Wednesday 14 November 2012

No I'm not dead

You may be forgiven for thinking I am dead or just being abducted by aliens.

No I've just been very lazy about posing any updates since I got back to Ireland.

Okay in my last post I was still in the USA, well from the above comment I did get back to Ireland.

So a quick summary of my last bit of America.
I finally drove the poor car into the ground!! It made it as far as Vegas but really needed to be swapped out 18,664 miles added to the poor car in under two months, not sure if Hertz has black listed me or not (guess I will see next time I go to rent a car)

In total I estimate I did ~ 23,000 miles in just over two months.

Car just before I returned it.
At the final tally I only missed Hawaii to visit all the US states, and since it was not a bond car driving to Hawaii was not a practical option (and yes I may have actually tried it if the option was available)

What have I been doing in Ireland for the last few months.

Well other than sleeping much more than I should have been :) some of the highlights include attending the EME 2012 conference in Cambridge (the original Cambridge in the UK not Massachusetts)

Some hiking in Ireland including sections of the Royal Canal in Ireland which is a lovely picturesque walk, also nice and level (just what my body needed to get over America)

Also I have just completed my PADI Open Water Scuba Instructors course in Ireland with Dive Inn Scuba I have to say this was a tiring experience both from the view of mental and physical, but the exams are now complete, jut waiting for the paperwork to be processed.

What Next...
Well I fly out of Ireland tomorrow for 3 and a half months, destination Asia.
Current planned destinations include Japan, Philippines, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Australia with maybe one or tow more stops included if they take my fancy.

I promise some more updates (Yea Yea I know you have heard that before but I will try)

Well to close some pictures from my the end of the America trip.

Ginnie Springs
Hoover Dam from the new Inter State bridge
Don't think I actually need to caption this!   

Crater Lake in Yellow Stone National Park 
Old Faithful letting go
Yellowstone buffalo with calf
Grand Canyon
And lastly a few pictures for the geeks out there from the computer history museum in Silicon Valley
Working Babbage Engine
Early Beowulf Cluster
 Believe it or not this last picture is actually the most poignant to me, this exhibit is almost hidden away at the computer history museum but it made me stop and look at it for maybe 10 minutes.  Yea Yea I can hear you saying WTF it is only a stack of computers (I won't go into details here of what a Beowulf cluster is, if you are interested google it!) But an article about this computer (this this actual one!) that I read just before going into second year of college was more responsible than anything else for setting the direction I have taken in my computer career. 

Tuesday 19 June 2012

More updates

Okay I finally got a proper computer again to post an update from.

Well last time I was in Massachusetts heading south so how did that section of the trip go.

Well from Massachusetts I headed down the coast, firstly to Rhode Island where I met up with some old fiends for a lovely dinner which was a nice change.
From there I stayed heading southish through Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and into the District of Columbia and Washington DC.
I had a lovely day wandering around Washington, I could have spent multiple days just in the Smithsonian but I decided to head on after a single day as I had seen most of what I wanted to, getting back to the car I noticed a nice crack in the windscreen (I was parked maybe a hundred meters from an interstate so I think a stone flew from the road and got the windscreen, well the rental company said it was up to me if I swapped the car out or if it was safe to drive, I decide to stay going (it has now grown to maybe 3 foot but I couldn't be bothered to swap it out ))

From Washington I headed down through Virginia and into North Caroline where I met up with some of my friends from RenRe for a lovely lunch and some time catching up.

From there it was on down through South Caroline where the weather conspired to stop me from seeing some of the sights I had wanted to see, just one of those days where it was raining on and off a lot and I just wasn't bothered getting soaked through to see some of the sights.

Then down through Georgia and on down to Key West with a stop in Key Largo.

Key west was filled with tourists so after seeing the most southerly point (which was my main reason for going that far down) I got out of there.

I visited the museum of diving near Key Largo which was spectacular, I fully recommend it if you are in the area and even have a slight interest in diving. (I had to resist buying the Mark IV helmet they had for sale!!)
The plan in Key Largo had been for a few days of diving but unfortunately I seem to be suffering from some sort of sinus issues at the moment so that was out which is a pity as the one dive I did (well tried to do) was lovely and there was a number of dives I really wanted to do there (I'll just have to come back again)
I skipped Disney and such in Orlando and the Kennedy space centre as I had done these on a previous trip (but I would recommend them anyway)

From Florida it was west to Alabama, Mississippi and into Louisiana.
I had a lovely day in New Orleans especially in the French quarter.

