Along the entire 2656 mile length of the Pacific Crest Trail it manages to avoid towns and indeed only passes through a handful of villages. This makes restocking food and equipment supplies problematic. Either one can mail resupply boxes to small village stores and fuel stations along the route or you can leave the trail hitch a ride into town resupply and hitch back to the trail.

 

Both have their disadvantages. The village stores and equipment supplies who hold packages might be closed when you arrive, packages can get lost or segments of the trail are closed due to fires or flooding. Conversely If one were to hitch into town the flow of the journey is broken and you might have to endure a night in a urban motel, to say nothing of the unknown time to hitch each way.

 

My Strategy is to avoid the urban fleshpots at all costs and to keep as true to to trail as possible. Surely this is the spirit of the trail. To this end I will be sending some 18 parcels out along the length of the trail before I start on the 1st May. In general they will include 5-9 daily food packs with 3000 calories each, the next sections printed maps, a few razors, A small toothpaste and soap. Occasionally I will include new underpants, socks, shirt,  and very occasionally new boots.

 

On one occasion, my resupply parcel to Kennedy Meadows at mile 700 will include gear needed for the High Sierras. This will include 14 daily food packs, ice axe, crampons, heavier boots and a larger strong rucksack to carry it all in. Once through the Sierras Nevada at Sierra City at mile 1200, I will pick up my lighter gear again and mail my heavier gear out.

 

My resupply locations are

Mile Location Address Days to Next ETA
0 Campo Start 6 1 May
110 Warner Springs WS Community Resource Center, 30950 Highway 79

Warner Springs, CA 92086.  Tel 760 782 0670. UPS

3 7May
180 Idyllwild Idyllwild Inn. 54300 Village Center Dr, Idyllwild, CA 92549.

Tel 888 659 2552. UPS

8 11 May
342 Cajon Pass Best Western Cajon Pass, 8317 US Highway 138’ Phelan, CA 9237

Tel 760 249 6777. UPS

5 21 May
454 Agua Dulce The Saufley’s, 11861 Darling Road. Agua Dulce, CA 91390

Tel :661.268.1235. UPS

3 27 May
518 Hikertown Hikertown, 26803 W. Ave. C-15, Lancaster, CA.93536

Tel  310 817 1595. UPS

8 1 June
702 Kennedy Meadows Kennedy Meadows General Store, 96740 Beach Meadows Rd

Inyokern, CA 93527. Tel 559 850 5647. UPS or USPS

14 10 June
877 Vermillion Valley Resort VVR c/o Rancheria Garage. 62311 Huntington Lake Road, Lakeshore,  CA  93634. Tel 559 259 4000. UPS 7 27 June
1017 Sonora Pass Sonora Pass Resupply, 3285 Grillo Drive, Coulterville, Ca. 95311.

Tel 209 852 9815. USPS Preferred

9 5 July
1195 Sierra City C/O Sierra Country Store, 213 Main Street, Sierra City, Ca 96125.

Tel  530  862 1560. UPS or USPS

4 14 July
1284 Beldon Belden Town Resort and Lodge, Ivan Coffman, 14785 Belden Town Road, Belden, CA, 95915. Tel  530 283 9662. UPS 5 20 July
1407 Burney Mountain Burney Mountain Guest Ranch, Inc, 22800 Guest Ranch Road

Cassel, Ca 96016. Tel  530 335 2544. UPS

4 26 July
1498 Castella Ammirati’s Market and Deli, 20107 Castle Creek Rd. 96017.

Tel 530 235 2676. UPS

7 1 August
1653 Seiad Valley c/o Mid River RV Park 44701 Highway 96 Seiad Valley, CA 96086.

Tel 530 496 3400. UPS

8 9 August
1820 Mazama Village C/O Xanterra Parks & Resorts, Mazana Village Store, 569 Mazana Village Drive, Crater Lake, Oregon 97604. Tel 541 594 2255. UPS 8 18 August
1992 Big Lake Camp C/O Big Lake Youth Camp,13100 Hwy 20,Sisters, OR 97759.

