The freakiest thing!

Do you believe??? In you know... The big man... No not that big man (God) the other one...

So I had just passed the mid point monument. My knee was hurting so bad I could barley stand to set up my tent at PCT mile 1327.42. So I got all set up, crawled into my tent and ate dinner. I was all by myself (of course) everyone I was hiking with was miles ahead. Steak toe and LowLander are Somewhere behind. So I was all cozy in my bag, sleeping really good.

I was woken up by the sound of sticks breaking (something walking) And the sound of a constant deep humming sound. It was a ways away from me. I was holding very still and breathing softly so I could listen... My heart wanted to jump out of my chest it was beating so hard.

It was getting closer! Facing north I was to the right of the trail. The sounds where coming from the south of me and further to the right. (Off the trail) I was still, very still as it got closer louder and loader. The pace was constant and so was the humming. It was heavy cause the sticks where breaking loudly. It was at least 20 feet away directly beside me...

I can feel every beat of my heart as I listen. I can hear the deafening sound of the blood pulsing through my head... A thousand things are flowing through my mind. A few of those thoughts. I have no weapons. My trekking poles are outside the tent. My knife is maybe 2" long. What the hell is that. I know it's walking on two legs. I know the sound of two legs on the ground I've heard my own foot steps for over 1000 miles. Humans and big foot are the only things I can think that walk on two feet.

The steps and breaking of sticks keeps on going and thankfully the going away from me now! I check my phone to see the time. 1:34 am. Oh come on! Hurry up sunrise so I can have light and get the hell out of here. The sound is getting further and further away. I finally exhale. What was that. I'm still having problems processing what the hell just happened. Then I heard a crashing sound off in the distance. Sounded like a tree falling. Then there was another. Then a loud scream/screeching sound and more crashing of trees and things breaking... Then it's quiet...

WHAT WAS THAT??? Seriously!!! WTF.

I am just glad it kept going. Why and I all by myself right now? Why was there no one else here to witness that with me. I'm not crazy. I know I am wide wake cause I wish I was sleeping and never heard anything that I just heard. I tell myself it's gone, it's fine, just go to sleep. Sunrise will be here when I open my eyes again.

I force my eyes shut and clear my mind.

Well there you go. The freakiest/scariest thing to happen on the trail. Well being followed by mountain lions while night hiking was pretty freaky too.

When I woke up to my 6 am alarm I had some business to take care of and a cat hole to dig. I went over to where I heard whatever it was pass by to see if I could see tracks. But I didn't notice anything.

Honestly I don't know what that was. Big Foot is the only thing I can think off. It wasn't a hiker cause it wasn't on the trail. It wasn't a bear it was on two feet. Cause think about the cadence of sounds when a dog walks on hard wood floor or the sound of a horse on asphalt. Then think about the sound of you make walking. The steps per minute is less. Really think about it. You could tell the difference.

So yes I believe now. I believe in big foot. Seriously. July 28, 2014 at 1:34am.

So that morning I walked less then 100 yards before my knee was in full fledge pain mode. I only had 6 miles to go. I was going to just keep going and not stop. I'm moving really slow but I kept going.

I finally arrive at the highway to hitch into Chester. I crossed the street. To check out the trail magic!


I ate a cookie and drank a soda. I found the register and left my final entry.


I had to get two separate hitches into Chester. I told the first guy about my Big Foot story. He said he believes. He has worked In these forests for 20 years. And has heard many stories.

I got into town and paid $15 to set up my tent in the RV park. I ate pizza across the street at the pizza factory! I love it. Called Jordan to let her know I was coming home. I thought about just showing up and surprising her. (I wish I would have done that.) but I want to talk to someone and validate my decision to quit and come home. I was still trying to decide which side of the line I was on. The side where I am quitting cause I'm being a pussy or the side where I'm quitting cause it's the right thing to do... I don't know. I don't want to quit now. I'm enjoying he trail again. Like I said in my last post. It's harder to quit than it is to keep going.

I sat around as I did my laundry. I decided to hobble up the street to the gas station. On the way back I ran into Lowlander who has just got into town. I brought him back to the camp ground. Where he set up for the night. I suggested we go to he bar close by. He said na at first. But then I said I'm buying. "Ok" so we went. It was cool. Heavy metal playing on the juke box. I put in a couple dollars and played some Pantera my fav from back in the day.





