6 days till my start date... 6 days! food prep

Filling resupply boxes is in full swing

I've been busy, and Unfortunately sick too. Of course I've waited till the very end to make my resupply boxes. As per usual 80% of the work gets done in last 20% of the time. But I guess it's my fault for taking 2 vacations (thank you little blue sign) each a week long during the month I was planning on putting together food resupply boxes. So two vacations in a month I wouldn't feel bad for me either lol. So I find myself getting lost in the details...

Here is a trip to SAMs for some snack foods. Cost $101

Here's a picture of my resupply room at my parents house.



Making breakfast. zip lock baggies with quick oats, pecans, dried cranberries, almonds, cinnamon, salt, flax seed meal, and I will have a jar of peanut butter and honey to add each morning as well.


My lovely assistant/slavedriver aka Love of my life, Jordan. She gets things done I tell you. I don't know what I would do without you sometimes.


I hate to say it, but I know I won't have all my boxes done in time before I leave. Jordan and my parents have agreed to finish them when I'm gone. I hate to put that on anyone but it's just the way it worked out. I was worried about making my boxes to early and have stuff go bad. I was also worried I wouldn't like the food I picked out 6 or 7 months ago. Worst case I can resupply in towns as I go. But I trust they will do a great job. I have 27 or 29 total resupply boxes(depends on how fast or slow I go). Each box will have about 3-8 days of food and other supplies depending on how far between each town.

Here is what a typical box will look like. We put mustaches on them to make it stand out... But it kind of blends in. I'm going to use something else. Its important my box stand out cause it will be kept at the post office with hundreds of other hiker's resupply boxes. My first box gets mailed out today! I've been planning this trip for almost a year I can't believe it's actually happening.

Here is what 4 days of food looks like.

Justin's peanut butter, rail Oreos, pack of 6 homemade granola bars, homemade dehydrated vegan chili, some crackers, 2 apples w/cinnamon sliced dehydrated, and every box will have tea, apple cider, and vitaminC/electrolyte drink mix packets. One day I have a pop tart and the rest of the time oatmeal. I love my oatmeal I've had it for breakfast practically every day for almost a year now.

I have tried to keep the junk food down to a minimum. I plan to use Oreos as something to barter with other hikers for food or whatever. (If I don't eat them first)

Thanks for reading don't forget to follow. I'll be on the trail soon...





- Posted from my iPhone

20 Days till my start date... More new Gear

New gear is always good.


It has been a long drawn out process of figuring out which gear I want to take on this little adventure. I have almost a year invested in learning and discovering everything I can. Yet I have managed to ignore a lot of gear that seems like the "majority" of hikers talk about these days. Cuben fiber and other Ultralight weight gear options and brands. It all seems like great light weight high quality stuff. So I don't know what it is, I cannot explain it. It just doesn't have any appeal to me as of now. But I'm doing this hike my way and that's all I care about. I am happy with what I have chosen and I can only hope that it serves me well on long haul down the trail. Which is basically the definition of term that is often thrown around "hike your own hike" (HYOH). Words of encouragement to enjoy the Hike as you want to and do the way you want and not let others tell you "how" it should be done. Everyone has there own reasons for wanting to go on a 2663 mile hike. Which is awesome.

Now to the goods   

I got the Thermarest NeoAir Xtherm to complete my sleep system. It's called a "system" due to the fact that all the pieces are meant to work together.  My sleep system consists of my Nemo 15 degree sleeping bag, sea to summit reactor bag liner, and the new inflatable Thermarest. Clothes can also be included in the "system" my sleeping clothes are going to be some wool socks, wool hat and base layers top and bottom or clean shirt and shorts that I won't normally hike in to help keep my bag clean and dry.

 Inflatable Thermarest which is used not only for comfort when sleeping on the ground but it's most important job of insulating me from losing heat into the ground. The Xtherm has internal baffle system to trap heat and return it to the body, also has a reflective outer layer to reflect body heat as well. The stuff sack doubles as a pump sack. Using the pump vs just blowing up by mouth helps keep moisture out.


I tested everything out the other night... it's like a dream. I used my down jacket stuffed into the pillow slot in my bag and it was perfect. I can't wait to be on the trail already!

