Below is a basic preliminary resupply strategy for the PCT I put together this morning.
It outlays how we will most likely be getting our food for the trip. Stops where we mail a resupply, we will box up food either before we leave for the trip in May, or on the trail in a town with a large supermarket and easily accessable mail service like Ashland, OR.
Of note is the 8.7 day stretch through the High Sierra after our Kennedy Meadows maildrop. This will include a 1 day side trip to the highest point in the Lower 48 States, Mt. Whitney, and snow travel which may slow us down and often takes PCTers around 10 days to complete. If necessary we will be able to come down out of the mountains during the High Sierra to go to Independence, CA a 9 mile hike off the PCT and a 15 mile hitch-hike from the trailhead (24 miles off the PCT).
Location (PCT Mile, Distance to next, Days to next) Method of resupply
Mexican Border --------------------- (0.0, 43.0, 2.2) Carrying
Mt. Laguna --------------------------- (43.0, 66.6, 3.3) Mail
Warner Springs ---------------------- (109.6, 69.0, 3.5) Mail
Idyllwild via Saddle Junction ----- (178.6, 86.7, 4.3) Buy
Big Bear City via Hwy 18 ----------- (265.3, 104.2, 5.2) Buy
Wrightwood via Hwy 2 ------------- (369.5, 84.9, 4.2) Buy
Saufleys ------------------------------- (454.4, 103.9, 5.2) Mail
Mojave via Willow Springs Rd. ---- (558.3, 144.5, 7.2) Buy
Kennedy Meadows ------------------ (702.8, 174.4, 8.7) Mail
Vermillion Valley Resort ----------- (877.2, 65.5, 3.3) Mail
Tuolumne Meadows ---------------- (942.7, 151.8, 7.6) Buy
South Lake Tahoe ------------------- (1094.5, 103.1, 5.2) Buy
Sierra City ---------------------------- (1197.6, 91.7, 4.6) Buy
Belden PO ---------------------------- (1289.3, 88.4, 4.4) Mail
Old Station --------------------------- (1377.7, 45.9, 2.3) Mail
Burney Falls State Park ------------ (1423.6, 82.9, 4.1) Mail
Castella ------------------------------- (1506.5, 99.8, 5.0) Mail
Etna ----------------------------------- (1606.3, 120.3, 6.0) Buy
ASHLAND, OREGON --------------- (1726.6, 103.8, 5.2) Buy
Crater Lake Mazama Village ------ (1830.4, 81.8, 4.1) Mail
Shelter Cove Resort ---------------- (1912.2, 88.7, 4.4) Mail
Big Lake Youth Camp -------------- (2000.9, 106.4, 5.3) Mail
Timberline Lodge ------------------- (2107.3, 47.7, 2.4) Mail
Cascade Locks ----------------------- (2155.0, 147.8, 7.4) Buy
White Pass --------------------------- (2302.8, 98.9, 4.9) Mail
Snoqualamie Pass ------------------ (2401.7, 74.6, 3.7) Mail
Skykomish --------------------------- (2476.3, 97.8, 4.9) Mail
Stehekin ------------------------------ (2574.1, 89.4, 4.5) Mail
Manning Park Lodge, CANADA -- 2663.5 Miles
17 Maildrops ------- 10 Resupplies bought along trail
What does this schedule mean????
This is a tool to be used in planning how much food to put into mail drops before we leave for the trail, and a quick and simple list of where we're planning to take time away from the trail to do logistical tasks including resupplying food, updating online journals, sending emails and making calls to family and friends, and keeping bills paid. It also points out a couple interesting aspects of hiking.
This is a no-time off scenario. This schedule lays out a trip of 133 days with no days off... we will undoubtedly take rest days (zero days) which will lengthen the overall time we're hiking the Pacific Crest Trail.
Also according to this schedule, the average resupply will contain 4.8 days worth of food which should weigh about 9.6 lbs. So, on average, every 5 days we will be adding 10 lbs of food to our packs.
Of the 17 maildrops scheduled, it is likely we will only prepare 9 before we leave and pack up the 8 maildrops of Oregon and Washington from Ashland, Oregon. This is substantially different than our AT hike when we only resupplied via maildrops and had packed around 30 of them. This should allow for more variability in our diets and offer more choices while on the trail.
Monday, December 8, 2008
Friday, December 5, 2008
Yep, just ordinary.
