March is officially upon us and what better time to give some pertinent trail related updates. First, my final day at Prime Time is 09 March. My father is going to arrive the next week and assist me as I move back to California where I will putter around and wait out the couple weeks that stand between me and the trail. On 26 March my mother and I will road trip down to San Diego. We’ll spend a couple days there before she drops me off and my journey begins.
The day before my hike starts I will go to Scout and Frodo’s. Scout and Frodo are trail angels—volunteers who help hikers—who, for the past twenty years, have opened their doors to hikers the day before their hikes. At Scout and Frodo’s house hikers get insider information from experienced hikers who have housed thousands of hikers over the years, breakfast, and a ride to the trailhead.
I’m going to do my best to answer questions I’ve received but certainly contact me if you have other questions and I will answer those too.
Which direction am I hiking? I’m hiking northbound (NOBO) starting at the Southern Terminus near Campo, CA. The trailhead is at the border.
When do I start? The morning of 29 March I will be stepping off with all 2665 miles of trail ahead of me.
Will I be carrying a gun? No. Guns are heavy and I’m carrying a bunch of camera equipment which accounts for all my luxury weight.
How heavy is my pack? My baseweight, consisting of everything that is neither consumable nor worn and is the metric favored by hikers, is 14 pounds. My full pack list can be found here but this does not represent the true weight of my pack. With food and water at maximum capacity my pack could weigh up to 40 pounds. In the desert where there will be long dry sections and in the Sierra when resupplies are harder to come by this is certainly possible but most of the time it will be somewhere in the middle.
Where will I poop? In the ground.
Am I worried about the snow? Bruh, I’m tripping about the snow. But also, what can I really do? My plan is to walk slowly in the desert to buy myself as much time as possible and then roll with the punches. Not a whole lot more than that to it.
How long will it take me? I really don’t know. There are just too many variables to give an accurate answer. My best guess is four to six months but who’s to say I’ll even finish!
Am I hiking alone? I don’t have a battle buddy I’ll be hiking with but given the nature of the trail you aren’t exactly alone. There are all sorts of other hikers not to mention the through hikers all starting from the same point, traveling the same direction, at roughly the same rate of travel. So am I undertaking the hike as an individual? Yes. But am I alone? Not at all.
How am I going to get my food? By and large my resupply strategy is to purchase food at stores along the way. I will mail myself a few packages but the bulk of my food is going to be purchased on trail.
Will I lose weight? Probably. I am not particularly happy about it but it comes with the territory. I’ll do my best find some scales along the way. For reference I’m currently 195 pounds.