The new year's blues - back to work, dieting, and rain. Here in the lower mainland of BC (Vancouver), winter is marked with grey clouds, rain, some more rain and upwards of 15ft of snow on the mountains. While snow on the mountains means endless skiing and snowshoeing adventures, for a guy that loves the heat, stopping by a lake and taking in the sights (while perfectly warm) and prefers mosquitos and horseflies over cold hands and frostbite, winter puts a bit of a damper on my mood. What a perfect time to begin planning my 2016 PNT section hike.
Okay, so here are the basic bones of the plan (at this point in time):
- Hike for ~500 miles - about 30 days
- Minimize travel spending in the USA - the Loonie (Canadian dollar) is not doing so swell at the moment ($1CDN = $0.6USD)
- Hike a section of the PNT that is characterized as mostly trail - as a National Scenic Trail in it's infancy (officially) the official route of the PNT currently puts to use a good amount of forestry and municipal roads
- Select a location that both I (live in Vancouver BC) and Greg (Portland OR) can easily access (both ends)
- Select a section with some amazing views and representative of the overall trail
- Hike in July
So, the plan as of now is to hike eastbound (most hike westbound) from the intersection of the PNT and the PCT to Bonners Ferry Idaho. This section is about 500 miles (~30days), is representative of the overall trail and is easily accessible by both Greg and I. We have penciled in July as the most appropriate time to hit the trail and have figured out access to both ends (the western end - a friend from Seattle will drop me off; Greg's wife will drop him off | the eastern end - Greg's wife will pick us both up and drop me off somewhere from which I will catch public transit back to Vancouver).
With the plan in it's early stages I have ordered a trail guide book, a data book (key mileage points), a town guide, a gps file and have downloaded maps from the PNTA website. Next steps - figure out rough mileage, resupply points, permits, and revisit my gear setup (I have ambitions to buy a leather cowboy hat for hiking - more to come). Overall, I'm getting very excited.
