Danny's Excellent Adventures: PCT

Showing posts with label PCT. Show all posts

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Conquer your Fears

Fear sometimes is all in your mind. Fears are only conquered if you confront them. You will see that it was not that bad at all. Of course having said, I started to think about my own fears and the fears of hiking the PCT. Here are a few.
1. If one of my re-supply package did not get into one of my supply town or got lost. How many days would I have to wait.
2. Getting massively lost and way out of the trail.
3. Hitch hiking into town with some baddies that will have some not so good intentions.
4. Slipping on a slippery slope and missing the trails.
5. Confronting a bear again and getting attached again.
6. Rattle snakes, rattle snakes and more rattle snakes.
7. Starving to death.
8. Not finding water
9. Stuck in a snow storm for days.
10. Getting injuried without a way to get out.
11. Liking the wilderness sooo much, that I would not want to come back to civilization again.
12. Dehydration in the Navajo dessert
After all this, I am still excited about the notion of hiking the PCT. In fact if I had enough time off and money, I would go for the triple crown and do all of them, PCT, CDT and AT.

Later

Saturday, January 5, 2008

PCT Map

Here I am posting the full map of the PCT trail. Imagine hiking all that. This would be the ultimate adventure for sure.

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Psychology of PCT hike

How can you describe the psychological factors a person must prepare for.... the despair, the alienation, the anxiety and especially the pain, both physical and mental, which slices to the very heart of the hiker's volition, which are the real things that must be planned for? No words can transmit those factors, which are more a part of planning than the elementary rituals of food, money and equipment, and how to get them.

--Jim Podlesney, in Pacific Crest Hike Planning Guide

Why Hike the PCT?

I have been asked several times as to why do I want to do this hike. This is why:
It is obvious the physical fitness that one achieves on a long hike. Your body knows to become efficient during long term walks and hikes. Your body will compensate and adjust and become more efficient. After weeks of hiking, those miles will seem like nothing.
The Mental fitness also comes with a shedding of the stress and pressure of modern life. Self confidence and self knowledge grow with the journey, leading to a wonderful sense of well being and the feeling that anything is possible. All this works in combination of course.
Some of the attraction of this simple life lies in its immediacy, in the fact that you live only in the present or the very near future. What matters comes down to how far you will walk that day, where you will camp, where the next water is, where you will stop for a rest or a snack. With life reduced, literally, to walking pace, anything more then a few hours ahead is too far in the future to worry about.
Part of the pleasure of simplicity lies in the satisfaction of being self-reliant, of carrying everything I need on my back. It may be only a relatively short time between each resupply point, but for that period I am self-sufficient dependent on no one but myself. This is significant, too. On a long distance hike you are in control of your life. No external schedules or demands impose on your time; no one controls what you do and when you do it. It is up to you how you plan and carry out your hike.
The act and art of camping are important, too. There is a simple delight in creating a temporary home every day in a different place, in knowing you can make a comfortable, habitable space in a few minutes, a space where you can cook, eat and keep warm, and sleep protected from bad weather. There is also joy in the freedom of not having to reach a certain destination, in carrying your house on your back, able to set it down when and where you choose. Like they say it is not the destination but the journey. You also hike your hike.

Friday, December 28, 2007

New PCT Atlas

Found a great site that provides you with PCT Atlas of every section. This is exactly what I have been looking for. Excellent site

http://www.pctatlas.com/

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Does this not inspire you

Wow, what a picture. This is along the PCT

Other PCT Hiker's Journal

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

What is PCT?

I have been asked to explain what is this thing that I want to do. First, I am not going to do this anytime in the near future, but will attempt to do this within 2 or 3 years. It is a trip of a lifetime for sure.

The Pacific Crest Trail winds it way for 2,658 miles through California, Oregon and Washington.
Beginning at the Mexican border, the trail passes through the sky islands and desert valleys of southern California, climbs into the majestic granite pinnacles of the Sierra Nevadas, swings briefly west into the Klamath Mountains, then follows the string of Cascadian volcanoes north to Canada.
It passes through more than two-dozen national forests, seven national parks and 33 wildernesses before reaching its northern terminus at the border of Manning Provincial Park, British Columbia, Canada.

Monday, December 24, 2007

A Blistered kind of love Book

I just bought this book that chronicals a couple hike through the PCT.

Here is the review from Amazon.com

The 20-something Ballards alternate chapters to detail their 2,655-mile backpacking trek along the Pacific Crest Trail, starting at the U.S./Mexico border and ending in Canada. Angela, an advertising copywriter, is a novice hiker, while Duffy, a pre-med student, is more experienced. Inspired by William R. Gray's The Pacific Crest Trail, the Ballards spend eight months planning and set out; ahead lie three states, three national monuments, seven national parks, 24 national forests and 33 federally mandated wildernesses. They describe the journey's physical, emotional and logistical aspects, including their pre-trip planning, their family's reactions and what they learn about each other along the way. (They marry at trip's end.) The macho couple doesn't want to waste time enjoying the scenery or napping in the sun-their goal is to complete the entire trail, which they do in 132 days. Says Angela upon reaching central Oregon's Crater Lake, "I yearned to find a sheltered cove of grass where I could enjoy the sunset and subsequent sunrise over the lake, stare into the blueness and enjoy a warm mug of hot chocolate." Instead, as usual, "we were tugged by the call of miles." The recommended reading list and numerous practical tips on gear, trail food, first aid and terrain will be a boon to those attempting the Ballards' feat themselves. But less hardy souls may be discouraged from doing so. As the adventurers state in the epilogue, "our trail life wasn't all sunsets, starry nights and self development. Sweat, stench, gritty skin, and exhaustion killed many otherwise profound moments." Map.

http://www.amazon.com/Blistered-Kind-Love-Couples-Barbara/dp/0898869021

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Pacific Trail Hike Link

I found this very cool website that journals a couple who just got married and decided to do the PCT. The website is full of usefull and interesting info on hiking the PCT.

Check it out when you get a chance

http://pct-hike.randsco.com/

One day, I would love to do this hike. All I can do now is plan and dream about it.