Food prepMar 17 2017

Desert gear

Mar182017
Map thumbnail of location

The PCT starts at the Mexican border, near a town called Campo. It then heads north towards the Sierra mountains, more than seven hundred miles away.

These 700 miles are through the high deserts of Southern California, such as the Mojave desert. These can be blistering during the day (well over 100°F) and freezing at night (20°F is not uncommon), which makes for a very tough gear load.

But here's my attempt!

My desert gear!My desert gear!

There are two main things about this that make it specific to my desert kit: my tent (center top) and 2+ gallons of water (middle).

Once I hit the mountains (at a place called Kennedy Meadows), I'll have trees again, so I will trade in my tent for my hammock. I will also be able to shed 10+ pounds of water, which will be awesome.

I also might be trading my sleeping bag (middle bottom; rated for 34°F) for my warmer winter bag (rated for 22°F). I'm hoping I can avoid that, though -- my 34° bag is tiny when packed away!

25,000 caloriesMar 19 2017