Advice for Future PCT Hikers
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- čas přidán 28. 11. 2018
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“Are you planning to thru hike or either section hike the PCT?”
NOPE! But I’m gonna watch this video anyway!
Why not? It's an excellent video with very good insight on the PCT and any type of hiking.
Never even been hiking and yet here I am.
i like hiking but hate sleeping in a tent
Same
I'm gonna make it my lifes goal to hike the PCT someday.
DO IT! GET OUT THERE!
Hike On,
Darwin
Do it! Just don't fall into the trap of saying you'll do it "someday" without taking any steps towards making it a reality.
I always backpacked with a bunch of great guys and we'd set around the campfire and say: "if X - I'd hike the PCT". Luckily for me Tim McGraw had the song "Live Like You Were Dying"; and that convinced me to do the trail in '05. Best thing I'd ever done in my life!
I'm doing it next year man. So excited
Dont wait we all are on barrowed time
I have section hiked 1 week each of the last two years from Echo summit to Sierra city. I enjoyed being out there with lots of through hikers. The only advise I can share is not miss the forest because of trees. What I mean by that is we would always stop to enjoy great views while we ate or rested. Many through hikers would blow right past us without even taking 2 seconds to look out from the vantage spot. We would then catch them 20 minutes later sitting down and eating in the bottom of a draw with no view. You walked all that way and missed some great vistas!
Tip: When I wasn't sure I wanted or needed a piece of gear, I would bounce it up a town or 2 and see how I felt not having the gear with me as I hiked. If I was fine/safe without the gear then I sent it home. This strategy helped me reduce my base weight from 15 lbs to 10 on the AT.
Thanks for mentioning Tehachapi in the trail towns segment. We enjoy seeing & interacting with the PCT hikers! TK's pizza & beer 🐻
Not a thru hiker, but we always stop at TK's when on a road trip!
Well look forward to seeing you one day!
Good advice. Make something. A journal is always a plus, but get started in advance of your trip make it a habit, otherwise you won't do it. (Mark Twain at the beginning of Innocents Abroad has a very funny passage about travel diaries)
What I find when I read my old journals is that there is always so much more in the journal than I remember or that is in my photos or video. If you wrote it that day or the next-- you go right back there when you read your entry.
A long through hike, which I haven't done; but I have taken long trips-- It's easy for the days to become a blur. A journal makes them stand out as what they are new day, new challenges, new milestones. Don't put it off, write a few lines every day, start stop times, distances, names of people. If you put this off, you'll forget. A journal is a great way to kick back, clear your head, relax before going to sleep. I keep two, one that's full sized in my pack, and one that's in my pocket for quick notes, like times, distances, names, etc... things I need to do. Always write down the day, date and time. (day and date together really help and avoid errors). You can never write the day/date/time/location often enough. It's so easy to get mixed up later.
Use a fountain pen and you won't get writer's cramp or a dead ballpoint. Noodler's Polar inks don't freeze and don't clog up like most other inks eventually will do.
Best advice ever: Create something while you're on the trail. The grand adventure of my generation was "Backpack Europe,"--yeah, people even wrote books about it, on real paper! I packed a 6x9 spiral notebook, and 20 rolls of 36-exposure Kodachrome25 and 10 rolls of Ektachrome, sold my car, bought an open-jaw roundtrip ticket, and took off. I returned four months later with a scribble-filled, dog-eared journal, 30 rolls of exposed film, and memories to last a lifetime. Over the years I traveled the globe for Fortune 50 firms, but the burst of creative energy and memories created by that first adventure never got old and came back to me with every re-reading of a date in the journal or viewing of a handful of slides.
FYI: This was a time when the PCT existed as an idea and trail maps--yeah, on paper--that connected one trail or road-walk with another and there was little to no signage. I'd already hiked most of the Oregon Skyline Trail, but travel to foreign lands was calling.
Koda what , turn what dial , what do you mean black and white.
Hey, are there any of those books you mentioned that you would recommend?
