Crest Trail Association (PCTA), which is an amazing steward of the trail, manages these permits and it's set up that 50 permits per day for the months of March, April and May if you are traveling South to North (Mexico to Canada), which is the traditional thru hiking path.  The PCTA releases these 50 permits on two different waves.  The first happens in October in which 35 are released and then the other 15 are released in January.  How the process works is you go to their website before 10:30am the day of the release; sit on the website and at 10:30 the site will randomly place you in line and assign you a number.  This is random, you could be lucky #1 or you could be lucky #10,000.  When your number comes up, you are entered into the site to pick a date to start.  The problem is that there is a high demand for these permits and if you get a higher number in line, by the time you get into pick a permit day there's a good chance that every day could be full.  The other problem is that a lot of people are wanting to start in late April or early May for purposes of getting to the Sierra's when the snow level has melted out for safe travel.  Because of the high demand for that window, the PCTA, to preserve the trail and the foot print has instituted this permit system.  For better or worse, this is the process that we all have to work under.

January Permit Day Extravaganza

For me, it couldn't have worked out any better!!  During the first permit release in October I was able to get a March 18th start date.  This would have been "ok" but I was concerned about getting to the Sierra's too soon and having a lot of snow to deal with.  I'm experienced in snow travel and feel confident in my skills and ability to be in the Sierra's early but I wanted to have a better experience than trying to navigate the snow problems that the Sierra's can cause.  So with the second release date this week I went to my friends house and we used multiple devices to try and give me the best shot at getting a place in line for me to switch.  Even with all the devices the best number I got was 4605.  So I waited for an hour watching the facebook group page post pictures that dates were all filling up.  I figured I'd just wait and see what was available, perhaps someone would switch out of an April date and I could move my start date at the very least a couple weeks later.

When I finally got into the site to modify my date from March 18 some how, some way April 5th was open and I snagged it right away.  I then just kept refreshing the page over and over again.  Then all of a sudden April 23 opened up and I jumped on it... I GOT IT!!  I was hoping to change my start date from March 18th to some time between April 20-May 1, and I was able to get a permit in that window.  I literally jumped for joy!!  For me, this permit process worked out.  I know for others it did not.  As my grandmother would say, my silver spoon paid off.

2020 Pacific Crest Trail: Pre-trail thoughts, fears, excitement and wonders

This blog is really a diary of sorts for me to document my thoughts, experiences and feelings as I attempt to go on this journey of hiking the Pacific Crest Trail.  Those of you that would like to come along and experience with me by all means follow along.

So a little about me, I'm an Emergency Department nurse.  The job is fulfilling but it's incredibly stressful, full of compassion fatigue and psychological/emotional stressors that over time tends to take its toll.  Inevitably, one of the questions that you're asked when you start whispering thoughts and ideas of thru hiking the PCT is why?  My why is layered, it's a mix of recharging my batteries, a reset on life, a life long goal and dream and to live a simpler life.

So as I gather gear and cross my fingers to obtain an acceptable start date I have many fears about this endeavor.  

Can I do it?

Am I physically capable of hiking 2660 miles?

More importantly am I psychologically capable?

Has my years of backpacking/hiking/climbing prepared me for what I am about to embark on?

Do I have the right gear?

Is that gear light enough?

Even with all these fears and thoughts, the idea of hiking the trail pulls at my soul and at my wanderlust.  It's something that's been on my mind for years and I desperately want to be out there in the dirt and the muck, pitching my tent, enjoying the camaraderie of the hiking culture and seeing the wonders of the desert, mountains and valleys.  I'm excited to try, I expect difficult days but I also expect days of complete and utter joy.

So for now, the dreams of the trail is what keeps me patiently waiting

Brandon