Date: 2021-06-23
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

So what does this hiker do the morning after completing the AT? Start researching and planning for my next long distance hiking adventure of course. My wife and I are going to start a 500+ mile section hike of the PCT starting in early August. We will start at Sierra City in central California and hike south towards our beloved Sierra mountains.  The picture of my wife and I was taken on Forester Pass in 2017. An example of why the Sierra keep calling us back  She just retired from teaching so next year we will be thru hiking the PCT from the Mexican border to Canada. The PCT has been a goal of ours since we completed our first JMT hike in 2014 and discovered that the PCT existed. Some of my 2021 favorites things:Campsites. Antler and Pierce Pond campsites in Maine. Views: looking back towards Mt Washington and the Tupperman Ravine from the north side. The Bigelows and the scrambling zone going up Mt Katahdin had magnificent views. Alpine areas: I enjoy all of the alpine areas regardless of ¢views¢. I just love looking at the terrain and vegetation in the alpine zone. I also love feeling a brisk cold wind in these areas. Baldpate and the Bigelows were my favorites. Scrambling: I enjoy scrambling up the mountain because it¢s fun using your whole body and problem solving skills. My favorite rock scrambling was up the first Wildcat mountain after Pinkham Notch and the scramble up Mt Katahdin. Hostel: Shaws (friendly and great breakfast) and The Cabin (Honey¢s company and homemade Lasagna)Haunted house: The Libby House in Gorham. A ghost stole my favorite Patagonia town shirt. Gear notes: Osprey Exos 58: it was comfortable and rugged enough for me by The front stretching pocket got one large and several small holes due to all of the blowdowns and bushwhacking. The bottom fabric that encloses the frame rods got worn due to all of the butt sliding I did to safely make it down wet slippery granite slabs and huge boulders. Lone Peak 5:  I¢ve worn Lone Peaks since the 2.5 version in 2016. I¢ve always had durability issues with them but I keep using them because I have wide feet and they are usually comfortable. My first pair of Lone Peak 5s didn¢t even last 100 miles before the sole in the heel area started separating from the upper. I had to overnight a new pair to the Hostel of Maine. The new pair have almost 200 miles on them and have held up well. The 5s feel too wide and sloppy on my feet. I know that the toe box should be wide but I prefer that the rest of the shoe hold my feet tighter. This sloppiness was especially evident in areas with many irregularly shaped rocks that I had to walk on. Zpacks Duplex freestanding pole kit: I bought this kit to make the tent easier to pitch on wooden platforms and narrow tent sites that had obstacles to the guy lines. I have pitched the tent on solid rock, wooden platforms and narrow spaces plenty of times without the freestanding kit but it takes extra time and energy at the end of a long hiking day so the freestanding kit was a time and aggregation saver. I still prefer to pitch the tent with trekking poles and guy lines because the tent is slightly quicker to set up and take down the traditional way. Insect protection: I would coat all of my exposed skin with Sawyer Picardin in the morning before I got out of my tent. This one coat would last all day no matter how much I sweated and I didn¢t have to reapply after water crossings. I had my hiking clothes treated by Insect Shield and I sprayed permethrin on miscellaneous items like my hat, pack, and shoes. Rail Riders shirt:  Favorite clothing item. It has a zippered chest pocket that kept my IPhone 12 mini secure. It also dries quickly and has ventilation.Phone provider. T-Mobile worked surprisingly well everywhere except for the last 50 miles of the 100 mile wilderness where I had to resort to my prepaid Verizon phone. Water filters: I brought an almost new Befree filter and an old Sawyer Squeeze that I had to unclog before I left as a backup. The Befree started flowing extremely slow within the first week. It happened after several nights of sub freezing temperature. I slept with the filter but didn¢t always keep the filter next to my body while I hiked. Perhaps it got too cold and was damaged. I had to resort to my backup Sawyer attached to a Smartwater bottle. This was faster than the Befree but annoying. I wish that I¢d brought my Sawyer Squeeze compatible CNOC water bladder with the wide opening. I finally had to buy a new Sawyer Squeeze at Shaws. Zpacks Carbon Trekking Poles. I broke both of the poles in different places within 20 minutes of each other. Luckily I had enough good pole left to make them work the rest of the hike. I initially covered the end of the exposed carbon poles with a rubber pole protector. These lasted almost 100 miles to Shaws Hostel. The carbon pole eventually pushed through the rubber and I had to hike using only the exposed carbon poles. At Shaws I bought a pair of rubber poles tips designed specifically for hiking. Thanks for reading my journal Happy trails