The bartender let us behind the bar to take a photo. We stayed at the bar for a while.

I slept pretty good. With a pretty good buzz going. I had to pee so much that night. I filled up my pee bottle and two other bottles I had in the tent. Haha.

I had decide that I was going to take the Amtrak train home. So I needed to get to Reno. So I'm going to take a bus from Chester to Suzanville then another bus to Reno.

They bus doesn't run today so I have to stay another night.

I was told I needed to go to the dentist office for something special??? So I went. And the gal there was so nice. She took my photo and gave me a gift certificate for $20 to use at this place called the Locker Room. Yea! More pizza! I ran into Dust bunny and Danger Spoon there. They offered to let me stay in the hotel with them! Sweet. Which is cool cause it's right across the street from where the bus is going to pick up at like 6 in the morning to take me to Suzanville.

We drank beers and watched cable. Danger and I went to sit in the hot tube. Oh the life.

So I the next day I caught the bus to Suzanville. I had to wait like 2 hours for the next bus to come. so I went to Starbucks to use the wifi. I'm trying to download the movie Noah I rented from ITunes (something to do on the trail) I ran out of time. But I did run into this sign on a truck.



Haha LA-Z-BOY.

I arrived in Reno. I only had a few blocks to go to get to the Amtraks but I have 4 hours till the train arrives. I left my pack at the bell desk in Harrahs. Time to drop a few dollars in the slots. I put a $5 in the .25 cent wheel of fortune. I played that $5 for about 45 min. I was up $39 at one point but just kept playing. Of course I lost it all. But I wasn't going to stop unless I won enough worth to stop playing.(open to interpretation) i walked around the huge car show that was going on. Reno is kind of cool.

The train!!!

Riding the train was nice. I think it was like 23 hours. I got to relax, reflect, recharge, and re... I don't know. It was nice. I could have flew for the same price. I just didn't want to mess with that noise. The train is so stress free it was the right move.


My pretty lady who came to pick me up... Oh so happy to see here.



THE END




Well the end of my journey. Not quite the end of my story. I still have to see how long it's going to take me to recover from this nonsense. (It's been over a month and I still hurt) I have my gear review to do. And I guess I could talk about what's next in my life. Like my Go zero to HERO project. And my next vacation I plan to go on, ect, ect, ect.

I miss you PCT. I miss my PCT friends, no not friends my PCT family. If any of you read his blog be sure to say hi and if your in Colorado you better hit me up!

Thank you for following my blog I appreciated those of you who commented. It was my favorite to get those emails. Telling me I have a new comment. I ended up with 18,000+ views. Anyone feel free to say hi sometime. Or ask questions. Cause I know some of your are future PCT thur hikers.

I don't know what your life is like or what your situation is. All I know is. You know all those things you've always wanted to do? You should GO DO THEM!

If Hiking the PCT is one of them don't let yourself make up excuses. Cause anything other than living the life of your dreams is a lame ass excuse.

Yes any excuse is a lame ass excuse. This time last year. I didn't have the money to hike the PCT. I didn't own a single piece of hiking gear that I took on the trail. I didn't know about resupply boxes, i sure ass hell couldn't hike 20 miles in one day. (I had only hiked 9 miles in one day when I decided I was going to do the PCT.) I didn't know anything about tents, packs, sleeping bags, water filters, cooking stoves, down jackets, and what... Toe socks aren't those for girls? I still decided I was going to do it.

Decide to do it! And everything will work itself out. Even though I didn't finish. I'm so glad that I tried. I spent over $10k when on the trail and was pretty much broke in the end I was going to keep going and figure it out. I knew injury would be the only thing that would take me off the trail. And it got me but you can't be scared to fail... Oh I love ranting haha.


Next: dude my feet still hurt. What the heck am I going to do now? I have no home, no job... Maybe I'll become a professional archer. even though I've never shot a real bow before. It sounds like a good idea....


- Posted from my iPhone

Day 9. Oh yes there will be pain

Searching for balance

Scissors Crossing to ?

First thing I got to say is: I've spent my first night sleeping under a bridge. So I can check that off my bucket list.

I was awaken by the sound of someone unzipping there tent as they proceeded to pee. awesome it's 4am now I can't sleep. So I tried to catch up on the blog and sent some texts to Jordan (she works nights) which was nice.