From New Orleans I headed Northish to get a corner of Texas and Oklahoma and to get Arkansas.
From there it was back east again to Get Tennessee and up into Kentucky, I skipped Graceland as I was shocked with the price of visiting and I'm not a big enough Elvis fan to pay that price :)

From there I added in Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska and then  up to South Dakota (year I was already there) to take in Mt Rushmore, the faces are a little smaller than I was expecting (not sure why!) but well worth seeing anyway, fairly crowded but not too bad, admittedly I had to resist barging past some old people (Why is it when you have an old couple walking along a boardwalk that is wide enough for two people they insist on walking side by side so no body can pass )

From Mount Rushmore it was west into Wyoming and off to see Yellowstone National park, I could have spent a week there and still not seen a fraction of the park, I mainly took the time to take in the geysers and such (unfortunately I was having issues with the altitude again so only spend the one day)

From there it was on into Idaho and Utah where I am at the moment.

Only three states to go Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico, also I want to get to San Francisco to spend a day and see a few things including some of a day in Las Vegas (to include a helicopter trip to the grand canyon)

I estimate I have about 3000 miles to go to hit all these spots and get back to San Diego by the morning of the 29th, so nine days really and a day or two of sight seeing along the way (just about practical!) The actual millage may be a little lower as I was basing it on getting to Roswell in New Mexico but I may not go quite that far!

After that what are my plans, I'm actually looking at coming back to Ireland for a month or so to do a number of things around Ireland and Europe, the plan is to base myself out of Dublin (thanks Mam), this may actually work out a cheaper way of getting to Australia! and give me a chance to do some stuff I want in Ireland and Europe.

Pictures will follow in a week or so (probably after I get back to Ireland!)


Okay a very quick update and I have to rush off to get checked out and to head on.

Thursday 31 May 2012

Minor rant and updates

Okay firstly a minor rant I need to get off my chest.

Lots of places I have stayed have offered "Continental Breakfast" I have yet to come across a single one that I would actually consider a continental breakfast at least by European standards, a couple of bagels and tea/coffee does not equal a continental breakfast.

Well enough ranting, what else have I been up to lately.

Well I'm currently sitting in Wellfleet which is on Cape Cod, Had a lovely time at the drive in last night http://www.wellfleetdrivein.com/ if you are ever on Cape Cod make sure you go and visit, it is one of the few left in existence (Okay that sounded a bit too like an advertisement, but I'm biased as I worked there for an excellent summer 13 or 14 years ago)

I also made a stop at the Dayton hamvention for a few days (geek heaven) www.hamvention.org

I have uploaded a few more photos to picasa https://picasaweb.google.com/104859470393475914260/MarksWalkAbout?authuser=0&feat=directlink

I have done a quick count of what states I have visited so far and this is the basic list (roughly in order)
California
Oregon
Washington
British Columbia (Canada)
Yukon (Canada)
Alaska
Alberta (Canada)
Saskatchewan (Canada)
Montana
North Dakota
South Dakota
Minnesota
Iowa
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Illinois
Indiana
Michigan
Ohio
West Virgina
Pennsylvania
New York
Vermont
New Hampshire
Maine
New Brunswick (Canada)
Nova Scotia (Canada)
Massachusetts

So 22 US states and 6 Canadian Provinces/Territories, so not quite have way on seeing visiting all 50 US states (not necessarily part of this trip, actually the number is higher as I have visited 7 others on previous trips.

So what is the plan for the coming few weeks.
Today is driving to Providence Rhode Island, then on to Philadelphia for a day then Washington DC for a couple of days to see the sights and visit some of the museums there. Then on to Raleigh North Carolina to catch up with a few of my ex-colleagues, then down to Florida. Of course likes lots of  other parts of this trip I'm not likely to take the direct routes so I can try to take in some extra spots.