Hey, you are right. I did the same in the 80s when I finished school. Took some films, my old camera, diary book, stuffed it in a pack with two shirts, one shorts and my toothbrush bought a one way flight to Bombay and started one of the best adventures of my life. 16 month later I was back home as a rich man. No money but really rich for the rest of my life. I enjoy to read my old journals up to now.
Willard Wooten Hahahaha! Yep, with a fully manual camera, Leica M3, and a handheld light meter. We used to chisel the photos on stones 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Mike Holzbach Wow, um, "Europe on $5 a Day," maybe "Europe Through The Back Door," Fodors Guide. I never actually bought any of those guides, I just quite literally bummed around. I hitched from Olso to Munich, catching rides with a German documentary film team, an Italian driver of a Danish fire truck headed for servicing, and a BMW driver who initiated that 120 mph was perfectly logical in a rainstorm on the Autobahn, along with others. Traded English to German translation of Our Bodies, Our Selves" to a small group of lesbians in exchange for a couple of nights indoors. Rode the train for three days from Vienna to Thessaloniki with my passport held by guards so I couldn't leave the train and invade Yugoslabia. Slept on the beach in a very small fishing village in Crete, then visited the hippie cave dwellers on the south shore for a couple of days. Rode the Green Turtle Magic Bus from Amsterdam to Copenhagen. Worked as a hostel handyman for a week in Oslo in exchange for a room. Picked grapes for a few days on the hills above Lake Geneva. But there's no video, hahaha!
I have been picked up by SAR on both the AT and PCT but plan to try the PCT again in 2023 to celebrate my 85th birthday. We need to keep on keeping on.
1. Recognise that there will be bad days. I wrote down how many bad days I had in the past ten. I told myself if there were more bad days than good I could go home if I wanted to.
2. Look at your food. Being cold and having your family point out your collar bone is showing more isn’t fun. Oil, peanut butter and Nutella are great calories for their weight.
3. Gear. It’s an obvious one but if I had a choice between climbing a mahooosive mountain with a 40lb pack full of crap I don’t need or 20lbs of the essentials I’d chose the 20lb pack every time.
Tic Tac
I know it's been a while since you posted your comment, but your family needs to shut up about your appearance. Unless you have an eating disorder it's none of their business.
Tip #3 is so important, making your own decisions based on good information. The thing is to actually make that decision. One thing I have noticed reading so much on FB questions along those lines is that many people simply lack the experience to make good decisions. Instead they look to others to tell them what to do. So in conjunction with Make Your Own Call, I would say Backpack, Backpack, Backpack. There is no substitute for actual experience to help you make decisions. Don't ignore advice/warnings out of hand, but have enough experience to evaluate the situation at least a little bit.
The last two are SO important for any long distance trail. Since I started the AT in mid-May, people who weren’t thru-hikers kept telling me to flip, that I wouldn’t make it, from Harpers Ferry onward. I listened to my gut every time, and I summited Katahdin on Oct 19. Know thyself.
Peace and love,
Gummy Bear
Finally, after too many years of planning and wishing I am going 2020. The perfect circumstances just don't happen so I am making it happen anyway.
Good for you, are you vlogging it?
That's awesome! Good luck preparing for your trip! I, too am going in April 2020. Maybe I'll pass you along the trail. Take care!
So awesome that things worked out that you can thru hike the PCT. I am also planning to thru hike it as well next year, maybe I’ll see you out there.
I'm going also 2020 I live in Sacramento and I have family near calexico ca
your username is funny :) best of luck on your first thru hike!
Learn to rest but not quit.
And if you do quit.. never quit on a bad day.
✌ 👣 👑 👑
Easy times may bring you joy..
..but hard times will always give you experience 👍
Wow, this is an amazing quote! Thanks so much, King Luey!
Excellent advice and inspiration!
Amen to that! Never stop hiking because you're uncomfortable one day. As Homemade Wanderlust says, there are going to be days where you are profoundly uncomfortable. Just keep truckin!
