PCT Prep 7: How to say Goodbye to your Partner Before their PCT Hike and a Resupply Box Nightmare

The Pacific Crest Trail is a daunting adventure, stretching 2,650 miles (4,265km) from Mexico to Canada. While my partner Seth plans to complete its entirety; I plan to hike the longest dog friendly stretch that spans half the country. We will walk 1300 miles with the great company of my dog, Chloe Rue. While this hike will begin next summer in 2023, Chloe and I have begun to take strides (literally) to improve our strength and endurance for the undertaking! Do you want to learn more about our planning? Keep an eye out on our Pacific Crest Trail series as we dive into our physical, mental, and dog-knowledge training program to help prepare us for this grand adventure.

Check out my previous PCT Prep posts here!

The Hunger Games of Resupply Boxes

Wow you guys, I CANNOT believe Seth and I are starting our journey to California RIGHT NOW, as I am writing this post! That means I am less than 6 weeks away from my start date on the trail, and Seth is mere days away, as we drive lil red, our two dogs and the Super Beauty truck down to the California/Mexico border- to Campo, where his hike begins.

Oh yeah, did I mention I added another month on to my trail plan? I KNOW it was only supposed to be Oregon and Washington. But with the snow in the Sierras, I decided it was safest to travel together through the mountains- and why not start an extra month early? Unfortunately this stretch is not pet friendly, so Chloe will stick to her 1200 mile plan while I add 700 miles through the most beautiful mountains- the Sierra Nevada. It will be hard without my girl, no doubt.

Before I dive into the wonders of saying goodbye to my partner for a couple of months, I have to talk about our resupply boxes! My last post was all about how to manage your food when you are planning a thru hike with a dog, with all the different options, and a brief description about what Chloe and I have planned for our thru hike. We have organized her meals into day-sized bags that are vacuum sealed, and mixed her regular science diet kibble with honest kitchen dehydrated dog food. Then we mail ourselves this food at little resupply points along the trail. I had planned to mail our food two times, once to a loved one off of the trail who will then mail it to me at the right time, with a little note of encouragement or large bundle of chocolate to fend off hiker hunger.

Seth and I FINALLY finished our boxes this week, and sent to the appropriate places. They decided to come together in a mail version of the hunger games arena and fight to the death for who would make it successfully to the appropriate destination. They fought through a midwestern blizzard, that TOTALLY soaked our box and resulted in the decapitation of a box being sent to my mom. Another box had to bear being ripped apart by duct tape, due to me, running out of scrap paper and using orange duct tape to hold it together, which resulted in the destination address being ripped off. Of course, when the duct tape ripped the address off, it also ripped the cardboard up into holy shreds. Poor box, obliterated by duct tape, with no idea that it was supposed to have so much purpose and longevity *sigh*. But the worst of it, was the box that was left near a hungry dog. Now, if you have never tried honest kitchen dog food with your dog, I will warn you- it is basically drugs, for dogs. Dogs LOVE honest kitchen whether it is dehydrated or not. They will eat THROUGH cardboard, through multiple layers of human food to find honest kitchen dog food, and easily eat through its plastic wrapping. And there lies the death of box three, in the resupply box hunger games nightmare.

We have one box dead by decapitation through a blizzard.

Another box that died being ripped to shreds by duct tape (my bad).

And our third box that was consumed by a mutt.

Thankfully, this has happened early for me and I can replace these three boxes easily. However I have to wonder what will happen to the other 18 boxes that we have sent out to the Hunger Games arena (that is, the world USPS priority shipping). I will have to keep you all updated on which box becomes the victor.

Saying Goodbye is the Hard Part

When you are embarking on a 6 month, life changing journey after having a home, friends, family and animals all a major part of your life- well, it is definitely part of the challenge. Of course it is just temporary, and I am even more lucky since I will be joining Seth only a couple of months after his journey begins. For me, the challenge does increase as I go from being a dog mom of 1, my sweet Chloe Rue to a dog mom of 2, Seth’s dog, Freyja. I’ve always felt walking two dogs is TWICE as difficult as walking one dog, and since we are keeping up with our training plan before the trail- well it will be interesting to see how having 2 pups will play out.

