A dream is finally becoming a reality.

On Thursday, I will be taking an Amtrak train down to San Diego, where I will catch a bus out to Campo, CA, the southern terminus of the Pacific Crest Trail.  In less than 72 hours, I will be taking my first step on America’s premiere long-distance trail and begin my journey north towards Canada.

As I have been actively planning this trip since October 2021, and passively thinking about it since 2018, the idea that it is so close feels surreal.  It seems almost too good to be true.

Over the last week, I have become giddy with excitement, but I’m also a bit nervous about some of the inevitable day-to-day issues I will have to deal with on the trail.  Blisters, heat exhaustion, sun exposure, distance between water sources – I know I am well prepared to deal with all these challenges, but my inexperience with thru-hiking is making me question how prepared I actually am.  Do I just think I’m prepared?  Have I thought of everything?  Only time will tell, but thankfully Southern California is a good testing ground before the more rugged mountains.

This past week, to keep my mind off worrying about those small things, I have been focusing on finalizing my gear list, my initial food I’ll carry on Day 1, and the resupply I will leave with my parents to ship to Kennedy Meadows.

Final Pre-Hike Gear List

If there is one thing that backpackers, particularly thru-hikers, obsess over, it is the contents of their backpack.  It seems like everyone is in a constant race to purchase the newest gear made of the lightest materials to save an ounce here or a couple grams there.  You could probably fill multiple books with the debates hikers have about what gear is necessary and what gear is a luxury.

All the discussion about gear is for good reason – the more your pack weighs, the more of a burden it will put on you and the harder it will be to hike long miles day after day.  Some gear is clearly necessary to survive in the wilderness, but even so you can survive on surprisingly little.  Hikers who are dedicated to optimizing their gear enough to get below 10 lbs base weight (the combined weight of all gear minus food, water, gas, and other consumables) are usually referred to as ultralight backpackers.

While I have not quite jettisoned off enough gear to reach the enlightened group of ultralighters, I have taken some of their concepts into consideration and managed to get my base weight down to about 15.5 lbs.  I feel like this is a good starting weight, and I don’t feel like I am bringing anything I won’t actively use – with the exception of emergency gear, which I hope to not have to use in the first place.  I’m sure my eyes will be further opened on the trail to how my pack can be improved, but for now, I feel confident that my starting gear will adequately support me without being a burden.

For more information on my gear, you can find a full breakdown of my pack at https://lighterpack.com/r/mo73sn

Food and Cold Soaking

If you looked at my gear list above, you might have noticed that it does not include a stove in the weight calculation.  This is because I do not plan on using a stove on the trail.  I instead intend to try a rather new idea in backpacking – the concept of cold-soaking.  Cold-soaking is when a backpacker foregoes carrying a stove and instead subsists off food that either does not need to be cooked or that can be rehydrated without heat.

Choosing to cold-soak has its advantages and disadvantages, just like every major decision about a thru-hike.  The main disadvantages are obvious – not using a stove limits your available meal options, makes the brewing of coffee or tea difficult or impossible, and may make meals less appetizing or fulfilling as they aren’t warm.  

The advantages are less obvious, but worth considering.  For one, you don’t have to carry the weight of a fuel cannister for the stove or the weight of the stove itself.  Another benefit is that food can be soaked inside your pack in an airtight container while you are actively hiking – you don’t have to stop and set up a stove to produce a meal, which saves time and can be more convenient at the end of a long day of hiking.

Since deciding to go with cold-soaking, I have tested out a lot of common pre-prepackaged dehydrated food as well as some homecooked and subsequently dehydrated meals to see what does work with cold-soaking (re-hydrates well and is safe without heat) and what is palatable when cold.

The following dehydrated food seems to work the best with the cold-soak method:

• Instant Oatmeal
• Knorr Rice Sides
• Ramen
• Couscous
• Instant Mashed Potatoes
• Split Pea Soup Mix
• Curry Mix
• Dehydrated Refried Beans (Black or Pinto)
• Hummus Powder
• Some freeze-dried vegetables (carrots, tomatoes, and peppers work best)

Of course, I will need to supplement the dehydrated meals with other food to spice the meals up and snacks to give me energy between meals.  My menu will also include:

One downside to pretty much all backpacking menus is a lack of fresh fruit and vegetables.  I will be trying to diversify my diet in town with fresh produce when I can, including some that may be carried for a day or two out of town, like cherry tomatoes, carrots, mini bell peppers, avocadoes, apples, and oranges.  The lack of veggies will still be an inevitable dietary weakness throughout my hike, though.

Sign for Hitchhiking!

Hitchhiking is also an inevitable part of the trail, with some hitches into towns being very easy and others being notoriously difficult with waits being hours long.  Many previous PCT hikers suggest making a sign, poster, or some other way to grab drivers’ attention.  Inspired by those hikers’ designs, I made a simple sign out of tape on one side of my ground cloth to help let drivers know that I am a hiker looking for a shuttle.  Hopefully this will help me and fellow hikers at some of the more remote trailheads!

That pretty much wraps up my preparation activities over the last week or so.  The starting line is fast approaching, and I think I’m as prepared as I realistically will ever be.  While a small part of my mind is still anxious about what I might be missing, most of the time I feel ready to take on the world!

The next time I post an update, I hope it will be from the trail with some amazing pictures to share!  Thank you everyone for your support and I will see you on the other side!