If you could do it all over again ...

We've been asked a lot of 'What would you change/do differently?' questions from future thru-hikers, friends and family since our return from the Pacific Crest Trail.

And what better way to address this semi-constant question then through our blog. The question varies a bit, but the root is the same: Would you do anything differently if you were to hike the Pacific Crest Trail again?

1.) Go lighter. This is easier said than done. We already had pretty light packs - 11- to 12-pound base weight - but I think there were a couple of items that could have stayed home.

2.) More cowboy camping. Our tarp tent would still be with us throughout the trail. I would have packed some Tyvek as a ground cloth and camped underneath the stars more often.

3.) Cathole preparedness. I have come to the conclusion that a trowel is essential, especially north of the desert. The ground is rooty, rocky and harder north of Kennedy Meadows General Store, mile 700ish.

4.) A few more food drops. We SHOULD HAVE shipped to Snoqualmie Pass, White Pass and Skykomish in Washington. I will have a post listing all of our food and data drops soon. Just be sure to add the ones I listed above, especially Snoqualmie. Super overpriced food.

5.) To bounce or not to bounce? Our bounce bucket, which held extra first-aid stuff, batteries, vitamins etc., etc., was incredibly helpful in the beginning. It lost its usefulness somewhere in Oregon and I should have shipped it home from Ashland, Ore.

6.) The first day. We had way too much crap with us for the first 100 miles to Warner Springs section. I would only carry enough food to get to Mount Laguna General Store. The store had plenty of food and good variety.

September 14, 2008 Pacific Crest Trail

Destination: Dinsmore's River Haven, Skykomish, WA.
Miles: 8

Adrian: The Dinsmore's have been putting hikers up at their pad in Skykomish and the place is great. Awesome hospitality and real personalities. The Skykomish River runs through the backyard creating the perfect mountain scenery.

There are many hikers here today, maybe 17 altogether. Sleeping in the same room, there tends to be some interesting sounds and smells occurring throughout the night, therefore, we slept downstairs in the workshop on the concrete floor.

Tomorrow we go grocery shopping for the 100-mile hike to Stehekin, our last town stop on the trail. It feels strange to be so close to finishing. I'm not sure where all the time and miles went as it feels like we just started yesterday. I'm not ready for the trail to be over, even though my feet surely are. They've just about had it and are very tender on the bottoms.

The weather is still perfect but we've been hearing forecasts of rain in about 3 days that couldn't come at a worse time. This next section of trail has the famous closed portion of trail in the Glacier Peak Wilderness. Even though we plan on doing the original PCT, we hear it is full of blown down old growth trees and scary stream crossings, all of which are much more serious and time consuming when wet.

Stay tuned, because tomorrow we blast off into Glacier Peak Wilderness!

Kirsten: Our morning hike to Steven's Pass went quickly and four of us - Adrian, Don't Panic, Clearwater and myself - were packed inside a 2-door Datsun 232 headed towards Skykomish by 10 a.m. When we reached the small town, Jerry Dinsmore pulled up in his GMC truck and we all piled in for the 1.5-mile journey to his home. The rest of the day was spent cleaning out our packs, showering, washing clothes and eating.

Adrian and I finally sat down and figured out our immediate post-trail plans. Adrian's family will meet us at Manning Park and then we'll all head to Vancouver. Adrian and I will take a train to Seattle and hang out for the day before heading off to San Francisco via plane. We plan on staying in the city for two days and then taking a flight to Tucson. Then it's off to Chicago for our friend, Sheila's wedding.

So our group, which some have jokingly deemed the Fun Train Express, will likely break up soon. I've mentioned this before, I know. I'm genuinely surprised it hasn't happened yet because some in the group are significantly faster. I would love to somehow reconnect with everyone for the finish, but know it's not likely. I've come to realize that's how relationships work out here. You meet someone and hike with them maybe a day or two. Or in some cases you hike through most of Oregon and Washington together. And there you'll both be sitting atop some pass or river, when one person gets up, maybe waves and says "Hey, see you down the trail tonight." Except you never see them again. No goodbyes or exchanges of emails. Just poof and they're out of your life. This is what's so great about the reunions that occasionally occur 1,000 miles later. But now, with only 200 miles left, those reunions become rare. If we don't catch Beautiful and Gorgeous in Stehekin, for example, we won't see them again until after the trail.