Thru-Hike of the Continental Divide Trail

[dreamingbig]

Following.  What a great adventure!

[Worldhunter]

Definetly following this adventure. Your a bad a**!

[clindsayrun]

Good Time!!!
I'll be following you closely.

Why the 4.5 lb camera?
I'd consider a quality point and shoot for day to day carry, and shipping in the big lense for identified stretches of interest.

I thru-hiked the PCT many years ago (2001) and it wasn't long before we shed everything heavy. Base weight got down to under 15 lbs.
Take care of your feet! Buy new shoes every 700 miles... even if you don't think you need them, because you do! Prep for blisters from day one. Tape your feet until they're as tough as leather, it'll keep your mileage up. Watch your knees and ankles for the first month. Even if you're in great shape it'll take some time to get everything used to continuous mileage. EAT FOOD!!! LOTS AND LOTS OF FOOD! Shoot for no less than 25 miles per day. If you can go 40 in a day, shoot for it. Start early and walk into the late evening as much as possible. Our average was over 30 mpd, long day was 44 miles. We never cracked that 50 mile goal. Walk as often as you can, long breaks add up to low daily mileage. I met a lot of "thru-hikers" that were taking it easy... they never make it... the season isn't as long as they think it is.

Enjoy yourself. I wish I were there.

[Smossy]

Definetly following this adventure. Your a bad a**!

 

[JLS]

I bookmarked your journal page, and look forward to following your hike.  Someday I hope to be able to do something like this, most likely when I'm an old fart and the kids are out of the house!

Best of luck to you.

Here is a point on the CDT in Montana that you will enjoy.  Halfmoon Park might not be Heaven, but it's close.

[fillthefreezer]

Good Time!!!
I'll be following you closely.

Why the 4.5 lb camera?
I'd consider a quality point and shoot for day to day carry, and shipping in the big lense for identified stretches of interest.

I thru-hiked the PCT many years ago (2001) and it wasn't long before we shed everything heavy. Base weight got down to under 15 lbs.
Take care of your feet! Buy new shoes every 700 miles... even if you don't think you need them, because you do! Prep for blisters from day one. Tape your feet until they're as tough as leather, it'll keep your mileage up. Watch your knees and ankles for the first month. Even if you're in great shape it'll take some time to get everything used to continuous mileage. EAT FOOD!!! LOTS AND LOTS OF FOOD! Shoot for no less than 25 miles per day. If you can go 40 in a day, shoot for it. Start early and walk into the late evening as much as possible. Our average was over 30 mpd, long day was 44 miles. We never cracked that 50 mile goal. Walk as often as you can, long breaks add up to low daily mileage. I met a lot of "thru-hikers" that were taking it easy... they never make it... the season isn't as long as they think it is.

Enjoy yourself. I wish I were there.

read his pct log, he's animal. dont quote me but i believe his pct base weight was like 30+ and he was logging some MILES!!!

[wilsongideon]

Thats a awesome picture

[whuppinstick]

I'm in Silver City now, the second town stop. Have had a couple rough days, including today. 8 miles of dirt road followed by 12 miles of pavement. Even with taped feet I got a lot of blisters. But it was evened out by some awesome trail magic in Silver City. I scored a free place to stay at a travelers house and somebody paid for my dinner at a restaurant after asking me all about the trail.

Not so good things include breaking my waist belt clip on the way to the border and only getting it replaced today (tying my waist belt for 140 miles), water issues, pulling a 3/8" cactus spine out of my tongue, tearing a large hole in the top of my pack, and getting attacked by a cactus on my leg (I thought it was a creature and I danced around trying to get off).

I have seen a lot of desert sheep sign down in the Hatchet Mountains. Also saw my first deer today. They were whitetails - does anybody know if they were Coues? Also heard a rattlesnake this morning at 6am, then heard a gobbling turkey an hour later.

Next up is the Gila, though I am doing a popular alternate up the Gila River and through the hot springs and cave dwellings. I'm sad to miss the elk but happy to have water and (maybe) trout.

There was a question about my camera. I'm starting to question my sanity on that but I want to always have it on hand for awesome photos. It may have been a better strategy to have a point-and-shoot for NM, but at this point I'll probably just carry on.

On a lighter note, my sub-one-pound shelter is waiting at the post office for me tomorrow!

