The Battle of Resupply Boxing

There are two schools of thought when it comes to food on the PCT: buy-as-you-go and mail drops. For the sake of reduced stress while I'm on the trail, and since I have to mail maps to myself anyway, I decided to make mail drops. These boxes include maps, fuel, toilet paper, food, sunscreen, insect repellant, vitamins and other things I'll need in small(er than available in the store) quantities. I've made a calendar with my itinerary and assigned a ship date for each town, and Jonathan will be sending them to the post office at each town to be held for me to pick up when I arrive.

I've done pretty well at going to Winco and Walmart at least once a week on my day off and buying a big old cart full of food for the trip. Winco has excellent bulk bins. So excellent in fact, that their bulk bins are legendary among backpackers. They even have dog food, bird seed, baking soda, cocoa powder, salt, tapioca flour, peanut butter, and honey in bulk, not to mention the normal nuts, seeds, granolas and dried fruits!

I've been making big batches of my favorite spaghetti sauce and vegetarian chili, running them through the dehydrator and vacuum sealing them into meal-sized portions with noodles and couscous (again, love those bulk bins).

I ordered flat-rate boxes from the post office for my "normal" 3-4 day drops and I've started collecting larger boxes from work for my larger 7-8 day drops. Gradually the pile has grown larger and larger.

But all of this acquisition has been easy compared to putting the stuff INTO the boxes. I'm starting to refer to it internally as The Battle of Resupply Boxing. At T minus 50 days shit is starting to get real, and it feels the most real when I'm in the heat of the battle.

Recognizing my "holy crap" moment a few days ago, Jonathan jumped in to take some of the decision making off my shoulders. I gave him some rules like "two snacks and three meals per day" and "these packages count as two meals for the first three weeks, but one meal thereafter" while I pondered over how much fuel and toilet paper I'll be consuming for each box of meals he packed. Finally we made it through the first five boxes! Phew, what a relief.

Now just 25 more to go.

Gearing up

I've never been a real "hardcore" backpacker or gearhead. I did a good bit of backpacking growing up, but gear was never the main focus; we bought our gear for cheap at the fleamarket or garage sales. Not to mention, in the past few years I had only done a couple of weekend trips and had been able to get by without a lot of gear and specialty clothing.

Gearing up for this trip has been a long process and a steep learning curve. I basically had to start my gear collection from ground zero as I decided that what I already had wouldn't fit my newly-formed gear philosophy.

I read Beyond Backpacking by Ray Jardine, a huge proponent of lightweight backpacking (also, that guy and his wife, Jenny, are super hardcore. He lists all of their major outdoor adventures from the past 50 years on his website.). His philosophy in a nutshell: Pack light and you will enjoy the trip more and be capable of walking faster. Therefore, you won't have to pack as much food, and therefore your pack will be lighter, and therefore you can move faster, and so on... Seems like pretty sound advice to me.

I watched with horror as Mike Clelland ripped apart people's gear lists on the BackpackingLight.com forums, telling them to ditch the toilet paper and use sticks instead! That seemed extreme to me (which isn't to say I haven't learned from his suggestions).

The one statement that made the biggest impact on my philosophy was to this effect: We carry gear to assuage our fears and make up for lack of experience.

With that in mind, I came up with this "philosophy" which guided my gear buying decisions:

1) I'll go as light and high quality as I can...
2)... For a reasonable amount of money...
3) ... And try my hardest not to pay full price
4) I will truthfully acknowledge where I am inexperienced and buy gear accordingly

For example, a lot of ultra-light backpackers use a tarp for shelter, since it can be so much lighter than any tent. I've never used a tarp as shelter before and I'm not confident in my ability to put up a sound tarp-shelter in every situation, let alone in the middle of a storm when I am potentially on the verge of hypothermia. Plus, I'm not okay with spiders or mosquitoes, so a floor and walls are a must. Recognizing this, I researched single-person, fully-enclosed backpacking tents. I read a lot of reviews and gear lists and came up with my top three candidates, ranking them by weight:

Gossamer Gear's The One
Henry Shire's Tarptent Contrail
and Henry Shire's Tarptent Moment

Once I had my list, I haunted the used-gear ads and gear swap forums on Backpacking Light (BPL) and Whiteblaze (the Appalachian Trail forum). I found a nearly-new ONE for sale for $200 (30% less than retail) and purchased it from the owner. And that is how I came to have my tent.

