Last night we spread out all the gear we thought we would need. Balt began packing his Osprey backpack first as I checked off the list we had made together. It was actually a lot of stuff.
Tent. Sleeping bag. Blanket. Sleeping pad. Compression bag for clothes. Camp towel. Two 1-liter Nalgene bottles. Water filteration system (we used the Guardian Purifier). Hand sanitizer. Solar powered charger. Trekking poles. Bear canister for a week supply of food. Bear bell. Pocket PCT book and the PCT data book. Nail clipper. A trowel. Wipes. Small stove. Matches. And the list went on… for 60 pounds on his pack and about 35 pounds on mine by the time I finished packing up.
Right now I’m at 113 lbs. So that’s about one fourth to one third of my body weight. Same for him and his pack. We’re nervous about the weight of our packs but we figure if we really don’t need something then we can mail it back once we reach a general delivery place. We’re also excited about getting started though!
Our plan to get to the trailhead northbound is to leave to San Diego tomorrow morning by catching a bus out of Paso Robles and then jumping on a train at Santa Barbara. We plan to stay two nights in San Diego, then get a ride to Campo, the Southern terminus of the Pacific Crest Trail.
There we will start walking northbound.
Countdown: 3 days