Bill “White Beard” and I are toting a pretty decent amount of weight around with us now, everywhere we walk.  I’m at 20 pounds and he’s at 35.  When we were training for the PCT before, we thought that the key was DISTANCE, so we constantly pushed for more mileage, while our packweight was pretty light.  Now we know better.  WEIGHT is more important–it’s what toughens up your feet and knees to be ready for the trail.  Distance comes naturally once you are on the trail–though I have to say, we are putting in 40 miles a week, distance-wise, split into one 22-24 mile day, and the rest in 10 mile increments.  And most of that is on hilly terrain, not flat. 

After a long, cold, wet winter, we are finally having a few warm, springlike days.  This past Tuesday, we were hiking at Annadel State Park again (one of our absolute favorite local hiking places, along with Point Reyes Nat’l Seashore!) and it turned into a rather warm afternoon.  For the first time in months, we actually worked up a sweat!  Till now, we would just barely manage to stay warm by hiking fast!  The scenery this time of year is spectacular–green hillsides everywhere, the creeks all running instead of dried up, wildflowers of all sorts, oak trees starting to leaf out,  animals out ‘n about, birds, and also a lot more people on the trails.  We were on a trail called “North Burma Trail”, out in the middle of nowhere in the woods on the backside of one of the mountains, when we heard the sound of bicycles behind us, and stepped off the path to let them go by.  The first rider to go by noticed our packs, trek poles, etc. and yelled, “You guys training for something?”  “Yes!” we shouted back, “Pacific Crest Trail this summer!  Mexico to Canada!”  “Man, I so totally want to do that!” he shouted back.  “Have a great time!” 

At home that night, Bill decided to check and see if the ADZPCTKO site was organized yet for us to sign up.  We’ve been checking it periodically, and nothing was ready.  But oh, wow!  Seems that the site went up, and got inundated already with folks who want to be there!  Yikes!  We are talking HUNDREDS of people!   So we quickly signed up as Class of 2010.  Hope there will be room for us!  Worst case scenario. we will camp up on the hill before we ever get to Lake Morena.   Scanning the list of who had signed up already, we were pleased to see a number of people we know. As for me,  of course I looked for the other two “Montys”, and yes, there they were.  In fact, WS Monty is in charge of the kickoff this year!   I will definitely look him up, and Mad Monty as well.   Hopefully we can get a picture with all three of us Montys.

Anyway, with a few warm days of hiking (at last!) I was reminded that staying clean on the trail is an interesting challenge.  At the kickoff, of course, there are showers, but you will not find such amenities out in the middle of nowhere.  So how to stay reasonably clean?  Here are the basics of what we do:

1)  At the end of the day when we camp, we wet our “camp towels” (8″ square piece of very absorbent cloth) and use very minimal amounts of water from our water bottles to “sponge bath” any parts of us that need it, depending on trail conditions.  (Dusty trail means very dirty feet and lower legs, while rocky trail just makes you sweat!)  I also use one premoistened towellette from a package to wipe off other parts of me.

2)  If possible, we stop near water at one of our breaks during the day.  Here, we get out our little “washtub” (cutoff bottom of a 1 gallon water jug) and rinse out our yesterday’s socks as best we can.  Then we pin  the socks on our packs to dry as we walk along.  We also wash our own feet & legs, face, etc.  We do NOT use any soap!  No way do we want to mess up a mountain water source!  If the day is warm enough, and the water deep enough,  we take off our shoes and go for a swim, clothes and all.  This washes both us and our clothes!

3)  We brush our teeth a couple of times a day, using our little cut-off toothbrushes.

4)  When “nature calls”,  we head off the trail, and of course, well away from any water source.  We carry a small plastic shovel for digging holes as needed.  Toilet paper-wise, our “ration” is 4 squares a day each, but usually we only need 2.   We do carefully bury the bit of  used toilet paper.   Obviously, we are only using it for when we “do a No. 2.”   The rest of the time (and for us ladies, this takes some getting used to) we just “drip dry” or find a leaf to use.   By the way, one of the effects of thruhiking is that eventually your body gets into an elimination rhythm that is quite predictable, and boy, when you’ve “gotta go”, you SERIOUSLY have gotta go, NOW!   Last, but not least, we carry Purel alcohol gel, and clean our hands with it every time we “visit the bushes”!

5) In town, we wash our clothes in a washing machine (note: finding small amounts of laundry detergent can be a real difficulty in some places!  I send a premeasured amount in our resupply boxes that are going to Warner Springs,  Big Bear City, Cajon Pass, Tehachapi, Mammoth, Donner Lake, Belden, Etna, Crater Lake,  White Pass, Snoqualmie, and Stehekin.)   Be awfully careful, though, NOT to send detergent that is scented!   In 2005, I stupidly just measured out the right amount of the detergent I usually used, dropped it in the resupply boxes, then was horrified on the trail to find out that the scent of it had penetrated much of our food.  Yuck!   It is no fun eating stuff that tastes like soap.   This time, I am using UNSCENTED (though even that does have a faint scent) and wrapping it up so thoroughly that there is no way it can affect our food!

Also, if the weather was warm enough to do this, when we came to a campground along the PCT, we would stop and rinse out our clothes at a faucet or bathroom sink.  Then we would put them back on, still damp, and keep on going.  We did this in very hot weather at Walker Pass, and boy, did it feel good!

But bottom line, you just have to get used to being dirty a lot.   When we first started on the PCT in 2005, we did a lot of timewasting going offtrail to take a shower, because we were so used to taking showers regularly at home, and it felt so yucky to be dusty and dirty.  On ordinary backpack trips, we had always gone where there were lots of lakes and rivers, so we could swim every day and stayed clean.   But the PCT does not offer such amenities.   So just get used to being dirty, and clean up as best you can when you get the chance.   Personally, I hate it when my hair gets really grimy, so sometimes when we stop to rinse sox,  I will also rinse my hair, just so it feels better.   But mostly, I just figure, “Oh well!   I’m on the glorious PCT!   Who cares about “eau de trail”?”

One caveat:  We do try our best to make sure that PCT hikers have a GOOD REPUTATION in trail towns.  So when we are about to come into town, we stop and “spiff” ourselves as best we can, to look as presentable as possible.  And once we are in town, laundry and showers are at the TOP of the to-do list, so that we don’t give people the impression that PCT hikers are dirty bums!