Okay well I think that is a good summary of my adventures over the last week or so.


Sunday 13 May 2012

10000 km done

I could start by apologising for the lack of updates but I think I have started most posts with a similar comment :)

I had hoped to get some more photos uploaded but the computer in the hotel I'm using does not seem to be cooperating.

So what have I been up to since leaving the trail?

Basically driving and lots of it.

I have now covered four US states and three Canadian provinces, California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, British Columbia, Yukon and Alberta.
I have to say the drive over the Alaska highway was spectacular but I should probably have waited a few weeks longer as a lot of the attractions and even motels are not yet open for the season.

Some of the highlights along the way included Fairbanks, the Liard hot springs and all the animals along the way some of which included Grizzly bears, black bears (including cubs), Caribou, Moose, rain dear, elk,duck, geese and lots of different birds including some birds of prey, some of the small birds seem to like playing chicken with the car by seeing how close they can get to hitting it before veering off.

Other interesting points along the way included Crater lake (again not really open for another few weeks), unfortunately there was only one open road up to the lake with snow drifts of 10+ feet still in places.

I'll attempt to get photos posted in the next few days but please don't hold your breath :)

So what are my plans from here?
Well the next few weeks basically shape up like this.
From Edmonton I will head to Dayton Ohio to attend the Dayton Hamvention next weekend (4 days to cover 3000km) with some likely detours to take in some extra states along the way, basically there are places where I;m maybe 100Km from another state I haven't been in before so it would be a shame not to make a small detour :)
After Dayton I intend to wind my way towards Maine to take in the North West corner of my trip.
After that it will be down to Boston and along the east coast.

Well that is all for now.

Tuesday 1 May 2012

Plan B is in operation

Firstly apologies for the lack of updates lately but I have had limited access.

So what had been going on with me.
Well firstly the issues I had been having seem to have been confirmed as being related to altitude, my symptoms cleared up very quickly once I returned down to San Diego but returned just as fast everytime I returned to altitude.
So I have decided to abandon the hike as I had planned it, if I had stayed on the trail I would have been heading into higher altitudes fairly quickly also I did not feel comfortable considering heading into the desert sections if I was not feeling 100% 

So what are my plans now, well I have rented a car for the next two months and I am heading out on an epic road trip instead, at a minimum I plan to visit the four corners of the US (Washington state, Maine, the Florida keys and back to San Diego) with a possible side trip up to Alaska (if I do I will basically go up far enough to be able to say I was there before turning back)  also along the way I want to visit as many different states as possible.
So any friends and ex colleagues on the east coast you may see me in the coming weeks.

So what else have I been up to in the last weeks.
Well I had a few days in San Diego so one thing I did was visit sea world which was a fun day out.
I also rented a car and tried out a little trail angeling, I provided some lifts from paradise valley cafe up to idyllwild, I also collected a few other hikers and provided them a lift back down to the kickoff which I was attending anyway.
Kickoff was interesting, I was good to meet some of the other hikers, but to be honest at the same time was a little sad for me, I'm quite happy with my decision to come off the trail but seeing a few presentations which included videos made me a little disappointed at the same time.
I couldn't actually camp up at the kickoff as I was starting to feel bad from the altitude (I did stay one night but that was enough)

Well after kickoff I dropped the same hikers back to where I had collected them, then back down to San Diego to swap out the rental car with the new one for the two months.

My plan was to get through California as fast as possible (I plan to spend some more time on my way back) that took a day and a half on its own, so I'm now in Oregon, I visited Crater Lake park today, unfortunately a lot of the roads there are still closed due to snow (12 foot plus in places)

Tomorrow I will probably see some.more of Oregon and head into Washington.

Wednesday 18 April 2012

Section A finished

Well I reached Warner Springs which marks the end of section A at mile.marker 109.2

So what is next?
Well at the moment I am back in San Diego to try let my stomach issue clear up, so far it is looking good, in fact it seemed to clear up very quickly, this is both good and bad news, good in that I am feeling a lot better,  bad as it may indicate that I am reacting badly to the altitude (or at least exertion at altitude) this is bad in that later sections get higher still.
My current plan is to rent a car and do some angelling for a few days before attending the kickoff, I also.intend to spend some time at altitude to see how my body reacts, I will decide after kickoff if I am getting back on the trail or implementing plan B..

