*My great adventure* - "I think it's a good idea...

[Messiah Khan]

... and I believe your story, so I will grant you the visa!"

Get in! Yesterday was a rather long and mentally draining day as we had to head down to London to visit the US embassy to try and get our B2 visa. Well we got it first time! Which means that our Pacific Crest Trail through hike 2012 is on!

Me and my wife are going to walk from Mexico to Canada, starting in April next year. It should take us just under 6 months to cover the 2650miles all being well. All self supported, with feet the only form of transport and a tent the main accomodation (I'm sure we won't be able to resist the pull of a bed and shower in the resupply towns).

It starts off right on the border with Mexico in the deserts of Southern California. It crosses the edge of the Mohave desert, and several mountains ranges.

South California Desert in bloom.

Desert Mountain Ranges

Desert Mountain Ranges

Then 700 miles later it's up into the altitude of the high Sierras. Highest point will be Mount Whitney (Highest summit in the contiguous United States) at 14,505 feet.

High Sierra Mountains

Mount Whitney

This takes us to the top of California, where we cross into Oregon and the scenery changes again into Volcanic ranges, including the great crater lake and mount Shasta.

Crater Lake

Mount Shasta

Oregon trail.

The final state is then Washington with it's Cascade Mountain range, and most likely lots of rain and maybe some snow!

Cascade Mountains

The trail ends just over the border in Canada. But our adventure doesn't stop there. We will hopefully return back to Canada a few weeks later with a Bunac visa for more fun...

Kit lists have nearly been finished and much of the kit tested. Visa has been sorted. Now just need to book flights, apply for through hiker permits, California fire permits etc. Can't wait to get started now!

 

[Messiah Khan]

Yikes. That is some walk! Not my cup of tea at all but does sound pretty awesome.

What are you going to do about bears, mountain lions and such?

Try not to get eaten? For much of it we will rely on 'Bear Bagging' which involves hanging your food and smellies from a tree so curious animals can't get to it. In the Yosemite area though they are quite strict so all the food will have to live in a Bear canister. Other than that it is just using common sense. Make yourself heard when in areas with Bears, not camping where lots of other people have camped (animals get used to easy pickings) etc. I also have my trekking poles to act as a pointy stick!

wow. what training and experience have you had for this kind of thing? this kind of distance and terrain will punish your body significantly.

Not a huge amount admittedly. I was brought up in Norway by avid outdoors and mountaineering parents, so much of my childhood involved walking and camping etc.

But in recent years, me and my wife has really got into walking and camping ourselves. We regularly do 20-30 mile walk. We also did some wild camping in Norway in August and crossed the Cairngorms by foot/tent last week. To be honest thoug, when you read a lot of the blogs and books of people who have walked the PCT before, many of them have similar experience. There isn't really any other way to train for walking 20 miles a day, every day than walking 20 miles a day every day!

I have set out the itinerary so that we start off on ~15 mile day for the first few weeks before we start to adapt to the distance and weight etc. Then the distances should go up to 30+ miles per day.

Omg kudos to you.

Are you going to be stopping in towns and doing some sort of blog update?

Yeah, I will probably make a blog. I will have my smart phone with me to check weather reports, emails etc, so that can be used to update a blog whenever I am near civilisation. Main problem is battery power though, so it will have to be used sparingly.

 

[Messiah Khan]

With several TB of sd cards, and solar and wind up charges.

What is you packing list?
Have you had any survival training? Or are you planning on carrying most of your food.

The training will mostly consist of physical training. But we are also doing some winter mountaineering training, especially getting used to our iceaxes, as if you have to use them you want to know how to use them properly! I'm also practising my navigational skills, and getting my dad to teach more more advances map and compass work etc.

As for the food, we will be carrying all of it with us. Most of it will be purchased in towns along the way although some will need to be posted ahead if the resupply towns are too small. I am also taking some very basic fishing kit so if I do get a spare hour or two by a river I could get some bonus food.

That's quite amazing, can't wait to see what photos you come back with.

Please don't say you're not taking your camera because that would be crazy talk.

