Here are some of the most frequent questions we’ve been asked about our upcoming journey. If there is anything else you’d like to know, please let us know in the comments!

Where the heck is the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT)?

The PCT is located on the West coast of the US, stretching from the Mexican border to the Canadian border, running through California, Oregon and Washington.

How long is the PCT?

2,650 miles

Wow! How long will it take you to hike the whole thing?

We are estimating roughly 5 months

How many miles will you hike per day?

At the beginning, we will try to pace ourselves to 10 -15 miles per day, as we get our “trail legs” under us. As we move up trail and get conditioned, that number will increase to 20+ miles a day depending on the section.

You must have to carry a lot of gear for a trip like this!

Yes and no. We’ll try to only carry what we need in the immediate future and purchase or ship other gear up trail. For example, we won’t need micro spikes and ice axes on day one, so those will be shipped out (by our awesome family!) a bit further up the trail when we start to get into higher elevation and run the risk of late season snow/ice.

But what about food?

The goal is to carry 4-10 days of food at a time, hiking/hitchhiking, into small towns along the way to resupply.

And water?

The southern section of the trail (700 miles) is desert and water can be scarce. Water sources can be up to 30 miles apart, which means adding a lot of extra water (and weight) to our packs. We will be starting the trip with the capacity to carry about 6 liters each. Depending on terrain, weather and other factors, we are going to estimate roughly a liter of water for every 5 miles hiked.

So how much will your packs weigh?

Our “base weight” (not including consumables like food and water) should be around 12-15lbs at the start. With food and water, our total weight will bounce somewhere between 20-35lbs depending on the section of trail, how scarce water is and how far we are between resupply points.

Are you going to being a gun on the trail?

Short answer: no. For a longer answer, check out this blog post that Sean wrote, following his thru hike of the Appalachian Trail in 2017

If there is anything else you’d like to know, please drop a line in the comment box below.

We look forward to hearing from you!