PCT Campsite Video and Tent Review

Every evening on the Pacific Crest Trail we were on the lookout for a campsite. Sometimes the search was easy and in a few minutes we found a flat pre-established site with a view. Other times, after walking an extra hour and a half, with daylight almost gone, we had to settle for a tiny spot between bushes. We photographed all our campsites along the PCT and created this short fun video with the assistance of Joe Sofranko. Enjoy!

The Big Agnes Fly Creek UL2 tent performed well during our PCT thru hike. It’s very light. Out of the box this two-person tent weighs 2.6 pounds. We left the stuff sack at home and brought only 6 Vargo titanium tent stakes, bringing the weight down to 2.3 pounds. The Fly Creek UL2 was cozy for the two of us with only a few inches to spare on either side of our sleeping pads, but its small size allowed us to pitch the tent in itty bitty spots when necessary.

Pre-Ordering Available for our PCT Photo Book

Pacific Crest Trail: A Journey in Photographs cover image

We are very excited to announce pre-orders for our book, Pacific Crest Trail: A Journey in Photographs. The book consists of large, high quality landscape images from our Pacific Crest Trail thru hike. It flows sequentially, beginning at the Mexican border and proceeding north to Canada. Each individual photograph is a piece of art. As a collection, they visually tell the story of the landscapes along the Pacific Crest Trail, from the deserts of Southern California, through the high passes of the Sierras, and into the rain forests and volcanoes of Oregon and Washington. All pre-ordered books will be signed by Chris, and will ship in late February.

Pre-order a signed copy here.

Here is a peek behind the scenes at the work we’ve done to make this book a reality.

Gear Review: Cameras, Solar Panel, Apps, and Phones

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Our Pacific Crest Trail gear review continues. This time we’ll talk about our electronic gadgets, many of which helped us update this blog while hiking.

North Star uploads a post from a high point

Smartphone = Apple iPhone 4S 4.8 oz. Our phones were the most versatile items we carried on our thru hike. They enabled us to check our location, view the latest water, fire, weather, and trail condition reports, take notes, update this blog from the trail, learn about our surroundings, and talk with friends and family.

We protected our phones from knocks with Incipio cases. On rainy days, we operated them through waterproof Aloksaks. Because we were careful with them, our phones were none the worse for wear after 2600 miles, and we will definitely be carrying them on the Appalachian Trail.

Apps = Here are the apps we used most frequently on the PCT: