Wind, Rain, and Lion King

Waking up in the cloud was difficult. In fact, it was worse. The rain continued, the wind got worse, the sun had not broken through yet. We ate breakfast in our tent and  packed everything as quickly as possible. When we got on the trail we realized we happened to be on a very steep cliff with winds of 40-50mph. It was crazy. Our packs made us human sails. 

After the whole day of cold rain we finally switched sides of the mountain and the weather calmed down. We made it to our watering hole and our campsite. This would be our last known water for 30 miles.

The next day we deemed Lion King day. Unfortunately, the pictures do not do it justice. We even had some stormy clouds over a section. Needless to say, lion king quotes happened most of the morning. 

We rocked the next day pretty well. We encountered some beautiful trail magic. After hiking down the mountains and across a valley we found snacks and water under a bridge. 

This is a beautiful thing. Snacks are great and extra water is beautiful. The people who provide trail magic are beautiful.

We continued walking with a sugar rush. We went straight up and entered the San Felipe Mountains. This is a dry set of mountains. We weaved back and forth along the edge of the mountains. It becomes dizzying to go in and out of these contours but the views were beautiful.

We ended up camping in two separate sites because of the tiny camping sites these mountains provided.

Day 6:

We made 100 miles!!!!

This day we would head out to our first mail drop and our first 100 miles. It turned out to be a warm day. We passed Eagle Rock along the way. 

It just so happened to be the Sunday of Memorial Day. So... 'Mericia

We also went through a prairie with cattle. It felt like home. 

We made it. 100 miles, Warner Springs. For that we deserved a day off. And sometimes days off include hitch hiking, but that story is for another day. Tonight I rest. 

Until next time :) 

Shelly

It begins!

We started! Finally.

Before learning about our trip, I should probably introduce a character of our trip. Nathan. 

He is one of my friends from middle school. He decided to join the trip about a month before the start date. He will hang around, until he can't put up with our pace :) 

Back to the trail! 

After enjoying an evening at a trail angel's home in San Diego we got up early and drove to Campo with a full van of hikers. We busted out the gates with 15 miles in a flash. I think we felt we had something to prove. Luckily we did most of the hiking before the heat. Suddenly I was stuck going up a hill in the heat of the day with little shade and 15 miles on my feet. After hugging a couple rocks for shade and going slower than a snail we finally made it to camp. 

For me, the first day was a struggle. It was realizing how different this life is. It becomes so overwhelming to think of the trail as a whole. It is a ton to think about waking up and walking for so long but as my companions pointed out you just have to enjoy the beauty along the way. Everyday you get to see something beautiful. This hike allows the opportunity to enjoy each mile for its beauty. It forces you to take the time to appreciate it all. 

Also, the community on this trail is beautiful. From the trail angels, trail magic, to people on or around the trail, they form a real community. This 18" wide trail has become a home with a community reaching around the global. It is quite beautiful. 

Back to the trail. 

We survived Day 1 and trucked on to Day 2 

This day was similar. Heat, elevation, beautiful sights, and general pain. But this is the day we learned Emily had a blister issue. A fellow thru hiker Perry aka PerBear treated her blisters in hope of helping them callus over. Unfortunately the blisters haven't gone away yet, but Emily is becoming callous to the pain.... Sorta...

Part of being on the trail is understanding how far to push yourself and how far your body is willing to go. We have been learning this balance the first few days. Sometimes you can harness the pain to become better at hiking and sometimes the pain is debilitating and it is the best to just rest. The balance is a challenge to find.

Day 3

We made it 50 miles!!!! 

This day we found out what it was like to be in the clouds: cold, wet, and windy. The views reminded me of Ireland. It was hilly but beautiful. We also made it into town. We found fellow hikers, food, cell service, and trail magic (free beer).

Needless to say, towns are nice.

The day ended trying to find a windless campsite in a picnic area. We partially succeeded. It led to eating in tents and music by Emily all crammed into one tent. 

That has been the beginning of the trip. Challenging but filled with so much fun and so much beauty. The terrain is always changing and stunning. We are always learning.

Until next time!

Shelly

 

The Breath Before The Plunge

"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks" -John Muir

Throughout my travels, I have found this statement to be true time and time again. All adventures in the woods bring more experiences, adventures, and memories than are first expected. There is a sense of self-renewal and growth in the wild places we explore. They are places for self-actualization. Re-creation. 

Shelly and I have decided to publish one final post before we begin our journey. Here we are going to write down our expectations for our walk. Our goals, our fears, our hopes-everything and anything that comes to mind before we set off. This will be a way for us to look back on our journey and see what we have learned and how we have changed. This post will be a marker showing what we have sought in our journey and what we have received. 

Bye Missoula! Until next time

Emily's expectations:

Where do I begin? I have so much excitement and anxiety its hard to sum it all up. I am anxious about a lot of things, mainly my old injuries that like to flair up when its inconvenient. I am also worried about the lack of water in California. We will see how that goes.

