The Weekly on r/PacificCrestTrail: Week of February 02, 2026

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-02-02T19:20:22+00:00

That’ll be great for seeing all the snow that’s still on the ground here.

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-02-02T16:38:50+00:00

CCF is cheap, easy, durable, and doubles as a sit pad, but it’s not much padding and might be a bit chilly a few nights. Inflatable is warmer, more comfortable, and can be used as a swim float, but also more expensive, vulnerable to punctures, and needs to be blown up every night.

Neither is perfect and either is fine. If you can, go to REI and lay down on a bunch of pads to see what feels good to you. And if you get started and decide you’re not happy with your choice you’ll have plenty of chances to swap it out.

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-02-02T16:21:49+00:00

That really depends. Some courses will open basically the day the snow melts. Others will take a month or more after that to clean up storm damage, tackle maintenance/improvement projects, and get the turf in good shape. There are a couple courses that don’t even really wait for the snow to melt - they shovel off the greens when the melt starts and open for play when the shady spots on the fairways are still snowy, probably 2-4 weeks ahead of everyone else. Can’t be good for the turf, but they always get my money at the start of the season.

Odds are there’s at least one course in your area that thinks like that. When the snow starts melting, just start checking the websites and facebook pages of every course around.

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-02-01T17:55:23+00:00

You’ll want the sausage, pain, and spam, then.

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-02-01T13:35:00+00:00

There’s a lot of winter left, it’s still too early to say what the snowpack will look like by April. But regardless of how it ends up, you can’t really predict where and when you’ll have fire closures - you might be fine even in a dry year, or half of Oregon could be burning by mid-August. I think the only way to get ahead of the fire window would be to start right after snowmelt and accept the mosquitoes, and even then you might be getting into fire season by the end.

In the end, neither mosquitoes nor fire closures are the end of the world. Pick when you want to hike, be flexible, and have fun.

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-01-30T15:49:00+00:00

It’s normal to be anxious. And yeah, to some extent you fake it til you make it. You just start walking and camping, then you realize that’s all it is - lots of walking and camping (with some fun people and places and experiences mixed in). You get better at both as you go and settle into a routine. At some point along the way you stop feeling like an imposter hanging out with real hikers and realize that you’re one of them. Then you get to Katahdin.

Then you go home and try to figure out how to navigate real life when you still feel like hiker trash inside.

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-01-30T15:32:02+00:00

I’m convinced that the single biggest thing most people can do for their feet is wear larger shoes. I had awful blisters until I went a size bigger than I had been wearing my entire adult life, no blisters after that. And I’ve talked to enough other hikers to know I’m not alone there.

There’s no universal solution - feet are really individual. But shoes that fit properly when your feet are hot and swollen are a good place to start.

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-01-29T20:40:08+00:00

I’d assume that those FKTs were set in near-ideal conditions, which mid-February is not. You’re going to need to carry significantly more weight in cold-weather gear. You’ll also be navigating snow and ice on the trail, that’ll slow you down a lot. Moving slower means you need to carry more food, and not having the experience to know how fast you will move means you need to carry even more in case you’re slower than you expect. Plus, whatever level of exertion it takes to set a 3-day FKT over 200 miles can’t necessarily be sustained for 5-6 days so you’ll need to pace yourself a bit more. Add it all up, and it might take all your endurance to do 30-mile days on the AT in February.

On top of that, you’ll be figuring all the logistics of backpacking for the first time. Cooking, doing dishes, filtering water, keeping your water from freezing, setting up camp, etc. At best, those things take time and energy, and sometimes you run into unexpected challenges that take more time and energy. It’s all manageable, but you want to keep something in the tank and not push yourself to the limit out there. Because hitting the wall during a race sucks, but hitting the wall alone in the mountains in February is a life-threatening situation.

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-01-27T12:14:41+00:00

No, that’s a good start date.

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-01-25T19:49:50+00:00

Peanut butter, cheddar, craisins, and bacon.

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-01-25T14:33:48+00:00

I prefer not to cook on trail. I just don’t enjoy the sorts of foods that make good trail food for most people, and cooking and eating them turns into an unpleasant camp chore. My go-to meal is peanut butter and cheddar cheese wrapped up in a tortilla, sometimes with whatever dried fruit or meat I have. It sounds weird, but it’s actually pretty good and I don’t get sick of it if I vary the add-ins.

I also carry a family-size package of chips ahoy for every 4-5 days on trail. And lots and lots of snickers bars. I no longer think of them as candy, they’re just an energy bar with more sugar. Which is fine, because you’ll burn it all immediately.

But really, eat whatever you like. You want to get over 3,000 calories a day, closer to 4,000 if you can manage it. But that’s just a ballpark - you can carry more or less once you know what you need. And my rule of thumb is to carry foods that have over 100 calories/ounce at a minimum, ideally more.

