Amelia Bikes

I have now purchased most of my gear for the trail!!!

Most of my items are not the super trendy ultralight things that most people seem to buy (with the exception of my Enlightened Equipment sleeping bag) but I’m happy with my stuff (for now). I’m sure I’ll switch things up once I’m on the trail though but I have promised myself that I’m done obsessing now.

I’m now moving on from researching gear and buying everything using holiday sales and whatnot, to actually testing out my gear and learning how to use everything. The thing I’m struggling with the most is that I bought a Garmin InReach Mini 2 but am finding it very difficult to learn how to use it and set it up. Even though Navionics and the Garmin chartplotters I’ve used on boats have felt easy to use, this does NOT! The user experience is pretty bad all around, you have to use like 3 different apps to set it up, sync the device in multiple ways and locations, and I still haven’t figured out how to upload maps – if anyone can help with this, please comment below! Every time I try to upload an official PCT section map with waypoints, it fails or says the file is too big. I guess this is all part of the process, and just another reminder why knowing how to use paper charts and a compass is ALWAYS helpful! Having some fancy device that can call for help or help you navigate is only useful if you know how to use it.

I have always felt like that with sailing and it’s why I even wanted to study celestial navigation and know all the methods of dead reckoning and all of that stuff, even  though nobody studies those things anymore because of GPS. I just think it’s pretty cool, mathematically, but also how badass it is to be able to figure out where on the planet you are using just the stars and sun (and a bunch of tables in books, and a calculator), or a hand bearing compass even while you’re moving, with only one visible bearing point. Anyway, I’ll figure it out.

I love maps, and spreadsheets, and I have multiple PCT spreadsheets now! I have one spreadsheet that calculates my full pack weight of every single item at each section of the trail as I swap gear in and out as well as my budget and how much everything costs. I have another spreadsheet with my planned ETAs that recalculates based on my actual arrival dates. I’m keeping this one in Google sheets so I can update it as I go and my brother can mail my boxes based on my actual pace, I have another spreadsheet with my full training plan for each day for the 133 days I have left until my start date, and now I’m working on the food I’m planning on sending to myself along with nutrition goals and how much food to include in each box based on the distance between resupply points.

There’s no way I can make it six months eating only processed food or stuff I mostly purchase at convenience stores, so I’m planning on sending myself freeze dried meat, vegetables and fruit along the way, so that I can do a mix of some of the pre-made backpacking kinda meals and stuff I buy in town, as well as “fresh” real foods, especially when those are not easy to come by. I bought a little vacuum sealer machine to split up the freeze dried foods and send a mix of those in each box. I know people talk a lot about not sending yourself food ahead of time because what you think you’ll want to eat on the trail ends up not being what you actually want to eat, but I think that foods like chicken, peas, corn, broccoli, blueberries, and strawberries are pretty standard food and I can always buy more spices or sauces in town and liven things up a bit. Even in places with limited grocery stores, if I can just buy noodles or something like that, I can add that to my freeze dried foods and make something decent. I’m also trying to think about what to eat at different points of the trail, like for example in the High Sierra, I would want to eat foods with lower fat and higher potassium levels to help avoid altitude sickness.

I’m also hoping to avoid some of the nutritional deficiencies that probably cause some of the “hiker hunger”, AKA the insane ravenous appetites of thru hikers. Of course you’d be extremely hungry if you’re burning thousands of calories a day and your food intake can’t keep up with your calorie burn and you’re literally starving for months on end, but it also seems like a lot of thru hikers eat like ABSOLUTE CRAP on the trail, mostly because they can, because why wouldn’t you chow down on 3 hamburgers and a gallon of ice cream once you get to town if you could? I don’t want to do that though, at least not all the time! I’m going to try my best to eat real food so that I’m not wildly craving junk and empty calories, but I do plan on allowing myself to eat as much Nutella as my hiker heart desires.

I’ve always been such a planner, and I keep trying to remind myself that I can’t prepare for everything. I can’t plan everything. I can only prepare myself for the trail as much as possible to minimize risk to myself in various scenarios and know what to expect at certain points, but beyond that, there is a 100% chance that things will go wrong and my plans will have to change, probably many times, so I have to keep everything as flexible as possible. But that’s how sailing is too. You can check the weather and the tides a thousand times, check your heading and plan your route, provision and even overprovision your vessel, but something will always go wrong, and you just have to be resourceful and figure it out. However, the more prepared you are, the easier it is to think calmly, reorient yourself and think about your new plan.

I think part of the reason I have been so obsessed with planning, is that it gives me a sense of control, and with all of the political stuff happening, it feels good to be in control of SOMETHING when I’m in this very chaotic and unpredictable environment that is modern human society. But what’s funny is that I very much prefer the type of chaos and unpredictability that happens in the wilderness, and not because of corrupt people and their quest for power. I’m looking forward to being free of that, like truly really free, at least for a few months anyways.

It’s been about a month since I was laid off, and I don’t have the same structure to my day anymore, which has been challenging for me, but there is a certain structure and routine and simplicity of long distance hiking that I’m looking forward to. You wake when the sun comes up, eat, walk, eat, walk, eat, then sleep when the sun goes down. And that’s it. There isn’t an endless to-do list, a full inbox of email chains, pointless meetings, shuffling of papers and reports, rounds and rounds of approvals, counterproductive and just stupid bureaucracy. On the PCT, you walk from one place to another, day after day, and it’s a very clear and immediately tangible accomplishment that eventually amounts to something truly incredible. 2,650 miles.

I have sometimes been wondering about what it is I’ll do after the trail. I have absolutely no clue, and I don’t think I care either. Not right now. I’m fortunate that I don’t have to work for the next four months. I don’t have to add more stress to my life right now. I just want to focus on getting myself ready for the PCT – physically, mentally and logistically, and only worry about the things that I can control.

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