Crash and Burn....

Let me introduce you to my favorite trail blogging device. This is the PocketMail. I used this little device, about the size of a checkbook, to type of my Appalachian Trail adventures, and my Florida Trail adventures, and if you ever communicated with me through e-mail during my hikes, there's a good chance I read and replied to your messages on this device.

It's remarkably low tech, but in the backcountry, I consider this a major advantage. It runs on two AA batteries, easily replaced when they wear out. A single set of batteries would quite literally work for weeks without replacement in the backcountry. Seems like it didn't draw any power at all just for typing. (Sending and receiving e-mail sucked up battery power much quicker, but that was always done in town where fresh batteries were always plentiful.) The keyboard is cramped to type on, but it is a full keyboard that I can actually do my touch typing on and write out a good story relatively quickly.

Sending and receiving e-mail with this device uses technology that's more than 20 years old--an old fashioned modem. From the speed, it sounds like it must run at 2400 baud. It's unbelievably slow. You'd dial a toll free number, hold the back of the device up to the phone, and hear the screech of the modem talking to the remote server over the phone lines.

It was primitive, and for years I wondered how this company ever stayed in business. For hikers, for me on the thru-hike, the device was absolutely perfect. Oh, I would have wished the connection was faster. I would have preferred if it connected remotely through cell phone towers instead of trying to find payphones to use. It could have been improved, but it worked, and it did its job well.

Sunday, I went to reactivate my device (off trail, it's a worthless piece of junk, so I only activate service when I'm actually on long distance hikes). I went to http://www.pocketmail.com where I've gone to activate the device before, but the website seemed to be down. Oh, well. Those things happen. I figured I'd try again later that afternoon.

And I did try later that afternoon, and their website was still down. Hmm.... Now I started to worry about. Surely their website wouldn't have been down for that long! So I did some Google sleuthing about the company and learned, sadly, that PocketMail went bankrupt. Last February, from what I gathered, a mere two months ago. With no warning at all, they shut down shop. Apparently they haven't even given any refunds for people who paid for service but are now no longer receiving it. Apparently they did it with no warning at all! Anyone hiking the Florida Trail or something earlier this year would have been caught with their proverbial pants down, hiking on a trail with their one link to e-mail no longer working. Poor fellows.

But I found myself caught when my proverbial pants down as well. The device I was depending on to write my blogs and check my e-mails--now just a worthless paperweight. I had no backup plan! This is what I always used to keep in touch from the trail. Now I had just four days to figure out how to adjust to this tragic turn of events.

I googled and googled. I googled about e-mail only devices. I googled what thru-hikers were doing to check e-mail and write blog entries. I googled and googled, and the only thing I could find that even remotely met my needs was this little device, called a Peek. It uses cell phone towers to check e-mail, and while there is a full QWERTY keyboard on it, from the pictures I could find online, I'm not sure I can do any touch-typing on it. It might just be too small for me to get my fingers on properly, which a HUGE problem. There's no way I can blog my detailed entries with just my thumbs. This little device uses a charger to charge batteries, so I'm also a little concerned about how long I can use the device in the backcountry to type up my blogs before the power goes out. I can't just pop out and replace the AA batteries like I could with the Pocketmail. When this thing runs out of juice, I need to get back into civilization where I can plug it in again.

So I have my reservations about this device. While I can certainly use it to check and reply to my e-mail messages, I'm not sure I can actually use it for blogging. Not the way I blog, at least. But as far as I can tell, it's the only real option I have anymore. I certainly need access to e-mail in trail towns. So I've purchased on online, and am having expedited on it so I can get it before I hit the trail. I won't have much time to test it or kick the wheels before I hit the trail, though.

