DWTH Day 10: Caching Trip & Prep

After my warmup and first leg on the Desert Winter Thru-Hike (DWTH) last winter, I’m ready to get back on the trail! Just back from a caching trip that hopefully will help see me to the end of this adventure.

Caching on the DWTH is probably not completely necessary but 1) I live in Arizona so the route is more easily accessible, 2) trail towns for resupply are few and far between, 3) a lighter pack is most appreciated, and 4) the extra safety measure is peace of mind for sometimes unpredictable water quality and quantity in the desert.

I have cached on previous hikes, most notably the Hayduke Trail, but I am trying something different this go around. I have previously used sealed 5-gallon paint buckets to store food and water. Unless you are close to a road and helpful people, this requires a return trip to retrieve the empty buckets. After some research, I discovered a previous hiker, Buck-30, had successfully used Opsaks (odorproof dry bags) for food storage and buried them at his resupply points. The empty Opsaks are a lot easier and lighter to carry out than a bucket! I’m hoping for the best on this one and was especially careful on dropping GPS location pins on my maps and taking photos of my cache sites.

I will resume my hike later this week where I left off last winter/early spring at Arizona City. Just under 700 miles will connect me to the Pacific Crest Trail, just beyond the end of the official DWTH at Joshua Tree National Park in California.

I’m not counting on it but am hoping for weather that is not too cold, and even more so, not especially windy.