Ask Darwin Q&A #37 (Answers)

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Video Transcription

hey guys it's Darwin here with my weekly Q&A to answer more of your questions if you want to ask a question for next week's Q&A you can either leave it in the comment box below or or send me a video question over to Darwin on the trail at yahoo.com and then next week I'll answer as many as I possibly can all right so let's go ahead and get into this week's first question how do you choose the questions you answer in your weekly videos so don't I'd start the Q&A off with a Q&A question so how I usually choose my questions for these Q&A is I just run through my comments and I try to look for comments and questions that I've never answered before something that's challenging or something that is a benefit to most of the viewers on the channel so I do get a lot of questions and there are a lot of things that I don't answer if I haven't answered your question in the past sorry um like I said I have answered so many questions I think we're on like 36 now so I try to answer things that I've never answered before so chances are if I haven't answered your question I probably answered it in a previous Q&A and then if I don't think that the questions gonna benefit the entire group the entire audience here on my channel I don't typically answer it now one thing that I did want to say if you do send me a video question send me a video question in a video file attached to the email there's a lot of times that I get video questions and they're either uploaded to YouTube they're on a Dropbox they're on Google Video or something like that just attach it to your email and send it to me that is the best way that I can use your question in my video I'll be starting a northbound through on the 80 starting mid-march do you think it is important to have the exact itinerary on resupplies or would you recommend just going with the flow and figuring it out on the trail with a wall so there are a lot of people that do both when snuggles and I first set out to hike the 80 and 15 we kind of had an itinerary we kind of knew where we were going to resupply and where we weren't going to resupply and that went away really

the thing is when you're out on the trail you kind of start getting into a groove on the trail and you figure out how many days you can go with how much food and then some weeks you might hike bigger miles than other weeks so you're constantly changing how you resupply and where you resupply and what you resupply on so I would personally suggest just going with the flow going off of a wall and not sitting down and writing all that stuff out because as I've seen with us and with a lot of other hikers it never works out and it goes out the window in the first week so don't put the work in on it just get out there you'll figure it out while you're on the trail and you won't have so much story about hey Darwin it's Brian from British Columbia Canada my question is have you ever heard of the Great Divide Trail and if so would you hike it if you want more info on it you can check it out at WWJD I do keep up the good work and happy trails

so no I've never hiked the Great Divide Trail myself yeah I have actually thought about it and I've been thinking about it a lot lately Johnse who has a channel here on YouTube he's another hiker you're not familiar with him you should definitely go check his channel out he recently put out a video series of his Great Divide hike this year and they are amazing it is such a beautiful trail and it looks super rugged so it's definitely on my list for the future to hike I'm curious about trail etiquette on through hikes what are some of the ways people respect each other's space and individual journeys while still engaging with new people so there are a lot of trail etiquette in a lot of different ways ways that you should act in a shelter or ways that you should act in a town ways that you should act with other hikers I actually did a video earlier in the year called trail etiquette you want to check that out I'll put a link up here and that'll kinda I think describes some of the most common trail etiquettes out on the 80 or at least in my opinion but trail etiquette is all going to depend on the person that you're talking to a lot of different people have a lot of different opinions on what proper trail etiquette is I think though the main thing you can kind of sum it all up with is

respect each other respect other hikers and you'll get the same respect in return don't annoy people at shelters be respectful whenever you go into a town and don't act like a jerk and it should just be common sense everyday stuff but like I said go check that video out I kind of go over some of the specific trail etiquettes on a tee what is your plan for water for the initial 700 desert miles of the PCT 2 liters a day what's the most water weight you think you'll carry at one time so for that first 700 miles of the PCT I am planning on 5 liters so that is three smart water bottles I have a little pocket where I can hold one up here I'll have two on the side and then I have my Ngoc Beto water bladder that is a two liter bladder now most times I won't carry water in that but if there is a super dry section where I think I'm gonna need extra water

I'll fill that up and either strap it to the top of my pack or put it in my mesh pocket on the back as far as weight I think it's like is it is it two pounds a liter or something so that's so like close to ten pounds of extra weight it's a lot of weight and I'm not looking forward to it it will be super great when I get to Kennedy Meadows after that desert section and be able to you know take it back down to like two liters at a time what's your advice for maintaining relationships with family and friends while you're out on a thru-hike did y'all ever feel like you missed too much no and snuggles and I aren't hardcore family people obviously we have a family we love them very much but they kind of have their own separate thing we have our own separate thing most of both of our families are back in Indiana and obviously we're not anymore we do so much traveling so we do still keep in touch with them and then on the trail you know every once while we wouldn't make a phone call post something on the internet I think one of the best ways to kind of let your family and your friends know how you're doing on the trail and keep a relationship with them is starting something like a YouTube channel starting a blog having a Facebook page or Instagram so your family can watch your journey and see what you're doing it's a great way to share that and that's how I started this YouTube channel I started this YouTube channel so I could share my stuff with my friends and then it developed into something else but yeah I just think every once in a while updating your family and friends letting them know how your journey is doing maybe accepting a few mail drops from them which is really nice that's the best way to keep that relationship going hey Darwin giving you a look at this four walled office that I live in eight hours a day well I'll watch your videos on the internet my question for you is about campfires campfires are good for light and for heat and for camaraderie with your fellow campers how often do you build a campfire or do you just bypass it and just cook your food and get in your tent and go to bed I appreciate the videos keep up the good work so it all depends on what trail I'm on out on the 80 yeah we made a fire a lot I would say every other night we would try to make a fire especially in the beginning because it was kind of coming out of winter going into spring so it's still super cold all the time yeah we made it can't fire a lot and then obviously it's just great hiker TV to sit around the campfire for all the hikers to talk it's really relaxing a good form of meditation I think is is making a good campfire now on trails like the Arizona Trail or the Continental Divide Trail no there there's so many burn bans where it's just it's way too dangerous to start a fire because of how dry it is and even in some of those areas where it's technically okay I still don't do it and that's just because like one little spark one little ember can fly off the fire and start an entire forest fire I don't know if you guys seen what happened to the Columbia River Gorge which is in Cascade Locks which if you're familiar with the PCT that's where the bridge of the Gods is it's whenever you cross into Washington your last state that entire Gorge caught on fire this year and it was because someone made a fire and it was because of one ember one spark so it all depends it really depends on the area that I'm in have you are hikers you run into experienced any type of animosity towards race

