A thru-hike attempt

Having hiked 130+ miles in Washington over the last 5 days, I would say that the WA mosquitoes hands-down beat the OR mosquitoes in aggressiveness, quantity and persistence, as well as non-detterence by mosquito repellent. Of course, they have more ideal living conditions here - the trail is mostly in thick forests with tall trees that block the Sun with very few exposed/open areas and lots of ponds. And they bring along their buggy friends like bees, wasps, flies, horseflies etc., All intent on making the hiker's life challenging. There was one area called Indian Heaven Wilderness which has been renamed as Mosquito Heaven Wilderness by hikers. Most hikers I have come across wear a bug net and everybody is rushing as fast as they can. Stopping means becoming instant meal. And once you are in the tent, you stay in the tent. Everyone eats dinner inside the tent. The bugs patrol all around the tent so that you don't escape. I guess by now you know what I think of hik

Some of you have asked about what gear I am using. Since today is a Zero day (the last Zero day was on D-57) and there is nothing much to report other than the fact that I shipped the last set of resupply boxes to different places in Washington state and ate substantial amounts of food today, I figured I might as well talk about my gear, and also a bit about the other most essential component on the hike - my "tramily" (trail-family).   Tent : 1-person Rainbow Li from Tarptent (bought new). This has worked very well for me and as you know from my earlier posts, Tarptent has given very good customer service too. I haven't had the chance to use the tent in heavy rain or snow (luckily) though and can't comment on it. I use a Tyvek ground sheet (already owned), also from Tarptent. Backpack : Catalyst from ULA (already owned).  I started with Zpack Arc Air Robic 60L (bought new) and used it for 700 miles, but it was not comfortable at

All data below in italics is for M-1 & M-2 respectively, for comparison. Distance traveled on PCT: 798 mi /1284 km ( 631 mi / 1015 km; 554 mi / 892 km ) Total time: 320 ( 280; 280 ) hours Total ascent: 123,951 ft / 37,780 m ( 117,830 ft / 35,915 m; 99,040 ft / 30,190 m )  Total descent: 123,921 ft / 37,771 m ( 115,912 ft / 35,330 m; 99,730 ft / 30,400 m ) Highest point: 7580 ft / 2310 m ( 9407 ft / 2867 m; 13,120 ft / 4000 m ) Average distance/day: 26.6 mi/42.8 km ( 21 mi/34 km; 18.7 mi/30.1 km )  Average distance/hiking day: 26.6 mi/42.8 km ( 21.8 mi/35.1 km; 21.3 mi/34.3 km ) Average time hiking/day: 10.7 ( 9.3; 9.3 ) hours (incl Zero & Nero days) Average pace: 2.5 mi/hr (or) 4.0 km/hr ( 2.3 mi/hr (or) 3.6 km/hr; 2.0 mi/hr (or) 3.2 km/hr ) Number of Zero days: 0 ( 1; 4 ) Number of Nero days: 5 ( 4; 8 ) Number of meals eaten that I hadn't carried on my back: 18 ( 15; 25 ) Number of proper showers taken: 11 ( 7; 14 ) Number of bears seen: 0 ( 1, 1 )

A lava field ( lava field video link ) that I hiked through on Day 90 - miles of seemingly other-worldly area consisting of hard & sharp rocks on the trail. Shoe-destroying stuff! Also went through a part of the Obsidian Rocks area. Here is one such rock: Coming to more prosaic (but more important for me) stuff, it was resupply boxes and a potential for getting breakfast at Big Lake Youth Camp on Day 91. BLYC lies along the PCT and I had sent one resupply box there. In addition, had got a new tube of Ultrathon mosquito repellent shipped there as well as my old hiking boots (thanks to Shalini). After months of wearing trail running shoes (Altra Lone Peak Hiker), I decided to try boots and why not the ones that I had lying at home, I thought. My 2nd pair of Altras were thoroughly destroyed by now (see pic below) with big holes in each shoe and the sole pretty much devoid of traction. I used it from mile 900 to almost mile 2000, so pe