It was 7 by the time I hit the trail, the last to leave this time. I was able to fill up on water from the cache that was there. I have like 12 or 13 ish miles till I get to the 3rd gate water cache and it is going to be hot today with little to no shade the whole way.

So my very ambitious goal today is to go all the way to Warner Springs which is 32 miles. I know the energy, fitness and the drive is there to go the distance. I just don't know if my feet will hold up that far using the hike one hour rest 15 minute method that had gotten me to Scissors Crossing.

So right from the beginning there was a pretty good climb. We started down in this valley and climb to almost the top of the mountains and walk along the mountain on a trail cut into the side. Totally exposed no trees in sight dirt, rocks and ugly desertish bush. Maybe a cactus with a flower here and there. So I got 4 miles in took my first little break. I only got 2 miles more till my feet started hurting pretty intensely. I hobbled the last 6 to the water cache there was some shade provided by some slightly taller bushes. It was like oasis and a perfect place for a siesta. There was people sleeping under bushes all over the place it was pretty comical. I found me a bush and crawled under. I laid out my tent footprint and blew up my Thermarest Xtherm and I spent 2 hours here off my aching feet.




I was packing up my stuff when Happy Man came walking by. Happy Man! I hadn't seen him since kickoff. He was at Scout and Frodo's house the same time as me. He is really nice guy from Mexico. He took a short break and we both decided that we would walk together to Barrel springs with was 10 or so miles away. If we hurried we could make it before it got dark.



We came across Billy Goats Cave so I had to take a picture.


Here's Happy Man. It's a good fit on the name he's a super happy dude.

We walked along as the sun was getting closer and closer to setting. I couldn't walk any further I had to stop and rest my feet. the pain was so bad. I only had 3 more miles. after doing like 20 miles 3 should seem like no big deal, right? Happy man went on with out me. I sat down on the trail with my chair and pack under my legs for almost 30 minutes. I had to put on my head lamp and jacket cause the sun had already set. I wasn't going to sleep right in the middle of the trail so I had to march on to the next open space the resembled anything close to a campsite. 3 miles seemed impossible when every step was extreme shooting pains...

I hike with a very light and small step to reduce the pounding of the feet on the ground. 99 miles in a short amount of time has taken it's toll regardless of my efforts.

I kept checking my Halfmile app on my phone to see if somehow the mile was getting shorter. and I noticed I was exactly at mile 100!


I had just walked 100 miles of the PCT! I never thought I would actually be here. I just thought it was just something that I was just planning and talking about but never actually going to do.


I had found this a few steps later. It's a 100 made from rocks. At this moment I just realized I am here, I'm doing it and the pain was secondary to the joy and excitement I was feeling. I was falling into negative head space over the last few miles and I was alone in that moment of negative thinking. Seeing this reminded me why I'm out here and that this is the time of my life. Nothing great in life comes easy or free. There is a price to pay and Oh yes there will be pain. This is the test and pain is part of the price. Yeah it tests the body, but I think the biggest test is of my will to overcome the struggles and pain. Sometimes it takes an outside influence to snap you out of funk. This 100 was just what I needed when I needed it. I was going to walk the last 1.13 miles with a smile on my face and in good spirits despite the needles, razor blades, and fire I was walking on.

Guess what, The universe provided me with exactly what I needed twice now. I didn't have to walk the last mile, right around the corner was Happy Man with his tent set up and with just enough space for mine as well! So we camped on this nice sandy area blocked from any wind it was perfect. I was to beat to make dinner I can't even remember if I ate anything or not.

Blissful sleep...

Tomorrow 1 mile to Barrel springs and 9 to Warner Springs where I have 2 resupply boxes awaiting my arrival.


Scissors Crossing to some random camp site after mile 100.
23.3 very painful miles


- 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...

57 days till my start date. TRAINING... lets GO!

Endurance Training and Injury Prevention

DISCLAIMER: Let me start by saying I'm not an expert on anything (except auto mechanics/fixing cars ;)  I can't claim to be an expert on nutrition, health, fitness or injury prevention. I only know what I have learned from others. This is what I have practiced in my own life and found to work for me. I just wanted to share what I am doing, and if anyone planning on doing a long distance hike finds any of this info useful or entertaining then kudos.  If NOT then please disregard. 

