Following our 2012 thru-hike of the 2660 mile Pacific Crest trail, I made a film documenting our adventure. For some, it may be lengthy at 2 hours, but even this was hard enough when trying to condense 6 months of adventure down. Hopefully you like it and inspires others to experience this amazing part of the world. Without further adieu I present, ‘Blackbeard & Destroyer hike the Pacific Crest Trail”.
If you liked our personal film, then hopefully you will also like the 2012 class video, produced and edited by Virgo;
Hi
Wondering how the supermid worked
Pct planning for family of three and we have one
Was it difficult to find places to set it up?
Hello,
Thanks for getting in touch. Yeah, the Supermid worked out great! It was a palace for the two of us, possibly a bit of an excessive luxury, but we loved having the space to get changed etc. I had ours modified to have a perimeter bugnet and bugnet door, which worked out well, especially in North Yosemite where the mosquitoes where horrible! Choosing where to pitch generally wasn’t too much problem. There were a couple of times when had to look a little harder and longer than some people with smaller shelters, but the Supermid is surprisingly flexible with where and how you can pitch it! One night we ended up with it like a little ‘nest’ in a hollow by pitching it into old tree stumps! Also in high wind it puts a lot of pressure on the stakes and pole due to the large surface area of the fabric. So just make sure you pitch it well, and it is a great place to call home. 🙂
Hi
My husband and i are currently planning our PCT hike for 2016. Wondering if you had any top tips, especially regarding shoes for the hike. Was thinking of trail runners as they are so breathable but worried about sand getting in through the mesh. Did you find this to be a problem?
Have you done a kit review any where?
Thanks
Riann
Hello Riann,
Many thanks for your comment. You are in for a world of awesomeness! Physically and mentally very hard, but so worth it!
As for the kit, I haven’t done any post PCT reviews, but I did do a few blog entries for the kit we took;
http://www.afowler.co.uk/posts/745/
http://www.afowler.co.uk/posts/659/
http://www.afowler.co.uk/posts/717/
As for the shoes, I would say get trail runners without a doubt! Anything else is not going to be much fun. The lightness and breathability of trail runners is ideal. You do get sand and dirt through the mesh, but this never proved to be a problem. Just bring plenty of baby wipes for cleaning your feet on a night and you will be fine. I loved my La Sportiva Wildcat’s! They lasted 600-700 miles a pair and I only ended up with 2 tiny blisters the whole way. I have since used them for other long distance trails and they are the perfect long distance shoe in my opinion.
As for top tips; Enjoy this preparation stage. You will look back on it with fond memories.
Don’t overplan it all. As soon as you start, much of your planning will fall apart, and that’s ok. the key to success is to plan what you can control and be able to adapt to what you can’t.
Learn to work as a team. Hiking for 6 months solidly is tough, and especially on a relationship. Having said that, me and Sarah came out the other side with an amazing shared experience and we are much stronger for it. You will quickly learn what each other’s strengths and weaknesses are, and you need to adapt to them. Hiking/camping/resupplies etc are just a set of jobs and processes that need doing with efficiency. If you both learn to take on parts of everything, you will both have distinct responsibilities and the team will be stronger as a whole. Ie, now we can put up the tent in seconds, or get pack away quickly because each of us knows what to do and what the other one needs.
Lots of other advice to give, but the most important one, which was told to me by a PCT thru hiker before we started; Never, ever, ever give up! If you follow that advice, you will succeed. Simple eh?
🙂