orientation or even political orientation while on the trail are in a town crazy divided nation we have that's a deep question um no I don't think that I've ever really seen that out on the trail for the most part when you're out on a trail you were around so many like-minded people and that's the magic of a thru-hike that's the magic of being on a trail is that race and in color and sexual orientation political none of that matters because you're all out there having this awesome journey or terrible journey and going through the same thing whether it's a good day or it's a bad day so all that stuff kind of goes out the window now I'm sure it does exist here and there but I've never seen it the only thing I've ever really seen is like if there was a hiker that was just being a complete terrible hiker which there's been a few you know there's definitely animosity towards that person and the community kind of comes together and make sure that that person isn't taken lightly

I'm not gonna mention any names but in 2015 there was a certain hiker on the trail that didn't have a good reputation he said really terrible things he did really terrible things in town and he was out casted and eventually he was pushed off the trail so that's the only type of animosity that I've seen on the trail is towards hikers that are just being crap bags but ya know it's it's not a very divided place everyone is just hiker trash out there what day are you getting your permit to start the PCT I'm hiking it next year - so Jack I actually just applied for my permit and the date that I chose was April the third so I think that's a Tuesday I'll be pushing off on the Mexican border and headed towards Canada I actually got up super early on the day that permits opened and I got my permit within the first 20 minutes now obviously as you might know the permit system you apply for but that doesn't necessarily mean that you get the permit you have to wait for it to be approved so I'm still waiting for it to get approved but I think that I got it but yeah good luck on the trail next year hopefully you got a good date and I'll see you out there alright guys last question of the week when I get ready to hike the a tee I really want the whole experience one of the highlights of something like this is the camping experience just as much as the hiking part is it feasible to plan to never stay in a hotel or a hostel through the entire trail or is there sometimes I just have no choice like when coming into a town to resupply can you camp near the towns I won't say I'd never stay in a shelter if it just came down to hitting a shelter for safety of a storm I'd do it but I try to avoid it what are your thoughts good question so I think there's a lot of people that head out to the trail especially the 80 that think like every night I'm gonna camp on the trail for five months I don't want to stay in towns I'm gonna save money can you do that yeah absolutely you can if you're gonna come into a town to resupply take a shower maybe get a box that you sent yourself and then get out of town and camp right on the edge of town you can totally do that no question about it but the reality is you won't want to always do that when you're out on the trail for five to six months and you're hiking every single day you're cold you're wet you're hungry you're hot you're sticky and you're just a huge bag of emotions an emotional rollercoaster that you're constantly riding whenever you get close to a town or even a day before a town all you can think about is getting into a town getting into a hostel taking a shower getting food and crashing for the night not being in the woods for the night and that's what we all think going into it like I can't wait to get out into the wilderness and and be out in nature every single night and it's amazing don't get me wrong it is awesome to do that but you will want to take that opportunity to every once in awhile stay in a hostel and stay in a hotel just to kind of take yourself out of it because obviously not only will you want to do that but it's just good to take that mental break and makes you want the trail more so when you're staying in a hostel you're taking something like a zero-day that whole day all you're thinking about is getting back on the trail so it creates more passion for the trail and it's a good way to keep you on the trail like I said it's an emotional roller coaster out there and all the time you will not want to be on the trail anymore you'll try to convince yourself you know what I don't need to hike anymore I've come this far that's good enough for me and staying in a town for the night and taking a break and taking your mind off of the trail is a great way to get inspiration to continue your hike so you can plan on never staying in a hotel never staying in a hostel but I bet you will

alright guys so if you have any questions for next week's Q&A you can either leave them in the comment box below or send me a video question over to Darwin on the trail at yahoo.com and then next week I'll answer as many as I possibly can if you haven't had a chance yet go over and check me out on Instagram I've been posting a lot of new photos lately of some of the things that snow goes and I have going on throughout the week plus some pictures from some of my past hikes if you found any value in this video go ahead and hit that like button subscribe to my channel if you haven't already and as always guys thanks for watching [Music]

[Applause]

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