Prep #12 -- Palm Sunday -- A Long Walk to ...

FUNDRAISING

Thanks to Olivet Lutheran Church which permitted me to set up a display between services about 'Hiking for Recovery.' Very excitedly, H4R received 11 new donors and $301 dollars. Not suprisingly, some money came in under "Super- Secret Donors," i.e. $ was tossed into the donor bin without a donor cards. So I've counted all loose money as one donor (Hey I want to reach my donor goal of 150).

The night prior I finished up a display board. Infromation was included about the Al Forthan Memorial Scholarship Fund and the PCTA. Also I divided up samples for Bob's Red Mill 10-Grain Cereal and packed a knife and toothpick to give samples of LaraBars away too.

Prep # 11 -- Mixed Bag

Feelings:

Someone recently asked how I was feeling about this upcoming hike. After purchasing my ticket to San Diego for April 14 and now with plans to step foot on the trail 17 /18th, I'm feeling a little unsettled. With the Hiking For Recovery work, I've made more effort than ever to tell people about my plans. As a result I've built up an image of certain completion (or at least a projection of mine that I put onto others). Now I'm nervous. I have gone through transitions before and recognize my feelings uncertainty accompanies a new big thing. Therefore, I don't wrestle with theses feelings. Also I'm hopeful that my 'projection' of completion, will aid me in the guise of support when I do want to quite after a week(s) of loneliness or wet feet.

Prep #10 -- How do you Eat & What?

Q& A

I forget that I been thinking about the PCT for a while plus I have the experience of thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail. Thus, I forget others don't understand some of the details of day to day life on the trail. And to alleviate this asymmetry of information, I'm going to go over the concept of eating along the PCT experience.

Scenario: Hiking 20+ miles a day six days a week. Burning approx 4000+ cal a day. How do I get the fuel to keep going? One way to think of thru hike's logistics and efforts is that the 2650 miles will be broken up into a series of 3, 6 or upto10 day back to back to back to back to back ..... sections. At each of this new sections, I will either go into a town to buy food (hitch in and hitch out in one day) or possible take a break in town (more on this later down).

A typical menu might looks a follows (especially first 400 + miles of desert hiking)

• 5 am pre breakfast snack -- Protein Bar (I like Cliff bars - Peanut butter crunch)
• Sunrise breakfast --- Oatmeal or Bob's Red Mill 10 -grain cereal plus honey, raisins and maybe Olive Oil (a.k.a magic)
• Morning Snack 1- 3 -- eat protein bar or snickers bar each hour until lunch.
• Lunch and Shade (?) Break -- p.b.&j tortillas with raisins and honey. cheese and whole wheat crackers. Nuts / Legumes. Plus, a mix drink of electrolyte replacement or protein powder
• Break ends 3/4 ish
• Dinner -- hopefully near a water source. Cook up dinner of some Lipton Side / Tuna Packet / Instant Potato / Or Lentils and Curry concoction with Garlic (whatever I was able to find at the last trail town really). --- ADD OLIVE OIL
• Keep Hiking until dusk
• Pre camp set up & Bed time (8 /9 pm) - Amino Vital - replacement energy mix drink.

Olive Oil (magic) is the best attempt to keep calorie intake up on trail. Olive Oil is 100 cal for 1 fl. oz and weighs less than 1.0 oz. Great bang for your buck and pack weight

I might be able to pack a few fruit / vegetables from town for day 1/ 2 which will give me essential nutrients better than my pill pile of multivitamins, glucosamine chondrotin, Vit -e and others.

Another option, (which I'm still weighing the financial and logical cost of ) is to buy the best Bar (IMHO) on the Market -- REBAR the "original" taste fantastic and as 6 servings of Fruit and/or veggies.


New day, repeat.

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Then in town gorge on vegetables and carbs trying to make up for the calorie deficit created while hiking.
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Also while in town, I might spend a night in a bed (gasp!) and do laundry, make some phone calls and the likes, resting body and mind. Surprisingly long distance hiking is quite tiring. No, really exercising all day, day in and day out takes it toll. Then mix in the whole bag of emotions which are extra sensitive when the body is depleted and tired and then a nice 'sabbath' is well worth the $ of town (i.e. town is wallet sink hole). So maybe taking a few day off wouldn't do me much harm, physically, mentally, spiritually and emotionally, but fiscally?!?!. I like the following reference point that in a typical 5 month period there are approx. 42 weekend days. I guess it will be okay to take a break. However, I most likely won't take that much time off.

Prep #9 - Data torture

Tearing apart money. Well that was a weird feeling.

Am I evening going to use this stuff?

Oh, what am I talking about. I'm talking about the process of tearing my YOGI HANDBOOK, GUIDEBOOKS and DATA BOOK into sections for lighter travel. I offered my frugal wallet-mind relief that if I didn't read all this material it was a worthy insurance policy.

Sad news is that my 26 old eyes may have to bring their glasses if I want to read on this hike. I didn't take my glasses four years ago on my AT hike.

I am focusing my energies next on nutrition. How to I best replenish energy after 20 miles of desert hiking? How can I keep variety in my diet when resupply grocery stores are modest sized and often in culinary conservative areas?
caseyonpct.blogspot.com
I am created for happiness and joy; To deny myself joy & peace is to deny God's gift and therefore deny the giver.

