Cross Country Beginnings

The time has arrived. Hundreds of pounds of food, months of constantly dehydrating, planning, and organizing have led up to this. Tomorrow we set out on the 2,600 mile walk that will take us from Mexico to Canada. We’ve re-packed everything a dozen times, argued over what was needed and what wasn’t. Soon we’ll figure out the hard way. With a fully loaded pack, stocked with food for 10+ days, water and fuel, my pack comes in at around 70lb, Amanda’s at 55lb. Together we carry around 40lb of food, 12 litres of water. We could carry less, if we planned to re-supply more frequently, but we’ve opted for 10 day / 200 mile intervals. While 20 miles a day may seem ambitious, hiking will soon become our primary form of entertainment, a way to pass the long days. With this in mind, we hope to achieve 20 mile days by the end of our second week.

We will be updating our blog on a regular basis, but we also greatly anticipate the solitude of the Sierra’s. With this in mind, updates may be sparse at times, but it should only indicate that we are in the great company of pinacles and canyons, rivers and deserts. We will also be carrying a satellite beacon which will upload our current position to a live and public map. The link can be found on the right hand side of our blog. Feel free to leave comments along the way, they are always welcome as this will be one of our only means of communication with life off of the trail. I hope you enjoy everything to come as much as we do.

Cheers!
Andy & Amanda