Let me tell you the story behind how I have come to be where I am today. Nobody cares WHAT you do until they know WHY you do it... Right?

Statics of our Mt.Elbert hike
on the way up

2010 was when I first got into hiking. Planning to do a 14er, Jordan and I started hiking Horsetooth Mountain as a way to train for our big hike of Mt. Elbert. The first few hikes where difficult we didn't even try to make it to the top our first 2 times (5 miles round trip). I think we maybe hiked like maybe 10 miles before we ended up hiking Mt.Elbert. Which was slow going but we made it to the top it was a 9 mile hike and It was a perfect day. (minus losing both big toe nails two days after. wish I had a picture to insert here haha) 2011 we hiked to Grey's peak and Torres peak both 14ers. I was so busy with my business I didn't hike at all in 2012. :( 

View from Horsetooth rock of Fort Collins and my feet

 Summer 2013 when I first heard about The PCT I knew I was going to hike the PCT in 2014 (at least I knew I wanted to). I wanted to hike a few more 14ers. I had just sold my business I had all the time in the world to hike. I went out hiking Horsetooth 2-4 times a week. and I had noticed that I was getting to the top without taking any breaks and it was getting easier (as you would expect) I had started to time myself. It was Taking me a little over an hour(1.25 - 1.1 hours) to reach the top. I started working out and training to see how fast I could do it. I started walking on the treadmill for 20 min. I would vary the incline from the steepest to less steeper if I was getting to winded. (very difficult for me to maintain the steepest incline for 20 min in the beginning) I noticed I was reaching the top of Horsetooth in an hour. I stopped eating meat, dairy, and eggs. The first month I lost almost 20lbs! and I was reaching the top of Horsetooth in 50-45 min. It was getting so easy I started jogging parts of the trail! I was using my small day pack with two 2L bladders filled with water for weight.

I think everyone knows when you do something repeatedly it gets easier. With Training and diet in a short amount of time I was able to get measurable results with everything I did. I wanted to be able to reach the top in 30 min. (which would require running the whole way) however I wasn't able to achieve my goal. Here's why:

 One day on my way back down the trail as I was jogging downhill (w/about 10lbs pack) I started to noticed a dull pain in my knee behind my knee cap which started to turn into a louder and louder pain as I went on. If I would stop and rest it would go away and I could continue on my way, it would act up again if I had a hill to climb. I also noticed it while climbing stairs the day I had gone hiking. I didn't know what was going on. What I didn't know then I most likely had which is commonly referred to as "runners knee" I am assuming was from overuse. Later in that summer I hiked Mt. Democrat (14er), Hanging lake, Hiked to the Glacier, and many other trails by Horsetooth rock(all very short hikes) I slowed down a little and It didn't bother me to much more than slightly dull pain from time to time. I rested more in between hikes which seemed to help. Since I had started training for the PCT the last few months I haven't had any knee issues. Yea! BUT, last week I was doing my training routine (I'll get into that in a minute) and I was running at moderate (6.5mph) pace on the thread mil for 45 min straight (which I have never done/attempted before) the outside of my hip started hurting. I had to stop running 43 min and 50 secs into the run it was hurting so bad. I really wasn't that concerned, the pain was gone minutes after I stopped running (shows my ignorance to what my body was trying to tell me) Two days later I was going to run for 60 min. I had made it 27 minute into the workout and then the pain in the hip was back. aaaahhh WTF is going on here. I started doing research (Ok I Goggled it) and discovered it's an issue with my IT band was tight and hurting my Bursitis.(Goggle it) Which brings me to the conclusion of I need to figure out what the heck is going on. Am I doing something wrong? How can I prevent this and other issues from happening on the trail? I know I won't be running on the PCT. The only thing that is going to take me off the trail is severe injury. Until yesterday, "injury" meant a broken bone, torn ligament or whatever caused by some accident or from postholing. Postholing is when your walking on top of deepish snow and you suddenly break through the crust with one leg up to your knee or crouch haha. I never considered that I could injure myself by "overuse" or improper movement/Gait. I have just opened up a whole new world to explore. 

Here is how I feel about training.

Failing to prepare is preparing to fail...