I am hoping for many things on this trip. I want to become a better backpacker. I am by no means an expert and I hope to be an expert by the time I reach the end. I also hope to improve my health, both in body and mind. I want to be in top physical condition when we reach Canada! My most sincere hope, however, is that this hike helps me heal. This year has been awful for me. I have experienced the most profound heartbreak and loneliness and I am still struggling with this pain. My wish is to heal these wounds. I want to grow as a person and really come into my own. If I come out better on the other side, the journey will be worth all the work.

There are a lot of things I expect to happen. I expect to be sore as hell. I expect to be constantly hungry. I expect to be angry, happy, exhausted, anxious, and confused-all at the same time! I also expect an epic trail name. Most of all, I am expecting and looking forward to a ton of laughs and jokes with Shelly. We have enough sarcasm to last every single mile and a million more after that. I'm sure we will have a lot of memorable times.

Shelly's expectations:

Well I expect everything to be perfect and happy. Pretty much a musical. :)

I am worried about many things for this trail, my physical shape, the lack of water, my mental abilities, my distance from my friends and family, California falling off while we are hiking, and many more reasonable things. :)

As far as things I expect. I am expecting pain and lots of it. I also expect joy and laughs. I expect to be cold at night and hot in the day. Annoyed by bugs, but astonished by the beauty of the trail. I expect to be changed by this journey. I hope to let the trail shape me and discipline me into becoming a better person.

I am most excited to embark on a trip that is all about the journey. Most trips end up being about the journey, but this one is planned for the journey. That is what I am most excited for. To put myself through each mile and see how it was different from the last. I hope that I can become a better hiker, better person, and really discern where I should go after the trail.

Well, now that we have our thoughts on paper (digital paper) its time to leave the computers behind! This is it, the breath before the plunge. Wish us luck and keep us in your thoughts! This is the beginning of a bright and daring adventure. 

Bye for now! We're going on an adventure! 

-Emily and Shelly

Preparation

How do you prepare for something that is completely different than life as of now?

I was discussing my future plans with a friend, and I realized preparation is hard. I don't know how I can possibly fully prepare myself for 5 months of a life that is completely different than the life I know.

My bed, no longer a mattress, but air and a sleeping bag

My kitchen, no longer a room, but a compact container

My bathroom, no longer private, but a hole 6 inches deep with no walls

You can say, "duh Shelly, that is what you signed up for" and that is true, but the closer the trail gets the more I realize how different it is. I have moved from place to place before, my beds have changed, my kitchen has shrunk, and it has been unfamiliar, but I always had something to lean back on. 

 I could call my family to speak about their lives, television to learn about life in a different place, and food, ice cream is universal. 

I have used these crutches in many ways. I have eaten more ice cream in Duluth than I care to admit. I call my family and friends to catch up on life all the time. Facebook is always there. 

For this trip, most of my crutches will be gone. Granted, I can still call or write my friends. I will be walking with Emily, who is a great friend. I am excited for this, but I will be disconnecting from the world as I know it. Or at least distancing myself from it. How do I prepare for that?

So far my preparation could be broken down into three categories of preparation: physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Physically:

How do you train for mountains and elevation changes in the midwest? The highest point in Minnesota is around 2,000 ft. That is the beginning elevation of the trail. #midwestproblems

Luckily Duluth has trails that go on for days. The Superior Hiking Trail is right near my home. I have found this to be great practice. I can walk on these and just get used to having a pack on my back and the feel of the trail on my feet. If I don't have time to go on a longer hike, I found that running up and down the hills of Duluth has been helpful.

Emily has a couple more mountains to climb near her in Montana, but she also has school. She has been running and hiking as well. Getting used to the gear and the idea of trail life.

Food is also a physical requirement. Emily did a great post about the food prep we have been doing!

Mentally:

I feel like I have been eating and breathing PCT knowledge for the longest time now. I have spent countless nights up late reading gear reviews and permit forms. In an effort to prepare to the best of my ability, I have tried to answer every question I can think of. Yogi's Guide book was a great help in helping me understand the basics of the PCT. It is a crash course in PCT knowledge. After that, blogs on blogs on blogs. Hearing from people that have experienced it is very helpful. Everyone has a different experience, so taking the pieces of information from all their experiences and trying to make it my own has been a journey. One review will say I live by this way of hiking, and another will discount it. The biggest lesson I learned is that you have to hike your own hike. Gain the basic knowledge, and then just listen to your body after that.

Emotionally:

Part of me thinks there is no real way to completely prepare for the range of emotions I will have. I have compared it to becoming a teenager again. Having this whole range of emotions that I have never really felt. From completely desolate to euphoric.

That being said, I have done my best. I have tried to prepare my family and friends as well. Letting them know of the plans, and help them gain the information necessary to understand this adventure. I have tried to prepare mentally and physically which helps emotionally.

I feel like emotionally just being open to what happens is what I find the most important. Understanding I am not in complete control, but I have to react to situations as they come.

