30 Days Before My Start Date
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Tom "By The Book" Drewenskus
City: Bellevue
State: WA
Country: USA
Begins: Apr 26, 2009
Direction: Northbound
Daily Summary
Date: Fri, Mar 27th, 2009
Start: Bellevue, WA
End: Bellevue, WA
Daily Distance: 0
Journal Stats
Entry Visits: 531
Journal Visits: 7,162
Guestbook Views: 92
Guestbook Entrys: 11
T-minus 30 days and counting. So much yet to do. I have all of my equipment ready, though I would like to complete my Ray-Way sleeping quilt kit rather than use my Kelty Lightyear 25 sleeping bag. I also need to buy all of the food for ~12 resupply boxes, as I did not want to buy the food too early and have it go stale.
As for training, for the last three months I have been walking 25 miles per week on pavement to toughen my feet. During these last 30 days I will be doing longer hikes up Mt. Si and Tiger Mountain with my fully loaded pack (25 lb average). My base weight is currently 13 lbs.
My equipment may be a bit different than most of the other thru hikers. I will be using a Ray-Way tarp, Ray-Way sleeping quilt (hopefully), and Gregory Z Pack. I cook on a cat stove, just like the one Yogi recommends in her PCT Handbook. And, I use Polar Pure for water purification. My one luxury item will be a Sansa Clip 4GB MP3 player (with FM radio) and a Solio Classic solar charger.
My wife and younger son will be joining me at the kickoff this year, as they want to see what the other thru hikers look like. I will be starting my hike right after the kickoff on April 26th. My goal is to complete the thru hike by August 26th, and this will require me to average 23 miles per day. I currently have 10 zero days planned in my itinerary.
