Final Preparations for the “Long Walk”

It’s 2 weeks before my flight to San Diego to start my PCT thru hike attempt. As my hike start approaches, I’m thinking more about what a monumental task awaits me. But before I can take that flight out west, there are lots of tasks to complete to be ready.

Quit the job

Today I turned in my badge and quit my part-time job at the Kennedy Space Center! No longer will I be able to casually walk around a NASA rocket on the launch pad or around a capsule in the processing facility. For almost 40 years my identity has been “space center worker.” Probably the most surreal moment of the day was hitting the delete button and deleting all the electronic files that contained my life’s work before turning my laptop in. For some reason the universe smiled on me and gave me the greatest job I could have ever imagined, working on NASA’s manned space program. Some of the highlights were being involved in all the launches that built the Space Station and in launching the Hubble Telescope into orbit. The lows were being on the launch team of the doomed Challenger flight and being part of the Columbia disaster recovery effort in Texas. It’s still painful to reflect on those times. Regardless, it has been a great run. Now on to my next identity, “hike trash”.

Standing by the Artemis I moon Rocket before flight

Preparing things at home

Six months is a long time to be away from home and to leave my wife holding down the fort. The best thing I can do to relieve stress on her is to make sure she has less to deal with while I’m gone. That means doing stuff like getting the car maintenance done, fixing things around the house, making sure home maintenance items are up to date, etc. One concern my wife has is the feeling of security while I’m away. We made a plan that includes a house alarm system and installation of smart home cameras with motion lights around the exterior of the house. Fort Knox has nothing on us. And because we live in Florida and I will be away during hurricane season, it will be up to her to prep the house for a hurricane should one come our way this year. To make it easier we made the painful finacial investment into hurricane shutters and panels that are easy to install replacing the burdensome plywood that I have always installed.

Adding security cameras to the house before I leave

Final Physical Conditioning

For older hikers such as myself, we require more physical conditioning before hitting the trail than our younger counterparts. So I have been busy prepping my body for this demanding journey. When I completed my 1200 mile LASH on the AT in 2023, my knees were a mess afterwards.  It took me several months of physical conditioning to get them back to normal. One area of emphasis has been really building up the knees. I have consulted physical therapists for exercises and have been pretty diligent on conditioning them for the last year. I’m happy to report all seems well there. I invested in a gym membership to Planet Fitness (which is a very cheap option) and have been going pretty regularly for the last year. I find their circuit room workout is really good for total body conditioning. In addition, I added biking, stair climber and incline treadmill with 25 lb. weights. I will warn you if you use the weight vest, don’t be surprised if your wife refuses to be seen with you in the gym. For cardio I have been running 3 times a week and biking on the weekends.

Taking a well rounded approach to hiking prep that includes lifting and knee work at the gym, running, treadmill, stair master and biking.

I do have one particular exercise that some people think is strange, I practice conditioning for pooping in the woods (or desert as it will be). That’s right, let that sink in. I’m conditioning for pooping. So little background here…My colon and I have always had an unspoken agreement. Wait until there is a safe, clean location with running water before kicking it into go time. On the AT, most of the time there were civilized restrooms within a couple days hike of each other so my colon knew to shut down until I reached those spots. This worked out well however there were  some longer stretches that made for some urgent action on a couple occasions. Let’s just say there is a cute little coffee and danish shop in a small town in PA that I’m pretty sure I’m not welcome at anymore. But even if civilized restrooms weren’t available, most shelters had privies that while not great, at least allowed you ability to sit if needed. On the PCT, since there are no shelters with privies and the towns are spread apart, it looks like I will be doing some open air squatting. As you get older, it’s harder to hold that squat for a long time so I have been building my squatting muscles up as part of my prep. Again, wife avoids me during that exercise in the Planet Fitness circuit room but I will say the legs are ready.

In summary, I am feeling good about being ready to hit the trail in a couple weeks. My pack is still coming in a little heavy so I have some work there, but other than that the gear is ready. Probably my biggest apprehension about the whole thing is having to say goodbye to my wife and family for a while. I don’t think you can really prepare much for that. See you on the trail.