Resupply and Prep – Mexico to Canada 2023 (and beyond)

Packing Up For Tahoe

July 12, 2024Ian

July 11, 2024

I spent today packing up my gear and laying out my food for the next week that I will be spending in the Lake Tahoe area. My plan is to take two days on Friday and Saturday participating in a Trail Maintenance course near Truckee, put on by the Pacific Crest Trail Association (PCTA), and then hike Section K of the PCT starting on Monday morning.

For those who don’t know, the PCT is divided into sections in each state. A, B, C, etc, going from south to north. I am going southbound (Sobo) this time, but I incidentally picked a start and end point that are exactly the boundaries of Section K in California. For me, that means Donner Peak (Interstate 80) near Truckee down to Echo Summit (near South Lake Tahoe). Total mileage is right at about 65 miles.

There is a fire about 12 miles to the west of the beginning of my trail right now (Royal Fire), but the US Forest Service and firefighters have done a phenomenal job so far of keeping it contained to only a couple of hundred acres. Hoping that the wind and weather cooperate over the weekend and the PCT stays unaffected. Worst case scenario, I could probably pivot and hike part of the Tahoe Rim Trail going east, but we’ll get to that if need be.

As I said, I went over inventory and laid out my food plans today. This section of the trail requires a bear canister, by law. Basically, it’s a big plastic can filled with your food that you place a couple hundred yards from your tent when you sleep at night, instead of keeping it all in your tent like in non-bear country (debateable).

I’m guessing it’s actually a bit too much food, but we shall see. Very excited about those Walking Tamales. It’s a different thing having to fit everything into a bear canister at night and you also have to put in any toiletries, sunblock, lip balm, etc. Anything that has a scent.

So here’s my bear canister, minus a couple of items I will buy in Truckee that will make up most of my dinners (tortillas, salami, and cheese). 8.13 pounds, so far. I’m going stove-less this hike and am very excited to not have to worry about the excruciating minutiae of dealing with cooking at the end of a long day. I will eat my bars and tortillas and trail mix and be very happy.

I am typing this as I wait for my final load of laundry to be done (I won’t have a shower for 7 days after tomorrow morning) and then it’s into the mountains! It will be interesting going solo, knowing it’s only going to be for 5 days this time. I am looking forward to seeing how I react mentally. I’m going to try and only average 10-13 miles a day, so I should be able to take my time.

I will do my best to blog from the trail, but if nothing else, I will get everything up when I get back next weekend. I’m also going to try and video a lot.

Hike on!

San Diego

April 24, 2023April 24, 2023Ian

Sunday, April 23, 2023

Edit: Disclaimer – Since I am going to start posting regularly from trail now, I wanted to take a minute and say thank you to all who have followed so far. This will be a very personal blog and my goal is to show the good, the bad, and the ugly. There will be cursing. There will be crying. There will be laughing. You have to show all of the experience and that’s what I intend to do. Fair warning.

I hit the trail tomorrow morning. We flew into San Diego on Friday and have spent a couple of days enjoying the weather and the sights. Courtney and both sets of our parents flew out to take me to the southern terminus and see me off on this journey.

We went to REI on Saturday to get fuel for my stove (and of course a couple of other things because I can’t just buy one thing there) and saw the shuttle that takes hikers from San Diego to the southern terminus. Apparently they run a few times a day.

We also drove out to Point Loma and the Cabrillo National Monument to get another stamp for our national park stamps collection. Great views of San Diego across the water and some old lighthouse history.

Also went to La Jolla and saw some sea lions and a random McClaren at a car show.

Anyway, I’m all packed for a 6am leave time from San Diego tomorrow morning and hoping to actually hit the trail around 7:30 or 8. Let’s do this!

Resupply Hell

April 14, 2023April 14, 2023Ian

Friday, April 14, 2023

I’ve spent the morning prepping breakfasts and dinners. I did around 25 of each, plus a few freeze dried meals and I’ll figure out on trail whether I want to keep getting stuff sent from home or if I can mainly resupply in towns. I’m sure it will end up being a mix of both and I’ll figure it out eventually.

It’s fairly chaotic, at least a little more than I would like, but realistically, there’s no way to get it right before the trail. Trial and error baby!

Now I get to start dividing them into resupply boxes.

Also, I did the obligatory full gear layout pic yesterday.

I fly to San Diego a week from today!

Rainy Day Resupply Prep

April 7, 2023April 19, 2023Ian

Friday, April 7, 2023

It has literally been raining for two straight days. We need it here in Texas, so I’m not super complaining. I was supposed to hike 2 miles yesterday for my endurance training, so that got re-directed to the Peloton, but at least I’m not on trail yet where I’d have to hike in the rain anyway.

I’ve spent the week buying all kinds of food and bits of gear from Amazon and Costco. I also simplified my resupply plan at the beginning of the trail. Not including specialty gear drops like ice axe/microspikes at Idyllwild and new shoes at Wrightwood, I’m only going to have to send three or possibly four actual resupply boxes until Kennedy Meadows at the base of the Sierra. The trail towns have gotten so good with hiker resupply now, there’s really no need to prep all your boxes ahead of time like you would have done maybe 10 years ago.

Costco purchases – I will never run out of ziplocs

I am also sending a bounce box with all my luxury toiletries, hair clippers, town clothes, etc. I will first pick this up in Julian and then bounce it along to other towns along the trail as I go.

Here’s my resupply hell right now. I will organize more this coming week, but right now it’s all just in a pile.

And for good measure, here’s my gear room.

To be fair, I’m only using about 10% of the gear in that photo. There’s actually a method to that madness and I can pack my full pack in there in about 5 minutes.

Anyway, this next week is all about organizing and prepping resupply. It will come together!