Miles Hiked: 0
PCT Mileage: 702.2
Today was full of anticipation, preparation, and anxiety. It started with pancakes for breakfast at 8:30am. All the hikers were up early and standing in line for showers, laundry, and food. We all learned that it can take hours to do simple chores at grumpy bears just because of the unorganized chaos of the large group of hikers and very few staff. The pancakes were fluffy and bigger than my face. I have no idea how they have a spatula large enough to flip something that big but it was awesome. I was not able to finish it to say the least. After breakfast I went over to triple crown outfitters next door where I purchased a fuel can and soap from a tiny trailer. They also gave us free PCT 2022 stickers and bandanas. Afterwards I started laundry and took a shower while waiting for my packages to be available for pick up.
I had five different packages which is the most stuff I have ever received in town. Two of them were my bear canister and my ice axe and spikes. One of them was dehydrated veggies from a kind lady named Jodi who dropped me off at the southern terminus. One of them was a package I sent myself full of my cold clothing items, stove and food I purchased in Tehachapi. The last was new clothes and some gear upgrades I mailed home from my mom! I sent myself way too much food so after much organizing and planning/ thought, I mailed a box of the food to Twoloume meadows and sent my ice axe home. It doesn’t sound like there is much snow left in the Sierra.
I was overwhelmed with packing everything up and fitting it all in my giant bear canister inside my backpack. I was really worried it wouldn’t fit and dreading how much it would weigh. I packed for five days of food. I did carries this long all the time on the CDT but nothing more than three days on the PCT.
At the end of the day I had another Salad and Fries before heading over to the General Store to set up camp. We wanted to be in walking distance to the trail so we didn’t have to wait around on anyone to drive us in the morning. At the general store I hung out with Bitter Goat and camped with Pippin, Fry, Lumber Jack, and Gopher. I wrote some post cards to put in the mail and ate some pistachio ice cream. I was feeling a lot less anxious after having everything all packed up.
Happy Trails!
-Early Bird
Des Hikes Thru 
You don’t have to get everything into the canister. Technically the canister zone doesn’t begin until seki np, do you can put a bunch of food in another bag. I made it to vvr with a side trip up Whitney, and probably could have made it to reds.
Saves the trip down to town at the cost of hauling a heavy pack uphill.
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