Unfortunately the DSLR is too big and heavy to come along for the ride. So instead I have bought and Olympus E-P3 with 12mm f2 and 100-300mm lenses. Much lighter and still great image quality. Still debating he idea of making an ultra light carbon fibre tripod for sunset/sunrise shots. Memory cards are taken care of as I now have amassed over 100GB of SD cards.

I am supremely impressed and suitably jealous. This is an adventure that's worthy of the word "epic"! Would you mind posting your kit list when you've finalised it, please?

This is the kit to date. Some of it may be slightly incorrect as I am still changing some kit that isn't working too well for us, but mostly this is what we will be going with;

ps. Starred out prices indicates kit I have bought already.

 

[Messiah Khan]

I'd rather do it in 2 months with a rental car but wow, serous kudos to being able to or even willing to do that

But roads don't go to the good bits, because the good bits are where there are no roads! Although somewhat daunting, the idea of being days from any civilisation will be liberating. Also I like the slower pace of seeing everything by foot. I also intent this to be a challenge for ourselves, so when we finish it we can look back and be proud of what we achieved.

I have no doubt that driving it would be great, but to me it is a totally different experience.

MK what is the longest distance without hitting a town on the PTC? I'm very jealous, I'll be stuck in an office unable to get some decent time off again... Maybe in a couple of years!

The longest section is 168 miles, out of Kennedy Meadows (The start of the High Sierras) which should take 8 days. Most sections are 4-5 days long with the longest being the 8 days.

I don't wan to be stuck in an office any more, so we are going to do this, then I am also going to use it as an opportunity to change my career and hopefully get work outdoors, doing something like a Park Ranger or similar.

That sounds an awesome trip! Most I've ever managed camping was five days!

If it were me, I'd do it in reverse and get the hard, cold bits out of the way first, but whatever - Best of luck!

Most people do it North Bound, although some people do it South Bound. The North isn't the only hard bit though. Doing it Northbound, you are limited by several things. You don't want to cross the deserts to late in the year otherwise it gets far too hot and water dries up (water is a huge issue, and at points I will need to carry 8 litres). But you then don't want to enter the Sierras too early otherwise the previous winters snow won't have melted (Last year was a huge snow year and some places that should have had no snow still had 12ft when people tried to cross it). Once over the Sierras, you don't want to run too slow or you will be hit by the incoming winter from the north. Get it right though and you should have sunshine for most of the way.

 

[Messiah Khan]

Sounds amazing, have fun and don't expect too much snow up in Washington, they mostly get a lot of rain or wet stuff, haha.

Tell that to Fozzie;

Admittedly, he ended up finishing very late in the season, and he actually ended up near crater lake as he skipped forward to beat the snow, then came back down to Oregon to finish off.

Wow, look forward to seeing all the pics! I assume you have training for this? Unfortunately, I just couldn't afford to pack up my life and do such a thing.

We don't have kids or a mortgage yet, so if there ever is a good time for something like this, now is it! We are certainly not rich though, but have managed to save for the last 4 years and have enough to give us a bit of a buffer.

Does a B2 visa just allow you to stay in the US for 6 months?

That's the one. You can get it extended for longer if there is a valid reason. We should be able to do it in under 6 months, but may request 7-8 just incase we are slowed down for whatever reason.

 

[Messiah Khan]

Are you not allowed a gun? Would hate to be travelling so wild and yet so exposed to nature!

Most national parks don't allow firearms. Anyway, a gun and ammo would be too heavy to bring along. You are only exposed to nature and feel scared by it until you start to understand it and become a part of it. The vast majority of wildlife is scared of humans and don't want any confrontation, this includes bears.

It is very, very rare that people are hurt by wildlife of the PCT. The only time there are problems is near civilisation where bears have become accustomed to people leaving food scraps etc around. Using common sense and care is the best way to avoid trouble.

The bigger danger however are river crossings. Especially in the High Sierras there is a lot of melt water causing rivers to swell. This is where we need to be really careful.

This is the kind of trip most of us could only dream about!

