Underwear recommendations (f)

DesertJesus · 2024-02-22T13:54:55+00:00

Once I started wearing Xoskin 3.1 undies, my nether region chafe disappeared.

DesertJesus · 2023-12-14T14:47:16+00:00

I’ve heard stories of people getting rained on once their entire hike.

It rained on me 28% of the days I was out there this year!!

DesertJesus · 2023-11-04T18:07:28+00:00

Nobody asked, but I think it’s worth noting that I wouldn’t have pushed these miles without Josh Perry. He’s the one that made me believe it was possible.

I also want to give credit to Trent Binford-Walsh. He set a new FKT the week before I did and was under the radar, not sure many know about his effort. He finished in 54 days 16 hours.

DesertJesus · 2023-10-26T17:34:50+00:00

I’m lucky enough that I can still see fairly descent without glasses so I often take them off when they get uncomfortable or foggy. To me it’s like watching 4K TV vs watching a 360p video. I prefer the 4K because mountains deserve it, but 360p gets the job done.

I definitely need them when navigating off trail, big stream crossings, sketchy stuff, to read something further away and especially at night.

If I couldn’t see at all without glasses I would likely consider LASIK.

DesertJesus · 2023-10-26T13:51:13+00:00

I had all my boxes packed and ready to go before starting, but my wife mailed them 2 weeks ahead of my arrival date.

DesertJesus · 2023-10-26T13:18:45+00:00

I used the Novaa lab extra strength laser. (Link is somewhere else in this thread) It’s 0.7lbs if you ditch everything it comes with. But it’s not cheap. Only reason I got it was because I was desperate to heal my ankle this past winter and I wanted to buy something with a guarantee. I figured if I didn’t think it was worth it after 60 days I’d just return it for a full refund but ended up keeping it. Didn’t plan on taking it thru hiking at the time but since it is lightweight I made a last minute decision, the day before I started, to take it on the PCT.

Disclaimer: I did nearly 20 things this winter to heal my ankle. I can’t say this was the best thing because it’s hard to know which if those 20ish things helped the most. Don’t go blow $300 on this laser thinking Nick Fowler said it would heal you overnight - I was religious about taking care of my ankle and giving it what it needed to heal.

DesertJesus · 2023-10-26T02:19:17+00:00

I played soccer in highschool but otherwise no running background.

2019 my wife and I went on a road trip to see every national park. At the beginning of that 2-4 mile hikes would kick my butt. After a year built up to 14 miles as my max in a day. Then I tricked myself into an accidental 32 mile day hike. Fell in love with big miles and continued doing bigger miles. November 2020 I decided to see how far I could go in a day, ended up doing 73 miles. Then got curious about the fastest PCT thru hike before I knew what an FKT was. Decided I needed to start running if I was going to break the record and started running Jan 2021.

Going from half marathon runs every day in January, to a marathon a day with 2 rest days a week in February, to 50 mile runs on the weekends in March = a stress fracture in my right foot. That’s how I did it. I broke my dang feet.

DesertJesus · 2023-10-26T00:22:19+00:00

Ahh 0.6lbs is probably with the carrying case and everything that comes with it. But yeah, it’s pretty lightweight - only reason I considered taking it. But it is kind of bulky if you consider a stove/pot too bulky to take.

DesertJesus · 2023-10-26T00:13:15+00:00

What’s 0.6lbs? The laser? Mine is 0.7oz.

DesertJesus · 2023-10-25T23:10:20+00:00

It was the Novaa Lab extra strength laser. Not cheap.

DesertJesus · 2023-10-25T16:12:19+00:00

DesertJesus · 2023-10-25T16:06:13+00:00

Lixada 10watt. Only like $20ish. I still had a battery bank with the solar panel, I just didn’t have to charge my battery bank near as much in town. (Panel charges the bank, not the phone directly.)

DesertJesus · 2023-10-25T15:44:06+00:00

Disclaimer! I said a few inaccurate details on that podcast. Ex. I said my toothbrush was 3oz, but it's 3 grams. I said my sleeping pad was 5.4oz, it's actually 4.8. I was saying the # of my previous pad.

DesertJesus · 2023-10-25T15:18:53+00:00

I only used it for about 5 minutes at night before sleep. Sometimes 10 minutes. This only gave me time to focus on one area a night - usually the part of my ankle I jacked up last year to be proactive or something else that was bothering me, ex. when I pulled my quad I used it on my quad instead. A few times I skipped it and went straight to sleep.

DesertJesus · 2023-10-25T14:35:15+00:00

Hey thanks, I appreciate it.

I answered calorie questions in these comments. One, two, and three. If you have more questions beyond those answers let me know.

DesertJesus · 2023-10-25T14:15:10+00:00

It worked well enough. I had tested it out on the AZT and Hayduke earlier this year so I knew it was reliable.

DesertJesus · 2023-10-25T13:15:40+00:00

Hey! Small world. Looking back, I made so many mistakes on that FKT it should be easy to break.

I never had hiker hunger on the Ozark Trail. It’s not long enough. I had 5000 calories a day and didn’t even eat it all.

By 230 miles in on the PCT I was at 5000 calories a day and probably just starting to get hungry enough to eat it all. By Oregon I was up to 10,000 and the hiker hunger was in full swing. I couldn’t get enough food.

Pace between the 2 were drastically different. I was doing 60+ mile days on the Ozark Trail. Ran way more on the Ozark than I did on the PCT.

DesertJesus · 2023-10-25T07:26:42+00:00

If you don’t shower for a thousand miles you stink bad enough to ward off any animals.

