50 miles and 4 nights on the PCT, hammock included!

**Dirt4dinner** · 04-07-2008, 20:40

I just created a MASSIVE blog detailing our trip, so if you want to check it out feel free. The hammock was hung 2 out of 3 nights, one night there were no trees...so I had to suffer on the ground all night. What a blast! This was my longest trip by more than double! Anyways, feel free to scan the photos...read if you're really bored, it's LONG!

http://hikingadventure.blogspot.com/

**slowhike** · 04-07-2008, 21:40

nice report! nice trip!!!

**angrysparrow** · 04-07-2008, 21:45

Just finished reading the blog... Sounds like a wonderful and rewarding trip! Congratulations.

**Dirt4dinner** · 04-07-2008, 21:47

Thanks gang! My pinkie toe is ruined from a blister...but other than I am good to go.

I am thinking about doing the Tahoe Rim Trail thru-hike next year, 165 miles in 12 days. That should be an interesting one. If you want to join, then let's start talking!

**mataharihiker** · 04-08-2008, 10:33

What a well written and photographed trip report! I really enjoyed both reading it and looking at the pictures that added to my reading enjoyment...that red bridge was awesome...I wonder why it was built with such a steep arch? I don't know about floods in that part of the world but I do remember seeing many bridges in Afghanistan, in the desert, that were no longer accessible from either side...flash, desert floods removed them not long after they were built by the Germans (a few decades ago)...the Afghanis tried to tell them their bridges would wash out but the German engineers could not believe a non-existent stream could, under the right conditions, form a mile wide, churning mass of water that had the force to take down any bridge so, we had ghost bridges...I wonder if that spillway on the Mojave River Dam was overbuilt for the same reason...just a thought....

It looked very hot and dry...and the sun itself looks like it could have been an issue...did you wear lots of sunblock or have sunblock clothing?

and, congratualtions on trying to do the trip using a hammock...they are so comfortable when there ARE trees that I would also have chosen to endure the extra weight...

It looks like you carried a lot of fresh food with you...like chicken breasts and bacon...how did you keep it from spoiling with all that time in the sun? It certainly looks like you ate like kings...

Again, thank you...I love TR's!

**Dirt4dinner** · 04-08-2008, 10:54

I'm just excited somebody read that novel! It wasn't to hot. The highs were about 70 the last day, and the lows were always about 42. So it was chilly in the morning, and fairly warm in the afternoons. I had a sun hat on, but didn't do much with sunblock. I am from Phoenix, AZ, so I keep a pretty good tan on my arms and legs, I only get sun burnt if I don't wear the sun hat and take my shirt off.

The chicken breast meat comes in a bag, like tuna. Total safe, and non-refrigerated! It's God's gift to hiking! I brought in the potatoes, red pepper, and onion and ate those the first morning. The bacon is fully cooked at the packaging facility, so it doesn't need refrigeration either, you just have to get it warmed up. This was my first time bringing the bacon, but I will do it again. It doesn't way much at all, and it tastes SOOO good!

It seemed to us they built those bridges and that spillway to be prepared for the once a century storms...or something like that. They did seem very high and very big! But, they must have done it for a reason. There was some amazingly high water marks near the spillway showing that at times the PCT would be under water in sections.

Thanks again for reading.

**nickelanddime** · 04-08-2008, 10:59

Sounds and looks like a great time, and thanks for the explanation about the bacon... that's definitely getting packed on the next trip. I've hade the chiken breast and salmon bags before, great stuff.

**mataharihiker** · 04-08-2008, 11:17

I also am a strong proponent of that ready cooked bacon...I hadn't seen chicken breast in a pouch around here...those products are a godsend to hikers...eating is half the fun of a hiking trip, IMHO...

I forgot you were a native Arizonian...and the temps were almost ideal for that hike, weren't they...

I don't remember reading if you used a sleeping pad in the hammock or not...I think you had one with you, didn't you?

Sorry about all the questions...I really live through other folks TR's...kinda pathetic, really

**Dirt4dinner** · 04-08-2008, 11:21

LOL, the questions are welcome! The chicken is in the same aisle as the tuna....but not with the tuna (at least in my grocery store).

I do have a pad. I built a 30" wide pocket pad out of two pieces of quarter inch closed cell foam, and then I insert a Z-Lite folding pad so I have a very thick, very wide pad. I also have the Super Shelter for when it gets cold. I used the Super Shelter the first night and stayed toasty warm even as the over night low dipped into the 30s.