If anybody has any questions I should be around to answer tomorrow.

[actionshooter]

Good to see you posting here, been following the TRs.

[wilsongideon]

Sounds rough. But having the camera on hand sound like the way to go. you;ll be happy you took more pictures then if its in your pack

[Greenhorn]

Tagging, you are inspiring!

[WAcoueshunter]

I have seen a lot of desert sheep sign down in the Hatchet Mountains. Also saw my first deer today. They were whitetails - does anybody know if they were Coues? Also heard a rattlesnake this morning at 6am, then heard a gobbling turkey an hour later.

Awesome, I'm reading through the blog now.  Thanks for taking us along!

Yes, those are coues down there in SW NM.  We hunt them just across the border in AZ. 

From your blog post...the cows out there in the desert eat the cactus, grass, etc.  If you see prickly pear with big bites out of the paddles, those are cows.  If the prickly pear paddles are shredded with exposed roots, that's probably from javelina.

Also, I think those quail are gambel's quail.  Like a Cali quail but with a red head.  There are also montezuma (aka mearns) quail down there, but they look quite a bit different than a Cali quail...smaller, round body, and no ornament on the head.

[Smossy]

I'm in Silver City now, the second town stop. Have had a couple rough days, including today. 8 miles of dirt road followed by 12 miles of pavement. Even with taped feet I got a lot of blisters. But it was evened out by some awesome trail magic in Silver City. I scored a free place to stay at a travelers house and somebody paid for my dinner at a restaurant after asking me all about the trail.

Not so good things include breaking my waist belt clip on the way to the border and only getting it replaced today (tying my waist belt for 140 miles), water issues, pulling a 3/8" cactus spine out of my tongue, tearing a large hole in the top of my pack, and getting attacked by a cactus on my leg (I thought it was a creature and I danced around trying to get off).

I have seen a lot of desert sheep sign down in the Hatchet Mountains. Also saw my first deer today. They were whitetails - does anybody know if they were Coues? Also heard a rattlesnake this morning at 6am, then heard a gobbling turkey an hour later.

Next up is the Gila, though I am doing a popular alternate up the Gila River and through the hot springs and cave dwellings. I'm sad to miss the elk but happy to have water and (maybe) trout.

There was a question about my camera. I'm starting to question my sanity on that but I want to always have it on hand for awesome photos. It may have been a better strategy to have a point-and-shoot for NM, but at this point I'll probably just carry on.

On a lighter note, my sub-one-pound shelter is waiting at the post office for me tomorrow!

If anybody has any questions I should be around to answer tomorrow.

Glad to see your still kickin them feet man, Keep on truckin.
You are by far inspiring. Doing such a long journey. Your for sure savage. Safe trails! Cant wait for the next update.

[Boss .300 winmag]

I'm in Silver City now, the second town stop. Have had a couple rough days, including today. 8 miles of dirt road followed by 12 miles of pavement. Even with taped feet I got a lot of blisters. But it was evened out by some awesome trail magic in Silver City. I scored a free place to stay at a travelers house and somebody paid for my dinner at a restaurant after asking me all about the trail.

Not so good things include breaking my waist belt clip on the way to the border and only getting it replaced today (tying my waist belt for 140 miles), water issues, pulling a 3/8" cactus spine out of my tongue, tearing a large hole in the top of my pack, and getting attacked by a cactus on my leg (I thought it was a creature and I danced around trying to get off).

I have seen a lot of desert sheep sign down in the Hatchet Mountains. Also saw my first deer today. They were whitetails - does anybody know if they were Coues? Also heard a rattlesnake this morning at 6am, then heard a gobbling turkey an hour later.

Next up is the Gila, though I am doing a popular alternate up the Gila River and through the hot springs and cave dwellings. I'm sad to miss the elk but happy to have water and (maybe) trout.

There was a question about my camera. I'm starting to question my sanity on that but I want to always have it on hand for awesome photos. It may have been a better strategy to have a point-and-shoot for NM, but at this point I'll probably just carry on.

On a lighter note, my sub-one-pound shelter is waiting at the post office for me tomorrow!

If anybody has any questions I should be around to answer tomorrow.

I see that balls and sunshine have 434 trip miles logged. How many have you gotten?

Watch out for water cache thieves, they lost some water in NM desert area. 

[slim9300]

Subscribed.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk