We're up on SPOT!

Alright, here's the link you all have been waiting for! We're up on Google Maps! You will be able to follow our progress as we head down the trail. If you want to see the topography click on the "terrain" button in the upper right hand corner.

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/gogl.jsp?glId=0D29GqVexYCqK01Fp7tntdo7vb5FlDg4b

Almost there... plus 760 miles

It might sound hard to believe, but after all this planning, I'm actually looking forward to hiking as the easy part. We'll see what I say after a few weeks of 15 mile days.

So here's the rundown of things we have left to do: Our resupply boxes are almost complete. We have around 6 USPS flatrate boxes, 2 Bearvault BV500 canisters, and a 5 gallon bucket all being sent to various locations along the way. We have already packed our food, fuel, batteries, and toiletries that we will need along the way. We printed our maps (over 100 pages of them) on Rite in the Rain waterproof paper and they are currently at Kinkos getting spiral bound. We will be adding them to the various corresponding resupply boxes when we get them back tomorrow. From there we have to tape all those boxes up and truck them over to the Post Office.

We are approaching this trip with a "light" mentality. Not ultralight--we're not leaving the tent and hiking boots at home-- but we're not going "traditional" either. Our base back weight (before food and water) are each around 17lbs. With 9 days of food and the bear vaults, they will be between 35-40lbs. We will only have one section of 9 days (between Echo Lake and Tualomne Meadows) so we should be averaging around 30 lbs for most of the trip.

Oh yeah, and here are some photos of us with our fully packed bear vaults!

Back from the test hike

Ugly and I headed up the Columbia River Gorge to hike a bit and work out the kinks in our system before hitting the big trail.

First day had over 5000 feet of uphill, with the first 3700 coming in the first 4 miles. WHOOO. Thankfully, that'll be pretty much the craziest climbing we'll do on the trip (or so says Ugly). The day was slightly chilly, with plenty of mist/drizzle and clouds

But alltogether beautiful, with some great views when the clouds parted. Not too chilly either, if you didn't stop for long.

We camped after about 11 miles, at Watum Lake. AHH SNOW! But not too much.



We discovered many things we had forgotten, making us glad we took this trip. List included: SPOONS! and Sideshow's breakfast.

But mostly things went very well. Including our new sleeping bags! So warm!


NOW WITH ARMHOLES!!! SO AWESOME!

The hike today was beautiful. 15 miles back to the trailhead, through some absolutely gorgeous terrain, down through the Eagle Creek Gorge. A long, but very fun day.

Story time: As I was heeding a call of nature, with a beautiful view down a wooded hillside, (also there was a salamander by my feet!), I heard a harsh "KREE KREE KREE," and a gigantic bird came flying straight at me, pulling up 10 feet in front of my head and perching above me, continuing to call. Obviously very annoyed with my presence there. It even perched directly above my head, so I was afraid I was about to be call-of-natured on even as I was finishing mine. I left quickly, but it was very exciting! After looking it up at Ugly's house: a Northern Goshawk. Very beautiful bird.

Here we are at Tunnel Falls in the gorge:


Well, we've got about 2.5 days before we head south for the trail, enough time to fix everything and do some last minute shopping. We are fairly sore, but very happy - we managed to keep up a good pace - good news for the PCT.

Stay tuned for a map update!

Love,
Sideshow

Resupply Addresses and Dates!

Hey all,

Ugly here with my introductory post on the blog!

First off, some readers might be confused as to who's who and what's what regarding our nicknames. Well, Sideshow is Alex and Ugly is Sam. Usually hikers on the PCT assume a trail name while hiking the trail. Both Sideshow and I have had our respective nicknames for a few years and it seemed silly to come up with new names when we had these perfectly good nicknames already. So there ya go.

Currently we're in the process of dividing, measuring, weighing, and organizing the nearly 330 meals that Sideshow and I will be consuming over the next two months. Tomorrow it's off to REI to pick up a few more items and the post office to get the flat rate shipping boxes we'll need to send all this food to our various resupply stops along the way.

That, conveniently, bring me to the topic of this post: resupply addresses and dates! We're giving you this information so that if you want, you can send us letters, post cards, non-perishable baked products, or yourself, if you want to meet us along the way! Please keep in mind that we will not be in an location for more than one day so if you do decide to send something, make sure you send it with enough time that it gets there before we do!

6-08-10:

Sam Whalen and Alex Seidel

McArthur Burney Falls State Park
Route 1, Box 1240
Burney, CA 96013

6-12-10:

Sam Whalen and Alex Seidel

C/O General Delivery

Post Office
Old Station, CA 96071
(530) 335-7191

6-19-10:

Sam Whalen and Alex Seidel

C/O General Delivery

Post Office
Belden, CA 95915

6-26-10

Sam Whalen and Alex Seidel

C/O General Delivery

Post Office
Sierra City, CA 96125

7-3-10

Sam Whalen and Alex Seidel

C/O General Delivery

Post Office

Echo Lake Resort, CA 95721

7-13-10

Sam Whalen and Alex Seidel

C/O General Delivery

Tuolumne Meadows Station
Yosemite National Park, CA 95389

We will be carrying a SPOT locator with us and once we get things set up, you will be able to follow our progress on Google Maps!

FIRST POST!!!!111!!!!

Hello! I'm up here in Portland, hanging out with Ugly as we get ready to go hike about 1/3 of the PCT. Becca Sonday is currently here with us as well. WHOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!

Ugly and I are planning to do a test hike in the Columbia River Gorge this weekend, to make sure we've got everything under control. Then, we'll be hopping a train on June 2nd, and be hiking the 3rd!

Obviously, don't expect too many (if any) after we get on the trail, but do stay tuned beforehand for:
1. link to a map to follow our progress online!!!
2. Maildrop addresses, if you want to send letters!

love,
Sideshow