Monthly Data Update (M-1; 30 days)

Distance traveled on PCT: 631 mi / 1015 km

(actual distance traveled would be about 10 miles more for misc activities)

Total time: 280 hours

Total ascent: 117,830 ft / 35,915 m

Total descent: 115,912 ft / 35,330 m

Highest point: 9407 ft / 2867 m

Average distance/day: 21 mi / 34 km

Average time hiking/day: 9.3 hours (incl Zero days)

Average pace: 2.3 mi/hr (or) 3.6 km/hr

Number of Zero days: 1

Number of Nero days: 4

Number of meals eaten that I hadn't carried on my back: 15 (out of a total of 90)

Number of proper showers taken: 7

Number of animals seen: 1 bear, 10+ snakes, thousands of lizards, birds & other insects

Number of items lost: 1 beanie, 1 filter bag cap

Number of items lost & found: 1 pair of sunglasses

*Lessons learnt* :

- As my friend & mentor, Mark, says: always check and double-check the spot where you have stopped, even it is for a short time

- I am not an Ultra Light Backpacker. However much I want to be, I like the margin of safety & my comfort too much to be one 🙂

- Per my friend & running buddy, Vijay: I have got excellent training for Ultra Running now...eating, drinking & walking!

- Humanity is underrated - there are lots and lots of good people all around us

Comments

Kusum said…

Truly there are still angles in the world. You are experiencing it first hand!!

May 20, 2022 at 12:37 AM

Aam Aadmi said…

Ravi, it has been a month for you and every Saturday morning I go through your updates. Your posts teleport me to the great outdoors better than any Nat Geo documentary. You will have stories to tell from some time and I look forward to hearing them all.

May 20, 2022 at 5:22 PM

A thru-hike attempt... successful! (D-117: 2642.6 - 2653.6, D-117S (SOBO): 0 - 17.1, D-118S (SOBO): 17.1-30.6)

It is done! Finally, on August 10th, 2022, 117 days after I started at the US-Mexico border on April 16th, 2022, I reached the US-Canada border. Walked 2653.6 miles (4270.6 km) south-to-north through the states of California, Oregon and Washington. No bittersweet moments...just sweet relief to be done 😀. We were few of the lucky thru-hikers this year who were able to go south-to-north continuously without any interruptions. People who started even a couple of weeks earlier and maintained this pace hit a lot more snow in Seirras and a hell lot more in Washington, the latter being almost hike-stopping. By the time we got to Seirras, the snow was much more manageable, and almost all the snow had melted in Washington. People who started later or were slower have had to skip parts of Northern California due to forest fires. Even Oregon and Southern California have some fires starting already. Anyway, reached the northern terminus of the PCT yesterday morn...

Resupply (4 days to go)

(Finally gave up on HikerFeed app which seemed good on paper, but never worked properly for me 🙁) 10-day resupply in the bear canister, ready to ship - 7.6 kg / 16.8 lbs (gulp!) Already shipped the first box last week

Water, Wattage & WiFi (D-2)

Today was going to be tough one. If yesterday's elevation gain of 1000+ m was difficult, today's 1400+ m was going to be relentlesly uphill from the start to the end. With hiking legs still to be developed and 3 liters of water carry for a total pack weight of around 18-19 kg, it promised to be a challenging day. And it lived up to the challenge 😄. There were a few bright spots though including coming across the cold and clean Kitchen Creek and meeting a bunch of hikers both local & PCT. The second half of the day was a slog and I was ready for it to end. The goal was to reach Mt Laguna town and find a place to replenish water, charge my phone and get some WiFi as I doubted there would be any decent cell phone signal. But, lo & behold, as soon as I stepped off the trail to go to town, I was introduced to the famed Trail Magic!! A few trail angels has setup a picnic and generously welcomed all the hikers with cold soda, snacks, cookies, pie etc....

A thru-hike attempt

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