Such sage advice, Darwin! Thank you so much! i'm 70 and still want to do the PCT!
For me when I hike I look for the payoff i.e. the view, sunrise, sunset being in that place at that time and experiencing something wonderful. And saying to myself that gift was for me. Each time on the trail is never the same.
I also get that out of the Hike & really love to go back to experience it again through Writings, Photos, & Film!
Hike On,
Darwin
The "create something...document your hike" is some of the best, most unique hiking advice I've ever heard. Thank you!
Calories, calories, calories, fat calories. Section hiked Walker Pass to Tahoe this last summer, and that was my number one issue. Carbs like rice etc. didn't cut it. Made a trail buddy (one of the best parts of doing the PCT) who is a runner and vegetarian. Going over Muir pass we all thought he was some 80 year old man. Turned out he was a couple years younger than me at 58. We got into Muir trail ranch, where I found him some Yum Butter in a hiker box. He ate the whole thing in one sitting, completely changed his hike.
SOOO IMPORTANT! Best Advice I ever received from another hiker was "When you get to town, GET FAT!"... Words to live by on trail!
Hike On,
Darwin
Wise words. Been there and done that to myself, never been in such drudgery, worse than hiking with a full-blown hangover.
I definitely will need a higher fat/protein diet, like I eat at home. I am a fast-metabolizer and I feel awful with a high carb diet, plus to not feel like I am starving constantly will be a bonus.
@@DarwinOnthetrail Fat has the most kilocalories of any food source. If you push your body for a long time without adequate fuel for ATP production through aerobic cellular aspiration, then your body will start to deplete its glycogen stores for energy using anaerobic respiration, which will drain you... you'll feel exhausted, hungover, and like you're dying at worst... and it takes days for glycogen stores to recover.
Yup
Hey Darwin! Thanks for the upload... Solid advice!
Excellent advices!! Especially the one about Sierra! Thanks Darwin!
Great tips Darwin. Class of 2019 here! And yes, I will be creating - I want to remember this adventure forever, in a good way!
Thank you Darwin. That is awesome advice. I am looking forward to getting out on the trail.
What an amazing video Darwin. You did bring up some unique points that are really helpful and practical. Really enjoyed this one dude
thank you for all your videos!!! I take great inspiration and love them!!
Dude I love your videos. They come from a place of genuine wisdom and experience. Thank you so much for sharing.
Great advice, particularly the part about making your own call.
Thanks, Darwin onthetrail! Excellent and educational insight!
I really appreciate your videos! I'm a little new to the hiking gig and I want to learn as much as possible from reliable sources. Your content is great. Thanks for keeping it simple and uncomplicated. 😊
Good advice...especially like the recommendation you’re giving to others to create. As someone who also creates while on the trail, I agree that the creative juices seem to flow more intensely while out there. Great video!
All are great advice for any long distance hike.
Darwin, I'm attempting the pct sobo in 2019 and this video makes me to happy. Thanks for your videos man
Thanks for the shout-out Darwin! My permit for the PCT starts April 23rd 2019. Your videos have helped me so much in preparation. Thank you for all you do brother!!
I wasn't sure about your channel when I started watching your videos... but I'm pretty sure it's one of my favorites now. Thanks for the information.
Great advice! Love #4. One reason I document my adventures is for family to see what I'm seeing out there and I can also go back and visit the trips again.
Every experience out there is valuable and unique. I love seeing the PCT through the eyes of different folks. Its as though they are all hiking a different trail and, in a very real sense, they are. I think we all bring a lot of our selves into everything we do and see it reflected back in everything we see. Thanks for sharing! I enjoy it a bunch. :-)
Yep, I agree with all of this. The first one is exactly what I always tell people. Well done.
Great video. Perfect timing too! I'm section hiking the first 700 miles in May 2019. I was planning on not stopping at to many tall towns but this changed my mind. I'm going to enjoy the journey.
