About the Author, Christy Everett: “My name is Christy and to be frank, I’m new to all of this. I don’t camp, I love my running water, and substantial shelter. However, I am getting ready to marry the most amazing man…who does not feel the same need for running water. I will be supporting him as he hikes the PCT, handling logistics, resupply and moral support. There will be tons of learning, some tears, some utter failures, but also some big victories. Join me as I hike the PCT from home.”
With the holidays over, it was time to really start thinking about the PCT. For Christmas, we received a dehydrator. We had no idea how to use this thing but bought many books to help with our journey (The Dehydrator Bible by Jennifer MacKenzie, Jay Nutt, and Don Mercer has been the most informative). So far, we have dehydrated pineapples, which went well. It seems to me that I absolutely cannot mess this up! You will have to wait for more blogs to see how I do with this thing…
We are now caught up to this past week. I took a few days off of work, so we could really plan his rest stops, packages and our visits. One of the most amazing, most helpful books out there is Yogi’s Pacific Crest Trail Handbook for 2018. Every possible consideration is included in this book!! Thanks to all of the contributing authors, we were able to plan exactly when he would stop for laundry and a shower, and what he would be doing (buying versus getting a mail drop). Here is our plan:
This is by no means the end all, be all of plans. This is just our plan and how he wants to resupply, shower, and handle laundry. Yogi’s book suggests mailing as little as possible due to the cost. My bigger concern was keeping him healthy on the trail. I cannot see him surviving on nutritionally deficient food and sweets when I have the ability to provide decent meals! There are also 2 periods of time I plan to visit in there. I am hoping to visit for about 3-4 days as I do not want him to take many 0 days on my account. During these visits, I plan to bring any supplies he needs with me and take back what is no longer needed.
So, I know what I WANT to do, but when I looked at this, the fact that I had no idea what to cook, or how to cook it, became very apparent. He needs food that is light weight, but also nutritionally filling. Enter the book Lip Smackin’ Backpackin’ by Christine and Tim Conners. This book is another bible. There are lots of tried recipes in the book, as well as the cooking apparatus that you will need to prepare the meal on the trail. Kyle is planning to take a cook pot only, so this narrows down what I can prepare and have any hope of him being able to reassemble into a meal. On top of that, it talks about how to portion out the meals once you have made them, how to preserve them, and what the hiker will need to prepare them. I marked off some recipes that I thought would be good to try to prepare…and got started.
Today, from the great book, I made the Gravel Road Granola. According to the nutritional analysis, each bag has 610 Calories, 18g of Protein, and 34g of Fat. Good stuff!!! I followed the recipe almost exactly. I did not have any dried pears, so I used dried apricots (no I did not dehydrate those myself. Still stuck on the pineapples only. Baby steps.). This recipe yielded about 12 bags of granola…and it is so good!!! I am trying not to eat the bags as we speak.
Next recipe for today is Banjo Bread. This recipe also appears in Lip Smackin’ Backpackin,’ however I screwed this one up. Mid-recipe, I decided to start following the recipe on the page next to it. This recipe called for wheat germ. Having none (and wondering how I failed to add this to the list), I googled and found out that almond meal could be substituted for this. Fantastic! That I had (we eat Paleo. We LITERALLY have every flour known to man in our cabinets. Not sure how that happened, but I’m glad it did). Well, fantastic, except for when I finally got back on track and realized I was on the wrong recipe, and realized that Banjo Bread does not call for wheat germ or almond meal. Crap. So, my Banjo Bread has an extra ingredient. At this point it is drying in the over, however I am considering transferring it into the dehydrator…
Which brings me back to my opening statement. Today I broke down. I promised that I would not make Kyle feel guilty about leaving, but today it really hit me that this is happening. I am finding it hard to be strong today as I am focused on the fact that he is leaving soon. Tomorrow I am sure I will be fine.
So, if you stuck with this, welcome to my blog. I really don’t know where this is going to go, but I plan to be as open and ‘me’ as possible. I plan to include LOTS about his journey on the PCT. I’ll include as many pics as I can along his way, and include clips about the conditions. Beyond that, you will get my side of the story. The story of the support person at home, managing life and the health of the person on the trail. I will share my ups and downs, and all of the things that I learn along the way. Welcome to Hiking the PCT from Home.