I'm not even at the novice level when it comes to long distance hiking. Everything I know is what I have read and learned from others. I seem to hear the same thing over and over when it comes to training. Usually sounds something like this, "the only way to hike 20-30 miles day after day with a fully loaded pack is to actually hike with a fully loaded pack for 20-30 miles day after day".  I agree Although (don't tell anyone) I don't quite agree with that mentality. To me, thinking that you aren't going to prepare your body at all before hand and are simply going to just get in shape mid- trail sounds like a lame excuse for not exercising.  By saying you don't have time to exercise is the wrong answer. people make time for what is important to them. However I know you can come straight from the couch and thru hiked the PCT. I'm not saying it can't be done. But how many people have done that and failed/quit cause the physical demand was too overwhelming for the mental to compensate for long enough to get into shape? We'll never know cause we will never hear their story...  Ok rant over ;)

Wow that was a long story time session sorry bout that. It's training time!


The last few months at the gym I was just kind of doing what I felt like doing no real plan I was following. I would do squats with 135lbs - 185lbs pretty low weight, leg press, lunges with 50lbs of weight, core workouts and once and a while some upper body stuff. Cardio was my main focus, I would spend 40 - 60 minutes doing cardio. Which I found to be quiet enjoyable on the machines being able to track my numbers, such as pace, distance and time. I found stair stepper to be the most difficult so I wanted to hit that the hardest. I basically just wanted to raise my fitness level, and endurance. Improve my bodies ability to use oxygen efficiently.  I found an awesome article on long distance hiking, endurance training. Which I have adopted for the last two months prior to my start date. Real quick here is what I was doing for cardio before I came across this article:

Stairs 20 minutes 100-120+ floors
Walk at steepest incline 20 min 3.5mph (my target hiking pace)
Run treadmill for 20 min 6.5-6.9 mph

I would usually do stair stepper followed by walking or running, I have done all three only a couple times. (usually cause Jordan was finished with her workout before me and it was sauna time! desert training haha) It has been exciting to watch my fitness level increase. Never in my life have had cardio as my main focus and tracked my progress.    




Here are my records I've been keeping from my previous workouts. Sometimes I forget to record my work outs that's where you get the multi-day gaps in my workouts. The numbers are not drastically different. But the ease at which I can do them is (wish I would have recorded my times from Nov. and early Dec. to get a better idea of where I came from):

For Valentines day one of the gifts from my Girlfriend was the March issue of Backpacker magazine. Towards the back there is an awesome article called  "Go The Distance". It's pretty good. "Advice from the endurance pros" Talks about # 1. Physical - Preparing your body for the rigors of hiking long distance. A Story from Hal Koerner and Mike Wolfe completed the John Muir trail in 3 days 12 hours.  2. Mental - Get your head around the challenges of hiking hour after hour day after day. Story about Anish Completed the PCT in 60 days. 3. Strategy - Combine your physical and mental training to hike farther than ever before. Story about Matt Kirk completed AT (Appalachian trail) in 58 days. Also contained a workout plan by endurance coach and ultra runner Travis Macy he developed a workout plan to get you off the couch into the biggest hike of your life in 90 days.

Month 1: Build a base
Start slow, moderate your training if you feel rundown, gradually ramp up to the longer workouts. He tells you what to do every day of the week includes advice and why you do the workouts. 
Best advice he gives on month 1 is "Don't sweat a missed day. Refocus, recommit, and keep going." Macy

I feel like I have a good base so I don't feel bad skipping month 1 and since I only have 2 months till I start my hike. I am doing the month 2 workout now. 

Month 2: Focus your effort
"This is the heavy-lifting month where both the volume and intensity are highest and the focus is on making big gains in fitness and strength." Macy says

Mondays: Rest
"Recovery Days Are Key" Macy

Tuesdays: Run 45 minutes (zone 2 moderate effort, can hold a conversation)

Wednesdays: Gym workout B:

• 2 minutes front crunches
• 2 minutes side crunches on each side
• 3x8 bench press (60% of single rep maxium)
• 3x10 dumbell curls
• 4x10 squats

Thursdays: run 60 minutes, completing four 5-minute intervals (zone 4 very strong effort, feels like a race) separated by 3 minutes of easy jogging.
Macy: "Intervals increase your heart rate and boost aerobic fitness. when your body adjusts to the higher intensity, it makes lower intensity feel easier."