A similar story with my stove. A home-made soda can stove was not for me! I didn't want to go starting any forest fires on accident (it's said to have happened with this type of stove), and I wanted to be certain of having the fire-power (and simmer ability) to cook up the delicious meals I'm planning. So I bought the Snowpeak Titanium Litemax stove from REI with my 20% off coupon and got some cash back from couponcactus.com. It makes up for my inexperience, only weighs 1.9 oz (plus the fuel canister), and I didn't pay full price. So I met all my criteria with that one.

I have most of my gear now (a big, huge thank-you to everyone (especially my parents!!!) who really went all-out for me at Christmas time), and I've been meaning to put it all in a spreadsheet and tally up the weight. When I get that done I'll post it here, as long as you promise not to send the link to Mike Clelland!

Trail Names

Being on a long trail, in the wilderness and responsible only for oneself, is a completely different life from the 9-5 many of us live back home. Most people take on a new name while they're on the trail to indicate this perceived separation of existence.

Often times, these names are granted by others, describing a trait or special ability or referring cryptically to a memorable event. Sometimes, people come up with their own names. Some people have trail names without even knowing it (My brother, Chris, is known as Crash. I'd nominate that as a pretty good trail name!).

My trail name is/will be Moxie. It was partly given and partly chosen.

Back in 2005, I had a minor crisis as I was preparing to transfer to UC Davis from community college. I needed to immediately enroll for 9 units of classes in order to meet the transfer requirements. The catch: when I received this news, it was the middle of summer and my college's add-class deadlines for summer school had passed weeks ago.

I got online and found two colleges whose registration deadlines were TOMORROW! IN LOS ANGELES! 350 MILES AWAY FROM WHERE I LIVED! I filled out the registration paperwork and faxed it to the colleges, then searched their catalogs for online courses that were eligible for transfer to UC. I put my name on the wait-lists and emailed the professors explaining that I would be adding their classes late and please email me the syllabus so that I could start on the coursework right away.

A week goes by, then two... and one of the colleges had still not processed my registration. The deadline to add the class late had passed! I emailed the professor asking her to be my advocate in getting special permission to add the class late, since I had been participating and doing the work. Her response: "You're still hanging in there?!?! girl, you've got MOXIE! I don't see people like you very often. Sure, I'll speak for you."

And with those few words, my academic career was saved.

I had to ask my mom what MOXIE was. And I've never forgotten since: sass, courage, spunk, verve, pep, unmitigated gall, determination, fortitude, know-how, cleverness. The word suits me 100%.

Moxie, and all the words used to describe it, are words that I've heard in conversation as I tell people about my upcoming adventure. So I'll take it as a trail name.

Plus, I've always wished to have an X in my name (it's a pretty bad ass letter. Jonathan adds "If you have an X in your name, it means you've seen some shit").

What would your trail name be if you could choose it?

Moxie on the PCT

Thanks for reading about my experience on the PCT. I'm Stephanie, a 25 year old from San Jose, CA by way of Davis. I'm starting my PCT trek at the end of April 2012 in Campo, CA. I'm aiming to arrive in Manning Park, BC, Canada (2650 miles north) in late September 2012.

This hike has been a long time coming. About three years ago I came across a copy of "The Backpacking Woman", in which the PCT was mentioned and revered as the pinnacle of achievement for women backpackers. Right then, I decided I would do the PCT, without knowing a single thing about it, not even its length!

In the intervening time, I've devoted countless hours to reading about long distance backpacking, researching gear, learning how to dehydrate and prepare food... it's a long list... And I've been so grateful to have the unflagging support and enthusiasm of my family, friends, and co-workers.

More than anyone else, I have Jonathan, my partner in all things, to thank. For his complete faith in my ability, encouragement when my own confidence falters, listening patiently to my broken-record talk of the trip, and for agreeing to be my quartermaster, co-ordinator, and home base.