Total Cost for the PCT, Mental Game, & My “OTHER” Trail Name... Q&A

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Tags: Q&A,UL Hiking,UL Backpacking,PCT,PCT Thru Hike,Pacific Crest Trail,AT,AT Thru Hike,Appalachian Trail,AZT,Arizona Trail,Trail Name,UL Hiking Gear,Hiking,Backpacking,Bike Touring,Hiker Trash

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it has been a while since we've done a Q&A so let's answer some questions [Music]

well if you guys haven't noticed I did stop doing my weekly Q&A series but I decided that I'm gonna start doing a Q&A every once in a while maybe once a month and in the past if you wanted to ask a question you left it down in the comment box from now on I'm gonna be putting up a post everyone smile over on my community tab on my YouTube main page now if you want to be notified for when I do post asking some questions for my Q&A all you have to do is go over to the subscribe button right next to it you'll see a little bitty bell hit that for notifications from this channel that way you'll know whenever I pull everybody for their questions now for this month's Q&A I did pull everybody over on the community tab but I also pulled some of my patrons over on patreon now speaking of patreon if you dig Mike UAE's I do a live monthly Q&A over all my patreon page so if that's something you're interested in checking out I'll leave something down below now that my shameless plug is out of the way it's time to answer some questions as far as I know you're a cold sleeper - do you sleep in your wind pants or do you prefer long johns I'm currently evaluating windpants any recommendations except for the enlightened equipment well I'm kind of a cold sleeper basically my feet are cold sleepers so I'm actually a pretty warm sleeper which is why I'm able to use a 20 degree quilt for most all of my hikes and while I was able to use it for the PCT even up in the High Sierra however at night my feet get frozen it doesn't matter what temperature it is it can be like 60 degrees outside and I'll wake up with cold feet so typically aside from just a regular quilt I use a downside now as far as long johns and windpants

it's pretty rare that I'll actually sleep and a pair of tights or long johns and that's because I like to have my skin right up next to my quilt so it creates a warmth barrier I'm one that believes that clothing can actually steal warmth away from your body so it's pretty rare that I wear pants while I'm sleeping there was one time on the PCT where it got so cold down to eight degrees

leaving Big Bear California that I threw basically everything I had on so I put my tights on I put my wind pants on put both of my jackets on because it got freezing cold and super windy but yeah most times I don't sleep with any type of pants on now there are some pretty awesome wind pants out on the market aside from the enlightened equipment I believe montbello makes a pretty sweet pair that a lot of people like and I think that Z packs also makes a pair of wind pants what is your daily hygiene routine how do you wash your clothing your gear and yourself on the trail well my daily hygiene routine is pretty simple I basically just brushed my teeth in the morning and at night and then when I get to camp at the end of the night I usually take my buff I get it wet and I wipe my feet off so I'll wipe like the dirt and the grime out from in between my toes so the next day I'm not getting hot spots and blisters from the dust in the sand as far as washing my clothes are washing myself or washing my gear on the trail I don't do it I typically wash my clothes and myself when I get into a town to resupply or stay in a hostel or a hotel and that's about every four or five days sometimes but as far as washing that type of stuff on the trail I've never really done that every once well if I'm hiking and it's super hot it's super grimy and gross and humid and I'm sweating a bunch and I have all those sweat crystals all over me I will take my shirt off I'll dip it in like a lake or a stream and then I'll wring it out just to get some of that salt and that grime out but yeah I don't really have much of a hygiene routine on the trail because whenever you're hiking from 4 to 6 months and every single day you're dirty and you're sweating and there's grime all over you stopping every day to take a bath and wash your clothes on the trail it tends to almost be a waste of time because you're just gonna get gross and dirty again so I save those occasions for when I get into town wet and cold feet while hiking do you just get used to it yeah I just let my feet get wet and cold basically I don't worry with insulated shoes or waterproof shoes I don't really believe in those because I think your feet are gonna get wet regardless as far as getting used to it I don't think you ever get

