What Did We Do Every Day on the PCT?

Intro and Index of Bev's PCT Stories

WHAT DID WE DO EVERY DAY? Ahh...dailyness!!! I gave a hint about our fuel breaks [in the food story]. In the beginning we were taking breaks every hour, probably for the first five hundred miles. After we built up strength and stamina the breaks were every two hours. More in depth:

5:30ish Awake and coffee. Sharky took down the tent and I stuffed the sleeping bag and pads. We would eat something, usually without cooking.

6:l5ish First an embrace...then start on the trail. (Once I read the clock incorrectly and at five we were up and on the trail before six. I actually liked that. My hiking partner did not.)

8:30 Ten-minute fuel and stretch break

10:30 Ten-minute fuel and stretch break

12:30 Lunch and rest. For the first thousand miles we had a difference of opinion about leisure time. Sharky preferred a two-hour break, with time for mandolin playing, relaxation, reading, etc. I preferred a half hour break and keep on keeping on. When we realized that we had to start ‘booking it,’ Sharky left the mandolin at home when we reached Sonora Pass. Less weight meant more miles and more fun. Our lunch breaks became less than an hour, and toward: the end, twenty to thirty minutes.

3:30 Fuel break

6:00 One hundred or more nights, by 6:00 we were off the trail. We’d start looking for a campsite around 5:30, and Sharky was the master finder of out-of-sight-with-a-view flat spots. We did have the days when we were still hiking past seven, and putting in twenty-five plus miles because no spot appeared, such as being in the middle of a burn area or on the steep side of a mountain. Basically, we hiked an average of twenty a day, depending .... .always depending. 

6:30ish Set up camp. Cook and eat dinner.

7:00ish Climb in our bag with our Kindles.

8:00ish Turn headlamps off. Often we turned them off much sooner.

Thanks: photo by Martin Swett, from Upper Sixty Lakes Basin, Kings Canyon NP

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