Stein's Pacific Crest Trail journal 2012

At the time of this writing I’m still hanging around in Oslo, but my planned starting date from Campo has been forwarded to May 4th and is just over a week away now. I’m stoked!
I know that a lot people are interested in following my progress on the Pacific Crest Trail, and I will of course do my best to keep you updated as I go along. Under Where’s Stein? you will find a Google Map showing my last known waypoint on the PCT. I plan on updating it every time I pass through a place where I can get WiFi and internet, at least once a week I hope. You’ll also find a spreadsheet with my tentative schedule. The spreadsheet shows distances and estimated time of arrival (ETA) for each of my planned resupply points, based on a 32 km (20 miles) per day hiking pace. I will update the schedule with actual arrival times and recalculate ETA’s as I go along.

Numerous winter nights have been spent in front of the computer researching equipment for the PCT, and the gear list is finally coming together. I for one am still not completely sold the ultralight backpacking philosophy… yet . For the time being I still like to have a traditional tent, I use a gas canister stove for cooking, etc. etc. That said, I always try to go as light as possible and to save weight where I can.
I started out with the 10,1 kg (22,3 lb) gear list from my 2011 hike of the John Muir Trail, making adjustments based on my experiences from back then. The most important changes I am doing are to swap my 2,29 kg  (5,05 lb) 2-person Mountain Hardwear Drifter 2 tent for a MSR Hubba at 1,28 kg (2,81 lbs), only carry the 1,16 kg (2,56 lb) BearVault 500 bear canister in the Sierras where bear canisters are mandatory, as well as ditching some clothes and gear that I know that I won’t be needing. This leaves me with a base pack weight of 6,68 kg (14,72 lb). That’s 34% less than on my JMT hike, and a weight that I think I will be very satisfied with.
Most items were measured using a digital kitchen scale. As for the rest, primarily the MSR Hubba, I’m relying on specifications provided by the manufacturer.  I hope to bring you some in-depth reviews of how my gear works out once I’ve been on the trail for a while. Stay tuned.

5 months of hiking means lots of food and consumables that have to be supplied and gear that may have to be replaced (worn out shoes etc.). To resupply or not to resupply, that isn’t really the question. The question is how to resupply. From what I’ve been able to find there are two general strategies to deal with this, resupply by mail and buy as you go.
Resupply by mail means to buy, prepackage and prepare everything in advance, then have someone back home ship one and one parcel by mail to post offices along the way according to a certain timetable or request. The good thing about this solution is that you always know what you’re getting, and you can pick the food that you like and the gear that you want. The disadvantages is that it is a lot of work, for yourself to do the planning and for the kind people back home who will be running to the post office every week or two. Another point is that it can be very difficult to predict what kind of food you like after a couple of months on the trail. I’ve read many accounts of hikers who started out with mail-in resupplies, but got so tired of the food that they had believed that they would like and ended up calling home telling them to stop sending any more boxes. If you base your hike on mail-in resupplies you should be able to buy food and gear at a lower price than if you buy it along the trail. Postage isn’t free though, so I’m not convinced that there is any money to be saved using this strategy. Keep in mind also that some items can not be shipped by mail, e.g. gas canisters.
The other strategy, and the one I will follow, is to buy as you go. Every few days the trail leads you by a small town or resort where you can buy food and consumables. Instead of picking up a package at the post office you resupply at the local store. Simple as that. Keep in mind though that some of the stores may have a (very) limited selection in what they carry of hiker stuff. I’m not too picky in my diet, so I don’t think this will be a huge problem except maybe for the first few hundred miles, when hundreds of hikers herd through at the same time and the stores may not be able to restock. I will circumvent this uncertainty by mailing myself resupply packages for the second and third week on the trail (Warner Springs and Big Bear City). This will be the last thing I do before I head for the trailhead at Campo. The US Post Offices will hold packages for up to 30 days (general delivery), before returning them to whatever return address you put on it. This shouldn’t be a problem if I manage to move at 32 km (20 miles) a day. I just hope that I won’t arrive at either one place when the post office is closed. From Big Bear City and onwards I will base my resupply on buy-as-you-go. When it comes to gear replacements I am planning to order online and have it shipped to post offices with hold for pickup. REI amongst others offer this possibility.
Some other options for resupplying are to put out caches along the trail or to have someone bring you resupplies in person, but I don’t think either one is a good alternative for a thru-hike. Many hikers seem to be complementing their resupply strategy by using bounce boxes though. A bounce box is a parcel that you forward to yourself by sending it to a post office along the trail, picking it up and resending it to the next one. Bounce boxes are really not used for resupply though, but rather for holding gear that you don’t want to carry in you backpack.
This spreadsheet shows the distances between the resupply points I am planning to use. It also shows the days between them, as well as estimated time of arrival if hiking 32 km (20 miles) a day. I would like to emphasize that this is a tentative schedule. It will be interesting to see how it plays out

I just received my approved Canada border entry permit in the mail the other day. Woo-ha! Now all the required documents to hike the PCT are on hand: Pacific Crest Trail hiking permit, Canada border entry permit, and U.S. visa.

