| Hitting the Trail |
|
|
|
| Written by South Cox | |
| Tuesday, 13 May 2008 | |
|
After a week of scrambling after work to organize gear and food bags, my wife and I are finally on the plane to San Diego. A year before we got married she suggested that we hike the Pacific Crest Trail for our honeymoon. For those of you who aren’t aquainted, the PCT goes from the border of Mexico just east of San Diego, all of the way up to the Canadian border. The trail is routed to follow the major mountain ranges to provide the hiker with the some of the most spectacular scenery as it traverses the Sierras, the Trinity Alps and the Cascade range. Elevations top 13,000 ft through the Sierra Nevadas. Through hikers are able to make the 2,650 mile trek in about 5 months. Because we both have careers and 3 kids between us, we wouldn’t be able to through hike it, but would take a week a year until we had completed the whole trail. We started last year, knocking out 112 miles in 6 ½ days with our packs fully loaded. Because the southern end goes through the desert, water is of utmost concern. My pack started, with 1 ½ gallons of water, at about 70 pounds, while my wife’s was just over 40. I’ve got to hand it to her, she is one tough woman. The first day we covered 17 miles, despite getting a late start in the morning.
This year, we’ll start out where we left off. We have a major mountain range to traverse, topping out over 9,000 feet, only to descend over 8,000 feet right at the end. A knee jarring experience. This year, our packs will be a lot lighter. I’m hoping to start out with a little less water and a pack weight of 55 pounds. I was hoping to be testing out the new pack from Sitka, but it wasn’t available when I left. Also, the new MSR water filter I was hoping to field test didn’t make it in time. But, I’ve got a new MSR Hubba Hubba HP to put through the ringer. I picked up an Osprey pack, 4,200 cubic inches and under 5 pounds dry weight. Last year I was testing a new pack and was far less than pleased with the results. I almost brought my Badlands 4,500, but wanted to get some more experience with some of the high end backpacking packs so I could better compare them to the hunting packs this fall.
In order to drop pack weight, I changed several items in our pack. I left my Canon Rebel at home and brought a smaller digital camera. I left behind the 1 pound tripod for self timer pics and brought a gorilla pod. My wife doesn’t know it yet, but I ditched the luxury model thermarest and bought her an ultra light model. We reduced our food rations substantially. Last year we dumped about 8 pounds of food halfway through the trip. We found our appetites greatly diminished in the heat. Even with that, we still had left over food at the end of the trip.
For food, we are going to be going on my typical bivouac diet; oatmeal for breakfast, energy bars, jerky, fruit leather trail mix, dried bananas for snacks, bagels, salami and cheese for lunch and the old trusty Mountain House for dinner. Because we are celebrating Mother’s Day on the Trail, I brought along a freeze dried Raspberry Crumble for dessert. We had to leave the bottle of wine at home. When needed, our energy will be boosted by some Clif Shot Bloks, Wilderness Athlete drink mixes and Energy Shots. Just before we left, I went by REI on their anniversary sales and stocked up on a wide variety of snacks. I’m hoping that the greater variety will help reduce menu burn out.
Another new one I picked up from a hiker on the trail last year is instant pudding, mixed with powdered milk. We’ll be testing that one out as well.
Distance hiking has benefited me in a number of ways. It has been a great way to spend uninterrupted time with my wife prior to hunting season, gets me well on my way to getting my “mountain legs” prior to my fall hunts and gives me a chance to thoroughly test out my gear. I’ll give you guys some feedback when I get back to civilization in a week. Set as favorite Bookmark
Email This
Hits: 346 Trackback(0)
Comments (3)
  written by Elkhunterrob, May 13, 2008
South you the man! What a great way to spend time with the wife and test the new gear out. Let us know how it goes. Keep up the Blog! I look forward to reading them!!!
report abuse
vote down
vote up
Votes: +1
written by chadderbox, May 22, 2008
I know you didn't want mention the pack you used on your PCT hike. But since I'm looking for a pack,I would like to have your input on this subject. I'm looking at 4500, just one and the mystery ranch. At least tell me if it is one of these. Keep up the great work.
report abuse
vote down
vote up
Votes: +1
written by Launch, May 26, 2008
Congrats Man On Finishing another week What A Stud! One week at a time man, Nice. What a way to kick off the Summer. I Think you will be in Northern Washington by the time you are Eligible for AARP. How did the food rations go and how did you like sleeping with NO pad?
report abuse
vote down
vote up
Votes: +0
Write comment
|
|
| Last Updated ( Tuesday, 13 May 2008 ) |
TrackBack URI for this entry
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Show/Hide comment form
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
