pre-hike Dan pre-hike Dan

Preparation!

Gear, gear, and more gear.

Gear, gear, and more gear.

Obsessive. Preparedness is a state of mind. Getting the gear, food, water, and other logistical challenges for the PCT is a part time job, not even touching on training or actually doing the hike! Always I am cognizant of balancing cost with weight and size and necessity.

Lynne Whelden proposed the idea that packed weight is fear. Fear of wet, cold, sore feet, bears, hunger... one could apply the axiom to anything. 

I'm a gearhead, I'm thrifty, and I've walked more than a couple of miles with a backpack. But I haven't bought a new sleeping bag, backpack, hiking shoes, or jacket in a couple of years and my kit is a bit threadbare. Additionally, I'm trying to join the ultralight to light weight club, which means hiking with a base weight (everything I carry not including food and water) ringing in at a total of 10 to 20 lbs. Why is this difficult? My old sleeping bag = ~4 lbs, my old hiking pack = ~5 lbs, tent was ~4 lbs, and my boots were 1 lb apiece (that's 15lbs for four items!) so I've had to research new, lighter gear and become conservative about my packed weight economy.

I think I've invented to gear buying indexes. For example, using assigned scores to pick trail running shoes:

  • Total Cost = Cost of Shoes * (Total PCT Length / Projected Mileage per Pair of Shoe)
  • Score = ( Total Cost * Weight in Oz. ) ± Feature Factor   
    *Feature Factor is an attempt to give shoes with "exceptional breath-ability, comfort, good reviews" a subjective adjustment for the added value (from 0.00-1.00).

Did I use this when buying my trail runners? Hell no. My point is that switching from my old backpacking style to lightweight backpacking means that everything I carry must be justifiable to the ounce. The research can be fun, but has driven me a bit crazy. I think about why I really need anything at

There will be more posts on gear to come - what I'm bringing, why, what I'm not bringing - and our final gear list will be available (cant wait), but I want to share some references I've been using while I research and prepare for the PCT.

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Jonathan Jonathan

On personal safety

Of all the questions that people ask, one seems to be repeated more frequently then all the rest:

"Are you guys going to carry a gun?"

No. Simplest answer: guns weigh a lot. When embarking on a journey of this length, we plan to carry pretty much only that which is essential (except my camera). Every extra pound (even ounce) means more stress on our bodies and more calories to consume. A gun simply weighs us down. 

We are going to look like we're living out of backpacks - dirty, hairy, rough. We really don't have much to offer a potential robber (cept granola). Who would want to waste their time confronting us in the first place? I'm more concerned about bears and mosquitos than I am dangerous people. And no, a pistol isn't going to stop a bear either. 

More than any of that, though, I DON'T LIKE GUNS.  You may disagree with me politically. Deal with it.

Cheers,

Jonathan

I felt the need to weigh in on this. Will I carry a gun on the trail? As a lightweight hiker I will answer this question with another question from postholer.com, as follows:

"What serves me better, the extra weight of a gun or the extra weight of cookies?"

Edit: Not certain I'll carry bear mace either, really... so bulky...

Cheers!
Dan

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