Will probably never get to do something anywhere near this in my lifetime. Good luck, will be amazing, aslong as you don't get ravaged by bears...

To be honest, I didn't think I would ever do anything like this. But the more you read about people doing adventures and going on expeditions though, the more you realise they are just normal people who have bitten the bullet and gone for it. So that's what I did. I would hate to look back on my life and regret not having tried adventures and challenges like this. The hardest part is just deciding to do it in the first place.

Cool journey. Hope you guys enjoy yourself!

What are you doing with your house etc while you're away for 6 months? Renting it out?

We rent at the moment. So the plan is to give up our flat, sell much of our stuff. The rest gets put into storage. We then quit our jobs (We did try getting sabbaticals, but no luck. And as mentioned I am going to use it as an opportunity to change my career.) and head off on the adventure. I only have one life to live, so I am going to make the most of it and embrace the opportunity!

 

[Messiah Khan]

Just wow. I've been looking at doing the Appalachian Trail down the East coast, but I don't think the terrain is anything like as gruelling as that.

Out of interest, do you have mountaineering experience?

Looks like an amazing trip. Lots of respect for that!

Go for it! Most people start with the Appalachian Trail, then if that doesn't put them off, go on to the Pacific Crest Trail, then finally if you are hardcore, do the Continental Divide Trail to take the triple crown.

The Appalacian trail is a little shorter, but still a great challenge and adventure. The reason I went for the PCT though was due less people and more sense of wilderness. It also includes possibly some of the best scenery in the world!

I don't have much mountaineering experience. As mentioned, both my parents are mountaineers, so I have been brought up on the mountains, rockclimbing and hiking etc. However more recently, me and my wife have been doing a lot of long distance hiking and backpacking. We need to get some winter training in with ice axe practice etc. That said, the PCT doesn't include any really serious mountaineering. The hardest part is probably the approach to Foresters Pass;

I can't beleive how cheap it is as well, £8k for 6 months? My 2 week trips around the States are £3-4k for two and I'm quite careful how I budget

Yeah, it shouldn't be too bad. Remember though that there is very little in the way of accommodation costs as we will be in a tent. Food will consist of dehydrated food, pasta, ramen, nuts and other cheap staple foods. We might splash out from time to time in resupply towns, but nothing too posh. After a while, even the most basic shower or bed will feel posh, lol.

Ouch even with a bit of training lugging a 21kg pack around is no joke.

Yeah, this is something I want to get as low as possible. Unfortunately much of the weight comes from food and water which weighs what it weighs, so can't be reduced. The rest of the kit is as light as possible though and why I have had many items custom made.

 

[Messiah Khan]

Do it... Or at least spend a few weeks on it. I spent a month in Maine a last summer and loved it. The terrain is more smooth but still difficult. I really want to head back there at some point. Walking/cycling(although you can't do that on the trails unfortunately) is where its at, none of the car nonsense.

Weren't you looking into doing trail maintenance on the PCT next year?

I'm so insanely jealous, I would love to do something like this but work commitments and a rather unwilling girlfriend get in my way. Biggest expedition I've ever done was the coast to coast challenge with a couple of mates, still consider it to be the best experience I've had, imagine the sense of accomplishment after your adventure's over!

21kgs for a rucksack isn't actually bad at all, especially if you have a well fitted rucksack that spreads the weight which it seems you have. It will still hurt a bit for the first few days, but you eventually get used to it, although you probably know all this already

Oh yes and don't forget to watch lots of Bear Grylls before you go lololololol

I can cope with 21kgs, but would be much happier with it closer to 15kg. I can see it being quite hard it in 30 degree heat, up steep ascents with 21Kg pack. Still as you say though, it shouldn't take that long to get used to it.

Ray Mears>Bear Grylls. Although I have seen all of Bear Grylls' series, lol.

Do you have bells for your backpacks and some bear spray to have to hand? It's the simplest way to avoid a silly mistake.

Probably won't carry spray, but bells are certainly an option. Saves us from singing all the time.

 

[Messiah Khan]

Well, I hand my notice in at work today. That makes it all the more real, and there is no turning back now!

