Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail

Posted by: Jenna.

Tom and I are both back on the east coast again! He flew into NYC last Monday, and we spent the week bouncing around Brooklyn and Manhattan, then came back through Massachusetts and headed up to Vermont. Yesterday Tom defended his Honors Thesis (about animal standing and the laws surrounding animals...I think) and now he is all done with his undergraduate studies! It was really nice to be back in Vermont for a bit and to be on campus and see old friends. A lot of people kept asking how our hike had been, though. So I figured I should clarify: we haven't started hiking yet. We are still preparing (and preparing, and preparing) and we are still planning on heading out on the trail starting on June 13th. We started this blog way in advance to chronicle the preparations and everything leading up to the trip. A hike of this length takes months of planning and training, before you even start the actual hiking. But the beginning is drawing close. While I was in Vermont I got to talk to our friend Rob, who hiked a bunch of the trail last summer. I just wanted to know everything (especially gear related things), and I think I quickly got annoying. But he said we dont need gators, and gave us some great advice about sleeping pads, ice axes, hiking in snow, and bear cannisters (I will share later). We also talked a lot about clothing choices, and while those things do vary a bit by gender, it was very helpful.

Now I am back in Massachusetts wrapping up some web design work before heading back up to Vermont to keep Tom company in between now and graduation (May 15th). We also need to start looking for plane tickets...