Fridays: Gym work out C: your choice: an hour of yoga, pilates, Crossfit, or other cross-training.

Saturdays: Hike 80 minutes (zone 2-3, zone 3 strong effort, breathing hard)

Sundays: Long day: Hike 3.5 to 4 hours with a fully loaded pack on hilly terrain (zone 2)
Macy: "Doing the long day when your legs are a little tired simulates how your legs might feel on the second day after doing big miles."


I am glad that I started training and that I had pain in my hip. I really opened my eyes to overuse injuries. Which previously wasn't even a blip on my radar. As far as my hip pain I am going to stretch (which I never do) my IT bands (found tons of YouTube vids) really well and take it easy when I feel pain. As I was re-reading Yogis' book I happen to be in the training section a couple days ago and read about Bigfoot's story. When he hiked the AT he was in a lot of pain. And just before his PCT hike he went to physical therapist and learned his gait was all wrong. I found his YouTube videos Yogi mentions in her book and found them to be most informative. I suggest everyone planning to do a long distance hike to watch them.


 Avoiding Overuse Injuries on a PCT Thruhike (Part 1)
 - intro (very funny by the way, uh, huh)


Part 2


Avoiding Overuse Injuries on the PCT (Part 3)
 - avoiding and managing injuries



Prior to my hip pain I never understood what "listen to what your body is saying to you". I get it now. Just one more piece of knowledge to help me walk the walk to Canada.  

Feel free to comment (hikers let me know if this was useful) and don't forget to follow either by subscribing to email updates, RSS feed or follow on Google+, I'm going to start posting more often since It's getting closer to Day 1!

Coming next is shoes, more gear, food part 2 and training updates...

Hanging Lake

79 Days till my start date. Sleeping Bag!

NEMO Nocturne 15

I have received my Sleeping bag via the UPS man! Just like a kid on Christmas day I couldn't wait to bust open that box and see what was inside. It's just so crazy the rush of excitement you get when you get things delivered to your house. 

 I put a lot of thought and research into which sleeping bag to get. In the beginning I didn't know anything about sleeping bags. Except you sleep in them.  I learned that this was a good area to spend some $$$ and not cheapskate this purchase. At First I struggled with do I get a down bag or synthetic? I went with down, then it was what temperature or comfort range do I need. Then of course what brand do I choose. I looked at a lot of bags online and at REI and Ultimately I picked the NEMO Nocturne 15, it's different than the norm. It's has a unique shape, They call it "spoon" shaped. I had first heard about it from Backpacker magazine it had the editors choice award. So I gave it some good thought and went for it. But I Think I was mostly persuaded by this video Click here to watch. 

 I also got my Sleeping bag liner as well. Sea to Summit Thermolite Mummy bag liner. It says it's supposed to add 15 degrees warmth. It's really soft and feels amazing. 

 I've never owned a sleeping bag this nice before. I tried it on for size and I am so glad I went with the "spoon" shape. It's perfect! The liner is stretchy so it allows for movement as well so I think they will work good together I can't wait to test it out for real. If I had my tent and sleeping pad I would pry be sleeping outside tonight on our little balcony. It's only 12 degrees out right now it would be perfect test run haha... brrr (I hate winter)

I have noticed that it seems most people in Yogi's book seem to have a 20 degree bag only 2 of the 18 Hikers in her book uses a 15 degree bag. However she gives the advice that If you get cold easy to have a bag with lower temp rating and you will be much happier. So that's pretty much what I did. I figured I could always vent heat out but I couldn't magically make my bag warmer. So that's my sleepin bag. 

 Click here to check out my gear page. You can follow my blog by email or by clicking the follow link on my Google profile. Feel Free to leave me a comment or if you have a question. 79 days!  The excitement is building I'll be on that plane to San Diego in no time. 

83 days till my start date. New GEAR!

New Gear Purchases

I've been on a roll here lately. I've been moving items from my online wish lists to the shopping cart. Then I wait for the UPS to deliver, just like a kid for Christmas morning. It's always exciting to come home to a box on your door step addressed to you. 

It's really exciting to see the months of painstaking planning all come together. I've had such a good time learning and obsessing about gear. It's great to see the items I have been looking at online and in stores to finally come into my possession. I wanted to start buying this stuff a long time ago the problem I had is that I kept changing my mind or I would find something I felt would be better. So I have held off on actually buying stuff till I was within a few months of my start date. Now is that time. My start date 4/23/14 in case you wanted to know. 