We now have almost all of the kit sorted. Just waiting for my shoes and Sarah's sunglasses to be delivered, then we should be pretty much set. Still have a few bits of paperwork to sort out, but they can't be done until a couple of months before we go.

If anyone is interested, here are some good links to videos about the PCT;
http://pct.thehikeguy.com/ - This guy walked much of the trail last year and did a great video blog as he went along.

And the video that I think is to blame for my adventure;

Thinking back, I watched this documentary on telly a few years ago so I think it is this that planted the seed.

That looks incredible, if you decide to do a blog remember and link it, I'd love to read it.

Not got a great deal of content on it yet, but all my updates will be through my website;

http://www.afowler.co.uk/adventures/

Might want to add a couple of blaze orange vests to your packing list...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/authorities-hiker-shot-in-oregon-field-dies-after-hunter-mistook-him-for-a-bear/2011/10/22/gIQAGbGC7L_story.html

Our waterproof jackets are bright red, so that should hopefully do the trick. also much of the trail passes through national parks where hunting and firearms aren't allowed.

 

[Messiah Khan]

Looks amazing - is it one continual track, or do you have to walk along roads, etc.?

Pretty much one continual trail, although there are bits on roads near towns etc. There are also change of being diverted due to forest fires or bad snow. I know one guy who did it last year ended up with a 190 mile road walk due to getting really late in the season and hitting bad snow.

Good luck mate! It looks like it will be an amazing adventure. I would love to do something like this one day.

Would it be possible to do this on mountain bikes?

Afraid not. No tyres are allowed on much of the trail. People and horses/goats/llamas only. There is however the Ride the Divide mountain bike race which goes along the Continental Divide Trail further to the east of the PCT

If you don't mind me asking, what have you budgeted for the trip?

It will probably cost about £3000-£4000 for each of us. This includes all our food, postage of resupplies and the occasional treat like a motel etc.

 

[Messiah Khan]

Trail costs - $1.75/mile - What's that all about? You have to pay to walk along (what I assume) are public tracks? Or perhaps they're not public tracks?

Trail costs are just costs we will incur while on the trail, ie food and shelter etc. The trail is public although it does pass through private land such as Indian Reserves etc.

Have a fantastic time ,
*snip*
this woke us up in our tent last year in the tetons, not a good shot but it was 5 in the morning, will return this year if we can get reasonable flight prices.

Hehe, nice shot. I think mine would be a bit blurred at that time of the morning with a Bear running towards me!

I have been planning a similar foray myself. Think I'll start with JMT.
Would you be so kind to email me the excel spreadsheet? Looks really useful for gear lists!

The JMT looks great. We will actually be going along much of the JMT as it forms a part of the PCT. Have you seen this video?

Should inspire you to go. Yeah, I'll send the spreadsheet over. (edit: you'll need to enable your trust so I can see your email)

 

[Messiah Khan]

Kudos to you and your wife.

Whatever you're expecting it to be; happy, emotional, exhilarating, I'm sure it will even be infinitely better than that when it comes Very jealous

Edit: Some beautiful photos on your website, will be keeping up with this thread and your blog photos when it kicks off.

Cheers.

Come visit me in Whistler next summer?

EDIT: Note to self, look at thread date.....

Why look at thread date? Oh, and there is a chance I may be in Whistler. As per the other thread, we have applied for our Canadian IEC visas, so depending on how much money we have left at the end of the walk, we might return to Canada for a year.

I've seen that video, it inspired me to research further and buy a book on the trail.
I found you on BPL but do send me that spreadsheet if you can Trust enabled.

I have a 6 month sabbatical at work I can take anytime. I'd love to do the PCT in that time and can afford it, but would be solo. I just think I'd get bored on my own for 6 months not seeing a soul.

Spreadsheet sent.

If you can get a 6 month sabbatical and can afford it, then go! As Tolmekian says, you will meet people out there. A surprising amount of people do it solo (Most people can't find someone as insane as themselves to also want to do it). Right at the start of the season (Last weekend in April) there is the Annual Day Zero Pacific Crest Kick Off Party (ADZPCTKO) which is held 20 miles into the trail. It's a huge party of people setting off, with demonstrations, stalls, films etc. You would be bound to meet people to hike with there, if not along the trail.

