Sunday, May 3, 2009

One Week to Go!

That's it... this time next week we'll be in the Southern California high desert staying shaded from the sun and hydrated.

Everyone we know seems to ask, "Are you excited?" The short answer is "Yes, of course." But honestly, it's probably going to be a challenging experience on many different levels. For a long trip that is this challenging, for me to be excited is a little out of character and would be overzealous. I'm looking forward to getting started without a doubt. I can't wait to see what living in a desert for a month feels like, or climbing snow covered passes in the High Sierra's, or walking past giant trees, hot springs, lava fields, and experiencing the rest of what the American West along the Pacific Crest Trail has to offer.

Looking back at the past year and a half, living in Newark, DE has been better than we expected. Anna is days away from completing her Masters work in Historic Preservation of Architecture. I was able to work at a job I enjoyed much of the time. We made a few good friends. For myself the two best parts of living here have been picking up the habbit of bike commuting, and working in a job where I got to talk to a lot of different people about recreation and outdoor sports. I would say I'm now healthier than when we came to Delaware, and any fear or anxiety of talking to people I don't know is gone.

At this point I've finished work at Eastern Mountain Sports, dropped off my car with my parents, we've completed our mail drop schedule and all boxes are set to be mailed out to cover the next 5 months worth of food, and are currently doing the "what stuff can we give away so we don't have to move it" thing. We'll be renting a UHaul to store most our belongings at Anna's Parents house in Richmond and our apartment check out is scheduled for Thursday at 2:00PM. We will spend Friday unloading the truck, Saturday worrying we forgot something, and early Sunday morning we'll fly out of Richmond to San Diego to get to California by late morning.

We don't know where we'll end up after the trip, but we agree on a few main criteria for places to land: First, there has to be distinguishable seasons (that means hot or at least warm summers, and reliably snowy winters.) Second, there needs to be mountains. Anna grew up in the mountains of Kentucky, and I've been starved living in such a flat area for two years. Third, there needs to be the possibility to walk, bus, or bike to work. There's no place we want to be driving routinely. Fourth, there are jobs available (it's tough living without any income after a big trip.) We've looked around and sort of narrowed down some ideas, but can in no way say anything for sure.

All that said, there's plenty of packing and saying goodbye to do here, so I'll get to it. The next post will likely be from on trail.

Thank you to everyone who is supporting us on this trip!

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Mini Adventures and New Phone

We just returned from a three day 60 mile hike on the AT in Southern VA over Anna's Spring Break. This was a section we had skipped on our thru-hike because of a knee injury and trying to get to Pearisburg in time for the ALDHA Gathering. We have decided that Spring is a very enjoyable time to hike! The weather was pleasant during the day time and a little chilly at night. We were surprised how many leaves from last fall were still on the trail as we waded through them. We met very few people along the trail surprisingly. Several early Northbounders had already beed through. the trail crossed the Blue Ridge Parkway several times and there were some nice overlooks. Our first night out there was a wind advisory. We slept in the shelter because it offered better protection. We were also afraid branches might fall on our tent.

Today, we biked our first century (100 miles) and it feels great to know we can do it before we set off and attempt to ride cross country. We rode Delaware's Route 9 Coastal Heritage Highway from Historic New Castle to the Dover Air Force Base and back. The route passed through industrial zones like around the Valero Oil Refinery, coastal marshlands, and agricultural areas. It was a perfect day for it with light wind and temperatures in the 60s. Not to mention good company, Peter, who reminds Anna and I of our friend Stretch from the AT 2006 season.

With those two excursions under our belts, I'm looking forward to my last day of work April 16th and a trip up to NY to bike around Lake Ontario (650 miles) with my college roommate Andy. I know it sounds crazy but why not give it a shot. We'll be starting from his apartment in Ithaca and riding clockwise around Lake Ontario crossing into Canada at Niagra Falls hugging the shoreline through Toronto and returning via the Thousand Islands Bridge.

By the way... This post was done on our new / used smart phone. (Thank you Anna's Grandad Blinn!) We're in the process of making sure the phone and the data plan does everything we need it to now before we get out on the trail.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Crunch Time

Time has flown by this Winter/Spring.

All the sudden I've got just a couple weeks of work left and a lot of food to box up.

Looking back, we've got most of our "gear" and a lot of food stashed in the pantry, we have guidebooks on their way, and our flight West is set. Now we just have to get everything, our apartment and belongings as well as all the adventure supplies, in order and head out.

We're looking forward to a meeting with a friend of ours (Stretch AT06/Sarong PCT08) to give us his feedback and input for our maildrop strategy on April 2nd. Then we'll be relatively set on where we're mailing food and supplies, and I'll start boxing up food. My Dad has agreed to mail our food for us which will be a HUGE help.

We're hoping to be getting a cell phone/blackberry/PDA in the coming weeks so we'll be able to keep this blog updated and communicate with family when we're in towns.

Throw into the planning mix a trip to Kentucky this weekend after spending last weekend in NYC and Boston, and a 60 mile section hike on the AT in Virginia and a possible bicycle trip with Andy around Lake Ontario (The LOL, Lake Ontario Loop), and it's a pretty busy time here. It feels like we've got a lot on our plate to take care of in six weeks. I had better go get some lunch before I have to go into work.

Can't wait to be living life on the trail.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Expensive Logistics Complete

It's been a while since the last post. A lot of small aspects of the trip have been figured out and sewn up over the last month or so.

We bought and received Yogi's Guidebooks which offer a wide variety of opinions on many aspects of the Pacific Crest Trail, and also includes a PCT Town Guide that we'll use to figure out just what towns to go into and how to navigate these towns efficiently.

Anna has started an every other day bicycle workout regiment and I am continuing to bike commute daily having driven to work only once (New Years day) since Halloween.

We ordered the complete set of a new guidebook called the PCT Atlas. They're in their second edition (full color) now and are relatively expensive, but should be a very thorough and easy way to keep track of where we are. Starting a little later in the season, we can use all the efficiency we can get to make sure we can get to Canada without trudging through too much snow.

We were given a food dehydrator for Christmas from Anna's parents and we'll pair that up with the one we're borrowing from them to do some large scale dehydration soon.

This morning I just bought airline tickets to get to San Diego for only $127 per person.

This means the official departure date for our trip is MAY 10, 2009!!! Wahoo!

So we've got the majority of logistics pretty well under control for the hike. But we still need to get permits required for the PCT, Mt. Whitney, and entry into Canada. We'll need to do a little thinking for the bicycle leg of our adventure.

Some additional expenses will be shipping bicycles, getting back to San Diego via Amtrak or otherwise, becoming Adventure Cycling Association members and buying Southern Tier route maps from them.

I can't wait to get back on the trail.

Monday, December 8, 2008

Preliminary Resupply Schedule for PCT2009

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.

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!!!

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.