Soaking up the sun!

We're ready to make our breakfast bags of goodness but first, we are soaking our nuts before dehydrating them. 

Soaking nuts neutralizes the phytic acids and enzyme inhibitors that are naturally present in them. It also activates beneficial enzymes and increases the vitamin content, this all makes it easier for your stomach to digest them and absorb all of the nutrients. Many thru-hikers have stomach problems while on the trail because the diet can be so different than their normal diet, we are taking a few extra steps to help keep our digestion and stomachs happy!

After soaking the nuts, we will dehydrate them and then chop them up and but a couple tablespoons in each breakfast bag. Yummmmm

Weighing our options

When we said that this food planning is sort of like an extremely annoying story problem, we were serious.

Shop. Shop. Shop.

Laughing, Seth said, "Every time we put something in the cart we both take a huge deep breath"

We weren't sure how to tackle the shopping, but WE DID IT!!!

Testing meals!!

~Breakfast~

On Saturday we started to really test out our meal ideas, we started with breakfast! (My favorite meal!!)

Breakfast will be the most important meal while on the trail.

Training begins!

January 5th 2014

Hike up to Punch Bowl Falls and High Bridge via Eagle Creek 

About 9.5 miles went by super fast and seemed a little too easy despite the icy path. Waiting to get our packs to really get some training done.

Creek crossing

PCT 2014... here we come!

                                                

                                            

We have spent countless hours researching gear and planning our meals, we CANNOT wait to get on the trail. Although, we have a lot more work to do... 

As we narrow down our gear selections and plan our food and re-supply points on a giant white board, I am realizing that hiking the PCT is a bit more complex than I expected. Seth has worked very hard to figure out our potential re-supply spots. These will probably change a bit when we get going but its nice to have a plan right now.

Our next steps are:

- Finish purchasing our 'big three' (tent, pack and sleeping bag) and test them out

- Buy our food that we need to dehydrate
- Dehydrate said food
- Pack our packs and take em' for a spin
- Apply for our permits
- Get maps and separate into appropriate sections
- Get a couple guide books