And if it doesn't work for blogging, I'm not sure what I'll do for keeping everyone up to date on my adventures. I may have to resort to an even older method of journaling--a pad of paper and a pen, writing my adventures out longhand. (And boy howdy, do I wish I knew shorthand now! Maybe that's a skill I can teach myself on the trail? Everyone should know shorthand, right?) To get the adventures online, I'd need to either mail my journals off for someone to transcribe for me, or else wait until Amanda comes by with the laptop so I can transcribe the journal entries myself. Neither of those options will get you fast, up-to-date stores from the trail, however. You'll be lucky to hear about anything within a month of when it happened!

I'll know more once I have the device in my hands and can feel how easy it is (or not) to type with. After a week or two on the trail, I'll have a better idea of the battery life expectancy and if I can make do with charging it once every week or two, or if the device will die halfway through the week.

But one thing is certain--my blog entries may very well not be as prompt or detailed as you've read from past journeys. Only time will tell.....

Around the Corner and Through the Woods, Is That a Cell Phone Tower I see....?

This is the week. This is the week I start my hike. Time sure seems to be ticking by awfully fast.

I've made it to California, my jumping off point for my hikes. I came loaded with tons of strawberry leather and dehydrated ground beef I've been cooking up all month. I've come with supplies and spares for stuff that my mom will need to send to me along the trail.

I'm going to get a hair cut. I'm thinking of doing the bald thing again, seeing how well it worked for my Florida hike. =) One thing I can say about my baldness--it doesn't last long!

And if you saw some pigs flying outside of your window, you weren't seeing things. They really were there. Because, yes, folks, I have officially become the Last Person On Earth to buy a cell phone. For those who know me, this probably sounds like delusional crazy talk coming from me. I never imagined a day when I would ever utter those words, but it's true. I bought a cell phone.

It's one of those pre-paid deals, and I only plan to use it for the duration of my hike. At the end of the hike, I'll tuck in a drawer never to see the light of day again--at least not until the next long distance hike I do. It's not a fancy phone. It doesn't take photos, it can--in theory--do text messaging, but I didn't turn that option on. It was the cheapest phone I could find at the store, and it was small and light, and that's what I wanted.

Most of the trail, I probably won't get any cell phone coverage, but that's okay. It's not in the backcountry where the cell phone would be of most use. Trail towns and road crossings where I'm trying to meet people is where the phone will thrive. No more looking for payphones! Well, that's not strictly true--I will still look for payphones in order to use my PocketMail device, but at least I can talk to people on my cell while uploading my blog entries with PocketMail at the same time! And when Amanda and I are trying to meet at some random road crossing, I can call and say, "I'm here, but where are you?!" It also has voicemail, so if Amanda needs to leave me a message, she now has an easy way to do so.

So, for this hike, I will be more connected than ever. I have to make sure I don't get too addicted to the convenience of a cell phone, though. I do plan to give it up when the hike is over and my need for it largely disappears.

For those keeping up with my tooth extractions.... I'm eating pretty normally nowadays. I sometimes forget about the two gaping holes in my mouth, though, until I start to brush my teeth and run the brush over them. Yow! Still a little tender there.... But it's healing well and doesn't hurt at all as long as I don't do something stupid like poke it with a toothbrush.

The Prep Work Continues....

A thru-hike doesn't require anywhere near as much prep work that most people assume. You'll hear stories of people "planning" their hike for years, but what they really mean is that they've been "thinking" about doing the hike for years. When I got it into my head to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail, I had about two months before it would be prime thru-hiking season... or wait another 12 months after that. And remarkably, for most of those two months, I did more "thinking" than I did actual "planning."

Some people will create an itinerary for their entire hike. Every campsite, every town they plan to stop in, and every post office they plan to check for mail drops. They'll have meals carefully prepared, shipped to strategic points along their hike, with military precision. At least they have a plan, I suppose, but it typically only takes a couple of days on the trail before the best laid plans thrown in the fire. A blister might slow you down more than expected, or a remarkably sunny day pushes you on to the next shelter because, hey, it's a beautiful day! Use it or lose it! Things happen, you know?

