Planning & Preparation

Hiking the John Muir Trail was an incredible experience but eventually the “mountain high” wore off. Last fall I had a crazy idea… what if I hiked the PCT through Washington? Well, I’m turning it into a reality and have been gathering my gear.

The John Muir Trail is a 220-mile trail starting in Yosemite Valley of Yosemite National Park, passing through Inyo National…

I have a confession to make. I am somewhat of a control freak, a “Type-A,” a perfectionist. This condition has worsened over
the years. Most recently it has transformed into the angry beast of anxiety accompanied by the dark monster of depression. This terrible duo has severely affected my life this past year, to the point that I’ve had to be on medical leave from my career as an elementary school teacher.

We’re getting down to the wire, which means down to the nitty-gritty bits of preparation. My biggest focus these past couple weeks has been on our resupply package. This is my first long trail, which means my first time using a resupply system. A few months back, as we were figuring out our itinerary, we made the decision of how best to resupply ourselves. Being Canadian, we’re struggling with the problem of our dollar being rather low.

This week has seen us focusing in more on our menu. With less than 3 months to go, we need…

At first I really didn’t feel like blogging about our hike from last weekend as there isn’t a whole lot to…

In all of my hiking and backpacking I have never encountered a permit lottery system that is as nerve-wracking as…