I'm starting to get that "I'm overthinking this" feeling; I've been planning and planning and while I'm prepared, I also want to be flexible, and there are just some things I don't know that I'll deal with as they come up. I don't know what my MPG number is (that's miles per liter--can I get five miles per liter in cool weather). I don't know how many miles a day I can or should go the first week. I don't quite know how I'll stomach some of the food I have planned to eat.
But I do know that there are some items I need to get to in the next two weeks, and here they are.
- Print out my PCT permit, my California campfire permit, and my permit to enter Canada, and put them in something waterproof. Print out extras of all three for resupply boxes later.
- Finish planning the resupply boxes for Warner Springs (a few days food to get me to Idyllwild)and Kennedy Meadows (ice ax, bear canister, warm clothing?). These will be the only boxes I plan to ship from home.
- Buy food for the resupply point at Independence/Bishop and stuff it in the bear canister and see how it works out. This will definitely be my longest stretch on the trail without food resupply--roughly 10 days from the Onion Valley trailhead to Mammoth Lakes--and with cold weather gear and bear canister this will be the heaviest weight I'll carry on the entire trail.
- Finish planning on-trail resupply plans, particularly for central Oregon between Crater Lake and the Timberline Lodge. Consider the options for resupply north of Tehachapi on highway 178, either in Lake Isabella or Ridgecrest, and somewhere around Sonora Pass between Yosemite and Tahoe.
- Figure out what my 'wallet' looks like: drivers license, ATM card, credit cards, cash-on-hand, etc.
- Download the most recent maps and copy them onto the Garmin Oregon GPS. Take the smaller GPX tracks (by section) and put them in Garmin Cloud.
- Work through my camera SD card plan. How many pictures will I take? How many SD cards should I carry? Where should I send the SD cards home?
- Make a menu to get me through the first two weeks--say, until a resupply in Palm Springs. Take a bit more food than expected, because some food will just not work.
- Make a "optional supplies" box for home, and bag/tag each item--for instance, put an extra pair of warm thick wool socks in a ziplock bag. Take a picture of these supplies and keep that picture on the cell phone.
- Figure out how to add pictures to this blog to remind myself about things, and to keep this more interesting.
That's it for now.