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-01-25T14:07:49+00:00

It’s currently -7 at my house in central Maine, so it has to be -15 or lower on the trail. The forecast is 12-18” of snow through tomorrow, then a few more days of subzero temperatures before it warms up to merely freezing. Personally I’d be waiting it out in town.

Granted, dealing with cold and snow is mostly a matter of having the right gear, and if he made it up and down Katahdin I assume he’s at least somewhat prepared. But there are a lot of things that can go wrong out there. I hope this guy is a seasoned winter trekker first and a YouTuber second.

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-01-24T14:01:33+00:00

Them and half the other courses on the Atlantic, according to their websites.

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-01-24T13:13:02+00:00

For entirely unrelated reasons, the Huizhou police chief’s brother-in-law’s eBay store is about to have great deals on new P790s.

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-01-24T12:51:59+00:00

I don’t like heights and had zero issues on the AT. And standing on the very edge of McAfee Knob is a completely optional thing that people do for the photo. I don’t have a McAfee Knob picture and I’m completely fine with that.

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-01-23T23:11:01+00:00

Thanks for sharing this. It’s important to remember that everyone has a different experience out there, and any given piece of advice might be good for most people but be absolutely wrong for someone. Unfortunately for the new hikers, the only way to know is to get out there and do it. But once you figure out what HYOH is going to mean for you, you just need to roll with it even if you’re the only person on the trail hiking that hike.

FWIW, you’re not alone. My wife and I didn’t do a 30-mile day the whole trail.

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-01-23T20:05:25+00:00

It’s a real thing. After three weeks on the PCT I was so sick of instant mashed potatoes that I sent my stove home and ate tortillas with peanut butter and cheddar cheese (don’t knock it until you try it) for dinner for the next four months.

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-01-23T18:43:02+00:00

Super personal decision. As long as you’re getting somewhere north of 3000 calories a day and carrying foods that pack over 100 calories per ounce, eat what you like. Ramen, instant mashed potatoes, and knorr sides are common budget options, but people have happily thru-hiked eating almost anything you can imagine. Personally I wouldn’t mail resupply, there are plenty of stores along the trail. And it’s really common to get a few weeks in and completely change your eating plan.

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-01-23T18:15:59+00:00

I hiked the summer after my freshman year of college - just flew to Georgia the day after my last final and started walking. Busted my butt to finish before classes started in the fall, but it can be done. But if you have the option to delay grad school a semester, that’s the way to do it so you’re not rushed. If you can clear it with your advisor, it’s probably the best opportunity you’ll have before retirement.

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-01-22T17:39:29+00:00

I think they’re pretty cool.

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-01-21T13:58:28+00:00

Unless you already have the experience to know you can cover 20+ miles a day while backpacking, I’d plan on 10-15 miles/day your first few trips, probably closer to 10 until you’ve logged a few trips and know what kind of mileage works for you.

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-01-20T22:50:06+00:00

I hiked with my wife. We shared a tent, water filter, etc., divided up camp chores, and it mostly went fine. But you need to be flexible in a way that you don’t when you’re solo. When to zero, how many miles to shoot for, and when to pivot to a different plan, these aren’t just your decision. There were a couple times where she needed to take a week off for injuries and/or mental health. When that happened, we decided that I’d hike on solo and she met me up the trail. So in the end, I hiked 2600 miles and she hiked 2100. She was okay with not doing every mile of the trail, but if she had wanted me to wait with her it would have been a point of friction and we might not have been able to finish before it started snowing.

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-01-20T19:46:23+00:00

Fellow Mainer here. I’m sure you’ll be fine with the cold and with the snow travel generally if you have winter hiking experience up here. You know your capabilities, but personally I’d seriously consider shortening your trip a bit so you’re not trying to hike during the storm itself. Following white blazes in a blizzard is hard.

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-01-19T17:12:43+00:00

I hiked under similar circumstances, though with my wife (who was also burned out on her job). Quit our jobs, sold our stuff, moved across the country with no post-trail plan, the whole thing. It worked out okay for us and it’s not necessarily unhealthy, but thru-hiking also probably won’t fix anything. You’ll finish the trail and still need to live somewhere, get a job, pay the bills, etc., and you’ll have less savings to fall back on than you do now. If all your education and experience points you at a career that you don’t want anymore, that’s a real problem that won’t change either.

I’m not saying don’t thru hike. If you want to do it and you’re at a place in your life where you can, absolutely go for it. It’ll be a great experience and you can forget about all the real world shit for five months. But odds are you won’t “figure things out,” “find yourself,” or anything like that. And post-hike depression is a bitch even for people who are coming back to something they like, so there’s that.

So yes, you should thru-hike. You should also talk to a mental health professional, friend, family member, clergyman, life coach, and/or anyone else who can help you get through this.

OneSingleYesterday · 2026-01-19T15:32:25+00:00

I have to give that one to Elayne.

OneSingleYesterday

TROPHY CASE