It's official.....we're nuts and we love it!

Last weekend, we went to the Pacific Crest Trail Association's annual convention. Each year it is held in either California, Oregon, or Washington. This year it was in Portland. We agreed months in advance that we would attend this year's event with a couple of our friends, one of which gave a presentation on cooking for backpacking trips. The following day was spent hiking to several waterfalls along the Columbia River.

The PCT event opened our eyes to the community of people that are involved with preserving the trail and providing support to the brave (crazy) souls that try it. Every year, people come from across the world to hike from Mexico to Canada along this trail and the support from the outdoor community is humbling. Folks open up their homes to hikers along the way, maintain water caches in the desert portions of the trail, and even wash dirty laundry for hikers.

We were so impressed with the giving spirit of the folks involved with the Pacific Crest Trail that we were hooked and fired up about doing it. Upon our return, we unpacked and prepared ourselves mentally for another week of work. Our dinner conversation soon turned from the fun times at the convention to the most optimal time for us to hike the PCT. After running the pros and cons......Tori finally said, "Let's just do it now". I thought she was kidding. I'm the impulsive one in this marriage. I should've been the one to say that, but my response was, "Are you serious"? I had no clue that she could be serious about dropping everything in 30 days to hike the PCT. She didn't look like she was kidding so I went along with it. I love her and I'll follow her anywhere - even on a 2658 mile death march from Mexico to Canada.

So, we checked the finances......and checked again.....then checked some more.....then after one last check we decided that we would do it. Employers notified? Check. Family and friends notified? Check. Scared to death about it yet? Check! The pucker factor started to increase and the Oh Shit meter was in the red zone. For the first few days we couldn't think straight during and we certainly couldn't sleep with our minds racing and dreaming about the PCT.

Realizing that some of our equipment is inadequate for a 2,658 mile walk across the country, we decided to replace a few things. Our current 2 person tent weighs roughly 5lbs 10oz. We replaced it with a Double Rainbow built by Henry Shires (http://www.tarptent.com/). This baby weighs 2.5 pounds. There isn't much to it - just a bathtub floor sewn to a 5 inch wall of no-see'em-mesh and a silicone impregnated nylon sheet sewn on top as the main body of the tent. Check out the image below.

Also, got a few articles of clothing for desert travel as well as a couple of cans of cat food to build an alcohol stove (see image below). So, we're gearing up and planning our resupply points over the next few weeks. We're having an absolute blast with the preparation. Especially, since we're preparing for it on such short notice. Our excitement and anticipation has built up an amazing amount of positive energy in the house. It's so cool. We feel like little kids getting ready for our first summer vacation.



That's the end of the first entry. I'll try to keep this updated every week or so during our preparation. During our trip, one lucky family member or friend will submit updates as they are received via snail mail from us. In the meantime, please, pray for us as we are indeed......Two Crazy Hikin' Fools.

Love,

Tom & Tori