PCT Day 2

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PCT Day 2, 14 May 2022 (Saturday)

Season 1, Episode 2 - “The One That Was Better Than Yesterday”

Start Location:	Lake Morena	Destination:	Mount Laguna
PCT Miles Day 2:	21.5	Cum PCT Miles:	41.5
Non-PCT Miles Day 2:	0.8	Cum All Miles:	43.7
PCT Miles Remaining:	2,611.1
Elevation Gain Day 2:	3,948	Cum Elevation Gain:	6,480

Surprisingly, I actually woke up feeling fairly good. I guess all the liquids I drank at the end of the day yesterday absorbed into my body. Today was another very hot day, in the 90s, it was also a slightly longer mileage day. But, it didn’t seem nearly as bad as yesterday. Even though today also had greater elevation gain, I think the biggest difference was that there were good sources of water along the way. I drank at least twice as much water on trail today as I did yesterday. I cruised at a pretty good pace the last few miles into Mount Laguna, so that’s a good sign. It’s another long day tomorrow, we’ll see how it goes.




Just a bit further to go (though it's really 2,632 miles)



Morena Buttes, left, and Corte Madera. These are good day hikes in San Diego County.



First under the bridge walk, Buckman Springs Rd.

15:55 minutes per mile and a 104 heart rate, that's what I like to see.  Gotta love the flat spots.



This is the kind of day where rattlesnakes like to shimmy into the short shade of the shrubs and grass. And sure enough, this juvenile southern pacific rattler appeared near the end of the day. It was courteous enough to warn me with a juvenile rattle.



It feels good to be in the mountains.



Call me a wimp , but this is where I stayed on my second night. It actually makes it easier to get an early start on Sunday.

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PCT Day 1

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PCT Day 1, 13 May 2022 (Friday)

Season 1, Episode 1 - "The One Where Dan Starts Hiking"

Start Location:	Campo, CA	Destination:	Lake Morena
PCT Miles Day 1:	20	Cum PCT Miles:	20
Non-PCT Miles Day 1:	1.4	Cum All Miles:	21.4
PCT Miles Remaining:	2,632.6
Elevation Gain Day 1:	2,532	Cum Elevation Gain:	2,532

First of all, I'd like to thank Randy L. for the ride to Campo. And thanks to Pam R. for coming along to see me off. 

I am posting this on Monday, May 16 because this is the first connection I’ve had in four days.  The Wi-Fi connection I have is pretty bad so this is probably going to look messy.

Ok, so far, so good…kind of.  My goal was to hike 20 miles to Lake Morena in 9 hours.  But that’s when I thought it was going to be 85 degrees. It ended up being at least 95 degrees, so it took a bit longer…it took 9 hours and 7 minutes.  There also was no water on the trail today (there was water off the trail, but it would've been three total miles to get to the water and back to the trail).  I was definitely tired when I got to camp.  Everyone I saw today was suffering, and for many of them, it was actually their second day on trail.

 

The truth is today was kind of brutal.  From Mile 15-18 there is a pretty difficult climb out of Hauser Canyon.  On paper it doesn't look that hard, but when you've already hiked 15 miles in extreme heat on the first day of the PCT, you are low on water, and there is almost no place to hide from the blazing sun, those three miles going up the canyon are punishing.  I was around a bubble of about a dozen hikers--all much younger than me--and everyone going up the canyon was stopping for mini breaks about every 1/3 mile, or whenever they could find sufficient shade under a larger rock, which was rare.

I passed several, seemingly not very fit, hikers throughout the day that I was sure would end their PCT hike either today or in the next several days.  Hiking long miles in hot weather with little water is not easy, even for very fit hikers.  After watching videos and reading blogs/journals/posts, people are enticed by the allure and adventure of hiking the PCT, but easily underestimate the physical difficulty of hiking in these conditions.  The few really despondent looking hikers I saw today, definitely were not prepared.

 

While trying to sleep, I had pretty severe calf, hamstring, thigh, and abdominal muscle cramps.  A sure sign I got dehydrated today, although, after getting to Lake Morena, I did drink about a gallon of water and soda at the Oak Shores Malt Shop.  All in all, it’s the kind of day that makes every first time long-distance hiker ask two inevitable questions: What the heck am I doing and was this the best decision?

At the PCT Southern Terminus in Campo, CA



Pam and Randy



The obligatory and iconic Mile 1 marker. If you don’t take this picture PCTA will revoke your long-distance hiking permit… But somehow, I managed to botch this pic.



The, also, obligatory Mile 3 photo indicating you are right on track.

Still not lost



Is that me after only 12 miles, or is it the smell of burnt Manzanita? My finger is pointing at you Manzanita.



Typical Day 1 trail



Landscape on the way to Lake Morena

BTW: I am updating this blog using only my cell phone, so please excuse any typos and formatting messiness. I debated a bit about how best to keep a PCT journal, and decided creating my own website using Google's free Blogger tool was what gave me the most flexibility to create a blog that would be organized and, hopefully, easy to follow. Since I'm not trying to make any money on this blog, I didn't really want to pay for something more professional like WordPress. While Instagram is easy to use, I couldn't really organize it the way I wanted. I wanted to use the Trailjournals.com website, but it's way too hard to add photos using a phone, or for that matter even, a desktop computer. So, my conclusion was that a messy, unprofessional website of my own creation was the best option. Hey, don't let perfect be the enemy of good enough.

