GRETEL SCARLETT aka AMERICAN IDOL ~ THRU HIKING GEAR & TRAIL WISDOMS
“My advice is to wait (on river crossings) until people are around, if you can. Just sit a little bit and just wait until someone is at least coming towards you or someone is coming behind you and do it with a group of people. I would even, if it was that scary of a river crossing, just camp a few feet away from the river for that night and just wait until people catch up. Especially as a solo female.”
GEAR
FEET
• Microspikes
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• Athletic Tape
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• Superfeet Green
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•Salomen 3D
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SOCKS
Darn Tough
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• Altra Gaiters
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FOOD
• Green Foods Superfood Smoothie
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• Lara Bars
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Baby Food Fruit Puree
• Muir Energy Gels
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• Good To-Go Freeze Dried Meals
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• Dehydrated Foods from Walmart and Target
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PACK
• Osprey (green one)
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• ZPacks Arc Zip Backpack
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SLEEP
Yama Mountain Gear Ciraform 1P Tent
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Sea to Summit SP2 Sleeping Bag (next time Sp3)
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DIY Tyvek Sleeping Bag Cover (aka Tyvek burrito) 47:12 minutes
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Neo Air Sleeping Pad XLite
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Thermarest Foam
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MISC
• Te Araroa (TA) New Zealand
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• Mountain Guides Mountaineering Course
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Tenacious Tape
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Garmin InReach
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Guthook Apps
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FACEBOOK COMMUNITY OF TRAIL ANGELS
• PCT Trail Angels
PACIFIC CREST TRAIL ANGELS
PCT ANGELS
• AT Trail Angels
TRAIL ANGELS
• Comfrey Ointment with Hirudoid for bruising
Western Mountaineering Down Pants
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WISDOMS
FOOD
• I had to do the trail gluten free, with very minimal sugar, so I had tortillas, freeze dried broccoli,
freeze dried carrots, freeze dried corn, freeze dried spinach. Freeze dried soup mix.
I took gluten free pasta, so I’d add that to my dinners or I’d do gluten free ramen.
• I always had a super food drink every day. Like Green Foods Superfood Smoothie, like their powder.
• Protein powder so I could make a protein shakes as like a morning snack.
Then you have the water issue (when you hit the desert) cause there’s no trail angels around.
So carry the water.
SLEEPING
• Just getting your body a few inches off the ground (with an inflatable pad),
your body warmth, it will thank you for it.
• It is scary. It really is scary, especially for someone whose not naturally… I’m not a natural hiker. Every noise you hear, you start to create in your head “What could that be? What’s outside?”.
I am very thankful to earplugs. Earplugs did save my life a lot out there.
I didn’t have to listen to noises outside. But I’ve also probably never slept better on the trail.
THRU HIKING
• Do your trail. Hike your own hike. People will say that over and over, but you must hike your own hike.
• Take a load off. If you get to point where you’re just “Oh, my god, I’ve just been walking for 4 hours straight”,
take your pack off and sit down. Look around at…the view.
• I bush whacked the majority of Washington coming southbound because there was no northbounders plowing through there. So we were the first people through there after the snow.
• Washington is difficult, especially for southbounders. It’s straight out of the gate you are just… it’s hard. You’re doing four peaks a day. Very different then the Sierras, the peaks are smaller, but it’s more up and down.
• I think mentally you’ve got to find what it is that makes you happy out there which is the real lesson
in life. And what I walked away with. There’s no point in doing something that’s going to make you
incredibly depressed and feel like you’re worthless.
• You’ve really gotta find what makes you happy out there. That’s the only way you can keep going…if you’re happy. If you’re depressed, you will leave the trail.
• You gotta treat your body like a temple. A lot of people are out of the trail in the first two weeks, because they’ve hurt themselves, they’re sick… so you’ve really gotta treat yourself.
When your knees are hurting, give them a rest... give yourself a goodnight’s sleep.
• It’s all about prevention. If you know you’ve got like bad ankles, strap them the entire trail. If you’ve got bad knees, strap your knees up. Just do it. It’s prevention. Longevity!
• My advice is to wait (on river crossings) until people are around, if you can. Just sit a little bit and just wait until someone is at least coming towards you or someone is coming behind you and do it with a group of people. I would even, if it was that scary of a river crossing, just camp a few feet away from the river for that night and just wait until people catch up. Especially as a solo female.
• You’ve got to keep going if you want to hit the Sierras (before the snow) and then you can chill out after them.
• Hitchhiking; If you don’t think that person looks right, do not get in the car… under any circumstances.
Make another excuse… run… do something. Don’t get in the car.
• I would make sure when I got into town that I would organize a next pickup.
I would try to get a trail angel to pick me up from that next highway or I would walk that highway into town