By Jon:
Well, Ajia and I have both quit our jobs at this point, and the prep is feeling very real. Turns out, there are quite a lot of things to figure out when you are about to put your life on hold for 6 months to peace out and go hiking.
At this point, we’re feeling really good about our planning so far. We had a few last-minute panic purchases at REI after wanting to make some gear changes. We also continue to overanalyze any part of our body that hurts, and have spent time convincing each other we haven’t had a season-ending injury before we even get started.
I’ve included a screenshot of our gear list below. Feel free to check out the link if you want more details: https://lighterpack.com/r/g207zo
Base weight is everything on your back in the pack and does not include food, water, or worn clothing. One thing to note is that we plan to add a few pounds of gear for the Sierra Nevada, including warmer clothes and a bear can. Overall, I’m happy to be starting around 15 lbs, and I hope once we actually get out there, I can send a few things home that we don’t end up needing.
We have continued training by loading our packs and going on training hikes around Seattle’s many parks and trails. Now that we aren’t working, we also plan to do one more backpacking trip later this month as a dry run before we leave. It’s hard to train for a hike that long, but we plan to start slow and ease into things to give our bodies time to adjust to a very different kind of living.
We have a few packages to put together and send to ourselves for a resupply stop early on in our hike, but for the most part, we plan to buy food as we go. In the meantime, we have begun packing our house and are trying to spend time with friends and family before we leave.
On that note, we only have three and a half weeks with our dog Griff before we leave, which is extremely difficult to comprehend. Rest assured, he is getting plenty of extra love in these last weeks together before he goes to stay with my parents during our hike.
That’s it for updates at this point. Thanks for following along!
Looking forward to following you adventures!