 

[Messiah Khan]

Might benefit you to get a solar charger i have one it's about the size of 4xAA batteries takes around 40 hours direct sunlight to charge up fully but comes with an abundance of leads for charging items up with. Could come in handy in an emergency and could be strapped to your backpack to capture as much light as possible.

Unfortunately I need to really keep the weight of my pack down as much as possible. A solar charger is tempting since we will get loads of sun, but I'm not sure the efficiency/weight ratio is good enough. If anyone knows of an ultra light weight one with a decent charge output I would be all ears though.

Our MP3 players and phone should be easy enough to charge as they are USB charged, but the camera batteries a mains supply. It is also the camera batteries I would want the most.

Solar charger is a great idea.

Wish I could join you both on this epic journey!

Take as many photos as possible.

Don't worry, plenty of photos will be taken. I now have enough SD cards for each of us to take 96 RAW shots per day, everyday for 180 days!

 

[Messiah Khan]

MK I know it would add a slight amount of weight but wouldn't taking a pedometer be tempting? Obviously I expect you'd go round the clock with it but Would be interesting to see a total.

Also have either of you gone on first aid courses in preparation?

Don't think I'll be taking a pedometer. Wouldn't mind a gps to track where I'm going (Not for navigation) but batteries would be an issue.

We are actually going on a outdoor first aid course this weekend. We are doing the Outdoor First Aid & Emergency Incident Management course which is 16 hours long. Hopefully won't need it, but as it is a certified course it may help me in the future as well.

they weigh naff all maybe 200grams at most if that, i will weigh mine and let you know roughly

Not too bad. 200g is still weight though, and I am literally counting every gram to try and get it down as much as possible. When I'm hauling 23Kg up a mountain, thinks like solar chargers will be the first I will want to chuck away. If I take luxuries like that, they need to be light enough that I can't justify chucking them out. I'm not saying 200g is too much for a charger, but I need to balance up the use I'll get out of it and the pain it will cause.

 

[Messiah Khan]

What if you take a charger, but are offsetting that by carrying 300g less of batteries, or something?

The mp3 players have inbuilt batteries and I'm not taking a spare battery for the phone. The only batteries I need lots of are the camera batteries, and they unfortunately need main charging. I should be fine taking enough batteries to allow me to charge at resupply towns.

Out of interest, how are you carrying enough food and water to go between towns for however long? It's what I struggle with as water weighs loads!

The longest section is about 7-8 days. The heaviest sections however are shorter, but occur near the start in the deserts of south California. They are the heaviest due to the amount of water required. At some points we will require 6-8 litres of water each, which isn't going to be much fun.

Unfortunately there isn't going to be much we can do about food and water weight. We have however tried to reduce the rest of the pack weight down as much as possible, so I am maxing out at about 23Kg and Sarah at about 13Kg with food and water.

Loving the trip
Will you arming yourself? ( bears,wolves & mountain lions or horney redneck)

What stove will you be using? (hobo,trangia,bush buddy? )

No we won't be arming ourselves. Firearms aren't permitted in most of the national parks. Also the risk of Bear/Wolf/Mountain Lion attack is minimal as long as you practice safe camping (minimise food odour etc). I will probably have knife with me so can always make a pointy stick of needs be, lol.

The most dangerous parts will be river crossings and dehydration, not wild animals or rednecks.

As for the stove, we will be using a Trail Designs Caldera Sidewinder, which works great. It is really light weight, pretty windproof, very stable and burns alcohol or wood. For most of of the walk we should be able to use small sticks as fuel, which will save weight, then in the mountains I can switch to alcohol which is easy to get hold of (Can use car de-icer for example).

 

[Messiah Khan]

23k isn't completely mental, but you'll definitely feel it on the uphill

Hopefully you'll be having too much of an awesome time to notice.