Here we go with the new Goodies!

Komperdell Trekking poles $47 and Komperdell water proof gloves $56. Ordered online from Sierra Trading post. Paid about half price for them, so that's cool. It's like buy those gloves at $100 and get the poles FREE! Right? I wanted to test the gloves and see how "water proof" they are. I put them on and ran water from the sink and the water beads and rolls off. Trekking poles are light weight and I really like the cork grip. 

Columbia omni-heat 800 fill down jacket!

Found this jacket on the clearance rack at Sportsmen's Warehouse $119. It's the jacket I had on my wish list on Amazon for $180 except I was looking at getting the red jacket not the green. but since it was a deal I bought it, cause at the end of the day it's not going to matter what color it is.  

Omni-Heat baby!

This is the first time I have bought anything with Omni-Heat I have read good reviews. This is my first puffy jacket, I never liked the way they looked. But know I know why so many people wear them. 

 I tested this jacket out on a walk the other night it was freezing out and it was amazing. every other part of my body was losing heat and starting to get cold except under my jacket. So far so good...

Packs into this nice little stuff sack. It weights in at 1 pound. so not the lightest but when It's cold I'm sure it's going to be worth it's weight in gold. 

Warm and cold weather base layers

 Brooks Rev III running shirt.
This shirt is awesome it's made of a lightweight mesh material, Wicks moisture and dries quickly. I tested it out during a workout at the gym and it's awesome! It looks and fits really good too as an added bonus. paid $38 from REI

Another Columbia Omni-heat product.
Mid-weight base layer for the colder days. Might also be a good sleeping shirt. I had thought that the omni-heat silver reflectors would feel itchy against the skin but it was very comfortable. I rolled the sleeve to show off the inside. 
Also a really good looking and well fitting shirt. Only $28 saved 48% from sierra trading post. 

REI Convertible zip pants

I really like the material these are made of. and They where on sale, half price! $32

Last but not least SOCKS!

So I have this obsession about socks. Pre-hiking It was underarmour socks. now I am in hiking/running sock testing mode. I am trying to narrow down to maybe two brands that work the best for me. Since socks are inexpensive I have just went out and purchased a bunch off different brands and types. haha who am I kidding hiking socks are expensive. I noticed during my workouts on the treadmill and stair stepper I noticed that with my normal Underamour socks I was getting hot spots on the ball on my feet and on the side of my right foot. I can't stand blisters I can't think of very many things worse. So trying out the socks you see below I have had great results.

As pictured: Wrightsock cool mesh $12, they have a built in sock liner (two layers white on inside black outside). These socks are pretty neat. I have been doing a lot of research on preventing blisters and using a sock liner was highly recommend by some. so these socks have one built in which was nice. The blue sock on the bottom is a sock liner I have tested it only a once with the Wigwam socks and it was pretty good. 

SmartWool Micro Toe socks $16 but only paid $7 (sierra trading post) First off people who wear toe socks are weird... I cannot confirm or deny that I one of them. At first trying the sock on was terrible almost gave me a gagging feeling haha.  After a few minutes I didn't notice the feeling of having something between my toes and it became very comfortable. They are pretty thin and could easily be used as a liner used with another pair of more rugged socks. Good socks i enjoy wearing them around the house as well. You might think they would be constricting, but they have a freeing feeling about them. 

injinji toe socks Awesome! my favorite so far but of course they are the highest priced $18. I am defiantly going to be taking this pair with me I will more than likely purchase a few more pairs before I go. After you get over the fact they are toe socks and only weirdos wear toe socks they are so amazing haha. I would say if you have never worn toe socks get over yourself and try a pair on you might discover something awesome...

Wigwam hiking socks. $14 Seem to be a pretty good rugged wool sock. I like them and they look awesome on. If that even really matters... Some would say "it doesn't matter what or how you do something. What only matters is how good you look doing it". I don't know who says that but their has to be someone. ;)

Thorlo Experia coolMax, Powered by Thorlo pads $15 They have super thick heel and toe section, and a thinner material for the rest of the sock. I haven't even tried them on yet. but They look very promising. 

