Trail Magic

Trail magic is, as described by veteran hikers, the idea that when you're in desperate need of something, whether water, a ride, food, equipment, shade etc, the trail provides. By some divine intervention, or maybe just the amazing folks ("trail angels") that help take care of the trail and its inhabitants, the things you require turn up at the most unlikely of places and times. They serve at least a couple important purposes. Firstly, trail magic provides you with what you are desperately in need of, and secondly (and probably just as important) it provides an immediate, lasting boost in morale. You learn to appreciate things just a little more, and maybe have a small epiphany, like what we learn from "The Alchemist", that when we want something bad enough, the entire world conspires to make it happen! Something like that.

Well, Julia and I are still more than a couple months away from stepping foot on the trail but we feel as though we've already experienced some trail magic. Firstly, we've been extremely lucky in securing some important sponsorships to help make this a financially viable expedition. Without the help of a few KEY people, all of this would be much more difficult from a financial standpoint. Whether offering significant discounts, sponsoring us with free product or paying for a bunch of our expenses, to say we've been "lucky" would not do these kind gestures justice. Beyond that, we've already been offered (FREE OF CHARGE) by "Scout" and "Frodo" (Trail Names), trail angels extraordinaire to be picked up at the airport, put up at their place for the night, cooked dinner, driven to and from local shops and then driven the 75 minutes to the Southern Terminus of the PCT. ARE YOU FLIPPIN' KIDDIN' ME?!?! These people are completely selfless, they offer this service to as many (and it always ends up being many) aspiring thru hikers as they can handle, and refuse any sort of payment or gifts. What do ya do to repay that generosity? We'll have to come up with something.

The smaller details (and there are more than a few) are coming together, and they're coming together through the generosity of others. Makes you want to pay it forward. ;)

Tech Review - The PLAN

So it's only the beginning of February. We've got a plan, but we'll see what happens when we're actually on trail. We enjoy what technology has to offer in terms of entertainment and ability to capture memories. The following photos is what we're planning to bring with us, at least at the moment. We understand that it's "heavy" at a little over 2lbs total, but we're willing to deal with that in order to have the benefits of each device.

Top Row Left to Right:
Canon Powershot ELPH 300 HS:  Just a point and shoot digital camera for Julia to have on-hand at all times. She's had another one of these for YEARS now and has always loved it, so we're looking forward to having a new one with us for this trip!

iPod Nano(s): The silver one is 2Gb, while the purple is 8GB. These are a bit of a given. They're lightweight and will offer a ton of entertainment in the way of music, podcasts and audiobooks.

iPod Touch: The iPod Touch will serve a huge purpose. It's 32GB memory will be able to hold a LOT of entertainment. I'm thinking of buying all seasons of Big Bang Theory and maybe we can watch an episode per evening or something. Beyond that, and probably most importantly, I've downloaded all of Halfmile's PCT maps into iBooks. It's 476 pages of paper that we won't need to print ($$$) and carry. We WILL though have some paper maps with us as well, at least to start, we'll see after that. I've also downloaded a bunch of articles and studies and general interest reading stuff into iBooks as well. We'll see what the battery can handle.

Pelican iTouch 1015 Case: Had to buy this case to protect the iTouch. It's waterproof, dust proof and shock proof. It's got a jack so you can plug in and listen even when it's in the case. Its one drawback is that it's HEAVY, so we'll see if we stick with it or not. I think we SHOULD, but we'll see.


Middle Row Left to Right: 
Kodak Playsport: I bought this last April (2011) and we used it a bunch over the summer and really liked it. It's waterproof and rugged, so it will hold up well against what I'm about to put it through. It shoots 720p and 1080p and I've been happy with it so far!!

SticPick: Just a simple little device that allows you to affix you camera (both of ours will work) to the end of your trekking pole so you can get a great shot of yourself with whatever amazing scenery is behind you at the given time.

Energizer Lithium Batters: Very long life on these batters. The AAs will be used with the iGo to recharge our electronics when we're on the trail and the AAAs are back-up for the SPOT GPS and our headlamps.

iGo Charger: Great little device that takes AA batteries and with a variety of different attachments, you can recharge any device on the go.

SPOT GPS: This is a great way for family and friends to track us and stay in touch. We'll have a page set-up with a map that people can see (within 10 minutes) exactly where we are, it's incredibly accurate. There are a couple other features that allow you to send a customized message to a list of contacts, letting them know you're ok, or need help or to be picked up etc. We'll use that just to send to our family so they know we're doing well! The device also has an SOS button that, in an absolute pinch (life and death) you can call for emergency help.

Bottom Row Left to Right:
OR Case: Just a lightweight case in which we can store / organize of this fantastic tech gear!

