🙏 I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who is reading these mini blogs and supporting this adventure. I had no intention of blogging about the preparation leading up to the hike, but I find it very therapeutic and it also gives me goals to set for myself.
🎥 Have you seen the documentary on Amazon Prime called “This Mountain Life?”. It’s essentially about a mum and a daughter who complete a hike across Canada (with some side stories thrown in). It’s all true life stuff and it made me realise that you are never too old to do anything. Keep your body active, fuel it well and you can accomplish anything that you set your mind to.
STUDY 📚
🪫 One of my anxieties about being out in the wilderness is to do with the battery power on my phone. I know that extreme temperatures will accelerate the loss of battery. So this week I have decided to see if there are any new tips or tricks that I can do to help prevent battery life on the trail. Most of my research came up with things I already knew such as:-
* Turn on low battery mode
* Reduce screen brightness
* Look at usage and delete apps that you don’t use but are draining your battery.
* Use do not disturb timings
* Airplane mode
* Turn off keyboard sounds and vibrations
But… I also learned that:-
1. Don’t force close apps – this is a myth and does not save battery life, it actually does the opposite!
2. Don’t turn off Bluetooth – Bluetooth connection to AirPods or Fitbit trackers use very little power.
Next week I’m going to look into sickness possibilities on trail. Altitude sickness, dehydration and heat exhaustion seem the main concerns. What are the signs and are there remedies/prevention methods that I can use on trail?
GEAR ⚙️
🧥 I pulled the plug and purchased an OMM Rotor Smock. It was quite expensive, but an insulated jacket that weighs just 219g where the kangaroo pocket turns into a fleece pillow was just too tempting. I can now dump my other pillow, puffy jacket and mid-layer (saving lots of weight and space in my pack). It should arrive on Thursday so I can test it this weekend in Derbyshire.
TRAINING 🏋️♀️
😞 In all honesty, this week I’ve not done so well on the training. I’ve still been out with my pack and attended the gym three times but my mileage is down. I was putting training over my day job and I can’t afford to let my business suffer. It’s a real battle juggling training and work. This week, work won that battle!
Final Thoughts:-
👩- The hair situation. I finally washed my hair after 19 days (it just felt horrible and hadn’t quite reached the self-cleaning stage). I now know that I can easily go for a week without washing my hair which is what it will be like on the PCT. I will continue to wash my hair weekly rather than daily now so that it’s a habit.
Main photo: The main photo below is a typical scene in the California desert. It’s not like walking in the Sahara Desert with sand dunes etc – in fact, there are meadows and areas of woods and forest trails to complete. It looks vast and I can’t wait to experience it.[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]
86 DAYS TO GO!
🙏 I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who is reading these mini blogs and supporting this adventure. I had no intention of blogging about the preparation leading up to the hike, but I find it very therapeutic and it also gives me goals to set for myself.
🎥 Have you seen the documentary on Amazon Prime called “This Mountain Life?”. It’s essentially about a mum and a daughter who complete a hike across Canada (with some side stories thrown in). It’s all true life stuff and it made me realise that you are never too old to do anything. Keep your body active, fuel it well and you can accomplish anything that you set your mind to.
STUDY 📚
🪫 One of my anxieties about being out in the wilderness is to do with the battery power on my phone. I know that extreme temperatures will accelerate the loss of battery. So this week I have decided to see if there are any new tips or tricks that I can do to help prevent battery life on the trail. Most of my research came up with things I already knew such as:-
* Turn on low battery mode
* Reduce screen brightness
* Look at usage and delete apps that you don’t use but are draining your battery.
* Use do not disturb timings
* Airplane mode
* Turn off keyboard sounds and vibrations
But… I also learned that:-
1. Don’t force close apps – this is a myth and does not save battery life, it actually does the opposite!
2. Don’t turn off Bluetooth – Bluetooth connection to AirPods or Fitbit trackers use very little power.
Next week I’m going to look into sickness possibilities on trail. Altitude sickness, dehydration and heat exhaustion seem the main concerns. What are the signs and are there remedies/prevention methods that I can use on trail?
GEAR ⚙️
🧥 I pulled the plug and purchased an OMM Rotor Smock. It was quite expensive, but an insulated jacket that weighs just 219g where the kangaroo pocket turns into a fleece pillow was just too tempting. I can now dump my other pillow, puffy jacket and mid-layer (saving lots of weight and space in my pack). It should arrive on Thursday so I can test it this weekend in Derbyshire.
TRAINING 🏋️♀️
😞 In all honesty, this week I’ve not done so well on the training. I’ve still been out with my pack and attended the gym three times but my mileage is down. I was putting training over my day job and I can’t afford to let my business suffer. It’s a real battle juggling training and work. This week, work won that battle!
Final Thoughts:-
👩- The hair situation. I finally washed my hair after 19 days (it just felt horrible and hadn’t quite reached the self-cleaning stage). I now know that I can easily go for a week without washing my hair which is what it will be like on the PCT. I will continue to wash my hair weekly rather than daily now so that it’s a habit.
Main photo: The main photo below is a typical scene in the California desert. It’s not like walking in the Sahara Desert with sand dunes etc – in fact, there are meadows and areas of woods and forest trails to complete. It looks vast and I can’t wait to experience it.[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]