[pct-l] elevation, tents and such

[Connie Davis]

I used lots of techniques to get up hills, mostly distraction. We were
southbounding out of Belden and for every switchback (there are 36 and I was
45), I thought about that year in my life, what had happened and all my good
memories.  Ages 1-5 were kind of slim, but after that it got better! In the
Sierras I sang  (to myself as I can't carry a tune in a bucket) "I am woman,
hear me roar" up many passes.  I use the tried-and-true thru-hiker approach
to elevation gain:  keep a steady beat with your footsteps, just make the
steps smaller when it gets steeper and don't stop until you're at the top
unless you take a picture. And the rewards at the top....priceless.

Re: tents.  Remember to look at gear and reviews in trail journals. We used
a tarptent with no bottom, just a tyvek sheet and an REI QuarterDome during
our thruhike. We flipped in 2005 so had lots of rain in WA and the heavier
quarter dome was worth it when we needed to spend hours in the tent.
 Buddies with tarptents did okay.  We put our tyvek groundcloth INSIDE the
tent to make a better tub.   Best of all was cowboy camping without the
tent, which if it's just windy and no precipitation is the best solution
anyway.  Quarter dome was good for mosquitoes in OR because we could just
put up the netting.  We have a 6 moon designs tent now, but used the
tarptent on a recent section on the CDT and had some pretty nasty wet cold
weather and we were just fine.

Lookout