Huawei Cell Phone: Lightest, simplest and CHEAPEST cell phone Mobilicity has. This guy will be used to call and book hotel rooms, contact family and friends and do whatever else you do on a phone. We're on the T-Mobile network when we're in the U.S., which I hear is terrible on the PCT, so yay (sarcasm) for that.

SD Memory Cards: We have a bunch of these (~6) ranging from 4GB - 32GB and they'll be mailed home once full. We may have to buy one or two extra, but we'll see.

Medical Insurance

One concern when committing to hike the PCT, especially for Canadians, is having emergency medical insurance just in case you suffer an injury that requires immediate medical attention. I've shopped around looking for the best price on ~5 months worth of coverage. The best I found was $720 through the Blue Cross. My boss (Aaron Labarre, owner of 10 Popeye's Supplements Stores) found me a great deal through Co-operators, and even offered to cover the cost!! Aaron's been an awesome help on a number of levels, more so than anyone else.

Coming Together

To say Julia and I are novice hikers is an understatement. We don't have a ton of experience with hiking and camping, especially not when it comes multi-day trips, let alone a multi-MONTH expedition! You can only imagine the amount of planning that has had to go into this thing. We had to learn about hiking and camping, the specific equipment we'd need for THIS trail, countless logistical details, nutritional concerns, plans for what we're doing with our place / stuff in Ottawa and so on and so on and so on. An incredibly daunting task, but over the 10 or 11 months, all of these tasks have been taken care of, or are in the process of being taken care of. We're down to the more finite details of everything, desperately trying to avoid overlooking ANYTHING. Just yesterday we received a letter from the Pacific Crest Trail Association (PCTA) confirming our membership with them. It included a map overview of the trail and a sticker!

We don't move out until the end of March, but we'll be staying out in Stittsville for all of March, so we've already began some packing and organizing our stuff, selling some, giving away some and throwing some out. I figure, the more we can do in the month of February, the easier life will be in March, when we have to move everything to our storage locker in Kanata and the more time we'll have to take care of all the final details of the wedding and getting ready to leave for Campo.

SUPPLEMENTS!

Spending 4.5 months in the wilderness (or most of it anyways) and having to carry all your nutrition means that you concern yourself more with getting in the necessary calories to fuel your 20+ miles per day of hiking, than you do QUALITY nutrition. Getting in enough calories is definitely a priority, but for us, getting in the quality nutrients our bodies will need is equally important. Hiker food, for the most part is exactly fresh. You don't get to carry with you fresh fruits and vegetables as they just weigh way too much for the calories they provide. Everything is measured against a gold standard of 100 calories per ounce. We'll be eating lots of oatmeal, nuts, dried fruits, noodles and rice dishes with spices and some dried vegetable flakes, but we'll be supplementing our diet with some key items that will ensure we're getting in what we need to keep us not only moving, but thriving! The following is a list of "staple" supplements that we'll take pretty well every day.





VegeGreens - One serving of this stuff will provide the nutrient value of 6 - 8 servings of dark green vegetables, the ones known for nutrient density. These will help keep energy levels up, aid in digestion, and just keep our bodies running as efficiently as possible. This is something we use everyday at home as well, since we are very active in endurance sports and have very busy work schedules. Anyone can benefit from VegeGreens, it's certainly not exclusive to athletes.







PhytoBerry - PhytoBerry is an incredible whole body antioxidant. This will be huge to keep our immune systems running at full capacity and help get rid of the free radicals we'll be creating while hike all day long! Another product that we use everyday (or just about everyday). We use it after training sessions, especially longer ones or workouts in extreme conditions, where our immune systems may be compromised. Again, anybody can benefit from PhytoBerry since we all consume or create toxins and free radicals everyday!

Men's And Women's Active Multivitamins - With the stress we'll be putting on our bodies everyday and the lack of variety in our diet, it will be nice to know that we're getting in all the vitamins and minerals we'll need to keep us healthy! We've both been using the multivitamins for year's now and love them!








Protein Powder - Since Julia is Vegan, and I only eat fish, our protein sources at home are somewhat limited. This becomes an even bigger issue while hiking because our muscles will be constantly under stress and so we'll need to give them the amino acids they require to adequately repair! We'll be using products from Progressive and Vega.

Nutrition Bars - Neither of us are fans of chocolate bars, but realize the value of convenience of these prepackaged treats. We prefer nutrition bars that offer quality along with the taste. We'll be using ELEVATE ME! bars as they have all the qualities we look for in a bar. They are essentially comprised of dried fruits and nuts with whey isolate protein. No added sugars or preservatives. These bars won't melt on us in the heat, won't get crushed easily in our packs and they're bars that we already know we can eat DAY AFTER DAY AFTER DAY without getting sick of the taste. Another bar that's of equal quality, and new on the market is the Precision All Natural Bar. I've fallen in love with their Chocolate Cherry Bar and will be eating a ton of these also.