Pacific Crest Trail Preparation List

A blog post to capture gear recommendations from Adam Bradley, current speed record holder for the Pacific Crest Trail:

Food + Water + Cooking

• MaryJanesFarm's Dehydrated Refried Pinto Beans: http://www.wildnevada.org/the-swip-trip-and-the-importance-of-beans/print.html (with cheese, tortilla chips)
• Chevdo Indian snack (Indian stores)
• Panda Licorice Chews
• Dried mango, pineapple, and dates
• shelled pistachios
• Primal Strips vegetarian jerky
• Yogurt
• Hammer Nutrition Products (HNP):
  
• HNP Perpetuem, Caffe Latte flavor as well as the Orange Vanilla; sweetened wih Stevia (link)
  
• HNP Mild Melon Heed as well as the Strawberry; sweetened with Xylitol (link)
  
• HNP Montana Huckleberry and Tropical Gel; (link)
• HNP Endurolytes; repackage them in vegetable capsules (link)
• HNP Almond Raisin Hammer Bar; “heavy hitter”. A heavy hitter was anything that stuck with you for a while versus any food source that was just a flash in the pan (link)
• HNP Phytomax; (link)
• HNP Digest Caps; (link)
• Recoverite
• dark chocolate
• Advil
• Cereal
• Salsa
• Sea salt
• widemouth liter bottle (link)
  
• "I pretty much dumped something in my gut every hour on the hour."
• "The quality of the food we put in allows us to do what we need to do on a daily basis."
  

Shelter

• Mountain Laurel Designs (MLD) Duomid; note: for winter adventures
  
• Western Mountaineering HighLite down sleeping bag
• MLD Superlight Bivy; (link)
  
• MLD Poncho Tarp (link)
  

Clothing

• Saucony Exodus shoes (maildrop in eight new pairs)
• Patagonia Ultra Lightweight Endurance Ped Socks (maildrop in new pairs)
  
• Patagonia Long Haul Runners
• Patagonia Airius T Shirt (no longer available)
• Patagonia Wool 2 Zip Neck
• Patagonia Houdini Pants (no longer available)
• Patagonia Houdini Jacket
• Patagonia Lightweight Alpine Beanie
• Patagonia Lightweight Glove Liners
• Go Lite Chrome Dome umbrella (link)
  

Pack

• Mountain Laurel Designs (MLD) Prophet

Gear

• Leki trekking poles (aluminum for summer [sturdier]; carbon for winter [less likely to stress fracture if dinged])
  
• Steripen
• Petzl e+Lite headlamp (link)
  
• Video camera
• Energizer lithium batteries ; (link)
• Dr. Bronners; "killer on blistered, hot feet" (link)
• Ear plugs (for sleeping on windy nights) (link)
• Spritzer bottle; doubles as rattlesnake deterrant (link)
• Eye drops (helps if get something in the eyes) (link)
  
• DEET
• Cell phone to coordinate/communicate
• four matches
  

Links

• "...the first 700 miles of the PCT in my opinion are grim...." (note: Mojave/Socal) (link)
• "The first 700 miles are very grim, because we were hiking through sand and crossing under highways while skirting the Mojave Desert. Most hikers don’t make it to the Sierras." (link)
  
• "...bugs were horrible in North Yosemite...[and] Crater Lake..." (note: I can attest to this, at least in Tuolumne Meadows x_x) (link)
• "Bear barrels are not a consideration for hikers carrying as light a load as we do...I wouldn’t recommend anything we do to other hikers." (link)
• "I slept with my food under my legs nightly. I used it to elevate my feet to drain the blood out of them., which was very important to my recovery." (link)
• "The most important thing I would say to people thinking about long distance hiking is build up to it slowly." (link)
• "The craziest thing about our reentry was getting in a car and driving it." (link)
• "...the hike is more than 90% mental...." (link)
• "The pair carried no stove, ate re-hydrated beans nearly every night for dinner...." (link)
• "...your average PCT thru-hiker takes about 150 days to complete the journey...." (link)
• "the PCTA hasn't come up with a permanent solution for the Glacier Peak detour problem. A detour is not a solution in my book. We are approaching a decade of closure here, which is ridiculous." (link)
• "Buy the ticket, take the ride." (link)
• Trail Journals: http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=275700
• Blogger: http://krudmeister.blogspot.com/