Since letting the latest adventure out of the bag, I've gotten a lot of comments about it not being an ordinary adventure, that we should be calling it an extraordinary adventure.
I admit, it sounds ambitius and it'll definately be the biggest challenge I've ever undertaken. However, there are several hundred people who successfully hike the Pacific Crest Trail every year and even more people who ride a bicycle coast to coast in any given year. To date, Trail Journals, has 1,118 hikers in their database who are doing these long trails, many of whom do multiple trips in their lifetime, and countless smaller (week or two) hikes. The only thing out of the ordinary about this particular adventure is that the two trips are planned back to back. Honestly though, this should be the easiest way to accomplish both trips.
We will be in transition as Anna is finished with graduate school, and we're ready to move somewhere to start using our educations, be they from school or experience. There's no better time than during such transition to set out to do a trip that takes a substantial amount of time and energy.
Our AT hike opened our eyes to a world of adventure that many people find to be extrordinary, but to a core group of people like the hikers listed on Trail Journals, the Appalachian Trail could be seen as relatively mondaine. The trail is extremely well marked and maintained, heavily trafficed, there are "trail angles" who do A TON to help hikers, you are relatively close to towns for most of the trail, and rarely would have to carry more than 2 days worth of food. I can't dicount the AT though, as it is a very difficult trail, and it takes a lot of mental and physical strength, along with the time and money to complete it.
While on the trail we met other hikers who had hiked longer, more remote trails, biked cross country in the US and took adventures in other countries. We became members of the Appalachian Long Distance Hikers Association (ALDHA), a breeding ground for future adventures. And I in particular started following other people's adventures on their webistes and on Trail Journals.
Fundraising Trailer - Tell it on the Mountain from TellitontheMountain on Vimeo.
I have been inspired by trips such as these:
Andrew Skurka's Sea-to-Sea Route in 2004-2005 & Great Western Loop in 2007
Justin Lichter's 10,000 miles in 2006 on the ECT, PCT & CDT with his dog Yoni
Erin McKittrick & Bretwood Higman (Hig)'s Journey on the Wild Coast of Alaska 2007-2008
A combination Ski, Sail & Bicycle trip 180 degrees from North Pole to South Pole
Deia Schlosberg & Gregg Treinish's Across the Andes Trek in 2006-2008
Stumpknocker's 2008 Appalachian Trail hike & Southern Tier Route bicycle trip
We've talked with Warren Doyle who has hiked over 30,000 miles on the AT and David Horton who has held the speed record on the AT, currently holds the record for the PCT and made an attempt to run the CDT recently.
In company of these trips, ours is definatly not extraordinary. What will be extraordinary for us, is that it will be ourselves on the adventure, and not reading about it in a trail journal, blog, or on podcasts. This is really an adventure, but a relatively ordinary one.
I'm definately looking forward to getting started!!!
I admit, it sounds ambitius and it'll definately be the biggest challenge I've ever undertaken. However, there are several hundred people who successfully hike the Pacific Crest Trail every year and even more people who ride a bicycle coast to coast in any given year. To date, Trail Journals, has 1,118 hikers in their database who are doing these long trails, many of whom do multiple trips in their lifetime, and countless smaller (week or two) hikes. The only thing out of the ordinary about this particular adventure is that the two trips are planned back to back. Honestly though, this should be the easiest way to accomplish both trips.
We will be in transition as Anna is finished with graduate school, and we're ready to move somewhere to start using our educations, be they from school or experience. There's no better time than during such transition to set out to do a trip that takes a substantial amount of time and energy.
Our AT hike opened our eyes to a world of adventure that many people find to be extrordinary, but to a core group of people like the hikers listed on Trail Journals, the Appalachian Trail could be seen as relatively mondaine. The trail is extremely well marked and maintained, heavily trafficed, there are "trail angles" who do A TON to help hikers, you are relatively close to towns for most of the trail, and rarely would have to carry more than 2 days worth of food. I can't dicount the AT though, as it is a very difficult trail, and it takes a lot of mental and physical strength, along with the time and money to complete it.
While on the trail we met other hikers who had hiked longer, more remote trails, biked cross country in the US and took adventures in other countries. We became members of the Appalachian Long Distance Hikers Association (ALDHA), a breeding ground for future adventures. And I in particular started following other people's adventures on their webistes and on Trail Journals.
Fundraising Trailer - Tell it on the Mountain from TellitontheMountain on Vimeo.