Hi Darwin, Thank you for sharing all your experiences Long Distance Hiking (LDH) and being open and honest. I’ve done LDH for a lot of years, and always looking for new ideas or tips. It’s obvious you like sharing your information. It’s delivered to your viewers in a good way. Thats why all of us like watching your videos. Looking forward to you future videos!
Hey Darwin, first time viewer here. Thanks to Second Chance. Love your video and your personality. Subscribed.
Truly excellent advice here. Very well thought out. 👍👍👍
I have a goal to hike the Oregon / Washington section some day. I'm working my way up to that. Thank you for the advice!
Some of the most comprehensive advice I’ve seen. & the most important things in my book.
Thanks
#3 Thanks Darwin for the heads up for the Sierra section! I was on a bus back to Keersarge Pass from Bishop when I saw your post on Facebook of the bad weather in the Sierra's, so I took 2 more days off in Lone Pine. I did also love the challenge of all the snow and wouldn't want to do it without it! I did see a few people skipping the Sierra's though too.
That's insanely good advice, Darwin! All 4 tips of yours. Thanks a lot for that!
Darwin, thank you for the great advice and I am glad you reiterated the main point I made on my PCT 2019 intro video about only doing 14-18 a day for the first few weeks. So many younger, gung-ho hikers just go full blast right out of the gate and as I call it hike themselves right into injuries. Many people can hike decent miles for a weekend but their bodies are not conditioned for the every day wear and tear they are about to receive. Anyway again great video and thoughts/advice. Cheers...
Awesome advice! Honest and down-to-earth! Thought provoking! 🙏
Hiking the PCT is (not my only but a very important) life goal. And right now my biggest motivation for getting fit. 💪
This man is amazing!! Great info, thank you.
Loved your last point. Honestly I think that’s just good life advice for travelling and any kind of tripping/backcountry camping!!
As always, another great video! Thanks.
Great advice about creating on the trail. It's easier to recall experiences when you can visualize them. I bet it helps handle post-trail depression too.
Great advise , your a great guy to keep doing this with your fans/followers
I'm in the brainstorming phase of doing a cross-country walk from the east coast to the west coast. I'm looking forward to watching more of your content to help me prepare for it. Great beard btw!
Thanks Darwin. Good advice.
This was excellent!! Thanks Darwin!
Sounds like a great excuse to hike the AT again!
Always insightful!
Other people's fear, can ruin your hike. Be prepared and go for it.
Thanks again
study, study, study....plan ur hike but make changes and enjoy it. there is so much I skipped, missed or passed up :( going back is not easy...thx for ur videos Darwin
All great advice. I didn't seem to connect with the wilderness this year like I have in the past, and I think the reason was that I didnt take the time to journal while out on the trail. One thing (and it doesn't take anything away from your advice), the snow in the Sierra was below normal/average this year.
Thanks for these pieces of advice Darwin! I'm planning on doing some sections of the PCT in August 2019, from Tuolumn Meadow to Tahoe Lake and above (depends how I feel)
Thank you Darwin this helped me out lots . I start my thru hike in 2020 can't wait
joseph wright my dad lives out there in Shasta County he dreamed of the pct for ever I convinced him to section hike 100 miles of it with me the advice is great
Darwin, thank you for another excellent video. As a long distance cyclist (40 years), I'm looking forward to another chapter in my life with hiking and especially thru hiking. Your videos have taught me a lot. There are some similarities with UL gear choices but I've learned a lot from you about hiking. My old gray beard isn't as long as your beard, but I'm working on it! Thanks again. Safe travels.
JH
One of your best off trail videos!
Really great advice - especially the first bit about starting easy, and especially when you are accumulating the years. I did the Colorado Trail in 2016 at 56, and very intentionally limited myself for the first 100 miles to no more than 15 per day - even when it meant stopping early afternoon whilst still feeling full of energy. The rest of the trail I was averaging around 20 miles per day. Partly this was the distance, but also the altitude. I live in Indiana so no altitude at all. The CT starts at 5-6,000 fest and in three days is up to 10,000' and from there until the end you are 10-13,000' all the time except for a short section when you are back to 9-10,000'. I was lucky enough to have zero problems (one small blister about day 4). The entire trail is less than 500 miles so compared to the PCT is soon over and I felt as if I was only just really getting into my stride by the end, but if I had been on the PCT, starting like this I think would have provided a great workup to cover the miles required to complete in time.
