Welcome back! Thank you to everyone who read my first post (I’m sure there was at least a few). If you miraculously stumbled onto this post without reading the first one, be a pal and read that one first by clicking
HERE. In this section, we will be getting the scoop on managing your time each day while on a thru-hike, and talking about the section of the PCT from Ashland through to Sky Lakes Wilderness.
Before you jump to conclusions, let me explain. You have all day to do whatever you want while on a thru-hike, yet somehow, your day always seems to be full and you don’t have nearly as much time to yourself as you thought you would! At least that was my experience, especially after you make trail friends (and you certainly will). The last post touched on how to plan your entire trip, and planning your week, now let’s plan a day out.
Planning your day starts the night before. As your trip progresses you will get a better idea of how many miles you enjoy hiking each day. Some days may be leisurely, and other days might be a big push to get to a better camp spot. You won’t know how far you will be going each day until you’ve set up your tent in the evening. Before I went to bed each night, I would look at the distances to water sources and good camping sites on the Guthooks App. My phone was my only source of navigation, which worked out just fine for me (mostly). I would also use the HalfMile App but I liked the pictures and comments on Guthooks better. (The HalfMile App is free, Guthooks has more interactive features and loads comments from fellow hikers whenever you have service.) Paper maps are still used by many hikers and if you know how to read them, they’re great. I never got lost with my phone and didn’t regret my navigational choice.
Once you get an idea how many miles you like to hike each day then you only need to know where you will get your water and where you want to camp. For me, I would normally try my best to camp at established campsites (listed on both Apps) near water sources. This is so I could arrive having drunk all my water for the day and could filter all the water I would need for the next day as well as what I needed for cooking, all in one session.
Now that you’re in your tent with a belly full and have your distance for the next day planned, I would set the alarm on my watch so I didn’t have to worry about my phone dying, maybe write in my journal a bit then off to sleep. My watch was one of the most useful pieces of gear I brought with me. It was an inexpensive $20 Casio ironman watch. Lasts years on one battery, is waterproof, lights up, and has multiple alarms.
In the morning, after fighting with my watch for a bit, I start to get my pack ready for the day. My system was similar to how most other through hikers I met on the trail were set up. Get your snacks out for the day and make sure they’re handy, waist belt pockets on packs are the best thing ever! In your food bag or bear canister, have your lunch on the top ready to grab and your dinner below that. So, when you get hungry snacks are always handy and when you stop for lunch you won’t have to unpack everything.
On this section of trail, there were water sources galore! It was also really hot, so I planned my days around both. Wake up early, stop at a water source and fill up for the day, take a nap under a tree during the hottest part of the day (or just because you found a sweet nap spot) then hike until dusk. When water sources are common, the amount of water you need to carry decreases, but you’ll also have to filter water more often. There is a nice balance between the two, and it’s different for everyone. It depends on how much weight you feel like carrying and how much water you consume per day. For me personally, when my pack was full of food and consumables from a resupply I would keep less water on me (around 1 liter) after drinking my fill at a water source. Then a few days later when I would be getting low on food and my pack was lighter I would top off on water (3 liters) and not have to stop at water sources for an entire day. This kept the overall weight of my pack down and saved me time.
There is so much to say about each section of the PCT, and I genuinely enjoyed every day on trail. Oregon is a beautiful state and this section from Ashland to Crater Lake was magnificent. It started with awesome lake towns every other day with great hiker boxes and solid “town food”. Shout out to the awesome hiker friendly Hyatt Lake Resort, for having a great breakfast cooked by an actual thru-hiker named Batman who ran out of money on his journey NOBO and was hired on by the owner so he could work and live there until he saved up enough to continue his journey! After hitting the lakes north of Ashland, you pass Mt McLoughlin and start climbing into the Sky Lakes Wilderness, which was incredible! This is also where I had my first run-in with wildfires, which would plague the rest of my journey. More on that next time.
As promised from my previous post I said I would mention some of the gear I ditched the first chance I got. Let me start by mentioning the obsession most thru-hikers have with pack weight. There’s an incredible amount of info online about how to lighten up your pack, what to buy, and what gear you need to spend hundreds of extra dollars on simply because it is lighter. Before I left on this trip I read plenty of these articles and bought the lightest gear I could afford, which was a lot less expensive than you might think (about $800 for my full setup). I honestly didn’t understand before I left home. Well, I’m a believer now! It’s incredible how big of a difference a lighter pack makes on your overall trail experience. First thing I sent home was my bear canister. I figured since I already owned it, I might as well use it, and it genuinely made organizing my food easy. However, after a few days on trail and talking to other through hikers, I realized I may have overestimated the bear threat along the Oregon section and the 3.5 lbs. it weighed just didn’t seem worth it for the convenience of having something to sit on while making my dinner. So, I swapped it for a one-pound 20-liter dry bag and even that was overkill compared to the thin bags most of the hikers I met used for their food storage. Some other items I sent home were, my bulky headlamp, which was convenient the one time I used it but was way overkill for what I needed on trail. I also ditched some toiletries that ended up being close to useless (more on staying cleanish on trail in a later post). Last to go were some clothing items, a heavy synthetic beanie (only regretted that choice on a few cold mornings) and my “town shirt” which was just an extra shirt I had for a backup and to wear while I was doing laundry on town stops.
To recap: planning your day isn’t that difficult, just keep in mind your overall mileage goals, current food stock, distances to water sources and your next resupply. Also, I would really encourage you to make time in your days to hit the side trails, stop at the beautiful lakes for lunch, hike that extra few miles so you can camp on a ridge line and watch the sunrise the next morning. Thru-hiking is such an amazing experience, and it is so easy to get wrapped up in the longer-term goals of your trip that the day right in front of you might end up being just a blur. That just isn’t why we’re out there.
Until next time!