I went out on my second hike with my new pack it was a little chilly and windy so I got to try out my new rain jacket to block the wind. it was great. Opened up the pit zips to cool off and it worked well.  I got an Outdoor Research Foray Rain Jacket it's made out of Gore-tex. I love the fit of this jacket. I'm curious as to how much rain this "Water proof" jacket can handle before it starts to leak through. But I have high expectations. 

The Hike that day was great. I went a little over 5.5 miles (1 hour 38 min) and with 30lbs in my pack again like last time. I got the packs adjusting straps all figured out now to and it feels great, Gregory has built an awesome fitting pack! It's a internal frame which helps transfer the weight to my hips through the hip belt. 

Just in case anyone is curious as to how I know my distance hiked, pace and all that good stuff I use an app called Map My Hike. It's pretty neat, every mile it audibly tells you your total distance avg pace and pace for the last mile. cool way to keep track of your hikes. 

I have been itching to go on a longer hike. as you can tell by the shadows in the pictures above the sun was really low in the sky and I was trying to finish before it gets dark. Last weekend I got the chance to hike over 10 miles for the first time ever. I'll talk about it in my next post, so that's all for now.

Don't forget to subscribe I'll be hitting the trail soon. I have a lot of food stuff to do yet so it's going to get crazy in the next couple weeks. I can't believe that in a week I need to start sending out my first resupply boxes. Which I have yet to put together...

22 days till my start date... Freaking out man!

(you are freaking out man)
Time flies 

23 Days till my start date... Correction 22 days! I moved my start date forward a day.

The original plan was to spend 2 days in San Diego before heading down to Campo. Campo is the town little over a hour south by the border of Mexico, Which is where we north bound (nobo) hikers all start from. I was going to stay in a hotel for a couple days and bum around town and check out some restaurants and pick up any last minute items. 

Instead I decided it would be a better idea to meet some more people in the PCT hiker community. I found a really nice couple named Scout and Frodo (those are trail names, they hike pct in 07) who have agreed to pick me up from the airport, let me stay at their place and take me to the Trailhead in Campo the next day. They have even mentioned giving me food while I was there! I won't be alone. They do this for a lot of hikers. Last year Scout and Frodo helped out abut 250 PCT hikers. They ask nothing in return, they help us hikers cause they just want to. We call these amazing people "Trail Angels". I am so excited to meet them and everyone else that's going to be there and starting the same day as me. So thats the latest news. Now to catch up on stuff. 

I Finally got my new Gregory Z65 pack a couple weeks ago. Loaded it with 30lbs of gear and water. I'm almost embarrassed to say this... (Well almost) This is the first time I have hiked with a pack larger than a small hydration/camel back haha. Got to start somewhere I guess.  

Hiking with a large pack for the first time... I was actually surprised multiple times during my little 5.5 mile hike. I felt good right out of the gate, as one would expect. The 1st 5ish minutes where great. However I was surprised first by how uncomfortable I started to become. Hip belt was pinching, shoulders hurting and even my collar bone was hurting. I thought wow this is going to be hard to get used to.  I kept adjusting the straps as I went along Thinking I just need to toughen up. 2nd Thing, I was surprised that my legs didn't even notice the extra weight.  My pace was the same as with my day pack. Training has paid off!!!! Of course 5 miles is nothing to the 20+ I'm going to have to do everyday on the PCT.  So about the pack being so uncomfortable. I didn't need to be tougher, just smarter. I finally adjusted it "correctly" and It felt great again. I started focusing on my Gait and pace instead of my pack and I forgot about it completely for the most part. I pulled out the hiking poles and carried on. The 3rd thing I was surprised about was how fast I could walk with poles... Once again another first. I've never really hiked with poles before. Hiking with poles is awesome I could use them to propel me up hills and slow down and take pressure off the knees on the down hill. The last mile I did took only 13 minutes which is 4.6 mph that is 1.6 faster then I normally hike with my day pack (w/out poles). It was fun to say the least. 

 Next post, more new gear, 18.5 mile training hike, and final preparations...

50 Days till my start date. First Mobile post

Test test 1 2 3

I just got my folding keyboard and tripod for my iPhone. I will be using these to type my journal entries while on the trail. I figured I better give it a test run. So here it goes.

I also just got the blogpress app. The blogger app is a little limited. Blog press seems a little better. The app usually cost $4.99, however it's on sale for $2.99. Right now as I type I am testing out my square jellyfish cell phone holder and tripod. I needed something to hold my iPhone that screws on to the stick pic. ((Stick pic) I came across this brand and I give it 5 stars for sure.