Even maildrops become somewhat unreliable. I had prepared quite a few meals for myself before I started the AT, asking my mom to ship them out to me when I asked. Turns out, after about a month on the trail, I grew to absolutely loathe those meals. I also discovered that I hated trying to time my visits into town when the post office would be open. I started relying on them less and less, and most of the food I prepped ahead of time I never did use.

I didn't make that mistake on my next thru-hike.

But that's not to say there's nothing to prep. I'll be hiking on the Pacific Crest Trail for about five or six months, so I figured it was a good idea to get myself into a dentist before starting the trail. I remember one story I heard about a thru-hiker who had a tooth problem while hiking the AT and ended up pulling out his own tooth with some pliers. That's an extreme, to be sure, but I wanted to make sure my teeth would be happy and I'd have no need of a dentist during the hike. Being waylaid by tooth problems is not on my to-do list. Admittedly, I haven't done this with my two previous thru-hikes, but I felt it was probably a good idea this time around because I knew there was a problem with one of my wisdom teeth. It didn't hurt--not yet, at least--but you didn't have to have dental school to know there was a problem with it. And I didn't want that problem to become a Problem while hiking the trail. So off to the dentist I went....

It was, alas, as bad as I feared, and the tooth needs to come out. (He also recommended that another of my wisdom teeth come out as well.) And found a cavity on top of that. Well, better to get all that taken care of now than in the middle of my hike. =) I never liked those wisdom teeth anyhow. Stupid teeth. (And my next visit there is going to be even more unpleasant than usual. *sigh*) On the plus side, however.... it'll lighten the load on my feet. Cutting the handle off of toothbrushes is so old fashioned. The cool kids are just removing their teeth completely. ;o)

The prep work continued today. One thing I've never grown tired of on the trail is strawberry leather. So I walked over to Costco this afternoon with the intention of buying lots and lots of strawberries. I took the pack I sewed for this trip--much like the pack I used for my West Coast Trail and Juan de Fuca Trail hikes, but with fewer mistakes and a few tweaks--to give it a test run as well. I planned to load it up, primarily with strawberries (though I'd also buy a few other things since I was there), and walk home. Ended up buying nearly 50 pounds of fruit, stuffed it all into my pack (it barely fit), and staggered back home under the load. Next up--blending it all up and turning it into leather. Oh boy!

The pack worked wonderfully well. It hurts to carry 50 pounds on your back--no backpack is going to make that feel light or fun--but it carried the weight well and held together well. It fit comfortably. It will do. =)

And, I've been doing a lot of sewing. A lot of my old stuff sacks are severely worn, and I'm not sure that many of them would survive a 2,650-mile hike. So I've been making a lot of new stuff sacks. I've also decided to make a little pillowcase for myself. =) I can stuff it full of clothes and have a nice, comfortable pillow. I've used my clothes bag as a pillow in the past, but the silicone impregnated nylon is not really the most comfortable of cloth to use as a pillow. And I found some flannel with turtles on it--how could I say no?! So I'll still use the clothes bag as a pillow, but now I'll have a pillowcase to fit over it for a better experience. I have no excuse for myself--I'm obviously getting soft.

I've also been getting my "affairs" in order. That sounds seedy, but it's really not. Because of Atlas Quest, I have to file estimated tax payments each quarter. Which is kind of inconvenient for me since I'll be hiking the whole time. Most hikers who are on the trail aren't actually making any income, so they don't have this problem. Atlas Quest will still be running, though, and probably still make a few bucks even when I'm off hiking, and the tax man still wants his cut. So I've been saving money and have set up a bunch of transactions to automatically take care of everything for me. So I need to make sure those payments are made by June 15th and September 15th (both days which I expect to be hiking on the trail). PayPal will deposit money into my bank account, and the government will take out a set amount for taxes, all while I'm blissfully hiking. I'm also setting up an auto-payment scheme to pay for the hosting fees while I'm hiking as well. The only payments that I'll need to worry about while hiking will be when I actually buy food or stay in the occasional hostel or hotel along the way. But I'll be there in person to handle those. Everything else I don't have to worry about.

