Devil's in the Details

The Devil's in the Details

Well, ready or not, we leave for the hike in 2 days! We are greatly relieved to be down to tidying up the last few details before we go… and there have been so many details to accomplish. Between cooking, dehydrating, packaging and packing of food for 6 months, minor but multiple fix up projects to the house, getting together with beloved family and friends, endless gear runs to REI in Phoenix and The Summit Hut in Tucson, moving to Tucson, coordinating with friends who are taking care of pets and vehicles, the closing of accounts in one city and opening of accounts in a new city, and general myriad paperwork to go paperless- all designed to keep all the "plates" of our life spinning away while we are away…pause for a breath... that I can hardly believe we would even be aloud to leave at all!

Yet, ready or not, we leave for the hike in 2 days…YAY!!!

One of the fun things I did in personal preparation for our hike, was to simplify my morning routine. Since, carrying hair products anything more than a multipurpose shampoo/body soap was not an option, I opted for short and sassy! So, say hello to the new me; the hiker chick rock'n some "tude" on the trail this year!! A Big, Big Thank You to my long time hair stylist, Elle Harding at J Anthony's! Not to mention the fact that I'm now 1.7 ounces lighter…I know, that's kinda being a gram weenie, but hey! every little bit counts!

 

What's In A Name?

What's in a name, or in our case, a "trail name"?  According to The Pacific Crest Trail Hiker Glossary (yes there is one) the "trail name" is defined thus:   

A nickname used by a hiker. A trail name can be chosen by the hiker prior to the hike, but is considered more official if it is given to the hiker during the hike. A trail name often derives from an unusual, humorous or significant characteristic or event associated with the hiker. Sometimes it will derive from something the hiker says or something that is said to the hiker. A trail name is said to "stick" if the hiker accepts the trail name and other hikers begin to know him by that name. The tradition of using trail names started on the Appalachian Trail, and has spread to the Pacific Crest and Continental Divide Trails. 
 
Trail names tend to be unique to a particular hiker and are thought to be a better way of identifying a hiker than his given name (How many Johns are on the trail at any one time?) or a description (The tall skinny guy with the shaggy beard and muscular legs. He was wearing a polyester T-shirt, nylon shorts and a backpack. Last I saw him, he was walking north.)

So…what's in a trail name? A lot, sometimes, or perhaps only chance and a funny joke.  In my case, I have already given a fair amount of thought to what I want to achieve from this hike concerning my own personal growth, but I'm sure I will learn things I have never dreamt.  This is why I've taken as my personal muse- little fat birds. 

Just to be clear…"yes", I do realize that "What the heck?" would be a perfectly reasonable response, and "no", I'm not obsessed about my weight.  In fact, the birds aren't even fat, but they look fat and puffed out when they are happy and carefree. I'm sure they have stress in their lives but  they enjoy the moment rather than stress on the future.  I would love to learn to be like that!  So, I think I shall be known as Fat Bird.  (Thanks to Flaviano at True Art Jewelers who made me a "Fat Bird" charm for my necklace)

Be as  bird perched on a frail branch that she feels bending beneath her,

Still she sings away, all the same, knowing she has wings!

-Victor Hugo

SNOW TRAINING...

 Here are some photos from a little hike we took while on our anniversary trip to the east coast.  This was in Shanandoah National Park 2 days after the big, Jan 21st, snow storm that hit D.C.

Here are a few shots we took while walking around D.C. in the storm on Jan 21st...

Shake Down Cruise

ROBIN- Warming my toes on the 1st morning

Dec 2 morning

Our first night was interesting. The sleeping bag, which weighs in at 1 1/2 lbs kept us pretty warm but the poor dog was cold and there wasn't room to fit him under it as well. In the end I tied the arms of my down jacket around his neck... that seemed to work. Pretty impressive since the temp inside the tent was 28 degrees!

The morning was another story.  Although wood was abundant, it was mostly green.  Seems a great flood had gone thru at some point. Our morning fire was bought with a price, Gregg caught a bit of wood in his eye which made him bleed from his eye ball...the sight was impressive so I took a pic!

Right now I'm warming my frozen toes and Gregg and Hobbs are off taking pictures, I haven't looked lately but my butt still feels like its 28 degrees... I'm going to warm it now...

The Calorie Gambit

One of the perplexing little tid-bits, we have discovered on some of our other hikes, is that we usually burn more calories that either of us can carry or consume on the trail.  Bottom line, we lose weight. 

Those of you who know us, realize that this is a potentially hazardous scenario.  I weigh in at a whopping 135lbs soaking wet.  When I completed the John Muir Trail in 2000, I walked into the nearest diner in Lone Pine weighing 127lbs.

Walking burns calories.  Walking with a back pack...up and down hills, burns more.  Carrying the food to replace those calories...more still.  At some point the returns diminish, and, well, you get the picture.

I looked up a quick calculator on a web site called Nutrition Data

Walking our dog, Hobbs for 30 minutes, I would burn about 2600 calories

Jogging for that same 30 minutes, I would burn about 2800. 

Hiking the PCT, which adds up to about 500 minutes per day of hiking...about 7000. 

The formula  essentially comes down to how many calories & vitamins and how much protein can we carry with as little weight as possible.  I made a chart.  I wanted to be able to compare calorie and protein counts between many varying items, and then be able to attach a weight to them. The last two columns show Calories & Protein / ounce of weight for some common snack foods we plan on using to replace all those calories. 

Gear...Gear...aaaand...more Gear

The first stage of logistics for this trek has been a three month process of buying, returning, buying, selling, buying, buying...you get the picture.  It has been over 12 years since we have seriously re-tooled any of our gear.  Truth is most of it is still going strong.   It's just heavy.  Our bodies are pushing 50, so we figured going lighter would probably be a good thing.

Our base weight with our old gear (not including food and water)...30+ pounds.   After our gear extravaganza, 16 ... yes, pounds.  Add 3 days worth of food and some water and we are up to about 22lbs.

I'll be posting more about this in the next week or so.  We found some pretty cool stuff and met some awesome people who helped us figure it all out.