Plan B is an American road trip instead of the trail.

More details to follow.

Wednesday 11 April 2012

Sucked into Julien, and some photos.

Okay so I have decided to spend an extra couple of days in Julien, mainly due to a couple of bad weather fronts that are passing through here today and Friday, to be honest the sort of weather is not that bad, I would consider it a reasonable day for hiking at home (for a day hike anyway) but it is the sort of weather that would likely leave you soaked through before the end of the day and when your only option is to pitch your tent then being overly damp is not nice.  Also you need to factor in the different equipment that I'm using here compared to at home, for example if the sleeping bag I'm using gets too damp it will lose a lot of its insulation so not leaving me in all that good a position.
A lot of through hikers may choose to hunker down in their tents on a rain day so as not to get their equipment too damp, so I decided instead of hunkering down in a tent why not hunker down in a nice comfortable hotel room within walking distance of some nice restaurants (how I love not being on a tight budget)
The other factor is along with the rain is some strong winds predicted, I can hear you saying so what.
Well here is an example of the trail in the last few days, that is the trail cutting across the middle of the photo, in was only a couple of feet wide in places with maybe a 200+ meter drop down a 75 degree+ slope (i.e. no stopping till you get to the bottom), now imagine walking along this in high winds and with mud underfoot!!

The plans for the coming weeks are roughly as follows.
Leave Julien Saturday (maybe midday depending on weather) and head north with the next planned full break being in Idyllwild in approximately 100 miles, I hope to cover this in 8-10 days, (possible partial resupply in Warner Springs and maybe a zero day somewhere on the trail) then plans call for a day or so break in Idyllwild before heading back to the kickoff event at Lake Morena, currently I'm considering getting down to a larger town and maybe renting a car for the few days and helping out other hikers, but we will see.

I have uploaded a few other photos as well, probably haven't been taking as many as I should!
https://picasaweb.google.com/104859470393475914260/MarksWalkAbout?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Oh one last clarification despite what Alan has been saying we were not actually picked up by the helicopter on the first night!

Mark

Monday 9 April 2012

Lake Morena to Julien

Okay just a quick check in, I made it to Julien save and sound, lovely little town so far (I've mostly seen my bed at the hotel)

I had planned for at least three days of hiking to get here but made it in two with a 17 and then an 18 mile day which I have to say was a lot easier than I expected.
I'm planning on two days n Julien but may add an extra day to avoid a bit of a storm that may hit on Wednesday.
Most of my body is holding up well, my feet are reasonable with just a little heel pain bit, that is the good parts now for the bad, I'm just not managing to eat properly, on the trail I'm eating 1500-2000 calories (not the end of the world as I probably need to lose it anyway)  but even this ammount I have to force myself to eat. In trail towns it is actually worse, basically within 30 minutes of a proper meal I'm rushing for the bathroom.
I may see a doctor tomorrow if it does not clear up a bit, I expected to be off a bit for a week and it has only been a bit over a week since I started.
Well we will see in the next few days.

Lake Morena to Julien

Okay just a quick check in, I made it to Julien save and sound, lovely little town so far (I've mostly seen my bed at the hotel)

I had planned for at least three days of hiking to get here but made it in two with a 17 and then an 18 mile day which I have to say was a lot easier than I expected.
I'm planning on two days n Julien but may add an extra day to avoid a bit of a storm that may hit on Wednesday.
Most of my body is holding up well, my feet are reasonable with just a little heel pain bit, that is the good parts now for the bad, I'm just not managing to eat properly, on the trail I'm eating 1500-2000 calories (not the end of the world as I probably need to lose it anyway)  but even this ammount I have to force myself to eat. In trail towns it is actually worse, basically within 30 minutes of a proper meal I'm rushing for the bathroom.
I may see a doctor tomorrow if it does not clear up a bit, I expected to be off a bit for a week and it has only been a bit over a week since I started.
Well we will see in the next few days.

