(Part 3) Top products from r/PacificCrestTrail

A different perspective: if you like wearing shorts but you also need protection for your legs, there are good options for individual problems:

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SUN:

If you are just worried about sun protection, get some cheep cotton pajamas, bar non the best, most comfortable sun protection. Just dont expect these to provide warmth or dry fast. Also slow drying cotton is great for getting wet at a water source to keep you cool for you next miles.

Sun Protection in the Desert: https://www.amazon.com/CYZ-Womens-Cotton-Pajama-Pants-VoileSilverStripe-L/dp/B076F8TMRD/ref=sr_1_15?dchild=1&keywords=pajama+bottoms+cotton&psc=1&qid=1571767226&sr=8-15 $12.00

WIND:

https://www.amazon.com/Body-Wrappers-Ripstop-Pants-Black/dp/B0002UR7SQ/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=dance+pants+nylon&psc=1&qid=1571767509&sr=8-1 $18.00

Enlightened Equipment and Montbell make good ones too.

COLD:

Leggings/tights/long underwear. Pretty self explanatory, many many brands available.

https://www.amazon.com/Cuddl-Duds-ClimateRight-Underwear-Leggings/dp/B077T671HN $25.00

If your worried about scratchies / are doing a decent amount of bushwacking then your going to want some hiking pants like the author listed.

Breakfast: instant coffee and poptarts, once I read the calorie count (200 kcal per pastry, so 400 kcal per pack) I knew that they were the breakfast for me and that we shouldn't be feeding these to kids.

Lunch - meat sticks and cheese, various variations sometimes a roll of summer sausage, blocks of cheese, I quit trying to eat tortillas due to my moustache not cooperating.

Dinner - Instant refried beans and minute rice, I seriously ate this almost every night. The beans come in a foil pouch so I would pour half into a ziplock for another night, boil the water with the rice in it, pour/spoon it into the pouch. Same the pouch for the next night, and these pouches are good for packing out used TP. For variety add taco bell sauce packets, bits of cheese, individual spam packets. Minute rice can be found anywhere. These are my favorite beans, but the price looks like it is going up, they can also be found at Safeway. A couple of stores had another brand of instant refried beans that worked OK too.

Snacks - I would pack pouches of dill pickle sunflower seeds, both for the salt and to break up monotony. I ate alot of granola bars, usually when taking a break and felt like I was running out of steam. I found the cheaper granola bars were my favorite, but when I found cliff bars for $1/bar I would usually buy them even though I was getting tired of them (did you know some of them have caffeine in them!).

Edit: Yellowfin tuna in oil pouches rule! Either I would make extra rice at night to eat for lunch the next day with the tuna or mix it in with the beans and rice. Good fat/calories and the oil doesn't freeze when you are in the mountains like the tuna in water does.

I love them, and still have 1 that's going pretty well but has a tiny hole now :( Fixed with duct tape... hopefully it holds. I have never been able to find a suitable replacement in Australia. We have garbage bags, sure, but nothing in the same style as the 'Compactor Bags'

Well not at a reasonable price at least. And if the ~$63 packet doesn't scare you, don't forget the ~$58 delivery! Cheapest I found were $6... with $35 delivery...

Additional blister prevention ideas: an anti-blister balm like foot glide, or a sports tape like leuko tape. I have had success with both methods.

There are things you know you know... 1+1=2

There are things you know you don't know... square root of 1 is?

Then there are things you don't know you don't know... I wasn't even aware there was a hiking trail going from ME to CA.

Yeah, it can be hard finding out that 3rd one. As a college student have they taught you how to google?

I'm not joking: https://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+hike+the+pacific+crest+trail

> Any tidbit of advice

Yes, read the PCTA's FAQ which answers all your questions... https://www.pcta.org/discover-the-trail/thru-hiking-long-distance-hiking/thruhiker-faq/

Read Ray Jardine's book: https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Backpacking-Jardines-Lightweight-Hiking/dp/0963235931

Read the 1000's of other books on how to backpack.

Watch the tons of hiking "movies". https://www.backpacker.com/stories/the-best-books-movies-about-thru-hiking (that is a tiny portion of all the content out there)

Read the dozens of posts on this very forum posting gear lists (aka "shakedown") for their upcoming thru hikes: https://www.reddit.com/r/PacificCrestTrail/search?q=shakedown&restrict_sr=1&t=year

Read this forum's sidebar of links. One of the most helpful ones are these annual surveys of thru hikers: https://www.halfwayanywhere.com/pacific-crest-trail/

[I Hike] (http://www.amazon.com/I-Hike-Lawton-Grinter/dp/0985241500) is not exclusively about the PCT but does have stories from it. It's a great read with stories from over 10,000 of long distance hiking.

Really up to the kid and the parents. There have been kids much younger than that who have successfully done the trail and others like it.

https://www.amazon.com/Zero-Days-Adventure-10-year-old-Scrambler/dp/0899974384

https://www.amazon.com/Childs-Walk-Wilderness-8-Year-Old-Appalachian/dp/0811711781/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=EM3HADRSFZ4SR9ZVYNXE&dpID=51Wb2q3GvkL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=detail

Watches have good battery life, like years. $13

https://www.amazon.com/Casio-Mens-A158WA-1-Digital-Watch/dp/B000GAYQJ0

I started with a knife but after 500-some miles of not using it once I got rid of it. I used Wescott titanium scissors for rest of the trail. After the trail I tested pretty much all the knives mentioned here and if I'd bring a knife on trail, I'd bring Spyderco Ladybug 3.

Thanks for the reply, that Jepson database seems like a very comprehensive source. The PCT website recommends these guidebooks but I'll have to look more into them

https://www.amazon.com/SURVIVAL-PLANTS-ALONG-PACIFIC-Handbook/dp/1387308602/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=food+and+survival+plants+pacific+crest&qid=1569474125&s=books&sr=1-1

https://www.amazon.com/Plants-Pacific-Northwest-Coast-Pojar/dp/1772130087

This is a really good start for Oregon/Washington

https://oregonstate.edu/trees/

This expands on the trees of the northwest.

Many of the plants and trees in each source are found sierras north. I dont know of any sources for so-cal.

Theres a nice poster-length, high quality map of the trail from i think natgeo. Amazon might have it for sale.

Edit: https://www.amazon.com/National-Geographic-Pacific-inches-Reference/dp/1597755826. They also have at and cdt maps linked from the same page.

These are my 2 favorites:

• Swiss Army SD - https://www.amazon.com/Victorinox-Swiss-Classic-Pocket-Knife/dp/B00004YVB2
  
• Leatherman Style CS - https://www.amazon.com/Leatherman-Style-Multitool-Stainless-Steel/dp/B0032XVNMQ

Go classic Casio calculator watch. Makes it easier to add up the miles: https://www.amazon.com/Casio-Mens-CA53W-1-Calculator-Watch/dp/B000GB1R7S

Tbh I think there is a reasonable middle ground. My APS-C setup is around 1kg. Perhaps you should compromise on the tripod with something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Pedco-UltraPod-Lightweight-Camera-Tripod/dp/B000ANCPNM

Here is the mobile version of your link

Ultralight Winter Travel: The Ultimate Guide to Lightweight Winter Camping, Hiking, and Backpacking

https://www.amazon.com/Ultralight-Winter-Travel-Lightweight-Backpacking/dp/1493026100

Written by the guys that thru hiked the PCT in the winter and thru skied the TRT

These are the pocket guides I'm referring to, so far I'm gathering almost nobody has heard of or used them. Topo maps and resupply info in three volumes each about the size of an AWOL book so more convenient to handle and swap out in the mail than a stack of loose pages.