Permit application day!

Today the PCTA opened up the permit application process for long distance permits to thru hike the PCT. Due to the ever increasing number of hikers the last couple of years they have had in place a start date quota system to spread out the impact of thousands of hikers. They limit the permits to 50 per day to start from campo (the southern terminus).

The permits became available at 10:30, and the PCT class of 2017 broke the Internet. The servers crashed due to the immense number of people trying to apply.

People on the PCT class of 2017 Facebook page lost their frigging minds. It was unreal. It makes me sad and disappointed that people can have so much hate and anger about the process and take it out on the PCTA, a non profit organization that is mostly ran from volunteers. An organization that keeps the trail maintained and open.

Meanwhile I had no idea any of this was even going on because I did not wake up to my alarm. I’ve had a stomach bug and a fever and have been in bed in and out of consciousness for a couple of days now. I still feel like crap, but at around noon I headed over to the PCTA page to start my application. I had no problems whatsoever, though I did notice that the dates from 4/1 through mid may were already full.  
I had originally wanted to start 3/15 so I could start slow, but even going slow I would get to the Sierra way too early and with this year’s insane snowpack I knew I had to push it back. I opted for 3/25, and there were plenty of permits available for that day. 

I can start slow and gradually ramp up my mileage, and just enjoy myself. I will probably get to the Sierra early, but at this point it doesn’t matter because there will be a ton of snow late into the summer, and it’s just a fact of life. I’m not scared, I’m prepared. 

Here’s to 3/25!

Microspikes FTW

This last weekend I was supposed to go fishing. I’m trying to get as much steelhead time in as possible before my departure as there will be no summer steelhead shenanigans for this girl this summer, in lieu of far grander adventure. However, mother nature gave me the middle finger and melted all this snow and then threw in some rain and before you know it, hello diarrhea looking flooded raging rivers. Fishing was out. My weekend plans were suddenly grim.

Then, Thursday night it was decided at the last moment that since my washington BFF wasn’t working the weekend I should come up for some winter hike shenanigans. Say no more! So to lake stevens I went Friday morning.

Having been there last week I knew the snow where we would be was old and crusty and snowshoes wouldn’t be needed, but alas, I could use my new microspikes I purchased for my PCT hike. So off to the snow we went! Our adventure took us to North Cascades National Park, and I look forward to walking through it on foot! Having never been there before I was BLOWN AWAY! so amazing!

I used this stale snow weekend to test some of my PCT gear. My Kahtoola Microspikes performed flawlessly on the icy trails with my Altra Lone peak 3.0’s that I plan on wearing for my footwear on trail. (Probably a new pair every 700 miles or so). This was some anxiety relief because I had never used the microspikee before and didn’t want the first time I use them to be on the PCT. I have been wearing altra lone peaks for a while now and have come to love them, but they seriously suck on the ice by themselves.

Is this real life?!

Not North Cascades National Park, but this eagle eating a salmon in the rising sun fog of the Sauk brought me great joy

My friends get me

I put out a request to my friends to hoarde condiments for my upcoming adventure. My resupply strategy involves dehydrating the majority of my own meals and flavorful meals are important to me. This means an assortment of condiment packets are very welcome.

One of my favorite coworkers didn’t feel like grabbing extra packets, but completely made my day when she handed me this bag of Sriracha packets she ordered for me! I had a migraine at the time but I was still super amped!

Condiments can really make shitty trail food not so sucky, especially hot sauces since a lot of my meals are mexican food and Asian food based.

Guess it doesn’t really take much to excite me, but who cares!

I have no idea what I’m doing

As I prepare for my thru hike just a couple months away, it occurred to me that I really don’t want to be on facebook while I’m gone so I should perhaps start a blog. This is a new endeavor for me, and I have no idea what I’m doing, but hopefully I will be able to update this regularly on trail with posts and photos of my travels.

It’s all getting very real, and I’m so excited, nervous and terrified all at once. I haven’t lost as much weight as I had hoped, and I know it’s going to be the hardest thing I have ever done, but the beauty will be unreal, and the adventure into the unknown is exhilarating (also terrifying, i.e. 700 miles of desert).

I put in my notice at work, and my last day will be February 1st as I have a TON of food dehydrating and resupply prep to do. It’s going to be borderline overwhelming, planning 6 months of food resupply. Fortunately I know WHERE I’m sending my food I just have to purchase it all and start packaging it all up. There will be tequila for this.

I’ve decided to call this adventure my Midlife Retirement, as when I signed the resignation paperwork at work the header on the form said “voluntary resignation/retirement”, and I’ll be cashing out my retirement account to partially fund this endeavor.

Stay tuned, I’ll share my gear list and resupply strategy here soon for inquiring minds.