Here we go again

I'm sitting in the Spokane airport waiting for my flight to San Diego.  Why am I heading to San Diego,  well that's cause I'm going to hike the PCT.  I know, I know I said that I was only going to do the PCT on a pack horse.  That was before I learned that there was going to be a main stream movie about the PCT. I want to do the PCT before it gets filled with all the crazies looking to solve their life issues by walking the PCT like Reese Witherspoon. Considering the timing required to finish before the snow the trail is already getting crowded. I can only imagine how it will be in the next few years.

To be perfectly honest I'm not certain I'll do the whole trail this time. I know I want to do the desert and the Sierras so I'll do California then see how I feel. I might not even make it that far.  It depends on how I do with the snow. Unlike the AT where I could walk fast and avoid the snow,  on the PCT I'm going to run into snow no matter what I do. That seems to happen when you are walking at 10000+ ft instead of 4000+. Of course I could,  no matter how unlikely,  end up enjoying walking around in the snow, never gonna happen.  I will make the call after I finish the Sierras. For now I will just try and survive the desert. 

I am a bit worried about the resupply since the trail is more remote and can require hitches of over 15 miles.  I am also a bit worried about my plan to not have a map. The phone I bought for the trip has a couple of really nice apps that I am planning on using for my navigation.  It also has pdf copies of the maps. All that is great as long as I can keep it powered.  To do that I'm carrying a heavy 1.25 pound solar charger.  Everything I have read says there is an abundance of sunlight on the PCT. At least for California. I picked up the only solar charger I saw on the AT that managed to keep phones charged in Maine. I figure if it could keep them charged in all that rain and cloud cover it should do just fine in the desert.  If it doesn't work I will get a spare battery and a rechargable battery pack that can supposedly charge my phone to full 5 times between charges. I figure that will give me a week worth of moderate use. That was my plan for Oregon north if I keep going.

Outside of those concerns I'm extremely excited to get back out there and hike again. I'm really looking forward to doing this as a backpacking camping trip instead of a long hike in the woods.   There are no shelters on the PCT so I will be using my tent much more for this trip. There were a lot of times on the AT where I was seriously considering sending my tent home. I think I only used it about 10 times the entire AT, that doesn't count the times I set it up in the shelters for critter protection. We will see if I use it more than that on this trip.  Cowboy camping is much more common on the PCT since it is much drier but there are scorpions in the desert...

I'm also looking forward to hiking with the pack. The hardest part of the AT for me was seeing the big pack of nobos walking north while I was all alone going south.  Hopefully the loneliness that I had on the AT won't be as bad with all the other hikers around.  Of course I could end up missing my solitude and flop up north and go sobo to get away from the crowds,  but I doubt that.

Well the plane is calling and I must go.