A week or two ago, I bought some new gear for the trail at REI. Mostly winter gear for traveling through snow and ice--which I'll likely hit plenty of when I get into the Sierra Nevadas. I bought some MicroSpikes for traction, and an ice axe. I don't really want an ice axe, but I got it based on recommendations from previous thru-hikers who said that they didn't really need it, except for a couple of locations when it would have made them feel "safer." Better to have it and not need it than to not have it but need it! So I'm now the proud owner of an ice axe. A bear canister is required in some parts of the Sierra Nevadas as well, so I'll be getting one of those shipped to me on the trail where I'll need it. (Believe it or not, I've never actually backpacked anywhere that required people to carry bear canisters, so I don't actually own one!)

So that's what my prep work consists of lately. A trip to the dentist (part 1 of 2), some sewing, setting up automatic payments, and buying gear. Lots of fun! And just 21 days to the kickoff!

Whatever happened to....?

Occasionally, I get messages from hikers I've met in years past, who sometimes seem even crazier than I am. For instance, earlier this year, I got a message from Rubberband Man. He shows up multiple times in my Appalachian Trail adventures, and we hit it off great on the trail. He's originally from Texas, though, and I guess the AT wasn't big enough for him, because he decided to hike what he calls the Texas Perimeter Hike. You won't find this hike listed in any guidebooks, because he made it up himself. He decided he wanted to see his native state in a way nobody else has before--by hiking around its perimeter.

By his estimate, the hike will end up being even longer than the Appalachian Trail--by a pretty large margin, no less. And much of it appears to be road walking. After my time in Florida and Alabama, I have a new appreciation of the horrors of road walking. To imagine him doing over 3,000 miles of this type of hiking.... *shaking head* He's got to be certifiably insane. But then, everyone says that about me, so I guess I'm just calling the kettle black. =) If he does manage to finish--and I think there's a very good chance he will--I'll certainly be impressed with the feat. So far as he knows, he's the only person to ever attempt hiking around the perimeter of Texas. (Which begs the question, why has nobody ever thought to try this before? I rest my case....)

In my defense, my long distance hikes have never tread new ground. Oh, sure, are there probably less than a hundred people in the entire world who have hiked the entire distance from Key West to Springer Mountain, but technically speaking, it's a heavily trodden trail compared to the Texas Perimeter Hike.

This afternoon, I got message from Warren. I met Warren while hiking the Pinhoti Trail in Alabama. He was a geocacher, searching for geocaches on his way to Springer Mountain. I hadn't heard from or seen him since that night in the shelter, so I was rather surprised at the e-mail today. He told me that he ended up hiking all the way to Katahdin--quite a bit further than his original goal of Springer Mountain! He also included a link to his website, and it turns out he's been quite busy and far more crazy than I ever would have imagined.

After hiking to Katahdin, he got a bike and rode it back to Alabama! After getting back home, I guess he got bored rather quickly, because then he bought a kayak to go down the 631-mile Alabama River Scenic Trail, then turned around and kayaked the 631 miles back upstream. According to this news report of the event, he'll be the first person to have ever kayaked down and back up the entire length of the river scenic trail. Perhaps not quite as crazy as Rubberband Man--who invented his own trail from scratch--at least this guy is following a trail someone else laid down. (Even if nobody had ever actually kayaked the distance in both directions before.)

Is that enough for him? Of course now.... Now he's planning a round-the-country bicycle trip. I've actually had a rather vague goal to someday bicycle from Seattle, to San Diego, to Key West, to Maine (somewhere in Maine--not sure where), then back to Seattle again. Not quite the same route this guy has planned, but scary similar none-the-less. =)

And it makes me wonder.... what other crazy people will I meet when I do my thru-hike the of PCT? If there's one thing I'm certain of, at least some of the people will actually be crazier than me. ;o)

This Can't Be Good....

