Pacific Crest Trail Preview

I'm hurried, so please forgive this post being brief and a little dry. The crunch before a big trip is always really annoying.  I promised myself this year that I wouldn't have a big trip right after school let out so that I could have a relaxing spring, but when my Aunt Nancy invited me to hike 17 days and 261 miles with on the PCT from Seiad Valley in Northern California to Shelter Cove Resort in Oregon, I couldn't say no.  Awesome!

However, in an early reminder of the unpredictability of adventures, she needed to modify her route and pacing due for a variety of reason.  So, instead of 17 days of 18-ish miles and 2 re-supplies, we are now doing 9 days of 12-ish miles and no resupplies.  We'll be hiking the 100 miles between Callahans and Mazama Village in Crater Lake.

Am I disappointed by the change?  Yes and no.  I did a TON of prep-work for this trip and 17 days is a good long adventure distance for me. A 9-day trip takes the same amount of prep but with less pay-off.  On the other hand, I'll still be achieving my two main goals of this adventure: 1: I'll get to spend time with my Mom's sister, something I've rarely been able to do, and 2: Nancy will be able to teach me all about long-distance hiking and the PCT. Also, with the shorter days we'll be able to hang out and talk more, and I may learn even more with the extra time.  I like short travel days with lots of hanging out time. 

Iris (my wife) and I have done other backpacking trips. Most notably 3-day and 5-day hikes through rugged terrain on New Zealand's South Island (The Routeburn and Greenstone-Caples tracks.)  I've never done 9 or 17 days though, or dealt with re-supplies, dry camping, low water hiking, or difficult route finding.  These are all things I hope to learn about on this trip, as it will give me the confidence I need to do much more Oregon backpacking than I currently do.  I'm an expert bike tourer, but a relatively novice backpacker - but not for long.

I'm reading a book called Cascade Summer by Bob Welch, a columnist for the Register-Guard, about his trip section hiking the Oregon portion of the PCT with his buddy. In it he frequently mentions his fear of failure.  I realized that I no-longer have a fear of failure when it comes to bike touring. I know what I'm doing and if I do have to quit a trip, I've already accomplished so much in that area. I do, however, have a fear of failure when it comes to backpacking, despite international experience.  Not only failure to finish, but failure to survive in a remote area. One of the main purposes of this trip is to give me the experience I need to be as comfortable backpacking as I am bike touring.

My mentor will by my Aunt Nancy, a retired Park Ranger among many other things.  She's written several books, including Park Ranger and Park Ranger Sequel.  In the former book she describes herself thusly:

"Eventually I became a permanent ranger, specializing in protection, and over time, with schooling at training sesions and academies, advanced to the highest level of each of the duties a ranger is required to perform. [...] I was a Federal Law Enforcement Officer, a Paramedic /Registered Nurse, Captain and Engineer of the Structural Fire Brigade, Medical Unit Leader for Wildland Fire, and Technical Search and Rescue Team member with specialties in helicopter shorthaul and swiftwater rescue, and a resource manager with a B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees in Biology."

And that was back 10 years ago. She's done a ton since then.  I'm hiking with a real super-hero! This should be a pretty great trip. I'll update when I can.

Our new 9-day route

 I'm using HalfMile's Maps and App, and the PCT Water Report primarily for info along the way.