Since I have been testing these socks I haven't had a single hot spot while running so I'm thinking I really couldn't go wrong with any of them. Now I just need to test them actually on a hike. So once the weather gets better here in Colorado I'll just have to put them through the final test,  actually hiking in them. I know Darn Tough Socks are a favorite among many out there I will be trying those soon as well. If anyone has any good input on hiking socks please comment. I am open for a discussion. 

111 days till my start date. Planning is now what consumes me

        Anything worth doing is worth doing right!          

View from Grey's Peak 14er

 I've spend the last 8 months reading countless blogs, websites, and a book learning everything I can about Thru Hiking the PCT. It has been such a good time reading the blogs/journals it's almost like I've hiked the PCT already several times. I've had the most fun researching and learning about gear. 

New tool box and me 2013

Gear is like tools of the trade for the hiker. I am a Master Auto Tech in my other life and I love tools. Here is a picture of my tool obsession so you can get an idea of where I am coming from

In Yogi's PCT Handbook she says "I use gear to hike... Not hike to use gear". I pry fall in the later part of that statement. I guess I just love all the "stuff" that one needs to thru hike. I'm the type that obsess about something till I know everything. So the gear is a huge thing for me. Figuring out what stuff I need to have, what brands are good, what is everyone else using and why. To much fun! I have spent hours looking at REI, Sierra Trading post website comparing things like weight, cost, reviews and whats new, whats going to be coming out soon.  I don't know if there is a perfect anything when it comes to gear everyone has there own preferences and options. It's funny you may have 10 hikers in a room and every single one of them may have different pack, tent and sleeping bag. To each their own.  I'll go into depth about the gear I've just purchased and what I am planning on getting soon. I'm going to make a dedicated page for that. 

Details details details...

So I have finally sat down and started planning the details of my trip. How I'm getting to San Diego, where I'm sending my resupply packages, how many days of food in each box what towns I'm thinking about staying at and when and where I need to send additional gears and new shoes. Crazy amounts of details which are pretty important. Here is what it looks like for me planning this out as we speak. 

So I'm using a combination of a bunch of resources.

 Craig's PCT Planner (pctplanner.com) 
Amazing tool that uses your hiking speed, compensates for slower speeds when elevation increases, estimated hours in a day you think you will be hiking and the miles in between towns. To estimate what day you will be in each town. Just an awesome resource. Thanks Craig! Craig (aka OTC = oh that Craig) actually just Hiked the PCT 2013. His blog was the first one I found and followed while he was actually on the trail  which was really cool by the way. (I'll post links at the bottom to his planner and blog sites) Below is PCTplanner My plan is still work in progress...

Yogi's Pacific Crest Trail Handbook
Anyone planning to do the PCT should read Yogi's PCT Handbook. It just has everything anyone would want to know. Just good to hear from multiple people who have done the trail before Multiple times. It covers practically every aspect about do this hike. From resupply, gear, travel arrangements, first aid  to pooping and what to do with the TP and so so much more...

I also printed off a nice overview map of the PCT from www.andrewsmaps.com. It has all the towns, mileage in between and mail drop locations.  Really nice and good looking map. 

My resupply strategy is going to be 98% maildrops. 

  Which means I'm going to be mailing myself resupply boxes via USPS priority mail. In these boxes I will have food and snacks for as many days I need till I hike to the next maildrop location. (About 3-7 days each) also I can send myself new shoes, socks,  wet wipes, tp, ect... Some people prefer to buy food as they go which works fine for them however I'm vegan which means I only eat plant based foods. No meats, eggs or dairy. Yes that includes cheese, cheese is dairy. People freak out about not eating cheese for some reason,yum cheese. I consider myself 98% vegan I'm not going to starve if all thats around is a fat juicy bloody steak. I like meat I just choose to eat better 98% of the time.  So buying food in small towns to maintain my healthy vegan life style is pry next to impossible. I'm going to spend the better part of a month dehydrating fruits, veggies, soups and vegan chilli. 

Here are the links: 

Craig's PCT Planner
Craig's PCT Blog/Journal
Yogi's PCT Handbook
 Halfmile's maps

Next:  I'll pry post about what I'm doing for training, dehydrating my own food and gear. Feel free to follow or leave any comments.  So excited, ready or not 111 days till the first day on the trail!!!