Aye, I can carry the weight, but it's not going to be fun, especially uphill. The pain:awesome ratio should hopefully be pretty good though!

This looks absolutely amazing MK, best of luck to both of you! Certainly looking forward to all the shots you take along the way!

Any chance you mind flinging that spreadsheet my way? Been thinking of doing something similar to this and have never really gotten round to looking at the budgeting side of things...

Definitely one of those life experiences you'll never forget, literally green with envy right now.

Aye, here is slimmed down version of the spreadsheet (Ie, doesn't include stuff like flight numbers, which you don't need anyway.) It isn't anything fancy, but it is a way of having all my information in one place.

http://www.afowler.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/PCT-Plan_reduced.xlsx

In terms of budgeting, there are several books, blogs and sites out there from people who have done stuff like this and more, where they talk about reducing costs and how to calculate costs over a long time.

For the PCT, the Yogi guide books are great and cover most things that need considering. But generally, you can get the costs down fairly low as long as you have the equipment or put up with cheap equipment and can also tolerate eating cheap food for months.

It is very easy to want to do things like this but keep putting it off or find reason why it isn't the right time (I'm not saying you are, just saying in general), but the truth is there is never a perfect time for something like this. You just have to bite the bullet and accept that there will be tradeoffs and compromises with other things in life.

It may be harming my long term career, but a saying I heard recently sums it all up for me;

"He who dies with the most toys still dies"

You only have one life, and scrambling to amass more wealth is not a good way of spending it. Have enough money or resources around you to feed and shelter you and your family and make life a little more comfortable, but there are much greater things out there to be spending your time on.

There is a lake in the crator? WOW

Yup, and it is all from rain water. The amount of rain balances out the amount of evaporation so the water level stays the same. I think its also USA's 2nd deepest lake.

 

[Messiah Khan]

OMG maximum respect mate.

THIS is the way to see the world. I do similar things but have done nowhere near something as epic as this!

I just hate the whole slouch-around-by-pool kind of vacations which is why I find myself going alone Cuz all my mates just wanna fly to Spain and get smashed. Youre so lucky your gal is into this as well. Cant beat meeting someone who likes the same things. U know ur all set for life then! Woot! Enjoy and stay safe...watch out for them bears!

Yeah, poolside holidays have never appealed to us! I went to Cofu with mates when I was 22ish, and although I enjoyed it I couldn't spend all my time just lying down. I wanted to go and explore. Since meeting my wife, our holidays are much better and involve walking, exploring and wildlife.

If you really want to do it, there are like-minded people out there. Maybe consider joining a hillwalking or mountaineering club? Even consider travelling on your own. Scary though I admit, but there are a surprising amount of people who see the world on their own. Most of the people who thru-hike the PCT are on their own as they can't find mates who are equally as mad as them.

I spent 6 weeks traveling the Western U.S. a few years back. Be sure to visit Yosemite National Park and do the hike to the summit of Half Dome, one of my best experiences ever.

Yellowstone National Park and the Cascade Mountains in Washington are a must too, absolutley stunning scenery.

We tail passes through Yosemite. My parents are also going on holiday around the Sierras/Yosemite later this year, so we are plannign to take 3-4 days off around Tuolumne Meadows with them. Half dome doesn't appeal to me that much due to the amount of people, but I would love to see Yosemite Valley just for the climbing history in that area.

We don't go anywhere near Yellowstone, but do pass through the Cascades. We have already seen some of the Cascades in 2010, but from the Canadian end. Big and scary, but should be inspiring to walk through.

You sir, and the mrs... are mad! I would love to do something like that! but honestly the sheer scope of the whole thing is immense, and I honestly don't think I could do it. Eat plenty!! and good luck to you both

 

[Messiah Khan]

And I thought I was mad for deciding to cycle to Paris in June.

Maximum respect for attempting this. Most hiking I've ever done is 90 miles in 3 days and it absolutely ruined me!

Nope, your not mad. Sounds a great trip to me. How long will that take?