used to hiking in cold wet nasty shoes but it's just something that I deal with I just embrace it it's gonna happen anyways as long as I'm hiking my feet are staying warm enough and then when I get to camp that's when I take my shoes off that's when I take my socks off wring my socks out dry my feet off get my feet warm and get ready to do it the the next day again I don't think that you ever really get used to hiking with cold wet feet it's it's pretty awful it's a pretty awful thing but it's just part of the hiking experience during your PCT hike how many hikers came up to you and said hey darlin how many recognized you from your videos so Steve it was quite a bit I got recognized a lot especially in the first five hundred miles and then it basically happened all throughout the trail and it's always kind of weird to me still I'm not really used to that you know I make these videos because I just love inspiring people I love sharing information so when people come up to me and they're super excited to see me tell me that you know the reason they're hiking is because they saw that I was gonna be hiking the PCT the reason they got into backpacking is because of one of my videos the reason that they are wearing the jacket that they're wearing is because they saw one of my gear reviews it's awesome and it lets me know that I'm not just making these videos for nothing and I am somewhat inspiring people to get out on the trail so I did get recognized quite a bit on the PCT and I loved it every single time how often did you find yourself on the PCT not wanting to be there anymore that is a great question and something that I think that I've tried to talk about in past videos when you hike every day from four to six months it becomes a job and like any job some days you don't want to go to work sometimes you want to take a week off and go to Hawaii on vacation so it definitely happens it happens to all those even though you love being out there and you love hiking and you love stopping to smell the roses and taking your time every hiker goes through the point to where you just don't want to be on trail anymore all that being said I did have a handful of times especially towards the end when I was in Washington that I was just ready to be done with the trail it's ready to move on to something else taken forward to six months out of your life to do something the same thing every single day is a big task and you get mentally and physically wore out from it so there was a handful of times that being said now not being new to the whole long-distance hiking thing I've learned how to deal with it I know how to stop and ask myself why are you out here

why are you hiking everyday what are you here for and if you weren't here what else would you be doing and that usually is enough to convince me to stay on the trail and to keep going because I know getting off trail is gonna be a much worse feeling than a little bit of mental stress that I'm dealing with on the trail a little bit of physical strain that I'm dealing with that that feeling of getting off the trail and not accomplishing the thing that you set out to do is gonna be a way worse situation now speaking of mental game hey Darwin is Derek from st. Joseph Missouri man love your channel thanks for all the videos got a question about the mental game I know you talked about your eclectic music style but when you're not listening to music or podcast what do you think about how to keep your mind occupied when you're on the trail hey man thanks for answering keep up the good work so yeah I do listen to a lot of music and podcast while I'm out on the trail but I do have a nice big chunk of my day where I like to just kind of dive into my head and figure things out and I think every trail that I've ever done I have thought about different things for the PCT in particular I spent a lot of time thinking about what I was gonna do in this next year if you guys don't know I am currently working on launching an online magazine and community website called outdoor evolution and on top of that I'm also gonna be doing a thru-hike of the Arizona Trail and 2019 and shooting a full length documentary for the Arizona Trail Association so the PCT I spent a lot of time thinking about those things typically in the morning I'd get up I'd break down camp I'd get on trail and for the first two hours on trail I would brainstorm I'd brainstorm about the website I'd brainstorm about the documentary and then after that I'd start listening to music and then towards the end of the day I would start listening to podcast so I can learn something so that is really how I dealt with the mental game on the PCT in particular again every trail that I do is totally different for me I tend to have a different experience physically mentally spiritually so the PCT I spent a lot of time in my own head just working things out any plans to travel outside the US yep if you didn't have a chance to see my what's next video I do have a hike overseas planned for May I should be overseas for about twenty to twenty-two days I'm not gonna release just yet what I'm doing