The Pacific Crest Trail hiking permit is issued bye the Pacific Crest Trail Association in cooperation with and with the authorization of federal and state land management agencies (National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management etc.). The PCTA can issue permits to hikers who are hiking at least 500 miles consecutively along the PCT. Application instructions for the permit can be found at www.pcta.org. The permit is actually free of charge, but PCTA membership and donations are encouraged. Strictly speaking it is possible to hike the PCT without a PCT permit, but that would mean that you have to get separate permits for each and every national park, national monument etc. Unless you are only hiking shorter sections, save yourself a lot of work and just get the PCT permit. The people at PCTA are doing a great job helping us thru hikers and I have of course become a paying member of the PCTA. I encourage everybody else who are planning to hike the PCT to do the same.

The Canada border entry permit is required for anyone who are entering Canada on the PCT. The permit is issued by Canada Border Services Agency, and can be applied for no more than 3 months in advance of you planned departure on the PCT. Application form can be found at www.pcta.org. The permit is valid for entry from the U.S. to Canada only. At the time of this writing there is no legal way of entering from Canada to the U.S. on the PCT.

Most non-American and non-Canadian residents need a visa to go to the U.S. Residents of some countries can also travel to the U.S. under the Visa Waiver Program. However, the Visa Waiver Program will only allow you to stay for a maximum of 90 days, including any stay in Canada. Most hikers take 4-5 months to hike the PCT, and also have to calculate for some slack at the beginning and end of the hike. Unless you are going for a speed record 90 days probably won’t be sufficient for a thru hike. Get a visa.

The only permit that I haven’t obtained yet is the California Campfire Permit. This permit is required in order to use campfires, stoves or lanterns outside of developed campgrounds in California. The permit is free of charge. It used to be possible to obtain the permit online, but it now seems that you have to meet up in person at a U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service, BLM, or California Division of Forestry office. I will obtain this before I start out from Campo.

The hiking season for the Pacific Crest Trail normally lasts from late April through October, but varies from year to year depending on the snow pack in the Sierras and in the Cascades. Most hikers hike the Pacific Crest Trail from south to north, aka northbound og nobo. The key point is that you have to start late enough to allow most of the snow melt away before you reach the Sierras, but early enough to reach Canada before the snow starts to form again in the fall.

As the time of this writing the Sierra snow pack is looking very favorable for us PCT hikers. The California statewide snow water equivalent (SWEQ), i.e. the snow pack meassured in how much water it contains, is only at 34% of normal for this date. Of course, Winter ain’t over yet, but chances are slim that enough snow will fall to change the situation drastically. The snow pack is way below the record high of 2011 when I hiked the John Muir Trail, almost down by the record lows of 1976-77.

Last summer I averaged 14,8 miles when hiking the John Muir Trail through the Sierra Nevada, and that was in a high snow year. The Sierra Nevada is also considered to be one of the most demanding sections on the PCT, even in a normal snow year. So with less snow, more experience and a lighter backpack I have set myself a goal of averaging 20 miles/day (32 km/day), including zero-days (a zero-day is a day when you don’t hike, i.e. you put down zero miles), for the total of the PCT. This will mean around 4,5 months on the trail. Far from a record time, but nontheless a medium to medium-fast hike by most accords. I am aiming to start out from Campo at around May 05. This will put me in Manning Provincial Park B.C. by mid-September if all goes well.

The decision has been made: I’m quitting my job and getting off the band wagon (at least for a while) in order to pursue one of my dreams – to hike the Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada. 4265 km (2650 miles) through some of the most beautiful scenery in the U.S., possibly in the world! From the scorching deserts of Southern California, through the high alpine of the Sierra Nevada and the vast forests of Oregon and Washington, and hopefully, all the way to Manning Provincial Park in British Columbia, Canada. For half a year my life will be all about the trail, about getting up in the morning and walking towards my destination, carrying everything I need on my back. Half a year of living life the way we’re supposed to – following our dreams. What an adventure! I am starting from Campo, California in early May, hoping to reach Canada sometime before October. I am starting out solo, but I am not afraid that I’ll be hiking alone. Around 300 hikers are starting from Campo in April/May each year, and I know that there’s a great community on the PCT. I am looking forward to all the people I will meet and all the things I will experience on my way. I want to share this journey with family, friends and everybody else who wants to follow me. I hope you enjoy the adventure. Stay tuned.