 

L

I'm Supposed To Update My Blog Using This?

 

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PCT Preparation

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Early Preparation:

I Didn't Know It Then (~1974), But I Was Training For The PCT At An Early Age

 

Getting Fit Again:

While on a long hike on a very hot day in Utah in the Summer of 2014, I experienced an intense heat exhaustion experience, that was probably borderline heat stroke.  I realized I just wasn't fit enough to do hikes like that in remote areas.  When I returned home, I changed my diet and started going to the gym and doing hard workouts 4-5 times/week.  Then I started adding some trail running to my day hikes.  The first time, I think I could only manage about a half mile going down hill.  A couple years later I was able to do a 30 mile, unsupported trail run.  In early 2020, I was feeling very fit and ready to start on the PCT.

 

While I tried to stay fit during the COVID lockdowns, not being able to go the gym definitely had a negative effect.  It confirmed for me the benefits and synergy of doing varied workouts.   I'm finally almost back to where I was two years ago, definitely (hopefully) ready to knockout 20+ mile days on the PCT.

 

Specifics:

I do a variety of workouts and push myself pretty hard, but because I'm middle-aged I listen to my body and go easier on days when my body and energy levels aren't in the mood to get a participation trophy.  My overall philosophy is strain, not pain.  Below are the things I do pretty much every week:

1.  Stretch - every day 
   
2.  Treadmill
   
3.  Eliptical
4.  Spin bike
5.  Stairmaster
   
6.  Weights
7.  Various types of pull-ups
8.  Push-ups
9.  Various abs
10.  Fast, flat run - 8-14 miles
11.  Alternate between hiking (including hikes with a weighted pack) and trail running - 9-18 miles
12.  Rest Day
    

Other Preparation:

Besides fitness, there a lots of other things to do before starting a long-distance hike.  There are many, many online sources these days, so a simple web search will bring up more information than you could ever use.  A few things I focused on are:

• Trail research - every trail is different, I think it's important to understand what you are likely to encounter on different sections of the trail.  You also need to continually be aware of trail closures and conditions (the recent closure of the Tuolumne Meadows campsite forced me to change my plan to stay there and had a ripple effect on my plans for multiple days).
  
• "Leave No Trace" awareness (https://lnt.org/).
  
• Permits (https://www.pcta.org/discover-the-trail/permits/).
  
• Total weight strategy - do you care about being ultralight or not, this will influence many of your other decisions.
  
• Gear.
• Socks and shoes - it should be obvious that you only want to use socks and shoes that you know work for you.
• Clothes - I had the hardest time deciding on whether to bring separate shorts and long pants; to save weight and space I finally decided on a pair of Columbia convertibles.
• Food - sounds simple, but it's not easy to figure this out.
• Water - how much capacity do you need for different sections, will you purify or not, and if so, what purification method to use.
• Resupply strategy - Send boxes, direct shipping by retailer (e.g. Amazon or REI), buy in town, or a mix of all.
  
• Trail town lodging - are there any reservations that should be made in advance, what are the best options in each town.
  
• Navigation tools.
• Electronics - what devices to bring and what do you need to keep them charged.
  
• Transportation plans - trail towns are often many miles from the trail.  Also, how will you get to/from the trail termini (with the Canadian border still closed to hikers, this somewhat complicates getting back to civilization after touching the northern border).
  
• Mental - many experienced long-distance hikers believe proper mental preparation is the most important element to completing a hike.  For those that feel it would be helpful, there are many books on this topic.  For me, I felt that a lifetime of being stubborn, and the discipline needed to get and stay very fit, was all the mental preparation I needed.
  

 

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PCT Overview

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Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) Overview

The official PCT is, according to Halfmile mapping data, a 2,652.6 mile trail stretching from the border of Mexico in California to the border of Canada in Washington.  It is one of eleven National Scenic Trails, and the 3rd longest of the NSTs (https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationaltrailssystem/national-scenic-trails.htm).  The actual mileage one will hike varies throughout time, depending on trail closures, detours, alternates, and other changes to the trails' routing.  There are multiple alternates that hikers can take vs. staying on the "official" PCT that hardcore purists will stick to.  Some alternate sections are shorter and some longer than the official PCT.

The PCT is divided into five regions: Southern CA (popularly called the desert section), Central CA (popularly called the Sierra--often, and incorrectly, called "Sierras"), Northern CA, Oregon, and Washington.  Each Region is further broken into Sections.  CA has 18 sections, OR 6, and WA 5, with some minor overlap between each state.  There are generally two types of long-distance hikers, Thru Hikers and Section Hikers.  My goal is to be a thru hiker and complete the entire PCT in a single hiking season, in one continuous attempt.

 

As the name suggests, the PCT generally runs along the high crests of the many mountain ranges in California, Oregon and Washington, but especially the Sierra and Cascade mountain ranges.  Contrary to the name, there are also many miles in the desert, and other dry, low areas that connect the ranges, especially in Southern CA.

 

For a really good description of the PCT, see this blog entry: https://www.trailjournals.com/journal/entry/646890.

For a nice, fairly brief overview of the five major regions of the PCT, see this U.S. Forest Service website: https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/pct/home/?cid=stelprdb5304733.

For  more on the history of the PCT, see this page on the PCTA website: https://www.pcta.org/about-us/history/.

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