Thursday 5 April 2012

First few days

Updated to fix formatting that seems to have been lost when posting from my mobile!
Okay three days done and quite eventful already.
Day one
Bob Reiss put three of us up for the night and provided transport to the border for us. Only problem was waking up at five AM to be on the road for 5:30 as we wanted to make the border for as close to sunrise as we could.
At the border for 7AM and hiking by about 7:30.
The first few miles were relatively easy and I was feeling very comfortable but the the heat of the day started to make its presence know and my speed started to drop off severely, but a bit of rest in the shade and I was ready to go again.
Things took a turn in the afternoon, we encountered another hiker sitting at the side of the trail, at first he asked us did we have any spare water as he was low, we had a little bit so shared but on further talking to him we found out he had twisted his ankle and was waiting for some members of his family to come up and help him down, well at this point my first aid kicked in, after bandaging his ankle we decide to help him back to the nearest access "road", I decided to stay with him but Nico who I had been hiking with for some of the day decided to push on with the rest of his group after helping me with Tims pack.
After we had been back at the Jeep road for a while it was clear that Tim's family would not be able to get to where we were easily so they contacted border patrol, as there was evidence that they patrolled that road regurarly, anyway one person Tim talked to insisted that 911had to be called so they could confirm our position, this resulted in a chopper being scrambled (I won't mention what the border agents that did come for us said about this, other than to say that he said he knew where we were from the description). Eventually we were picked up about 9:30, my plan had been to get some water from them and hike the five miles into the next water source but based on the limited water and the time of day it was decided that it would be a lot safer for them to drop me at the next campsite, so I did end up skipping a small section of the trail but it was for a good cause.

Day two
The second day started slowly, I had stayed overnight in lake morena, I had originally considered taking a zero day but decided against that, this meant I was late leaving and did not hit the trail till almost eleven which is probably the worst time, anyway I slogged on for a few hours before hitting a wall, the first really good shade I found was under a highway bridge so I lay down for a good hour.
I was still about 4 miles from the next decent camp spot that also had water, but the rest had done me good so I managed to get to camp just as it was getting dark.

Day three
Awake at sunrise, the first few hours were very nice with me managing a comfortable 2mi/hour pace but as with other days once the sun got hot this dropped way down, I was flagging again by about 10 but I pushed on till about 1 when I found a really nicely shaded spot and took a long nap, got back on the trail a little before 4 and easily made the 3 miles to my planned camp site, unfortunately there was not the expected water so I needed to move on, well 4 mile furthur on was the town of MT Laguna which I knew had a motel/lodge, all I can say is it is amazing how much motivation a comfortable bed can be (along with the cool weather in the evening) well the final hour or so of hiking was by torch which was actually very nice to be out of they heat of the day.
I arrived to the lodge just as the owner was pulling away and thankfully there was a room available. Day four (five?) This is a day of rest, I plan on doing very little except resting. I have a package to pick up at the post office this afternoon and some planning to do.
Obviously I have gotten a connection to update the blog, afraid not many photos to upload but I will include this one of the store in town. It is what I always pictured a remote store to be, it basically has everything somewhere in it, the post office is attached, the motel/cabins are behind it and owned by the same people, the town has a population of 60 and during the week the store is almost the only thing in town, there is a cafe at the weekends.

The town is at 6000 feet so it is officially the highest I have hiked :) Oh also encounter my first snow this evening, there are still a few patches hers in the shade.

General info So that covers the basics of what I have been up to. I suppose the question is how have I been doing, well the hiking has been hard and at this stage I feel physically wrecked, hence taking a double zero, but I think I have the pattern I need to follow for the next days, I need to be hiking either before or right at sunrise so I can get a few hours in before it warms up properly them I need to take a long rest/nap around midday to avoid the worst of the temperatures and then hike up till or after dark, this may take some adjusting but I will try it for the next section.
Other than that the temperature/exercise is playing havock with my appetite, I am not eating enough, I estimate 2000 calories yesterday which is not enough to sustain me at this level of activity but hopefully this is something my body can sort out in the next few days or I will have to review it again at the next town stop.

Sunday 1 April 2012

Quick Update

Just a quick update.

I think my SPOT should be working now and shoud be accesable from the Wheres Mark Tab above or at this address Wheres Mark  It should update the next time I send a position update which I will do later.

