PCT Winter Traverse
Last Minute Scramble
Sunday, October 19, 2014
This is always the part of the hike that I enjoy the least. Seemingly no matter how much you try and plan ahead and prepare in advance, every trip always comes down to the ‘last minute scramble’. Trauma and I have both affectionately referred to this phenomenon over the years and can’t believe its happening yet again. It seems increasingly so on our preparations for this trip since both of our busy work scheduled prevented any formal planning in person ahead of time. Gear and food that we had both ordered weeks ago has laid dormant until now for these final days of sorting, weighting, modifying and packaging. The tick list of things to accomplish is a balancing act of one step forward and two steps back.
One major development over the last week has been our decision to switch directions and go southbound. We’ve fiercely debated which way to travel since the day the seed was planned to undertake the trip. So much more on this trip, everything will revolve around the weather and playing the guessing game on how storms will progress throughout the entire winter. It feels at times like a decision that could make or break the trip.
Conditions are wet and cold for sure in Washington at the moment. Snow has been putting a dusting on higher elevations for the last week. Not the best way to ‘ease’ into the trip. We are hedging our bets that if we can preserver through a few weeks of miserable cold an wet now it will be better than coming through Washington in the middle of winter when storms and avalanche conditions can be persistent. Our mantra for going southbound will be knowing that we are heading towards the desert. Warm, snow-free miles can be a thing of beauty when you are walling in waist deep powder. Every step south gets us to sunny Socal.
Other things on the to-do list revolve around the endless sorting of gear and food. Most of Oregon and Washington rely on prearranged mail drops for food, and even some of the better resupply locations with large supermarkets may be hindered by road closure and nightmarishly long hitches (in the rain, no doubt)
Up to my elbows in seam sealer. The final touches on the MLD Cuben Mids and eVent Rain Mitts. We’ll be using the Duomid when conditions are bad and the Super Mid when conditions are BADer-er-er-er.
Boxing up 2 states worth of resupplies. We’ll be sending ourselves staples from KIND, Sweetwood Jerky, Justin’s Peanut Butter, Larabar and Probar, along with our maps. The rest we will ship or purchase from the trail to add variety and convenience.
For those interested in viewing either of our gear or food strategies, below is a link with a detailed spreadsheet explaining both. We will also be tracking our progress through the DeLORME inReach. We will be flying out tomorrow afternoon and hopefully stepping foot on the trail sometime on the 22nd. Forecast looks like snow, snow, snow! Guess we’ll be packing the snowshoes to start!
Packing up all of the needed maildrops for the start in Washington and Oregon. Is it normal to know what you are going to eat a month from now?
