Training Hikes – Day 3
Originally published on Mason Hikes the PCT 2017.
Whew… This one was a doozy. With one week left before starting my hike, I decided to do a pack shakedown/high-mileage hike to see what I could learn, and boy did I learn a lot!
I started the day at the Lake Serene trailhead around 8am, thinking that I would hike it and then go find a forest service road to hike/camp on, but this plan quickly changed to “do it all, do it all again, maybe do it all again, then find a place to sleep.” I ended up doing Bridal Veil Falls and Lake Serene twice, a quick forest service road hike, then set up camp.
This was the first wilderness test of my Garmin Fenix 5, so I turned on UltraTrac mode for one hike and turned on GPS+GLONASS for the other to compare the resulta. As you can see, one was MUCH better than the other.
UltraTrac
GPS+GLONASS
As expected, UltraTrac was worse, but I didn’t expect it to be that bad. It’s not that it didn’t have enough data because the sampling frequency was lower, it just seems like the actual data was bad.
The hikes themselves were awesome even with the constant rain and freezing temperatures and I really started to feel that I was testing my physical limits. The trail is a 8.2 mile out and back hike that gains around 2500 vertical feet, so doing it twice was quite a challenge! By the top of the second hike, my legs were burning and shaking and I had started to reeeeaaaly hate stairs. The views and my nice warm ramen at the top made everything worth it though.
Bridal Veil Waterfall
My Altra Lone Peak 3s had looked better after 16 miles of rain and mud, but they held up well.
Logistics:
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7.40 lbs of food/bear can (~8500 calories)
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Weather forecast: rain, high of 53° F, low of 42°F
Things I learned:
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Bear cans are heavy.
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Fitting everything into my pack using my stuff sacks does not work with my bear can. I ended up getting rid of one.
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If you sweat a ton and then stop for lunch at snowy alpine lake, you’re going to get cold real quick.
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Jetboils are great and I need to get some hot chocolate packets.
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The simmer setting on my Jetboil is awesome and VERY important.
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Altra Lone Peak 3s are super comfortable, but cannot handle technical terrain, especially if you buy a size up for foot swelling.
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Snow travel is awful and time consuming.
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My pillow is not coming on the PCT with me.
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If you wear the wrong underwear, thigh/ball chafing is real. Can’t wait for butt chafe!
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The way you pack your top-loading backpack is very important. Having to pull everything out to get to something at the bottom is a huge pain.
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It’s super easy to forget to drink water.
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ULA circuit hip belt pockets are huge and can be stuffed with snacks.
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It rains a lot in Washington.
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I can eat 1360 calories in about five minutes.
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Thirty mile days are insane.
Things I didn’t learn:
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What does poison ivy look like and why are there so many three-leaved plants?
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Why did I feel so sick after gorging myself at the top of my second hike?
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Why do people bring untrained dogs hiking and expect them to be trained?
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How are trail distances measured? Using a measuring wheel or with GPS x/y coordinates?
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How long it takes me to set up camp. I forgot to stop the timer 😬⛺
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Are my microspikes going to make snow a lot better?
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Was that enormous load in the middle of the forest road bear poop?
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What were those people doing with snorkeling gear and a helmet?