Trail Skills Institute and PCT Prep Hike

It’s now two weeks until go time on the Pacific Crest Trail, and I can’t wait to make my egress as a miserable heat wave oppresses all in Southern Arizona. Temperatures have been at 110F for days in Tucson, and a wildfire rages out of control in the low desert of the Tonto Nat. Forest where I did a lot of trail work over Winter. Well, I decided to beat the heat by heading back up to the Flagstaff area at 7,000 feet. I had some motivations to be up there besides nostalgia and cooling off, with a shakedown hike and a Trail Skills Institute to attend! The institutes are put on by the Arizona Trail Association to teach all the whys and hows of trail work.

Trail Skills Institute, led by Matt Roberts of Flagline Trails, was a very worthwhile experience. Two days of instruction in the middle of the forest were a good baseline of trail work fundamentals that I never quite mastered the reasons of as I volunteered through Winter. Day one focused on a ‘classroom experience’ on trail assessment while the next was the field work that I’ve grown quite accustomed to. I’ve documented in the gallery a little more in detail on some specifics about the work.

After it had ended, everyone flew the coop back to their lives. I spent a night encamped alone in what was previously a quite gregarious dirt lot, putting in some hours on finishing Authority, book two of the Southern Reach Trilogy, a sci-fi series with a dash of cosmic horror. You may be familiar with the 2018 film, Annihilation, which is based on the series. I’m now moving on to the conclusion, Acceptance, before I depart for the trail. It’s a library book, so I’ve gotta hustle. Nothing helps me focus on leisurely reading more than constraints like killing time camping or resting on a hike (I was a big subway reader back in NYC). I am looking forward to shortly reprising the ‘read whatever I can get’ adventuring ethos of trading books around.

Part two of this entry, following this novel tangent, is regarding a shakedown hike I did to test out some new gear before embarking on my thru-hike. Even further up to the highest points in Arizona sounded good to me, so I retreaded a path I did last year through the Kachina Peaks Wilderness north of Flagstaff that is a challenging, water-scarce hike at 8-12,000 feet; 20 miles or so with perfect training conditions, really. My new sleeping bag and pad performed well, as did my water reservoir hydration kit, but I’m still thinking about my final setup regarding my attire and a few odds/ends.

I’ll be touching in once more before the Pacific Crest Trail starts on July 3rd to kick off the thru-hike as I talk about motivations, challenges, and last thoughts as I dive in. Maybe I’ll compare my thoughts with my Appalachian Trail kick off five years ago, in what was the inaugural post of the previous iteration of this blog. In the meanwhile, I’m just trying my hand at dehydrating vegetables.