The SPOT device is a small device that lets you sned short messages that include you GPS position via the satellite network so update scna be snet even when there is no access to a mobile network.

The SPOT can send two different types of messages either a limited number of predefined messages, these can be longer and are included in the price of the basic package, so if you think you are seeing the same messages repeated again and again you probably are.

The second type are type and send massages, these are limited to 41 characters but can be customised at time of sending, I will be using there periodically.

IF you want to be included in the email distribution list for these let me know and I will add you on when I get a proper internet connection.

Friday 30 March 2012

Shopping and phones

Lets get the bad news out of the way first, as they say plans rarely survive contact with reality. Before getting here I had planned and promised regular (if not daily) blog updates from the trail, unfortunately this wont be happening now.
Don't worry I can hear you shouting why, well lets say I had my first taste of US mobile phone carries and I have to say I'm that I am surprised how bad the plans that are on offer are.
My requirements are
1. A SIM card (I already have a phone)
2. No contract (pay as you go, I'm only here for a few months)
3. Be able to make and receive calls
4. Be able to use internet/email
5. Reasonable coverage along the trail.

For anybody coming from Europe the first four items probably sound easy and if you browse some of the US sites like I did you might think it would be easy.

Well lets review the issues I had.

Firstly the question of coverage narrowed the realistic choices down to either Verizon or AT&T, no problem at least I have a choice :)

So Verizon seemed to have slightly better coverage from looking at the coverage reports on WWW.pctmaps.net

Unfortunalty Verizon do not offer any options to purchase a SIM only package, or at least not one that will allow voice calls, they do have SIMs but they are aimed at data only e.g. ipads and such, since I already have a very nice smart phone with me this is not much of an option for me.

So still not a big deal, I'm sure AT&T will want to take my money.

When I first start talking to the nice agent in the shop things are looking good, they have a nice package for $60 a month that seems to do everything I want, unlimited calls and unlimited internet including calls to Ireland, looks good doesn't it.....
That is what I was thinking as well until the bomb was dropped as they they say, the agent then mentioned that the unlimited internet part of the plan did not apply to smart phones,  that option is only available with a contract or on older non smart phones.

So instead of one of them getting at least 300 dollars off me over the next six months they will only get maybe 50 as I took the cheapest plan that simply lets me make calls and texts and pay for them as I go.

One item in the plan compares favourable to plans at home and that is 10c/minute national calls and 49c/minute calls to Ireland, this is well below the rate you pay at home on a basic pay as you go plan, but it's not all good, compared to home, you pay both to make and receive calls and texts here, so even if I only have incoming calls my credit is getting eaten up :(

So what does all this mean for the blog, well basically it means that I will only be posting updates when I can either get wifi coverage or get some other means of getting internet access. So please do not be surprised if it ends up being weeks between actual posts, to make up for this I have gotten a SPOT which I will use to provide basic updates, I'll post more about this in a day or so.

So other than my time battling phone companies, yesterday was a day filled with shopping and arranging some other final items.

I have to say that so far I am really enjoying San Diego, it feels very different to most other American cities I have been in (mostly east coast) it has an excellent public transport system so it is very easy to get around to the shops I need, so far I have only had to resort to taxis once or twice and that was more for convience than necessity.

At this point I probably have all the equipemnt I need to actually hit the trail (other than food, that's for today)
I will make a seperate post in the next few days with equipment details.

On the aggenda for today is food.shopping and looking at some of the gear that I got yesterday to make sure nothing is missing and to familiarize myself with some of it, as well as arranging to send my bounce box on ahead with unneeded items.

My current plans involve getting started on the trail on Monday (I have added and extra day in San Diego to see some more of the sights)

Well I think that will do for now, more posts to follow.

Thursday 29 March 2012

Good bye and thank you for all the fish

Okay so this post started out as my last posting from Ireland but I ran out of time in Dublin airport so it will just have to double as my first posting from America as well.

So arrived save and sound in America after an 11 hour flight and cleared customs and immigration sucessfully, I don't know if it is a good thing or not but I really don't mind long flights these days, well not as long as I have a decent book or two.