Scallywag
After training all year I completed my last hike on November 3 and the next weekend I broke my ankle. so now Im in rehab mode. Ive pushed my date out another year so I expecting to start Northbound Spring 2022. I have given notice at work and notified my family. So looking ready to walk away from it all. You have been such an inspiration and your videos are so helpful. Thanks Darwin!
I hike the Sierras often, I learned a love for hiking poles of some sort for both up and downhill
Great advice man. Thanks for this video, it was very helpful.
Totally agree with making your own Sierra call. Been in that situation many times and I always tell folks, "let's put ourselves in a position to succeed," meaning, let's get closer and see how it looks. It's usually paid off and I've realized that there was indeed some fearmongering going on.
2022 is my goal for this! Thanks for the advice. I have a lot of research ahead of me.
I agree, so much, about your creative comment. Your mind will never be as wide open as when you're on the trail. My journal of my '04 hike is a prized possession. As I get older, my memory slips, but I feel like I can recount every day I spent on that hike. One more piece of advice, I might include, is be adaptable. Have a plan, but be willing to make changes. Some of my best experiences were from the result of making a quick decision, with a group I was with, and a sudden new adventure resulted.
Hey Darwin, I have been loving your videos, and believe that this is a SOLID piece of advice. Bummed I did not get to know ya in 2015, for I thru-hiked that AT that year, however, you may be familiar with my buddy Reptar, who I hiked quite a bit with. I worked on a backcountry trail crew for 4.5 months between late May-September, 2015, on a trail called the Shepherd's Pass Trail. It junctions with the JMT section of the PCT at Tyndall Creek about 5 miles from where we spent most of the trail season; almost literally directly between Whitney and Forester Pass. One Piece of advice that I would have for folks is this: YES, the High Sierra are extremely intimidating, especially going over high mountain passes. BUT, provided you have your crucial gear through July (e.g. micro-spikes, ice-axe, warm gear, etc...) you will do JUST fine! I climbed Shepherd's Pass in June of my first year ever in the Sierra's, and it was SCARY! No crampons. No ice axe. Shepherd's is actually more dangerous than Forester, because of it's north-facing route, and being, in some ways, steeper. As a novice, I did just fine, and on much more treacherous terrain. That year, I would leave the backcountry, go into Bishop, or hitch to Mammoth Lakes to get snacks and beer for my crew for the off days. Usually I would hike in over Kiersarge Pass, and make my way SOBO over Forester. Forester was a "Piece of Cake" compared to Shepherd's. SO, I guess I am playing into Darwin's "don't by into fear-mongering bit," but, the High Sierra, while not to be taken lightly (YES, be prepared = LNT #1), are not as dangerous as some folks make them out to be. LASTLY, unless you absolutely need to get off trail, DO NOT take the Shepherd's Pass Trail off the PCT in order to get into Independence. It is longer, tougher, and much tougher to get a ride out of than from Onion Valley Road at Kiersarge Pass. Literally, you may have to wait a couple of days, unless you want to walk to walk the 6 miles to Onion Valley Road down a Forest Service Road from the trailhead at Shepherd's.
Fantastic advice!
Great advice as usual Darwin. xx
Ty for your advice i definitely going to start recording my hikes 😀
one thing about creativity is it can't be contained. when I through hike the PCT, I plan to live a goofy life as often as possible. Maybe... maybe I'll wear hot pink shorts in the desert. I've seen all kinds of goofy expressions on the trail and think becoming some kind of comical spectacle would be a great way to meet endearing people I hold onto as friends for life.
Yet another excellent video, Darwin! My wife and I will be section hiking portions of the PCT over the next couple of years and the recommendations you provide here are very practical and useful. I especially like #1 (we're both 55) so that is something we will definitely keep in mind. Happy Hiking!
