It has been 6 months since Brendan decided he wanted to hike the PCT. The funny thing is that he has never been backpacking in his life. He had been buying gear over the last couple months and we figured it was finally time to test it all out.
I wanted to take him somewhere on the PCT, so I checked out the maps and found a good "out and back" hike starting from highway 74 near the Paradise Cafe. The trail climbs a ridge that would eventually lead to Mt. San Jacinto, but the plan was to hike about 12 miles up to the Cedar Springs camp.
I don't have all of the gear listed on my gear list yet, but my base weight for the trip weighed in at around 10 pounds. This is the lightest I've ever had my pack weigh. Brendan's pack weighed about the same, since he too is trying to go ultralight. With food and water our packs were not much more than 15 pounds.
We started around 12:30pm from the highway. It began with rolling hills until it reached a gradual climb at about mile 6 that would take us to our camp. At this point were on the shady east side of the ridge that overlooked palm springs. A slight wind had picked up and it was FREEZING! There were times where I seriously considered putting on my down jacket because my long sleeve and rain jacket weren't helping with the cold. Sara just kept saying that she has never been that cold and she thought she was going to die...but she says that all the time...
As soon as we hit camp around 5:30pm, the wind had completely stopped but the temps were dropping quick and we put on every single piece of clothing we had. Brendan bought a pair of down pants to go with his down jacket, both black in color. So he basically looked like a black Michelin Man. But Sara and I were jealous because our legs were cold and his were toasty warm. I definitely plan on getting a pair.
The night was very cold and any water was found frozen in the morning.
The plan was to get up early to hike the 12 miles back down to the car so we could be back home in time for the Super Bowl, but with the cold, none of us could even get out of our sleeping bags until about 9am. We finally got up and hiked back down to the car. Harlan was a tired dog, and while we took a short stop about a mile from the car, Harlan laid down right in the middle of the trail and fell asleep. 
Brendan had a good time, I think he learned a few things about his gear and he gained experience that will get him ready for the PCT.
I wanted to take him somewhere on the PCT, so I checked out the maps and found a good "out and back" hike starting from highway 74 near the Paradise Cafe. The trail climbs a ridge that would eventually lead to Mt. San Jacinto, but the plan was to hike about 12 miles up to the Cedar Springs camp.
I don't have all of the gear listed on my gear list yet, but my base weight for the trip weighed in at around 10 pounds. This is the lightest I've ever had my pack weigh. Brendan's pack weighed about the same, since he too is trying to go ultralight. With food and water our packs were not much more than 15 pounds.
We started around 12:30pm from the highway. It began with rolling hills until it reached a gradual climb at about mile 6 that would take us to our camp. At this point were on the shady east side of the ridge that overlooked palm springs. A slight wind had picked up and it was FREEZING! There were times where I seriously considered putting on my down jacket because my long sleeve and rain jacket weren't helping with the cold. Sara just kept saying that she has never been that cold and she thought she was going to die...but she says that all the time...
As soon as we hit camp around 5:30pm, the wind had completely stopped but the temps were dropping quick and we put on every single piece of clothing we had. Brendan bought a pair of down pants to go with his down jacket, both black in color. So he basically looked like a black Michelin Man. But Sara and I were jealous because our legs were cold and his were toasty warm. I definitely plan on getting a pair.
The night was very cold and any water was found frozen in the morning.
The plan was to get up early to hike the 12 miles back down to the car so we could be back home in time for the Super Bowl, but with the cold, none of us could even get out of our sleeping bags until about 9am. We finally got up and hiked back down to the car. Harlan was a tired dog, and while we took a short stop about a mile from the car, Harlan laid down right in the middle of the trail and fell asleep. 
Brendan had a good time, I think he learned a few things about his gear and he gained experience that will get him ready for the PCT. 
Good times! Great section of trail to test on. On the other side of the divide above Idyllwild and through to Fuller Ridge there was last year (and likely to be this year) snow and ice along the trail.
ReplyDeleteThe site looks good, say hello when you catch up and pass me by. Good luck on the trail.
Dan
I really like the cone-head look of the hood, as I also have down booties, pants and a lighter sweater. I don't even want to begin to suggest trail names!
ReplyDeleteHaha yeah, I have the same WM Flash jacket Brendan has, I found you can get rid of the cone head look but you have to flatten it with your hand every time you put it on.
DeleteEither way, trail names could easily come from all this down gear