Quitting Work

I handed in my letter of resignation and there is no turning back now! 32 days to go!

Here is a photo of my training hike at Ohiopyle yesterday.

Female Hygiene Post

I talked with my gynecologist last year about my period and I've been working up to having no period while on the trail. She changed my birth control prescription so I would have enough pills to skip the placebo week. I've had issues with spotting after about a couple months so I may have to plan to have it halfway through, but it's still not as bad as every 4 weeks.

This year I talked with her about my stomach pains and she said it was normal to get what pregnant women call "morning sickness" from sensitivity to the pill. To combat the nausea, I've been experimenting with the timing of taking my pill; if I take the pill around 3:00pm, I would be asleep for any nausea. I've been on this schedule for 3 weeks now and so far it has proved very successful!

Birthday Hike!

I stayed home from work today because my pink eye is still contagious, but I can still hang out in the woods! I filled my pack up with 20 lbs of old gear and 6 cans of cream soda to get ready for long days on the trail.

My neighbors must think I'm nuts

My sleeping bag came in! I tried it out this past Friday because it was the coldest it's been all winter. Here I am in the backyard in 14F temperature with mild winds. I was very warm and I even had to delayer! I am very relieved to sleep comfortable on the trail even if it means an extra pound on my back.

Sleeping Bag

Even though I was sure I wanted the Western Mountaineering Lynx MF -10F sleeping bag, it was much harder to spend a months rent on a piece of gear than I thought. I'm looking forward to getting to test it out in a few days! Other purchases I made today were the Waymark fanny pack, which I hope is a better shape than the LiteAF fanny pack, and tent patches and dry bags from Zpacks.

Extreme Bar Hopping

I just realized we are basically just hiking from bar to bar. Calling it extreme bar hopping.

February

I'm so excited to say we start hiking NEXT MONTH! I am sick this weekend so mom and I spent the day drinking tea and watching Mari Johnson's PCT videos!

Savings Checkpoint

Two months out and I have officially saved up to my target amount. I'll still have 1.5 more paychecks to buy what I still need like tires for my car and insurance on the trail. I'm getting so excited to leave!

Winter Overnighter

A couple weekends ago, the four of us hiked on the Loyalsock Trail in eastern PA. We intended to hike the whole 25 mile loop, but after a 22F night we decided to go back to the cars. We figured we learned enough with one night and there was no reason to suffer another. The biggest issue was my sleep system still not keeping me warm. I'll have to give in eventually and go back to a mummy bag. The other big issue was how wet my feet were after hiking in 6 inches of snow. Even though our feet stayed mostly warm from the hiking, Brad and I wore plastic bags the second day to try and keep our feet dry. Will have to work on a more permanent solution in the future. I'm thankful for Raechel's fire that night to keep us toasty while eating dinner, and their three person tent to snuggle into when I was not warm enough.

Canadian Application

The final piece to the puzzle is in my hands! I was accepted to walk into Canada through the PCT and catch a plane home from there. Brad is still waiting on getting his passport in the mail and Raechel has to reapply since she used her phone instead of a scanner to add pictures of her passport and license. But I have high hopes of walking with everyone into Manning Park this September!

Permit News

Even though our permits were accepted, it wasn't until after the second round of permit applications were released that we could officially print our permits! Funny thing though that the ETA for when the permits would be released was erroneously labeled for 2021 for a bit. I won't be printing mine until March because I would lose it before then anyway.

Entry into Canada through the PCT

Pending all things go right, I will complete my thru hike at the northern boarder of the US. But the journey does not end there, because the trail ends in the middle of the woods. The two options to make my way back to town, and eventually an airport, are to walk 8.8 miles into Manning Park in Canada or backtrack 30 miles to Harts Pass in the US. Of course I hope to walk the shorter distance (and to see what's in Canada!) but it requires a permit to legally enter the US on foot. The application reviewers turn away anyone who has a misdemeanor in the past 10 years (don't worry mom I don't have one). If I get accepted, I'll have my mom ship the permit in my last resupply box before the boarder and keep it and my passport on my person in case of random hiker checks. Oh and to fly home eventually... maybe after a trip to Banff, who knows!

Scout and Frodo

Booking our flights was the final requirement needed to sign up to stay with Scout and Frodo the night before our start date. Scout and Frodo are two trail angels near the southern terminus who have kindly volunteered their home and time to hikers starting the PCT at Campo, California. We received our verification email that all four of us have successfully signed up to be hosted by them. Thank you Scout and Frodo!

California Campfire Permit

It's the first of the year which means it's time to apply for the California fire permit. Even if we aren't allowed fires in the backcountry, we still need the permit for portable camp stoves.

PCT 2020

Happy New Year! It's officially the year we thru hike the PCT! So it's pretty obvious that my New Year's resolution is to hike from Mexico to Canada. 😄