california – Rambling Footsteps

10 Clues That Your Husband Was A Thru – Hiker.

May 10, 2020April 14, 2021 by Molly O'Rourke, posted in Favorites, Pacific Crest Trail Thru Hike

My husband was a thru-hiker. Here are some of the habits that I assume he picked up on the trail.

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1. He drinks the dish water from the pot, even when car camping with a potable water source. This is not my favorite.

2. He puts on his “camp socks” for sleeping and insists that everyone in the family do the same.

He also has sleeping socks at home as well.

3. He makes a solid argument that floor-less tarp tents are better than traditional tents for avoiding rodents.

He argues that while they may not keep rodents out, a tarp tent at least doesn’t keep rodents in. I can’t really argue with that I guess.

4. He can wear gators pretty much anytime and has gators for any occasion.

5. He doesn’t understand why people exercise when they should just thru hike.

“They should go outside.”

6. He wears layers all the time, even to go the grocery store.

He adds layers and takes off layers constantly. The sun is shining and a layer comes off. The sun is behind a cloud and a layer goes on. Our kids do this as well and it is exhausting.

7. He anticipates river crossing, even on day hikes.

He sometimes crosses rivers that we don’t even need to cross or at least he talks about how to cross rivers that we don’t need to cross.

8. He keeps his things in tiny bags and boxes. Seriously, he has endless tiny bags.

9. Pack weight is a constant concern, even on grade school field trips.

10. He doesn’t know the day of the week, time of day, or federal holidays but he can tell you how to find the nearest mountain pass.

To learn more about the PCT and CD’s thru hike, you can check out these links!

https://atomic-temporary-169313545.wpcomstaging.com/2020/05/13/real-life-tips-for-handling-mosquitoes-while-hiking-the-pct/ https://atomic-temporary-169313545.wpcomstaging.com/2020/05/15/10-things-to-pack-for-hiking-the-pct/ https://atomic-temporary-169313545.wpcomstaging.com/2020/05/07/pct-packing-list-throwback-travel-journal/ https://atomic-temporary-169313545.wpcomstaging.com/2020/05/06/pct-southern-california-thru-hike-throwback/ https://atomic-temporary-169313545.wpcomstaging.com/2020/05/05/pct-menu-throwback-thru-hike-edition/

Hiking Pack List: PCT Northern California.

May 7, 2020April 14, 2021 by Molly O'Rourke, posted in Pacific Crest Trail Thru Hike

Hikers load up on supplies at Kennedy Meadows to head into the higher mountain passes. Once down the other side, unloading and re-packing again is common. CD was kind enough to record a hiking pack list from his stop at Pooh Corner, north of Lake Tahoe.

Here is CD’s hiking pack list!

Backpack:

Bag liner: Coolmax, 9 oz. A 6-7 oz silk liner was more common among the 2004 class.

Backpack: Granite Gear Ozone (please remember this was 2004). It weighed 3 lbs, as compared to the 2 lbs packs that most people carried. The weight was a trade off for having a frame and increased comfort.

For Camp:

Tarp Tent: two person model. Floorless, ~2 lbs.

Sleeping bag: EMS Mountain Light 20 degree bag, down. 2 lbs.

Tyvek: ground cloth, 5 oz

Z-rest full length: Most hikers used 3/4 lengths but for the couple of extra ounces CD chose warm and comfortable feet

Headlamp

Cooking and Water:

AquaMira water treatment

Spoon and fork: Apparently most people didn’t carry a fork but CD found it helpful for hard ice cream. Was this before the invention of the spork?

Evernew Titanium pot, 1.3 L: The trail standard in 2004

Stove: homemade pop can stove.

Clothes:

3 pair of socks: CD alternated between 2 different pair of bike socks while hiking and had a separate pair of camp socks. He insists on separate sleeping socks when we camp as well and it really is much better!

Camp Sandals: 3 oz

Wind shirt: Marmot DriClime

Rain jacket: Marmot PreCip

Convertible pants: Mountain Hardware. CD still has these. The shorts faded so much that when he puts the pieces together it looks like he is wearing shorts over different pants.