So what are the plans for the next couple of days?
Today and Friday should involve finalising some equipment and food so a visit to REI (large outdoors shop)  is in order as well as a large supermarket to see what food I want to try (remember coming from Ireland I know what types of food I want but not specific brands or anything, so the first week on the trail may involve different brands of the same thing just to see which I prefer for the rest of the trip)
Also I need to collect some equipment that was sent on ahead.
Today will be the first time I get to see some of my key equipment including tent, stove, backback and some others.

After (and probably during)  all that I also want to have a bit of time to see.San Diego as it is my first time here and I want to get some walking in to allow myself to acclimatize to the weather, while it will be different when I hit the hills it should ease me in a bit.

Monday 19 March 2012

March 19th Update

Just a quick update since I posed in a while.

The count down is really on now 8 days till I leave Ireland (28th March) and 12 days till I hope to make my first steps on the PCT.

Its really hard to describe how I feeling at the moment about the trip, my emotions towards the hike are a real mixed bag, excited, nervous, excited, scared, excited, overwhelmed, you get the idea.

Before finishing up in work I had such good plans about getting in a lot of training hikes, unfortunately real life has intervened a bit, most of my time has been taken up with finishing up jobs around the house and getting it ready for my house sitters to move in next weekend.

One of the advantages of flying in from Ireland and planning on resupplying on the trial is that I don't have all the extra work of preparing shipping boxes of supplies.

Other things that have been going on in the last few weeks is some finalising of equipment, any mail order equipment that I needed is sitting in Boston (Thank you Dave) and should be getting sent to San Diego in the next day or so, this saved a lot of money on shipping but it means that the first time I will see some of my key equipment is when I get to San Diego and the first chance I will have to test some of it will be my first night on the trail (now you can see why the some of the nervous feelings are sneaking in)
It also means that my few days in San Diego are likely to be a bit hectic between equipment and food shopping, hopefully I'll still have some time to see a bit of San Diego as it is my first time there.

All required permits are now in.
  • PCT permit, which covers access to the different wilderness areas and parks along the trail (otherwise you would need to get individual permits where required)
  • California Fire permit, this is required to have any open flames in wilderness areas of California, which I will need for my alcohol stove.
  • US visa, this is required because I will be in the US for longer than the normal 90 days that is normally available to Irish people, this was available from the Irish embassy in Dublin.
  • Canadian entry permit, this is an additional permit that basically gives you permission to enter Canada via the PCT even though it is not a normal boarder crossing location, very simple to get, basically download a form on line, fill out and send off, I had it back in Ireland in less than 3 weeks and this included probably a week each way for postage.
So nothing really left except final get togethers with friends and family and getting on the plane.

I will try to get a few posts made form San Diego to update everybody on my progress and then regular updates from the trail.

Tuesday 3 January 2012

Say what now

Okay in this post I want to try provide a glossary of terms I may use later in my posts.
Most of the information in there is from other sites including http://scottbryce.com/pct/glossary.html and  http://www.zaneritt.com/glossary/



Through Hiker - To me any hiker that is attempting to complete a complete trail or a significant portion of it.





Bear Can - A bear proof canister for holding food, required for certain areas, think giant child proof container.




Bounce box - a resupply box that you mail ahead to yourself for example to mail equipment that you don't currently need but will need at a later point, or for items that may be hard to get, I intend to use this for a number of items.



Cowboy camping- Basically camping outside without using a tent, I may cowboy camp a few times but currently plan on using the tent since I will be carrying it anyway.





Food Drop - A method of resupplying food by mailing it ahead to yourself using the US postal service, some people use this method for the majority of there supplies but it is less practical for me as it usually relies on families to periodically send the packages and make any changes that you need.  I will likely use it for one or two areas where resupplying is less convenient but will do the packages myself from earlier points on the trail.

The Herd (The Pack)- The main pack of hikers usually centered around the kick off weekend, this tends to be large in the early months but thins out as the trail continues. This occurs due to the limited weather window for completing a thru hike, I hope to be at the start of the pack at the start but due to low planned mileage at the start I'm sure I will end up in the middle of it.