Folding keyboard,tripod, iPhone and chargers weight just under a pound. The Keyboard is rechargeable w/ usb cable.
Pictured Below is the tripod the holder on top of the keyboard folded. and iPhone of course.






I picture me typing like this in my tent under neath my sleeping bag all tucked in before bed. Luckily I can type just good enough to make this work. The Folding key board works great the only issue is the backspace button is small and not in the normal spot. some adaption is going to have to take place. Because the keyboard is spilt down the middle I realized I have been pushing the b key with my left hand this whole time. There is a little bit of a learning curve here but I'm going to make it work.

Today I also got my Vivobarefoot ultra shoes. I figured I would use them for camp shoes and for crossing rivers and what not. they are lighter weight than crocs or frocs. I am going to go for a run tonight on the treadmill to try them out.







they sure are funny looking but compared to crocs... I'll take these any day.

I've updated my gear list as well on my Gear page (Gear tab at the top)

lots more to come. subscribe to email updates, RSS feed or Follow on google+



-Posted from my iPhone

Location:Fort Collins,United States

51 days till my start date. Coming together

More Pieces to the puzzle...

Today in the mail I got a nice little surprise. Actually a couple surprises, well more like 4 surprises...
I Got 2 separate notices that I need to get a couple packages from the apartment office. It really is like Christmas, I don't know what going to be in the box till I open it. I have so much stuff coming in the mail these days.  I'll have to wait till Monday and see what I got though since the office is closed Sunday. 

I got my Dirty Girl Gators so that's exciting. Tired those on for size. a little loose around my ankle but I should be able to fix that. He's what color I picked out It's called Giardia hehe. don't drink that water.

I also got some really exciting news... My permit to enter Canada via the PCT was approved! Not like I was worried or anything ;)

So it looks like I can actually finish this thing, if I can walk that far. 

I also decided on what shoes I'm going to try out. I went with Brooks Cascadia 9 they are Trail runners. Which seems to be ideal for the conditions one encounters on the PCT. According to prior PCT hikers trail runners are the way to go. The more Breathable the better. It's was funny going into the REI to try them on (which I did 3 times) I knew exactly what I wanted and 3 different sales people tried to sell me heavier duty Gortex Hiking boots. Each one of them had there own favorite boot that they thought I should be using on a hike like this. So really you have to know what you want. It's ok to feel like you know more than the sales person you pry done more research. Go in and just get what you came for. 

So far so good. I like em! I did buy them a size and half bigger than normal. I tried on a pair 2 sizes to big and it just wasn't comfortable. The reason you get bigger is because your feet swell and and actully grow larger over time. Supposed to help in blister prevention as well. I've only had them on the tread mil so I can't wait to get a little dirt on them from the trail.

Tried on the Gators with the shoes. I had to take a picture cause it's the cleanest they will ever be...

I ordered my pack (Gegory Z65) a few weeks ago and had to send it back. It didn't fit. I measured my torso which is 17.5" which fit into the size small (up to 18") and medium (from 18") for the Gregory packs. I ordered the Small and it was way way to small of course. The only reason I even ordered the small instead of medium is The mediums where out of stock and because in the store I tried on a medium Gregory Contour pack and it almost seemed to big like I couldn't get the hip belt high enough on my hips. So maybe I'm screwed and fall into no mans land when it comes to my torso length and I won't be able to find the Goldilocks pack size/fit.  (the baltoro is actually adjustable) Now the hurry up and wait game for them to get my return and ship out the other size.

On it's way are items like something to hold my iPhone to the stick pic. (stick pic is a little thing that goes on the end of a trekking pole and you can attach you camera) a Bluetooth folding keyboard for journal entries on the trail. a Buff, and  Vivobarefoot ultra trail runner shoes/ my camp shoes/ river crossing shoes. Check these out on Amazon and some other things I can't think of right now. 

I just got a new Iphone 5c as well. I chose the 5c over the 5s because the c gets better/stronger signal in the mountains/rual areas. It has something to do with with the design of the antenna and possibly plastic frame vs metal 5s frame. I can't be sure I'm not a cellular communications expert and I have not tested or compared the two. So don't take my word, do your own research. I compared the cameras and there is not a noticeable difference in quality. There is, but isn't. (not even to bother me any) I'll leave it at that. 

By the end of the week I should have made up my mind on the tent. I also will order cook stove here pretty soon. 

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