Tee shirt: Techwick

Hat: fleece

Gloves

Sunglasses

Miscellaneous Hiking Pack List Items:

Sunscreen

Chapstick

Burt’s Bees<a href="http:// “> Res-Q ointment

Picture of family

Permit

Safety Pins

Needle and thread: He had recently used to fix his pack after he fell off the trail while looking through his camera

Compass: CD said he never used it but felt it was important to have handy

Toothbrush and toothpaste

A Book: People’s History of the US, by Howard Zinn: broken into sections and mailed along in bounce boxes

Teachings of the Buddha, pocket guide

Trail Guide: broken into sections and mailed along but CD wrote that he often ended up with the wrong section. “I accidentally sent the Echo Resort to I-80 section to Pooh corner” … and so on.

Data book: The quick reference guide, broken into sections

Bug repellent. This was a new addition to the pack

Ursack Bear Bag<a href="http:// “>: replaced bear canister at this point and was mainly for keeping out rodents. 9 oz.

Nalgene: 16 oz. Mostly for dipping water and mixing drinks

Dromlite 6 liter water bag<a href="http:// “>: overkill size wise here but was needed in the desert.

Hand trowel

Gauze, duct tape, hand sanitizer, ibuprofen.

Things that were left or replaced at this point on the trail and did not make this hiking pack list:

Bear Canister (replaced with Ursack Bear Bag). Chaco sandals (they needed to be re-soled). Heavy long underwear. Ice axe. Crampons.

Yosemite, Camp 4.

April 25, 2020April 14, 2021 by Molly O'Rourke, posted in Miscellaneous

Do you dream about sleeping among the granite rock walls of the Yosemite valley? Have you heard of Camp 4?

Yosemite is impressive and beautiful.

We arrived in CD’s Honda civic. We had come from Colorado via Utah, Nevada, Southern California, and Highway 101. The mountains were a welcomed site. We were road weary and our legs were begging to hike all day.

We rolled into Camp 4. I can’t remember if we were seeking Camp 4 or if we just needed somewhere interesting to camp.

Welcome to Camp 4, Yosemite

Camp 4 is a campground and a community. It is a lifestyle choice than a housing choice and this is obvious when you are there. It is a famous home base for climbers.

The cost was $6 per person per night. There are 30 some walk – in sites. There are rocks for bouldering, granite mountain sides for climbing, and trail heads for hiking.

We were greeted with a list of rules. You must remove all food from your car and place in designated lockers. Camp 4 is loved by bears almost as much as by climbers.

We followed all of the recommended procedures. I cleaned the car, used the bear lockers, kept a clean campsite, and properly disposed of my dish water.

I convinced CD to use our largest tent. Who knows why we packed this way but we had CD’s sleeping tarp from the PCT, a new backpacking tent, and my old six person tent. It seemed logical that I would be less likely to be mauled by a bear in a six person tent than in a two person tent. CD didn’t agree but was kind enough to go a long, however.

camp 4, Yosemite. It is quiet in the afternoon.

Bears and Messy Campsites

The bears showed up at dusk, right on schedule. You could hear the classic: “hey bear” and “get out of here, bear”. Neither the bears nor the campers were particularly concerned.

The campground was relatively rowdy and a bit messy. Chip bags and beer cans were rolling around. Nobody really cared. Everyone was happy. I admit feeling a bit judgmental of the other campers food storage habits.

We passed by tons of climbers on our way to the trail.

A few hours later, the climbers from Camp 4 were below us and this was the view we found.

Ultimately, I slept with one eye open but still felt rested. I reaped the benefits of being surrounded by free-spirits. They were having fun and it showed.

It is unlikely that I will stay at Camp 4 again since they don’t allow sleeping in the parking lot and the sites are not accessible to our van. If we sell the van, I will likely be too old and spoiled to sleep on the ground in Camp 4. I guess you never know.

As John Muir said: “And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul”.

Please check out our blogs for other National Park adventures.

https://atomic-temporary-169313545.wpcomstaging.com/2020/04/21/throwback-blog-series-a-tour-of-utah/ https://atomic-temporary-169313545.wpcomstaging.com/2019/11/28/sleeping-bear-dunes-bike-swim-repeat/

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