I picked up an issue of The Onion this afternoon, my favorite source for unbiased news, and my horoscope reads: Your life will soon be divided into Pre-Angering-Of-The-Ants and Post-Angering-Of-The-Ants eras.

The reason for my concern is that I don't have any plans to even cross paths with ants, and I keep thinking, the trail--what if I cross paths with ants on the trail? I've seen ants while hiking before. Most of the time, they seem pretty docile, but what if I accidentally trip over a bunch of them? What if they become angry that I ate all of my food rather than leaving scraps on the ground? Have I not given enough consideration about ants during my hike?

I don't know, but it sounds ominous. Then I thought, no.... it's Wassa. Wassa must have hacked The Onion. It's the only logical explanation. *shaking head*

The First Trail Hiccup!

I already hit my first trail hiccup, which is remarkable when you consider the fact that I don't start my hike for nearly two months! =)

This morning, I flew from Seattle to San Luis Obispo. My hair is growing rather wild and I needed a haircut. I don't know about the rest of you, but I like to get it cut here in San Luis, so I booked a flight and off I flew!

It wasn't until I started approaching the security checkpoint that I realized something was very, very wrong. My driver's license was not in my wallet. I emptied that wallet, going through every card and piece of paper, but it just wasn't there. What the heck happened to it?! My driver's license is ALWAYS in my wallet!

Now if you've spent any time in an airport, or read a newspaper, or heard the jokes about the underwear bomber, you know they take things like security seriously at places such as airports. And the lack of an ID can be a bit of a issue with those in charge of security. I once heard, many moons ago, that you don't actually *have* to have an ID to fly. They'll screen you a lot more rigorously if you don't have a valid ID, but they'll still let you through. So I walked up to the lady checking IDs and shamefully admitted that I did not seem to have mine.

She took me aside, in my own private "line," and called a supervisor. The supervisor comes by a few minutes later, and the original woman tells the supervisor about my lack of ID, who then asks if I have anything with my name on it--credit cards or whatever. Oh, yes! I have lots of those! I pull out credit cards, my REI membership card, and then I remembered an old photocopy I had of my passport that I had in case it happened to get lost, stolen, or damaged while I was out of the country, so I pulled that out too. It's just a photocopy, however, but the woman seemed pleased that it did have my photo on it and appeared somewhat legit. But it certainly couldn't qualify as official ID.

She wrote a bunch of S's on my boarding ticket--a series of four of them with a bright orange marker, and I knew that that couldn't possibly be good. She did it twice--once on the ticket stub and once on the ticket itself, then told me to go through security like I normally would, but the guy at the metal detector would "take me aside" for further screening. Sounds like fun.... not!

She kept my ticket, then walked over to the guy at the metal detector giving him my ticket, and I could hear her pointing me out, so I turned around and waved at him so he'd have no doubt that I was the dumb idiot without an ID.

I went through the usual process--taking off my jacket, my shoes, my belt. Taking my laptop and bag of liquids out, running them all through the x-ray machine, then stepped through the metal detector. I didn't set it off, but they whisked me away for a pat-down anyhow.

A team of four security personal (four of them--obviously, I looked quite dangerous!) picked up all of my items and escorted me (and my belongings) aside so they could further invade my luggage. They wouldn't even give me my shoes back yet--it had to be tested for explosives first--even though I know they saw absolutely nothing suspicious in the x-rays.

They tested the shoes, then gave those back to me. The laptop was returned next, then my duffel bag. My backpack they looked through, then decided to run it through the x-ray machine a second time, rummage around its contents some more, and finally returned that to me as well saying that it was now okay for me to go on my merry little way.

And the whole time, I was thinking, "What the heck happened to my driver's license? Where is my driver's license? Why is it not in my wallet?!" I tried to remember the last time I used it for something. It's been eons since I've been stopped by a cop--that hasn't happened since I hiked through Alabama. I haven't had to renew it.