Tel 503 850 3563. UPS

7 27 August
2144 Cascade Locks c/o Cascades Locks Ale House, 500 Wanapa St, Cascade Locks,

OR 97014. Tel 541 374 9310. UPS

7 4 Sept
2292 White Pass c/o White Pass Rural Branch PO at the Kracker Barrel Store,

48851 US Highway 12, Naches, WA 98937. Tel  509 672 3105. USPS

5 13 Sept
2390 Snoqualmie Pass C/O Summit Inn hotel, 603 State Hwy 906, Snoqualmie Pass,

WA 98068. Tel 425 434 6300. UPS or USPS  

3 19 Sept
2461 Steven’s Pass C/O Stevens Pass, Through Hiker, 93001 NE Stevens Pass Hwy, US 2, Skykomish, WA 98288 Attn: Tye Creek Lodge Loading Dock.

Tel 206 812 4510. UPS only.

9 24 Sept
2656 Manning Park Finish                                        Total Food Packs 130 4 Oct

 

Back

The Pacific Crest Trail is the birthplace of Ultra Lightweight Hiking. The weather along the PCT is usually quite dry and benign, except for the last weeks in Washington State. Tents do not have to be double-walled, geodesic, 4 season structures. Sleeping bags to -5 Celcius are adequate and can be down filled without qualm at it is not that humid. Advances in technology means new materials like the ultra-strong and ultra-light cuben are becoming more affordable. If one is going to walk 2660 miles then the cost of investing in ultralightweight equipment is remarkably small per mile. It is probably a cost worth paying to get your base weight down to 10 kg as unnecessary kilos will wear down you joints and eat into your cartlidge. Light is Right.

The big 4 (rucksack, tent, sleeping bag, and sleeping mat) is where significant weight can be saved. My 4 pieces weight exactly 3000 gms are and:

  1. Rucksack and attachments; Z Packs Arc haul Zip Backpack – 920 gms
  2. Tent, Pegs and Tyvek; Z Packs Duplex and titanium pegs – 790 gms
  3. Sleeping Bag; Criterion Quantum 450 rated to -10 Celcius – 830 gms
  4. Sleeping Mat: Thermarest NeoAir Xlite Large size – 460 gms

In addition to this is another 6500 gms distributed among:

  1. Clothes carried –  2000 gms
  2. Waterproof Clothing – 800 gms
  3. Hygiene, First Aid and Repair – 600 gms
  4. Cooking and  Hydration – 1000 gms
  5. Gadgets, batteries, Maps – 2100 gms

This gives a total base weight of 9500 gms

This does not sound much but in addition to this up to 10 days worth of food at 850 gms a day and sometimes 4 litres of water have to be carried giving the maximum consumable weight 12500 gms

So the total maximum pack weight would be 22000 gms which would decrease to half that before restocking again.

For the 500 Miles of the Sierra Nevada however I will meet snow with the near record snowfalls of winter 2017 so I have to take heavier boots, crampons. Ice Axe and 16 days of food. All this will go into my old trusty xPod Rucksack as the Pack Weight will be a maximum 29000 gms which will reduce to a mere 13000 gms at the end of this 17 day section.

Extra Gear for the 500 Miles of the Sierra Nevada

Back

Friends once persuaded me to try a hike in California. Skeptically I agreed and found myself on the John Muir Trail. That hike took me completely by surprise and I was overwhelmed by it’s pristine beauty. It was a much cherished 3 weeks of Paradise which I have often reflected over.

A Shangri La on the John Muir Trail

Then a few years after that found myself in Norway on a long journey.  It was an awakening to get up each morning and travel through pristine nature for as long as it took to find a new place to rest. The hardships were soon forgotten as my pilgrimage unfolded. For 250 days I was completely immersed in the best nature Europe has to offer. When the end came I was distraught and soon bewildered as daily pragmatic trivia eroded my enthusiasm. Dew on my sleeping bag does more for my soul than a fancy dinner. This pilgrimage is here www.skipaddenorway.com

The 250 Day Norwegian Pilgrimage

I am now in the fortunate position to be able to withdraw for another 6 months and immerse myself into the pristine nature along the Pacific Crest Trail. A summer journey through Grizzly Adams Shangri La.  A few people ask me why I would want to such a thing. It would really be criminal of me to waste the opportunity.

Mount Ritter and Banner rise above 1000 Island Lake and my campsite on the John Muir Trail in 2006

Back