This is where it has been so helpful to have someone to walk with. Emily has been a baller in helping me feel comfortable. By planning and just talking it all through together makes the journey of preparation a little less overwhelming.

"The best preparation for tomorrow, is to do your best today." -H. Jackson Brown

I find this quote comforting. Preparation has been going on for more than a half of a year now, and even though the gear is all in (or mostly) I still feel unprepared at times. I have hiked many miles to prepare. I have all my permits. What more could I need?

The answer is, there is always more. There always will be. I can't possibly completely prepare myself for everything, but that is part of the journey. It is a journey I am more than excited to begin. I think of preparation as I do of the actual PCT.

All I can do is just keep putting one foot in front of the other, and see where it takes me.

Food, Glorious Food

It's about that time. Food shopping time, that is.

This week is my spring break and I came home to work on the resupply boxes and food prep. Of all the things about PCT planning that worry me the most, food is number one.

There are so many factors that influence resupply prep. "Where are we sending our boxes? USPS or UPS? How much food should be in each box? When are we going to mail drop and when are we going to buy in town? What if I end up hating Snickers Bars??" The list of questions goes on and on.

Shelly and I started readying ourselves for the food planning process months ago. We spent long hours on Skype pouring over notes and Excel sheets in order to decide where we would mail and buy food. We originally set our sights on 24 mail drops (12 per person). Recently, we shaved that number down to about 20 mail drops which means less stress on ourselves and our wallets. After deciding where we were sending food we then turned to what we were going to eat. This is the part where it is very helpful to have a PCT veteran in your Skype contacts. Lizzy Corliss aka Laugh Track (who is hiking the AT right now) has been my PCT planning mentor since the beginning. If there is anyone you want on your support crew its Lizzy. That girl is oozing positivity and good vibes. She always has a smile on her face and she always is on the verge of laughter (hence her trail name Laugh Track). She has life figured out, that's for sure. I spent hours talking with Lizzy about food and finally I came up with a comprehensive list.

Next came the actual food shopping. I'll be honest, I don't like shopping unless it involves ski gear so I was not too excited about this part. So its no surprise that I just happened to grab a drink with a friend right before I did my Costco run (liquid courage for the win). My parents came with me to Costco to speed up the process. They watched as I dropped $315 on instant oatmeal, Snickers, granola, dried fruit, jerky, peanut butter pretzels, and more delicious bulk items. That trip was a no-nonsense, get-in-get-out Costco run - my kind of shopping.

Now I am dividing up food into boxes. This is the hardest part for me. I've never been good with estimating quantities and its no different with food rations. I don't know how much food to put in each box, heck I don't even know what I'm having for lunch today. Every time I go to put something in a flat rate box a little voice in my head asks "Is that enough? Do you want to starve?" What? No, I don't want to starve. But I don't want to break my back carrying 10 extra Almond Joys... And just like that I'm back on the struggle bus.

It is, however, getting easier. I'm pleased with the food I have picked out. I'm starting to get the hang of food distribution. My mom has also been very supportive throughout this process and I think that is helping keep my stress levels down. But mostly I'm coming to realize that whatever happens, happens. Shelly and I are PCT newbies and we are going to make mistakes. But that doesn't mean I should lose confidence in my planning abilities. I just need to do my best and hike my own hike.

-Emily

My hike sponsored by Goodwill.

As I began collecting gear for this trip, I saw my bank account drop. Dramatically. 

I am happy to put money into sleeping bags, stoves, or packs. They are a great investment. I can use them for trips after this. Clothes are a completely different story. I will probably not wear these after, when they smell to high heaven. So when I walked through REI and saw prices of $60-$90 a little tear formed in my eye, and my stubbornness kicked in.

I would thrift for all the clothes I could find.

Luckily, I have been training for this moment for years. My sisters taught me the tricks to thrifting at a young age, and I have honed those skills for years. I used REI's free internet to search for a thrift store. I struck gold.

Right around the block was a gem made for me. The goodwill that was organized with an activewear section. Thank God. I found two REI short sleeve shirts, two long sleeve shirts, and one pair of base layer pants. I got them all for $20. 

For some reason this really solidified my belief in the trip. Everyone says hike your own hike, but this was one of the first times I felt I was.

I continue to thrift and recently found my desert shirt. I will keep my eyes open, but I also realize some things are worth the money. It is always the balance of wallet vs quality.

Until next time, 

Shelly

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to our blog!

This is the place where you can see what Emily and I are up to on the trail. For now you can see how we are preparing.

Feel free to check out our pages about us, our gear, our food, and how you can join us!

We have spent months skyping, texting, and calling trying to plan what we have so far. We still have a ways to go, but things are coming together. The gear is coming in, the plans are being set, and it is becoming more and more real.

The next step. Learning how to blog. Like everything else it will take time to get perfect, but we hope this blog will serve as a way for you to walk with us. We also hope this blog will be a great piece for reflection at the end of this journey.

We look forward to you joining us on this adventure!

- E & S