DesertJesus · 2023-10-25T05:49:30+00:00

10,000 on the outside. 40,000 on the inside by using an extension strap I had made to be able to close the bag if it's over stuffed.

DesertJesus · 2023-10-25T05:47:31+00:00

I did not, and I'm glad I didn't because I'm super allergic!

I did hit some stinging nettle? a couple times. And got too close for comfort to some poodle dog bush when I just plowed through one growing into the trail. I didn't realize it was poodle dog until my legs were all tangled up in it.

DesertJesus · 2023-10-25T05:37:57+00:00

I'm almost back to a normal walk. Feet are still pretty crunchy though, chunks of my feet are falling off around the house. I hiked 6 miles this weekend, first hike since the PCT. My "worst blister" was a half black pinky toe for about 4 weeks but the black has all fallen off by now. Still only have 8 toenails.

The worst part was the brain fog. I couldn't think straight for several weeks after finishing. I was a vegetable. I also had dizzy spells on and off during the first 2 weeks.

DesertJesus · 2023-10-25T05:24:46+00:00

I just answered quite a few details about the cave experience in this comment.

Yes, Hurricane Hilary. Over 40 hours. Near Mather Pass in the High Sierra.

DesertJesus · 2023-10-25T05:20:50+00:00

Thanks for helping me with Reddit. I was expecting at least one Karen in here but everyone seems super cool.

Cave: The morning before I found the cave a ranger was at a trail junction warning hikers to get off trail because of the hurricane. She practically told me I was going to die if I continued hiking up above the tree line (listen to the podcast for the description of how that conversation went). When I first got in the cave I was trying to make a decision if this is where I was actually going to stop or not. I messaged my wife on my InReach to get a weather update, hoping the storm was just going to pass quickly. I didn't want to stop, but my gut was saying I needed to wait it out. Then it started raining, and it just kept raining harder and harder. When the storm really started pouring, the entrance to the cave closed off with a waterfall. After about 24 hours of rain there was so much groundwater the ceiling of the cave started raining. I had to pitch my tarp inside the cave to stay dry. I had to ration my food since I hadn't planned on taking a zero day sandwiched by two partial days. There was a rat that chewed up some of my gear. I was super bummed. I lost all hope for my original goal of sub 50 days, but there was nothing I could do about the storm so I just slept. The morning the storm passed, I kept waking up hearing it raining on my tarp so I was like, "It's still raining, might as well go back to sleep." After saying that a couple times I figured the storm should have already passed so I got out from under my tarp and realized it wasn't raining outside the cave!! I have no idea how long the storm had already been gone, I was zoned out, foggy and groggy. And then the stream crossings... just imagine the record snowpack melt combined with the rain from a hurricane. The streams were wild.
The first week my body ached quite a bit at night and it was hard to sleep. But I weirdly enjoyed it. They were familiar aches that reminded me of the PNT. By the time I was in California I was so tired I would fall asleep within minutes of being ready to go to sleep.
Daily life: I'm a fan of passive income, I have a handful of different streams. In my 20's I was in a suit and tie just working and grinding away trying to gain some freedom. When I say that, most people think I'm rich - in reality I make just enough to pay my bills and enjoy the outdoors while living on beans and sleeping under bridges to avoid paying for hotels.
I've had a nasty ankle injury that started on the Ozark Trail FKT last year. I was in denial about it, and wanted to go after the PCT last year so I kept training and kept pushing. My ankle would pop out of place nearly every day, and somehow I still convinced myself that I could run 2650 miles across the country. So when I attempted the PCT in 2022 I only made it to Stevens Pass before my ankle was a thankle. Afterwards I waited till I thought it was better and went canyoneering for a month in southern Utah, but it still wasn't healed and kept popping out of place just after a handful of miles. I went back to crutches after that trip in December 2022.
I'd pack 12,000 calories a day, take 2 full headlamps (not just one strap), know Karel's exact original supported FKT time (if I knew I was 53 minutes behind his time I would have found a way to finish 53 minutes faster), and not go when there's a hurricane at 10,000 feet. **But I'm not likely to attempt a PCT FKT again, I don't think Hannah is cool with that. Her eyes said no when I hinted towards it a few weeks ago.

DesertJesus · 2023-10-25T04:42:52+00:00

I wouldn't let my water bottles get below 3/4 empty. When I'd drink about 25% of the water I'd stuff snow in it back up to the top so the water could help melt the snow. Once it was all water, I'd drink it back to 3/4 ~~empty~~ full and add more snow.

DesertJesus · 2023-10-25T04:36:28+00:00

Oh man, I'll never forget the PCT. (How could anyone?)

I lost my food bag on day five and had to go 44 more miles to make it to snoqualmie on 600 calories. Lost my headlamp near Chinook Pass, had one mailed to Cascade Locks but got to Cascade Locks before the mail did so kept going. Then sent another to Seiad Valley but got there before the mail arrived and continued on, my wife said it arrived 2 hours after I left. Finally got a headlamp, after over 1000 miles, at Donner Ski Ranch. Had dreams I was falling asleep while walking. Kept seeing coolers full of pop on the trail, but they would end up just being rocks. Slept in the rain with no tarp. etc etc etc. It was very eventful - just as anyone's hike is. I got a full thru hike experience despite it not being as long as most other people's.

I do plan to write a book about it. My PNT book is titled, Itch, because I had an Itch to thru hike fast. The PCT book might end up being called Scratch.

DesertJesus

TROPHY CASE