I have put a couple strategies in place to help with being without my partner for a short time, as he will likely also not have cell reception and will be limiting his use of his Garmin in reach to 10 texts each month, and am happy to share these for anyone else going through a similar experience. I know many folks who have to say goodbye to their partners for the entire 6 months, and many parents who send their children off on thru hikes too. Hopefully this advice will help everyone who is saying goodbye for the short time, while their loved one goes on their life changing adventure.

1. Embrace the Solo Time

I LOVE to go on adventures by myself. I love snowboarding, hiking, backpacking, exploring a new town, driving- seriously anything I can do with Chloe, I am super excited to do by myself. Of course, you all know I am an extremely independent person, and this will help a LOT in this time to myself. If anyone else is going through something similar, I really encourage you all to embrace that alone time, and really allow yourself to learn to be okay by yourself. Schedule a solo vacation to a place you’ve wanted to explore for a long time. Take that class you’ve been hesitant about, because taking 10 days away seemed like such a long time. Go on that crazy backpacking trip you’ve been fantasizing about but have not had time to do. Definitely do something special for yourself during the time you have alone. I am planning to use my Indie Snowboard Pass like crazy to play in powder in all the new locations. I hope to take a couple over night backpacking trips to try out all my winter gear before we are in the Sierras. And I have planned a snow avalanche awareness class, to help get myself ready for some tough snow in the PCT this year.

2. Write to the Person you are Missing

This is something my grandma did after my grandpa died- and no, Seth is not dying ANYtime soon, and it is even more of a perk that he can read my messages for encouragement while beginning the trail. I have started writing text messages that are all saved as a draft reflecting on some memories Seth and I have together that will help us keep plugging along on the trail. This helps give me a sense of purpose, in being helpful and encouraging from a distance, while also filling a need to communicate. One of my text messages addresses hiker hunger, and reflects on the time in Crete, Greece when we had 5 plates on our table and the restaurant LOVED us. They kept bringing us more food, excited by our empty plates, with drinks, and dessert too. We HAD to have had 7 plates of food empty by the time we left that restaurant, and we loved EVERY bite. Maybe this is going to make hiker hunger worse… BUT it is a good memory and funny to remember.

3. Plan Time to be Social

I am SO excited to spend time with my friends who still live in town and even MORE excited to make more connections with new friends. By planning time to be social once a week, I will not be tempted to ‘hole up’. However, I will keep my weekly wine and yoga routine, maybe try a new aerial yoga class in a gym that has popped up in town, and definitely plan time with my friends for dinner and hikes.

4. Have a Plan After Drop Off Time

A good piece of advice I received is to have a plan in place to enjoy time immediately after dropping off your person at the trail head. I had a moment where I was like- I can see my family in Sacramento, I can use my Indie pass on Ashland and Shasta, I can maybe even book an airbnb for myself- but this was abruptly halted when my Avalanche training class day changed to a week earlier and is immediately when I get back to Oregon (Monday and Tuesday). So I get to drive from Tucson, Arizona to Mt. Hood, Oregon in a weekend and that will be a long haul! Hopefully reading some books and enjoying that class I’ve been excited about will help me in my post drop off plan! Staying busy is always what works best for me.

5. Know that Everyone is Different

We ALL have different relationships with our partners, with ourselves, and with our dogs especially when we are excited about caring for 2 doggos for a time. So, my best piece of advice is to do what works best for you. If your happiest place is sitting at home petting your dogs and looking at the stars- knowing they are the same stars that your loved one is enjoying without you- that is also perfectly fine to do.

Have you ever had to leave your partner for a time? What is the worst experience you’ve had using the mail system these days? I cannot wait to keep you all updated on how it is going when I have both Freyja and Chloe in my life! We are so excited to work hard training, and I am so curious if Freyja will be ready for some bikejoring like Chloe and I have done for training. For now, California and Arizona beckons explorations. Our little family is having a blast working our way to Campo, California for Seth’s start date. I hope you all stay tuned and enjoy following along in our journey! In the meantime, happy tails and happy trails to you all.

Barking Embarkers

PCT Prep 7: How to say Goodbye to your Partner Before their PCT Hike and a Resupply Box Nightmare

The Hunger Games of Resupply Boxes