[pct-l] Planning from overseas

Tue Aug 14 13:38:49 CDT 2007

Everyone's situation is different, and how complex your life is and how much experiece you're starting with, makes a huge difference.  Much is dependent upon whether a person has done a lot of backpacking for extended periods, or tried long-distance hiking in the past.  Obviously the level of experience you have will directly impact how long it takes you to get ready.

In addition, if you're footloose and have nothing else to do but get ready for your hike, that's one thing.  If you're working or going to school up until you leave, and you have to do all of your physical training and preparation in your "free" time, that takes a good deal longer for obvious reasons.  The only way to train effectively for long-distancee hiking is long distance hiking, and that is very time consuming.

It's not just the hike you plan for, it's all you will leave behind.  Insurance, finances, home, animals, relationships, etc.  Will people need to contact you?  Where, when, and how is a question you will have to resolve. Getting our our home and animals ready to put into our caretaker's hands takes preparation for just a two week hike, never mind a five or six month journey.

Food and resupply concerns is huge time consumer.  Do you care what kind of food you eat?  Do you know how many calories you're going to need, what foods will give you those calories, and how much it will weigh?  If you're planning a resupply along the way strategy, are you willing to eat Slim Jims and Twinkies if that is all that is available at some locations?  Or, are you going to mail your food in advance.  If that's the case, be preapared that laying out all the food you're going to eat -- breakfast, lunch, dinner, beverages, etc..  It is a massive undertaking not to be underestimated.  

Gear needs to be tried and tested.  To give you an real example, I replaced almost every piece of gear that I owned in the course of a year's preparation to get lighter and/or more efficient.  Someone joked about it being roughly $100 per ounce to get lighter.  They weren't too far off, but it's been worth every cent.

I also took a course in winter skills -- how to self-arrest, do basic assessments of avalanche danger, and practiced fording bodies of water. I also practiced map and compass and orienteering (skills I didn't possess previously).   

So, if you have all this down experience and gear wise, your home situation is either non-existent or easy to collapse and put on hold, it might only take you a month to get ready.  But if the answers to any of the questions above will require more forethought and planning, well, plan accordingly! 

L-Rod

-----Original Message-----
>From: Jared Bowie <behindtheveil at gmail.com>
>Sent: Aug 13, 2007 11:01 PM
>To: pct-l at backcountry.net
>Subject: [pct-l] Planning from overseas
>
>Hi, I'm an American currently residing in Korea.  I plan to return either
>this coming March or the following and want to hike the PCT.  This will give
>me about a month in the U.S. for planning once i get back.  I think this
>will be plenty of time, because i can do most things from here, but I would
>like to hear what others think.
>
>Also I've read about people planning for their hike for 6 months.  I
>understand that this will be a long and tough journey, but doing a little
>research so far I haven't figured out why it would take so long.
>
>I know i need to know how much I'll have to hike each day in order to finish
>before the snow comes.  I need to know about what food is available where
>and if I need to have things shipped to me and when i'll pick up those
>packages.  I need to be aware of water situations on certain parts of the
>trail.   I need to get a permit.  Proper gear.
>
>Now I'm not a perfectionist when it comes to these things, I also don't
>really wing things either, I'm somewhere in the middle.  But it seems to me
>that most of this information is easily available and that I can do a
>standard amount of mileage.  So my question is really how this comes out to
>6 months of planning?
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