Prep #8 -- Bob's Red Mill

SUPPORT: Thanks to Bob's Red Mill for donating 160 servings of 10-GRAIN CEREAL. I have enjoyed this cereal on past adventures. I am excited to have a bulk of my breakfasts on the trail be so highly nutritious as Bob's 10-GRAIN CEREAL. One of my greatest efforts for this PCT hike will be to eat healthier and more mindfully then I did on my AT thru-hike in 2004. As trail breakfasts go Bob's 10-GRAIN CEREAL is one of the best options: Low travel weight, great taste, nutritious, and easily adaptable for variety (honey, molasses, dried fruit, etc.) and cooks easily with just water.

To explain this donors contribution let me tell a bit of my efforts. In addition to asking everyone to donated to Al Forthan Scholarship Fund, I wrote letters to some of my favorite product manufacturers. I thought I might get some in-kind gifts and allow myself to focus more on Hiking for Recovery (H4R). I have a few more letters out there and I'll see how things wrap up i in the end. I am very grateful for everyone contribution to my two loves. Change (i.e. the work of the MRC and Al Forthan Scholarship Fund) and the Outdoors.

Fundraising: I recently have expanded my fundraising efforts. Part of the reason I'm fundraising is to connect people. Simply having a financial goal doesn't necessarily encourage a large quantity of donors. So now in addition to my $1.00 per mile goal, I'm hoping to get one donor per day. That is approximately 150 donors one for each of day of my five months I plan to be on the PCT. (Tell your friends quickly)

Personal: The weekend of 2/8-10 took me to Chicago on a last minute trip (4.5hour drive) to visit my roommate from JVC in Portland as he was visiting the Windy City. Bernie decided to travel back to Ohio with me and spend the week travelling NW OHIO and SE MI. I didn't get much work done on the PCT planning. However I had a delightful time reconnecting with my beloved friend.

Prep #7 -- What about the PCT?

Next week's post: Highlights I look forward e.g. potential 30 mile side trip to summit Mt.Adams in WA. and small towns such as Stehekin on Lake Chelan in WA.

Overview of hike
To fit into a weather window which considers water supply in the deserts of s. California, snow melt in the Sierra Range and first snows of fall in the Northern Cascades (WA), I have approximately 5 months to hike the entire distance of the PCT. Sometimes this windows makes me a bit nervous. Can I pull the miles? Will my body be agreeable with the demands necessary to meet this schedule?

Leaving the Mexico Border near Campo,CA and heading north in late April. My daily mileage will hang near 20 + to get from water supply to water supply and I need to carry 6L with me between caches. For those who don't hike, 6L is a burden of 12 lbs. and approximately 4 more L than I've carried on other trips (because refilling more often was an option).

Along the distance of the trail, I will hitch into small towns to resupply with food, clean up and refuel (gorging to make up for an on trail calorie deficit). These resupply points are at different distances through-out my planned hike. Approximatly every 4-5 days, I'll pick up new food and fuel. In some towns, I'll rest my weary mind and body in a real bed and shower more than once. YEH. (when I hike the AT, showering was the pleasure I enjoyed most in town).

Repeating this process 25-30 times and I've cover 150 days of travel and the entire trail. The US border meets Canada along the PCT in the Middle of nowhere, so I'll hike an additional 8+ miles to a small town and bus to Vancouver, B.C. Then bus to Seattle and make my way to somewhere else.

Overview of the Pacific Crest Trail (2650 +miles)
The following information was taken from
The Pacific Crest Trail Association

More information about PCT in: Southern CA, Central CA, Northern CA, Oregon, Washington

"Zigzagging its way from Mexico to Canada through California, Oregon and Washington the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) boasts the greatest elevation changes of any of America's National Scenic Trails, allowing it to pass through six out of seven of North America's ecozones including high and low desert, old-growth forest and artic-alpine country. Indeed, the PCT is a trail of diversity and extremes. From scorching desert valleys in Southern California to rain forests in the Pacific Northwest, the PCT offers hikers and equestrians a unique, varied experience. (pcta.org)"

"Over the past decade the PCT has become a favorite target of thru-hikers and thru-riders (the hearty souls who attempt to hike or ride an entire long-distance trail in one "season"). Each year, in fact, an average of 300 hikers attempt to cover the full length of the PCT (thru-riders are more rare but increasing in number). Thousands of other hikers and equestrians enjoy this national treasure each year, some traveling only a few miles in the course of a day hike. (pcta.org)"

"offers the best of the West - the Mojave Desert, the Sierra Nevada and Mt. Whitney, Yosemite National Park, Marble Mountain and the Russian Wilderness in Northern California, the volcanoes of the Cascades including Mt. Shasta and Mt. Hood, Crater Lake, Columbia River Gorge, Mt. Rainier, and the remote Northern Cascades. (pcta.org)"

prep #6 --LaraBar

LARABAR

I am grateful for the gift that LARABAR made to my hike endeavor. When I shared with them my hiking dream and fundraising goal they sent me a gift pack of 32 various flavors of LARABAR and a tee shirt.

I approached LARABAR for support because I have really enjoyed their product's quality and taste. Having spent seven months on end supplementing my three main meals along the Appalachian Trail with 3-5 energy bars a day, I know it's very important to put quality food in for fuel. LARABARs are delicious and nutritious. As I hike I'll be burning 4000+ cal. a day, so getting food in it unadulterated form (like raw foods in LARABAR) means healthier and greater bang per oz.

Thanks LARABAR