The Final Countdown!

Holy moly, in just five days from today we will be spending the first of many many nights on the Pacific Crest Trail! The past few weeks have flown by with all the preparation and I am guessing the next three days will go by even quicker. The to-do list has more crossed off than is left to do so that is a really good feeling. The to-do list a few months ago was incredibly intimidating so the fact that we are almost done with everything is such a relief.

Completing a gear shake down was top priority once we collected everything needed on a thru-hike. We laid out all our gear and compared it to the list created with everything on it. Luckily, we have everything that we will be carrying on our backs for the next six months. It is so nice to have that essential part completed, knowing that we are set for the adventure ahead. We will be double and triple checking our gear before we fly out just to give a peace of mind that we have all our gear ready to go.

Logistics have been a big part of planning for this hike as well. I have been doing research on the different towns and resupply options along the trail. Most towns offer a decent resupply option through grocery or general stores. There are a few areas we will be that don't offer the best options, so we will be having my parents shipping up resupply boxes. These boxes will include dehydrated meals that I made at home and snacks to carry us on to the next town. The other big planning that has been taking place is the river crossings in the Sierras. Since the Sierras have gotten so much snow we are preparing for difficult water crossings. Craig found a website by Andrew Skurka which plots the trail river crossings and a safer alternate crossing. I have added the points onto Caltopo and am able to use my phone to show the crossings (we will also have a printed out PDF version just in case).

Packing the house we have been renting in Golden is one of the last big thing that needs to be completed. We have a good start on the packing, but there is still a fair bit more to go. Our storage unit that we are renting is nice and close so it has made it easy to make short trips to drop off a few boxes at a time. My office, most of my closet and a majority of my toiletries have been packed and put into storage. The kitchen, living room and garage are basically the last rooms left to pack up. Although they are bigger areas I don't think they will take to long to pack.

I am excited for the preparation and planning process to be completed and just spend time outside and do what we have been planning for the better part of six plus months!