Kick Off - An annual weekend event organized by former through hikers on the last weekend of April (27th - 29th April this year) at lake Morena which is about 20 miles from the start of the trail. I plan on attending mainly to meet the other participants but also as a good opportunity to replace any equipment I may not be happy with as a lot of different equipment is displayed there which I may not have an opportunity to get in Ireland.
To give it is official title Annual Day Zero Pacific Crest Trail Kick Off Party, ADZPCKKO or just ADZ

Hiker midnight - Usually sometime around 9pm or the time when most through hikers are usually asleep.

Zero (Zero Day) - A day where you cover Zero trail miles, usually in a town where you are resupplying or simply resting.

Nearo - A near zero or a day where you only cover a small amount of mileage, often just before coming to a town or just leaving.


Register - Logbooks that are maintained at different points along the trail which hikers sign to state where they have been and when, can also be used in emergencies for search and rescue purposes. some are maintained along the trail itself, others are hosted by businesses or trail angles along the way.





Trail Angel (Angel) - Anybody who goes out of their way to help a hiker, this could be as simple as providing a lift or spare food to somewhere to sleep for a night, right up to epic help like hosting and feeding hundreds of through hikers every year as some angels do.




Trail Magic - any nice and often unexpected event that befalls a hiker, this may be as simple as spare food being given to a through hiker by a weekend camper, up to coolers of food and drinks maintained along the trail, usually providing trail magic is enough to be classified as a trial angel.


Trail name - A nickname that is used by a hiker while on the trial or in discussions with other hikers, usually used to stop confusion because how many Johns will be on a trail at the one time or a description.
This is normally derived from some aspect of the hiker be it unusual funny or significant or some memorable event .Traditionally a hiker name can only be given by other hikers so currently I don't have one, it may also change due to significant events but usually sticks after a while.  Some people will try to pick their own name but may be renamed.


Yogi (Yogiing) - The art of convincing somebody to give you something for free, usually referring to a non hiker or a day tripper, it may be as simple as asking some leading questions such as how far is the town from here, do you know if there is a bus or such and letting the person decide if maybe they want to offer you help.
Also the trail name of a well know through hiker that publishes a handbook of useful trail information



Water cache - Caches of water maintained by trail angels especially helpful in sections that are normally waterless especially int he desert, very useful but can not always be counted on so should not be relied on to complete a section, this can be as simple as a few liters of water to caches such as this picture.
These are maintained by trail angels at their own expense and from reading other blogs they are often a very welcome sight in the desert.



Skipping - refers to skipping sections of the trail for different reasons, usually to skip particularly difficult sections, maybe due to snow, fires etc, People will often come back and hike skipped sections or maybe tackle the section from the other direction. 


Calorie loading - exactly as it sounds, loading up on calories especially during a town stop

Slack pack - Doing a section with little or no equipment, usually only food or water, usually where your equipment has been brought on ahead by car or some other means.

Camel up - drinking large volumes of water to save you carrying as much.

Flip Flop - Usually refers to skipping a section and then walking the missed section in the wrong direction, e.g. walking from the Mexican border to the Sierras then skipping up to the Canadian border and walking south bound to complete the missing sections.

Yo Yo - Something done by crazy people, which involves completing the whole trail first in one direction and then back again in the same year



Sun Cups - Refers to the uneven surface that is left when snow melts resembling a giant egg carton, these may be up to a couple of feet high

Post hole(ing) - Refers to breaking through a covering of snow, often into a cavity below, these may for around buried boulders or where water is flowing under the snow.



Hiker Trash - A general description of through hikers, may be due to the fact that through hikers are often confused for a homeless person especially away from common trail towns which may be less used to through hikers.


Base Weight - The weight of your pack and equipment excluding food and water and some other consumables.

Glissade - Sliding down a snow covered slope, more fun than walking, may require an ice ax to control your speed.

Heel stepping - A method of hiking down a snow covered slope that involves digging in your heels.


HYOH - Hike your own hike, basically hike your own way, just cos somebody else says you have to cover 30 miles a day but you only do 15 HYOH!

NOBO - Northbound starting at Mexican border and hiking north to Canadian border

SOBO - Southbound Starting at Canadian end and hiking south to Mexican border