It’s taken a lot of organizing to be ready for this trip – looking ahead for all the conditions of the –
- California Chaparral
- High Desert
- Mojave Desert
- Sierra Nevada mountain range
- volcanic areas of Northern California and Oregon
- Cascade mountain range
- river and stream crossings
- high alpine snow fields
- dense humid forests
Each sub-system has its own challenging characteristics, and we have to anticipate all of them no matter the weather, altitude, temperature, time of year, or surroundings.
Overall it’s been a fun challenge to think it through from April to September, across the states of California, Oregon, and Washington.
Below you can see the gear we’re going to be stuffing into our packs.
Elaine’s Pack
- Utah Lightweight Adventures “Circuit” backpack, 60 L capacity
- 4.5 liters of water
- 31 oz of white gas fuel for the stove – 2 Mountain Safety Research fuel bottles
- Sawyer Squeeze Water Filter System
- First aid kit
- FitOvers Sunglasses
- Victorinox multi-tool
- Black Diamond 3-way headlamp
- iPhone 6
- Anker 6700mAh rechargeable phone battery (2.5 charges)
- Big Agnes tent poles and stakes
- REI Magma 17 sleeping bag
- Cascade Designs GuideLite 3/4 length sleeping pad
- Personal toiletries
- Bug spray, sunscreen, lip balm, medications
- Nylon bug net
- Emergency whistle
Mike’s Pack
- Utah Lightweight Adventures “Circuit” backpack, 64 L capacity
- 4.5 liters of water
- Metallic cup-size coffee filter (for straining water with particulate matter)
- Cook stove – Mountain Safety Research “Whisperlite International” multi-fuel, heat reflector, windscreen, and repair kit
- Mountain Safety Research “Trail Lite” cook pot
- Anti-Gravity Gear cook pot cozy
- GSI high-impact, lightweight cups with handles, bowls, spoons, knife
- FitOvers sunglasses
- Leatherman Juice 2 knife
- Black Diamond 3-way headlamp
- iPhone 6
- Anker 6700 mAh rechargeable phone battery
- Big Agnes Copper Spur UL HV 2 tent with footprint
- Feathered Friends “Swallow 15” sleeping bag
- Cascade Designs “Ultralite 3/4” sleeping pad
- Suunto “MC-2 Pro” compass
- Gerber “Clutch” multi-tool
- Personal toiletries
- Sunscreen, lip balm, medications
- Nylon bug net
- Emergency whistle
By now, you’d think we’d be ready. We are. Just a few more days and we’ll walk down to the bus – then off we go!
Dogleggers on the Trail 
What do you do about clothing?
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You will see in our next post. 🙂
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Have a great time Mike, See you when you get back.
Bobby “”B”
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How do you get to the trailhead from the airport? Is there a common shuttle that people use or do you just hop a bus? What do you do if you need to bail from the trail?
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To get from the airport to the trailhead, there are people in San Diego that support thru-hikers. They pick you up, take you to their house, feed you dinner and breakfast and then get you out to the trailhead the next morning. There are lots of “outs” on the trail. Either roads that cross CA or side trails to towns where we could get transportation.
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