So, quick synopsis of the post today
Just so you can see how average we are, we are going to give you a quick summary of our health and stats. Next, giving you an overview of the different hikes we have done this month, including hardships and problems we faced. Finally, we will be giving you the lowdown on our haul we got at Preppercon SLC.
Your Beginners Guide Guides!
So, as I said, this blog is to show and give a first hand account of some fairly average people doing the JMT. Just to give you and idea of how fairly plain we are, here is us in a nutshell!Kylee
Age: 25 Height: 5'9 Weight: 210
I have always been a solidly built girl. I had a tendency growing up to intimidate people since I was a stronger girl than the average. As a kid I played T-ball, soccer, basketball, track and field(throwing) and the flag, dance and weapon line for my high schools marching band. I am definitely not a fast runner, but if I can keep a slow(keyword: slow) steady pace, I can run for miles. I only go running when I'm really upset about something and just need to get away from it all. As a kid, my dad would take us on small hiking and backpacking trips. My favorite place is the Wallowa-Whitman forest in Eastern Oregon. After graduating high school, I went from 195 up to 250. Before our wedding last summer, I had got back down to the 195. Being married and being on birth control has caused my weight to go back up again. I love playing active games/sports with people but may or may not enjoy my Netflix, crocheting and my old school Super Nintendo even more! As a couple we eat more Oreos than carrots and are far from the outdoorsy, granola eating, yoga doing types. The most yoga type activity we do is bending over to pick things up.
Justin
Age: 23(Happy 24th in a week) Height: 6'4 Weight:200
I have always been active. I have loved playing every sport I could get my hands on and then some. I started in high school playing baseball, tennis, football, cross country, basketball, and wrestling. After I graduated and moved out I found parkour, and started training quite a bit just for fun. It helped me to get out and do some non gym exercises and for someone with ADHD that was way more fun than weightlifting. I have hiked my entire life as living in a small town encourages. I love to work with my hands and build and create. I am just finishing up my first year of a Mechanical Engineering degree and am really excited about the prospects that degree will create. I also love Netflix and snuggling with Kylee and my xbox 360.
Preparation H(ikes): No blood, lots of sweat, and Kylee tears.
When we realized we would be hiking more in a month than most people do in a lifetime, we knew we had to practice. Living at the foothills of Wasatch gives us plenty of opportunities to hike. We started with an unlabeled path that took us about 3 hours to summit and 45 minutes to finish. When we made it to the top, we were closer to airplanes than to the valley floor, we could see the everything. It was amazing. It was cold, but it was beautiful. In the picture below, it is looking SW into downtown SLC.
The next few hikes we did we part of the Cotopaxi Questival. Cotopaxi is, follow this link
cotopaxi.com/pages/mission. They are based out of Utah and make great outdoor gear. If you are looking for a less known brand to support, I highly suggest it. The Questival is part of Cotopaxi. The best explanation is here: questival.cotopaxi.com. It is a huge 24 hour scavenger hunt. During this years Questival, my team ended up hiking in Zions National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park and a few other smaller hikes. Those hikes were done very quickly. During the Questival, we received a hiking day pack that has been perfect for these smaller hikes we have been doing. It has the perfect set up for water bladders with additional room for snacks, ID, phone and even a first aid kid if you wanted. They are really durable and really light.
The most recent hike we did was Squaw Peak in Provo, Utah. We gained 3,000 feet in elevation within the 3ish miles to the top. On this hike, we took our Cotopaxi bags and they were perfect for the hike. We purchased a water bladder for it and the only weight I felt on my back was the water. The pack was so light! When we hiked it, it had recently rained so it was muddy and the air was a little thick. (Being totally honest, probably one of the more tiring hikes I've done). It was at a pretty impressive incline the entire time. I got frustrated in the beginning because I was hiking with 3 pretty fit guys. At one point, I wanted to stop, but I didn't. I knew I needed to finish it in preparation for the JMT. I cried. I wanted to punch things. My legs were cramping. It was much harder than I expected. I'm very glad I did it. Today, the day after, I am very sore. I know that has something to do with the fact that this hike was the most strenuous thing I have done in weeks.
These preparatory hikes are not meant to be easy. They are meant to push you. The reason lots of people don't hike is because it can be so strenuous. But trust me, the views you will see will make the entire experience worth it. Plus, if you don't do these easy, medium and difficult hikes, the JMT is not going to be the experience you wanted it to be.
Preppercon SLC 2015
Last thing for today! We went to the Preppercon which is an outdoor survivalists expo. www.preppercon.com. It had things for hunting, hiking, backpacking, surviving, water purification, tents, guns, knives, and much more. If you have the chance to go, I would! You are able to meet with some of the top guys in these companies many times and see what exactly they are all about. These people are often leaders in their field but may or may not be large well known brands. We met with a few companies that we purchased from and are very excited to try their products in our next few hiking adventures as well as our JMT trip. All together we spent around $200 for all of the products below as well as a chiropractor/massage visit from a local company that came to the Expo.
We have over 30 meals from Safeguard Foods in Utah beststoragefood.com and a heating element that is fire less and can boil water in 3 minutes or less. I was watching first hand and it really did work. The container is very light weight and durable. Once it heats your water, it stays hot for another 15 minutes. Plenty of time to heat another meal if wanted. The container holds 2 meals worth. Calories for these meals(since caloric content on this kind of hike is important) is between 240-400 for the meals we got. We were able to sample a few of them and they were amazing. The employees we met with were so nice and understood exactly what we wanted without trying to get us to purchase everything.
We also met with Handy Sharp www.handysharp.com for a combination knife sharpener and sparker for fires. Next Emergency Zone, www.emergencyzone.com for some quick, easy, light and reusable portable hand warmers. We tried them at home and they worked perfectly. This company is also a smaller company that sells wholesale so prices can be low! Lastly we met with Boltwell
http://boltwell.com/hand-crank-flashlight, for a battery free flashlight. It is really light weight and the crank is really smooth.
If you have the opportunity to go to a Preppercon, or similar type expo, I highly suggest it. The prices are great and they know the outdoors really well.
On our list of things to do/purchase, we are still looking for a water filter that is a pump, not just a straw so that we can fill bigger water bladders easier.
In closing today......
Personal opinion: You don't have to spend loads of money on the top name brands to have a successful trip. I am extremely confident in how these products will work for us. Keep looking for updates on how we have tested out products and such.
'Til we meet again
JK
