[pct-l] IDEAS on what stove to use when cooking for 4

[Diane Soini of Santa Barbara Hikes]

I hiked for a few days with a guy named Hike On. He told me that when  
he hiked with his girlfriend they had a system. If he stopped to use  
a bush, he would place his trekking poles on the side of the trail on  
the same side where he left the trail. If she came behind and passed  
him, she would move the poles to the other side of the trail. That  
way he would know if she had gone by or not when he came back to the  
trail.

Trailhacker came to meet me when I was finishing up my solo hike to  
Canada. He drove up to Canada and headed southbound hoping to cross  
paths with me. We had agreed that if either of us stepped off the  
trail for even a second, we would leave a note on the trail right in  
the middle of the trail.

He told me the date he planned to leave Santa Barbara and I sat  
around Stehekin calculating my daily miles to meet him at the agreed- 
upon location. I had it all figured out.

Two bad events happened. One was that I really really just wanted to  
finish up my hike so I left a day early and then I put in a couple of  
30 mile days instead of the 20 mile days I calculated. On my final  
night on the trail I had already passed the meeting location and knew  
I would meet him the next day.

I did not know, however, that Trailhacker was in a hurry to meet me  
and he had left from Santa Barbara a day early.

In the morning I headed out really early in the morning. Knowing that  
he would probably have started hiking the trail sometime yesterday  
afternoon, I had calculated where I could expect to find him on the  
trail. I started out early and stopped to use a bush, diligently  
leaving my note on the trail just in case.

In a few hours I started expecting to see his smiling face around  
every corner. In a few more hours I started worrying that I hadn't  
seen him. Then some southbound hikers came by and I asked if they had  
seen him. They hadn't. All kinds of scenarios played in my head. He  
had had a car accident and was in a hospital somewhere. He had blown  
me off. He had car trouble and couldn't make it. With resignation I  
decided to just finish my hike alone.

I walked all the way to the monument. I had only a disposable camera  
so I couldn't take my picture very well. No self-timer, no slot for  
my stick-pick. Trailhacker had said he had a surprise for me and I  
thought it was he bought a new tent but it turned out the surprise  
was to tell me where the trail register was. I didn't know and  
couldn't find it. No record of me finishing.

I hiked to the campsite on the other side of the border and set up  
camp with a little bit of hope that maybe he was just a day late or  
something. I put out my note on the trail. I waited and waited. Nothing.

In the morning I hiked out to Manning Park Lodge. I wasn't sure what  
I should do, if I should wait, go home or what. There was no cell  
service. I found some hikers and asked if they had seen Trailhacker  
and two of them had seen him--on the trail! How could we have missed  
each other???

Since I knew he was somewhere, I tried calling him on the pay phone.  
No luck. I started searching for his car and found it and left him a  
note, hoping he'd somehow eventually have to turn around and come  
back to his car. Then I figured I would just stealth camp until I  
found him. He finally turned up that evening. He had met someone on  
the trail who knew me and knew I was trying to finish my hike faster  
than planned.

Turns out he had camped within a mile of where I had camped my last  
night on the trail, not too far from where I had gone to the bathroom  
that morning, leaving my note. He had not left his note on the trail  
because he figured he was ahead of schedule by a day. He had also  
found a secluded campsite I never saw.

Anyway, it's unbelievably easy to miss someone. I suggest a bullet- 
proof plan with multiple back-ups. Our plan had no back-ups. Sorry  
for the long essay.

On May 5, 2011, at 10:00 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:

> Catastrophic failure of a hiking partnership is not the only reason  
> why people can get separated either.
>
> It's super easy to pass someone and not notice.
>
> You can think that you're 5 minutes behind someone, but in reality  
> that person jumped off trail and out of sight to take a dump.  
> Pretty soon the person in the front is sprinting, trying to catch  
> up with the person who's actually behind them, while that person is  
> slowing down trying let the person who's actually ahead of them  
> catch up.
>
> Some variation of this happens all the time.
>
> Something to plan for... It sounds like you all have a lot of  
> experience, so I'm sure you'll be fine.
>
>
> Swope