Ready or not, here I come!

The day has finally come, I’m finally starting my PCT hike!

What started as a fantasy and then slowly turned into a dream is finally going to be a reality and I can’t wait!

Let me tell you what I did to prepare for this incredible adventure.

The paperwork…

I registered in November for the opportunity to apply for a long distance hiking permit and on January 12th I received an email with my application schedule. I was lucky enough to get one quite early in the morning, which meant I had a good chance of getting a permit. The next day I logged in immediately, requested my leave, and chose March 28 as my start date. Three weeks later my application was reviewed and approved.

Once my long-distance hiking permit was approved, I went ahead and applied for my campfire permit in California.

With the paperwork taken care of, it was time to focus on a more fun aspect of preparation, the equipment…

The team…

Being a novice hiker, I took the safest route I knew to pack my gear… I put The Trek’s «Pacific Crest Trail Thru-Hiker Gear List» article in a window next to an REI page in my browser and started shopping. Check out the link to my gear list if you want to know what I ended up buying.

I followed the suggested equipment list pretty much to the letter in terms of the items I needed to purchase, simply substituting brands for those available at REI. Nothing against the brands they suggested, it was more a matter of convenience to minimize shipping and be able to make in-store pickups since I lived in Mexico and didn’t want to track dozens of shipments from different places to there.

So far I’m pretty happy with what I got, I hope everything turns out well and makes me and their brands proud.

The training…

I’m mostly living on a prayer in this… have you seen that meme that says I’m 90% faith and 10% training? Well, that’s me.

My aunt and I started walking daily at the end of January and kept at it, for the most part, until it was time for me to leave. While I didn’t put in big miles and wasn’t able to hike with my gear, I feel like a slow start on the trail will be enough to get me in shape.

I can walk 4 miles without a backpack with some terrain and slight inclines in about 1.5 hours. So, I’m sure starting at 10 miles a day will be doable as I get into better shape.

The replenishment strategy…

In this regard, I must thank Zach for providing me with the article “Pacific Crest Trail Resupply Guide” by Maggie Wallace, which helped me make a decision about which strategy to choose and eased my fears about it.

I chose to follow the «shop in town» strategy with mailings to the locations suggested in the article. This will ensure that I’m eating what I want, not what I thought I’d want when packing, as well as giving me the freedom to restock when I need and as much as I need rather than being tied to a strict shipping schedule or pre-allocated amounts of food in a box.

The trip before the hike.

As I mentioned before, I’ve been living in Mexico since November, so here’s how I planned my trip from Mexico to the South Terminal:

• I drove from Chihuahua to Wyoming to drop off my truck at my brother’s house.
• I flew from Wyoming to San Diego where I spent the night.
• I took the South Terminus shuttle from San Diego to CLEEF, where I camped for the night.
• I walked from CLEEF to the south terminal.
• Start walking, YAY!

If you made it this far, thank you! More to come from the trail, until then, have an amazing day!!!

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