Month: April 2021

Resupply Strategy

/ jpkastner / Leave a comment

I have narrowed down the hike so that I will be starting at Martin Street and hiking north.  When I get to Grand Marais I will be transported to the Northern Terminus.  From there, I will hike back to Grand Marais.  Exactly how I’ll arrange transportation is yet to be determined.  Once I return to Grand Marais, my friend Terry will pick me up and take me to my car.  The advantage to this route is that I will have the easier Duluth to Two Harbors section to get my hiking legs in order.

So, with that all figured out, it is time to put together a resupply plan.  Fortunately, this will be way easier than the PCT.

For the PCT, I planned out thirty-two resupply points!  That process was extremely complex.  On the PCT, there were two types of resupply points, full-service and send a box.  At full service towns I would buy my food at the local grocery store.  If I had a place I needed to send a box, I would do it from there.  To pull this all off, I researched each and every single town to determine what services were available.  I used that strategy for all of California and Oregon.

Washington was a completely different beast.  None of the town stops had a grocery store.  Instead, my daughter served as my Quartermaster and shipped boxes from home.  I had resupply down to a science before I reached Washington.  I could easily calculate how long it would take me to complete a section.  My daughter and I worked out the plan by phone and made our notes using Google Sheets.

The SHT is much simpler.  I have six main resupply towns.  All but one are close to the trail, and the one that is not is still easy walking distance.  Food will be the heaviest item I will be carrying, so the more stops I make actually means the faster I go.

Here is the trick about resupplying.  Sending a box to the Post Office is the easiest.  All trail Post Offices know how to help hikers.  The only issue is that the Post Office needs to be open for you to resupply.  If you miscalculate you’ll be delayed for a couple of days.

Another option is local businesses.  Some businesses support hikers by accepting packages, sometimes for a fee.  The advantage is that local businesses have better hours.  Paying $10 for someone to hold your package is much cheaper than a night in a hotel.  I had great success using local business on the PCT.  It is a much more flexible option.

Another choice is to completely forego sending boxes and visit the local grocery store.  Hikers have created a menagerie of exotic hiker recipes like the Ramen Bomb.  I’ve tried eating like that, but all I get is heartburn.  The local grocery is a much better choice for fresh foods, however.

I’ve decided to split things up a bit.  I will send three resupply boxes.  In those boxes I will have my freeze dried dinners and a couple of items that I can only get at home.  The dinners are light, so I do not mind carrying a couple of extra days of them.  I’ll then shop locally for breakfast and lunch.

I’ve determined the best locations will be Two Harbors, Finland and Grand Marais.  I’ll contact local businesses on the SHT website and see if they are accepting packages.  I’m also ordering my dinners.  They are much cheaper when you buy them in bulk.

It is good to have a plan.

Training and Preparation

/ jpkastner / Leave a comment

When I first started backpacking, I was young and training was not an issue.  As an older thru-hiker, pre-hike training is a requirement.  Unfortunately, my life and my career requires sitting too much.  As I followed older hikers hiking the PCT, I learned that the only real way to train to hike 10-to-12 hours a day is to actually hike 10-to-12 hours a day.  Sadly, that is not realistic.  I still have responsibilities.

On top of that, living in the Midwest, there is no real elevations.  Yes, you can huff-and-puff up a hill, but it is nothing like a twenty mile, 5,000 foot climb, from Swarthout Canyon to Wrightwood on the PCT carrying five-to-six liters as you bake in a 100+ degree sun.  Nothing can prepare you for that.

The SHT will not have anything like this, but it is still 38,000 feet of elevation change over 15-to-20 days.  That is roughly 3.8 base camp to the peak of Mount Everest over a short period of time.  That will be some serious work and I will not have the advantage of hiker legs.

So, I have some work to do.  While every trail here is flat, that doesn’t mean this time is wasted.  You can do leg exercises to strengthen you calves and quads.  You can also prepare you feet.  Training hikes with weight does wonders to your feet.  Why not struggle with blisters before you hit the trail?  That is what I did for the PCT and that is what I’m doing with the SHT.

For leg exercises, I try and do 1,000 calf lifts and 500 squats every day.  I also try and hike a nine mile hike with a weighted backpack.  Before I left for the PCT, I was able to maintain a non-stop nine mile hike at a 3.5 mph pace with a 45 pound backpack.  I probably only carried a 45 pound backpack a couple of times on the PCT.  Generally, I was around 20 to 25 pounds.

Now that it is warm out and it is not icy, I’ve been taking regular walks of 8-to-9 miles and slowly increasing my weight.  I’m up to 25 pounds.  On the weekends, my wife and I try and knock off segments of the Ice Age Trail.

I won’t be at that level of shape for the SHT, but I will be good for 15 miles a day comfortably.  Maybe I’ll even surprise myself.