90 miles in 3 days is pretty good going! 30 miles in a day is decent mileage, but 3 days in a row is hard. Some people on the PCT try to do a 'pyramid', which is 30miles, 40miles, 50miles, 40miles, 30miles. I would love to try it, but it sounds painful! But a 190miles in 5 days would be good going.

Read it again. Absolutely incredible. Would love such an opportunity. Just finishing uni so would need to get some cash together.

Would also have to do it solo as I wouldn't know anyone mad enough to try it.

If you can't afford things like this, there are always other challenges closer to home. There is the TGO challenge, which crosses Scotland. Europe also have a load of long distance trails;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_long-distance_paths

If you need inspiration for adventures, then check out AL Humphreys blog and videos;

http://www.alastairhumphreys.com/

He has cycled around the world, and is currently rowing the atlantic, but he has also done smaller 'micro adventures' such as crossing the Shetland Isles by folding bike and packraft, or living like a Caveman for a few days.

In other news, this weekend was spent doing a 2 day first aid course. We did the Outdoor First Aid & Incident Management by ITC. Great course and very useful. I feel more more confident than after any other first aid course I have done. The group were all great, and the trainer really knew his stuff and did a great job.

 

[Messiah Khan]

Closer to home would be more feasible, but I love the idea of going through that part of America so would probably just want to save up for it.

Would be better to go with someone seeing as it would lower the cost I'd imagine, as well as shared weight. Will have to get someones interest in this piqued.

America does have the most popular long distance trail. There are 3 main ones that cross the length of the country;

The Appalachian Trail
The Pacific Crest Trail
The Continental Divide Trail

The Appalachian Trail is by far the most popular and runs along the east of the US. For me it doesn't really appeal due to becoming overly popular. You are generally closer to civilization so resupply is easier than the others.

The Pacific Crest Trail is the one I am doing and seems like a good balance of amazing wild scenery and access to resupply towns. It is also the westerly most one.

The Continental Divide Trail also looks amazing, but it a fair bit more hardcore. It runs along the Pacific/Atlantic water drainage line and crosses some stunning terrain. It is also only 70% complete, so you have to make up significant parts of the trail and far fewer people do it so expect to be alone for long stretches.

How many people are on the trail at any one time roughly?

How many towns will you pass through?

How many sets of boots do you expect to go through?

Good luck!

About 500 people set off to thru hike it most years, and about 50-60% of them get all the way to Canada. Still less people have thru hiked the PCT than have stood on Everest. You will also get section and day hikers along the way who are doing small bits of the trail. You will be able to spot the thru hikers though as they are the ones with big beards and stink!

The amount of towns very as I depends on how far off the trail you want to go to get supplies. But generally, each section is 5-8 days between resupply.

We are each taking 5 pairs of shoes. We are using trail running shoes (I will mostly be using La Sportiva Wildcats, and Sarah is using Salomon Tianas) as they are lighter and dry faster.

What an incredible waste of time, but I spose if your into that sort of thing it's a total wet dream.

Enjoy it though!

I'm not sure if you are trolling or not? But assuming you are being serious, I interested to hear why you think it is a waste of time. What would you rather be doing with your time on the planet? You only get one chance at life, and I would rather not spend it sitting infront of a computer monitor, either at work or playing games. There is a world out there and I am determined to see as much of it as I can, one step at a time.

 

[Messiah Khan]

Any similar british trails I can do, with equal amounts of solitary walking? Fancy abit of a challange, but dont have the funds to go abroad todo one, unless theres a pretty cheap trails i can do?

Unfortunately Britain doesn't really have the vast wildernesses that the US does.

There is the west highland way in Scotland.

http://www.west-highland-way.co.uk/

Its 96 miles.

Aye, there's the west highland way, but I hear it isn't actually that good. The Cape Wrath Trail is supposed to be one of the better UK ones.

If you are looking for nearer to home smoove, then I would probably consider some of the European ones;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_long-distance_paths

The E2 for example would be pretty good, and if you were being extra tight you could save money by swimming the channel, lol.

Actually our backup plan if we didn't get the US B2 visa was to consider something like the E1 which takes you from the Northern tip of Norway all the way down to Italy.