I have been inspired by trips such as these:
Andrew Skurka's Sea-to-Sea Route in 2004-2005 & Great Western Loop in 2007
Justin Lichter's 10,000 miles in 2006 on the ECT, PCT & CDT with his dog Yoni
Erin McKittrick & Bretwood Higman (Hig)'s Journey on the Wild Coast of Alaska 2007-2008
A combination Ski, Sail & Bicycle trip 180 degrees from North Pole to South Pole
Deia Schlosberg & Gregg Treinish's Across the Andes Trek in 2006-2008
Stumpknocker's 2008 Appalachian Trail hike & Southern Tier Route bicycle trip
We've talked with Warren Doyle who has hiked over 30,000 miles on the AT and David Horton who has held the speed record on the AT, currently holds the record for the PCT and made an attempt to run the CDT recently.
In company of these trips, ours is definatly not extraordinary. What will be extraordinary for us, is that it will be ourselves on the adventure, and not reading about it in a trail journal, blog, or on podcasts. This is really an adventure, but a relatively ordinary one.
I'm definately looking forward to getting started!!!
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Cards and Carts and Parts, oh my
With the morning off, I got creative and made a simple business card for Anna and I to give out to people we meet along the way who are interested in our trip. There were a surprising number of times while on the AT that we met someone who would ask us all about the hike, and our story, and we used to try to tell them about trailjournals.com and how there are lots of hikers doing this. The cards should just be an easy way to direct them to the blog and a good visual of what we're doing. I'm happy with the way they turned out.We also just got some advice from Anna's Uncle Russell about our pannier vs. trailer dilemma. He advocates that we ride with a trailer and recommended the CycleTote Touring Bicycle Trailer.
We had not seen this model before, but we had strongly considered buying a BOB Trailer because of its rugged build, single wheel design and rear axle attachment system. I contacted BOB and unfortunately the particular model (Yak 28 Plus) to fit our bikes is out of stock until February 1, 2009. So we have plenty of time to consider all our options.
In other news, we both now have touring bikes. I have my Rocky Mountain Sherpa 30, and we just went to REI and bought Anna a Novara Randonee a couple weeks ago. Her new bike is really nice, with its spoke holders on the right chainstay, included rear rack, and lighter frame (than my bike).
Some accessories I ordered for it (fenders and a tool) should be arriving in the next couple days, but unfortunately the women's Brooks B17 Saddle Anna wanted was out of stock. Just one more thing to wait on. Oh well, it's probably better to space out all the expenses anyway.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
It's official; it's in a blog.
As Winter sets in in sunny Delaware, plans are firming up for the upcoming Summer and Fall. We're planning to hike the Pacific Crest Trail, and bicycle the Southern Tier Route starting in May and hopefully getting back to someplace to call home by Thanksgiving, but if not, by Christmas.
We're expecting to start hiking in early to mid May but our exact start date has yet to be determined. We're also unsure of the exact bicycle route perhaps starting in San Fransisco and biking down the coast, or over the Sierra's to the Grand Canyon and South to the Southern Tier, but our primary route will be along the Southern Tier Route laid out by the Adventure Cycling Association. Once we reach the East coast at St. Augustine, Florida, we may ride up the East Coast Trail to Richmond if time and weather permit.
Over the winter we've got a lot of logistics to work out like if/where to do mail drops rather than buy food along the way, where we're going to store our furniture and belongings, whether to bicycle with a trailer or racks and panniers, and how to get out to Southern California, twice. Throw in Anna finishing her graduate degree program and myself working to save up some money and dehydrating a little food and May is just around the corner.
We're expecting to start hiking in early to mid May but our exact start date has yet to be determined. We're also unsure of the exact bicycle route perhaps starting in San Fransisco and biking down the coast, or over the Sierra's to the Grand Canyon and South to the Southern Tier, but our primary route will be along the Southern Tier Route laid out by the Adventure Cycling Association. Once we reach the East coast at St. Augustine, Florida, we may ride up the East Coast Trail to Richmond if time and weather permit.
Over the winter we've got a lot of logistics to work out like if/where to do mail drops rather than buy food along the way, where we're going to store our furniture and belongings, whether to bicycle with a trailer or racks and panniers, and how to get out to Southern California, twice. Throw in Anna finishing her graduate degree program and myself working to save up some money and dehydrating a little food and May is just around the corner.
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