CDT: Food and Q & A's - Purple Haze Hikes

These mid-summer hiking starts are tough to wait on but was the best fit this year to fit with other plans. Next year, I’m definitely hitting the trail for a spring hike.

Because we are on a long road trip prior to myself starting the final CDT leg at Mack’s Inn, I have started getting my food together. Not a lot of change to previous years except for some Mountain House and Backpackers Pantry meals I got for Xmas from Mrs. Haze and some Nido dry whole milk that I finally found.

Breakfast will be granola, oatmeal or the occasional Pop Tart, usually brown sugar cinnamon. Lunch will be nuts, dried fruit and peanut butter or cheese crackers. Dinner will be dehydrated refried beans, rice or pasta sides, ramen, or instant potatoes, with various combinations of dehydrated veggies, zesty spices and additions of tuna, salmon, bacon, jerky, and this year, some freeze-dried sausage and beef from Honeyville. Not to mention energy bars, instant pudding desserts and my favorite cinnamon fire Jolly Ranchers or jelly beans. Hard to believe that I would still lose 25 to 30 pounds (40 lbs on the PCT)!

Q & A

I’m sure most long-distance hikers would agree that the two of the most asked questions from folks in trail towns, on the road or non-hikers are:

Don’t you pack a weapon or gun?

I do carry a one-inch pen knife that doesn’t offer much protection. The first line of defense has been my hiking poles for rattlesnakes and a napping elk that I surprised on a trail switchback. He was trying to get up and almost ran into me. I do carry bear spray in grizzly country. Have had close encounters with bears and moose but never had the regret of not carrying a weapon or gun.

Met a fellow PCT hiker early on the trail that was carrying a large hunting knife. I guess I kind of shamed him on the weight and unnecessary fears. Met him again up the trail and he had sent his large knife home but he had a good story. He said, “Purple Haze, I sent that knife home because of you but a few days later I was looking out my tent and saw a mountain lion crouched near my tent staring at me. My first thought was why did I listen to Purple Haze”. After a long stare-down or maybe simply curiosity, the big cat strolled away. He did get a trail name, Puma, out of the experience. He traded the knife for a ukulele which he got a lot more use out of.

Aren’t you hiking with someone?

I have always hiked solo and prefer the solitude and simplicity it offers. I do find that over time, I talk to myself more and can get chatty when I get to town.

That’s not to say that I don’t enjoy hiking and interacting with my fellow hikers when our schedules coincide. These encounters have resulted in some of my favorite trail memories and developed into longer lasting connections and quite the hiker network. A recent example, Track Meat, who I met on the PCT and ran into again on the CDT. He just finished the Arizona Trail and came through Tucson to catch a flight. We put him up and caught up over pizza and beer. Congrats on the Triple Crown!

I had to include this pic of a flowering Century Plant – have seen plenty of these on hikes in the Southwest but the first one blooming in our yard. We nicknamed this one, “Little Richard” – he was growing at a rate of 3-4 inches per day for awhile. Unfortunately Little Richard will die shortly after flowering.