Since I’m starting with little knowledge of what I’m actually getting myself into I wasn’t quite sure where to start. First, I bought myself a giant map of the entire Pacific Crest Trail and hung it on the wall. I would glance as it as I walked by but never really took the time to look at it closely. When I eventually convinced myself to study it a bit I found myself feeling slightly overwhelmed, especially when I found the chart showing all the mountains and their elevations. After that point I would have the occasional stare down with the map before it just started to blend into the background and go unnoticed. So while it’s a nice map all it’s done at this point is intimidate me and win multiple staring contests.
I also bought a book, The Pacific Crest Trail: A Hikers Companion. Much like the map it would occasionally catch my eye but I never invested the time to really gain any benefit from it. I would pick it up and flip through it from time to time, never reading a substantial amount, then I got a new coffee table with a nice shelf which the book somehow made it’s way onto and still lives there today. I did however learn that the Mojave is home to 10 or more species of scorpions!
When I would talk to someone about hiking the Pacific Crest Trail and start to thinking about planning again I would tell myself that I had plenty of time to prepare (which I do) and kept pushing it off. That was working great until my girlfriend told me that that there was a free “Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail Basics” class at REI. There was no excuse to pass up a free class. I mean this is something I’m excited to do, right?
The class was taught by “Skittles”, who section hikes the trail as she can and “2Patch” who through hiked the entire thing like I will be doing. So what did I learn? Well let’s start with what I just said, “section hiking” is hiking section(s) of the trial at a time while “through hiking” is hiking the entire trail in one go. The trail itself is approximately 2,650 miles with which will generally take 4 to 6 months, time commitment being one of reasons someone may chose to section hike rather than through hike.
You may also be asking yourself “What kind of names are Skittles and 2Patch?” Rest assured these are not the names they were given at birth or had given themselves as part of some identity crisis. When hiking on the PCT you will pick up a trail name along the way, hopefully I don’t end up with a lame one like “Rupert.” I also learned other vernacular such as NoBo (hiking northbound), SoBo (hiking southbound), hike your own hike, and my favorite….
Trail magic is when you find or experience something totally unexpected that lifts your spirits, 2Patch mentioned finding entire cooler full of beer on the trail. Once this years class (more vernacular, each year is a class. For example, I’m class of 2018.) ends up near Snoqualmie Pass I plan on creating some trail magic of my own. Other terms of note are “Trail Angeles” which will help hikers by offering anything from rides to a place to stay and a hot meal. “Hiker Boxes” are like the leave a penny take a penny tray at 7-11 but for hiking stuff and a box, sometimes you may want to shed some weight by dropping the dehydrated meal you’ve been eating for weeks straight and are completely you’re sick of.
Speaking of meals you may be wondering how I plan on feeding myself over 4-6 months on a trail. The short answer is i’m not entirely sure yet but I did learn about a few different options. I could mail myself, or more likely have someone else mail me, resupply boxes along the way and pick them up when I get into a town or I could simply resupply whenever I come into a town or pick up items at a gas station along the way. One thing that was stressed during the class was the important of snacks, especially Cheetos. I don’t know why Cheetos were mentioned so many times during the class, maybe they are some kind of super food. It’s much easier to eat snacks than it is to stop and prepare a meal. When planning your meals you want to pick foods that are dense in both calories and fat. In the end I’ll probably end up preparing and mailing most of my meals ahead of time but also picking up stuff on the way, I’m sure I’ll be posting about meal planning and sharing recipes. Or, I could be like this guy and just eat McDoubles.
Skittles and 2Patch then went on to talk about different gear they would bring. In short lighter is better, merino wool is awesome (it really is), hike in trail runners and not boots, and try to carry things that are multi-functional. Ideally your base weight, which consists of your backpack, tent and sleeping bag should be is as low as possible, i’m shooting for under 10 pounds. One of my favorite thing they mentioned was a long handled spoon, anyone who has ever tried to eat directly out of a pouch of re-hydrated food can appreciate how brilliant this is. They also talked about housekeeping things like permits, forwarding your mail, setting up auto-pay for your bills, and boring stuff like that. They wrapped up by sharing more about their experiences on the trail and the stories behind their trail names and took time to answer questions. During the Q&A I learned that some hikers will take a side trip to summit Mt. Whitney, the highest point on the PCT at 14,505 feet, which I am now planning on doing as well.
I came away from the class feeling very excited to start planning my trip, less intimidated by the map hanging on the wall…. and craving Cheetos.