As I was walking to my gate, I finally remembered the last time I used it. To get permission to hike into Canada on the Pacific Crest Trail, I had to send the authorities there a photocopy of a driver's license or passport. So I took out my driver's license, scanned it on the computer, printed it, and mailed it off to the
Canadian authorities. And there's where my driver's license must now be.... sitting at home, in the scanner. Out of sight, out of mind.

Whoops.

If there's one piece of advice I can suggest--never go to the airport without a valid ID. =)

Oh, there's the best part. I still don't have my ID on me, and I still have to fly home..... I'll get to go through this process all over again. =) Curse the trail! It's already making my life miserable!

Adventures on the Trail

Now most people reading this blog probably think, "What kind of INSANITY must a man suffer from to choose to hike 2,650 miles from Mexico to Canada? This is the 21st century!"

It's true, there aren't a lot of us crazy folks out there. But it's also true--I'm not the first to decide to hike this hike. I thought I'd share a few books that previous thru-hikers of the PCT have written. Some I've read, some I haven't. Some I might read while hiking the trail. =)



This first book is called The Cactus Eaters, alluding to an event when the author, after running out of water, decided to try quenching his thirst by eating a cactus, allegedly plump full of water. It didn't work out well for him, but the book is very well written and highly entertaining.



Next up, A Blistered Kind of Love: One Couple's Trial by Trail. I'm not really sure the trail is the best way to test a relationship. The whole concept seems like those couples you see on the Amazing Race who say they hope to "test" their relationship. If you have to "test" your relationship, it's probably not going last! Fortunately, for those two folks, it actually does. =) This is also a very well written book. Many thru-hiker books I've read, while often entertaining, have a very 'amateurish' feel to them, but these first two recommendations were written by solid, well-grounded writers. (Or they have heck of a good editor!)



Next up, Zero Days. A zero day is a day of rest, when zero miles are completed on one's thru-hike. I haven't read this book (not yet, at least!), but is intriguing since it was written by a family who thru-hiked the trail, including a 10-year-old girl--the youngest person to ever thru-hike the PCT. The thought of a 10-year-old thru-hiking from Mexico to Canada astounds me, and this would certainly include a perspective you'll never see in any other accounts of thru-hiking the PCT.



Another book I've never read is Dances With Marmots. I have no idea if the book is any good or not--I just found it mere minutes ago with a search on Amazon.com, and I really, really liked the name of the book. =) Apparently this one was written by a guy born and educated in the UK and now lives in New Zealand. I suppose a non-American might have an interesting point of view of thru-hiking the trail, but I will admit--I'd never heard of this book before and have absolutely no idea if it's any good or not.



And finally, last but not least, another book I'd never heard of until I just did a search on Amazon.com, A Thru-Hiker's Heart, Tales of the Pacific Crest Trail. This book, from what I can see, seems to have the feel of a "I'm not a writer, but I'll turn my journal entries into a book anyhow and self-publish it." I could be COMPLETELY wrong about this, however, and even those types of books have their place. In a strange way, some of those well-edited "professional" books seem less real and authentic. Variety is the spice of life, as they say, so don't diss those. They have their place too. Not to mention that if I ever turn my adventures into a published book, it'll likely fall into this category. ;o)

That, and I find the picture on the cover appealing. =)



Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why is not about the PCT. When you search for a term on Amazon.com, they also provide a list of stuff saying, "Other customers suggested these items," and I thought this was a pretty morbid but kind of funny suggestion. I hope to land in the "lives" category, but if I were to unfortunately wind up the "dies" category, it'll make the hairs on your back stand up to read this blog entry after the fact. ;o) (In all seriousness, it's extremely unlikely I'll do anything that will get me killed. I tend to feel more in danger walking around in cities than I do in the backcountry.)

Happy trails!

-- Ryan