Hunnicutt
Thanks Hunnicutt! Have a Great Time out on the PCT, it's such an AMAZING TRAIL!
Hike On,
Darwin
I am at work right now I will watch it when I'm at home two thumbs up
Great advice. Plus the calories I put from another hiker below.
Journaled on my '05 PCT NOBO, and I'm planning on VLogging on my '19 PCT F/F. Great advice! I would add, hike with your gear prior to the hike. My training regiment was roughly 500 miles with all my gear before the hike. Put 50 miles on each set of shoes before the hike. The training miles also let you get to know your body. Calories, was one of my biggest concerns prior to the hike; but in actuality my body was really good at pulling fat from the body and calorie consumption wasn't as big a concern.
Excellent. Trying to do it this year. I don"t care what direction i go honestly. Registered at least before the deadline today. Last minute decision.
ugh, fear-mongering is rampant. Thanks for the good info. I'm finally going to hike the JMT and people act like I said I'm going to perform brain surgery. Jeez, I'm not THAT old and out of shape. LOL.
Great video
Great advice! I've been thinking a lot lately about your last piece of advice. I worry about not being consistent but I'll give it a go! I know I would regret not documenting the hike in some way.
It's not so simple as it.seems I guess. I went along with the blog stuff and videos, and it's not like I regret that, but next time I will probably take just a phone and not think about documenting at all. It can easily become too important, have to watch out 😄
Darwin regretted not having a camera during AT... I kind of regret focusing on blog and YT too much. I guess you just need both experiences to know what works for you.
Thanks for the great advice, I hope to do it one day👍
Very good video and information. Thanks
I think I'm doing it this year. I lost my job. I have all my gear. I live in socal. I have food funds for the next six months.
I'm aiming to SOBO the PCT after I graduate from college, so this was awesome!
EXELLENT!
Hike On,
Darwin
Awesome Darwin😊Thanks
Hard to give advise but I guess I could suggest the hike between warner springs and paradise valley cafe for anyone that wants to experience a mild pct hike. Mikes place is there. It's only a couple of thousand feet climb in 40 miles. You can practice most overnight hiking things without torturing yourself. Mount San Jacinto peak is the hightest peak on the southern pct. You go around San Gorgonio the highest peak in Southern Cal. The hike from humber park to the Jacinto summit and back is an awesome hike. A member of the pcta does that twice a week. Those are my recommendations for practicing your skills and enjoying beautiful wilderness. Thank you.
Good advice for life in general!
I can't wait to thru hike the PCT in 2019. I appreciate and will heed your advice. I am vlogging my journey as well and have my own channel to share with my family, friends, and anyone else interested. It will be so amazing to be able to look back on my videos and immortalize this whole experience...and hopefully inspire others along the way. You and others here on YT have inspired and taught me so much. Thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge with the rest of us!
Your gonna have an AMAZING time out there. It will totally change your life forever! Glad I can help to Inspire & Thank You for the Kind Words... You Keep Watching em' & I'll Keep Making em'!
Hike On,
Darwin
I definitely will! I'm actually going to marathon your videos again while I'm training, haha. I can't believe I'll be on the trail in just 4 months, what?!?! All the best to you and Snuggles and Happy Holidays
This is great! Thanks Darwin!
Great advice. Thanks!
Solid advice brother
Great advice!
Good stuff! Thanks!
Good vid as usual. thanks.
Thanks for clearing up 'Fear Mongering' Darwin. I am sure everyone will encounter it at some level on every trail, not just the PCT. Hopefully, we recognize it and move on quickly!
Darwin is correct about the pre Sierra fear mongering, I left Kennedy Meadows on May 1 and left behind many hikers who flipped up to NorCal. Going into the Sierra early can be very dangerous but it's best to see the conditions for yourself and then decide whether to take a side trail if the conditions don't suit you or your experience level.
Solid advice brother.
Great info, thanks!!