yes I will be going overseas in 2019 to do some hiking abroad what was your total expense from beginning to end of the PCT I don't really have an exact number but if I had to take a guess I would say between 4500 and 5000 dollars now I did set out in an account with 4000 dollars saved up in the account ready to go but I think that I probably spent a little bit over that with having to take a week off from the Sierra and then having to take a week off from my injury around fright would so I if I had to take a guess again I'm not a hundred percent I had to take a guess I'd say between 4500 and 5000 I heard from another solo hiker you had another trail name what was it and why the change um no I never had another trail name I've had the trail name Darwin since 2015 for some reason there were a lot of rumors that went around about me on the trail especially from solo hikers I guess people were just trolling me just making jokes a lot of people saying that I said things or I did things it's all hearsay no I've never had another trail name Darwin is the only trail name that I've ever had someone was just messing with you and trying to troll me has your PCT thru-hike reconfirmed that there is something special about long-distance hiking or do you see yourself getting the same kick from a activities yeah I think that it does reconfirm my thoughts about long-distance hiking it's it's just an amazing thing it's a special thing to spend four to six months out on a trail and meeting different people and seeing different things and living a super super simple lifestyle I absolutely love it now I do love doing other things I just got done doing a bike tour of the Blue Ridge Parkway with my wife and I did that just to mix it up a little bit but even when I was on the Blue Ridge Parkway on the bike we passed over the mountains to see Trail which was a long-distance trail and the Appalachian Trail and the entire time that I was passing over those trails I wish that I had my hiking shoes on I had my pack on and I was going from one end to the other so through hiking long distance hiking whatever you want to call it is definitely my passion it's definitely what I love and I think it was a very special thing

do you carry certain items on a bike packing trip and not on a backpacking trip

other than bike specific items like a pump no not really I actually if I'm through hiking or if I'm bike touring I basically use the exact same type of gear the bags are just different so obviously when I'm hiking I have a pack on and then when I'm on a bike I use a soft bag set up like a frame bag a front roll bag and then a seat pack and I basically just transfer all my stuff over so I'm pretty minimal when it comes to bike touring I don't like a whole lot of luxuries and then the only other bike packing specific gear would obviously be my helmet some different types of socks some different types of gloves obviously cycling gloves but no I basically use the exact same gear whether I am doing a hike or whether I am biking all right guys last question for this month has the through hiking mindset carried over into your everyday real life or do you view the two as completely separate yes if you don't know I actually live out of a van full time and I travel around the country hiking different trails living in national forests national parks so yeah for me the through hiking mindset has definitely carried over into my real life I don't know if I really set rate betrayal from real life the trail has taught me to live a more simple life knowing that I don't need much to be happy I rather collect experiences and memories than stuff so yeah I completely changed my entire life my outlook how I live how I eat how I do things after I got off the Appalachian Trail in 2015 and it's been non-stop for three years and I love it I absolutely love the lifestyle where you can really stop and enjoy the simple things in life and not have to have it so cluttered with everything else that's out there that I guess you didn't clutter your life with so yeah real long-winded way to answer that yes it has hardcore transitioned over into my real life and it's great alright guys so like I said I'm not gonna be doing a weekly Q&A going forward but I will be doing these q and A's probably once a month so if you want to ask a question for the next one just go over to the community tab and then hit the notification bell up next to the subscribe button that way when I put a post out asking for some questions you guys will be notified and you'll be able to put your question over there hopefully you guys had an awesome Thanksgiving and if you're doing your holiday shopping and you're looking for that perfect hiker trash gift to get the stinky nasty hiker in your life recently my wife snuggles and I put together a hiker trash holiday gift guide if you haven't seen that yet I'll put a link to that down below we just kind of gave our recommendations for all the coolest gear some hiking type gifts and some books that you can get the hiker in your life if you haven't had a chance yet go over and check me out on Instagram I'm posting a ton of new photos lately of some of the things that snows and I have going on throughout the week plus some pictures from some past Ike's 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 [Applause]

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