To be honest, my preparation for this hike started in earnest over two years ago. My trail partners for this trip included PR and KD. PR was the first to commit to this hike with me and he probably started his planning three or four months ago. KD was an enthusiastic late joiner who began his trip planning after a shared breakfast about 10 days prior to us jumping in the F150 for the drive to Sault Ste. Marie! I was super psyched to have these fine gentlemen join me on this adventure. These two trail runners and overall fine middle aged athletes, qualified for the Boston marathon two times and completed it at least once. How hard could the Coastal Trail be after completing the Boston marathon?
Planning is everything, proper planning can be the difference between an enjoyable trip and an arduous journey. I’d say our preparation was somewhat successful but, as you will encounter repeatedly throughout these blog posts, weight matters. I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to travel as light as possible. This includes getting your own body in shape and not carrying too many extra pounds, as well as what you put in, on and around your pack that you’ll be carrying on your back. As the boys got used to me saying every little bit adds up. If you find yourself saying it’s only 2 ounces or it’s only 3 ounces, think about it, if you are saying that 10 or 12 times… You do the math.
I mentioned weight, I took my pre-training seriously this time around and I’m proud to say I started this hike weighing 10 pounds lighter than I did in 2019. My pack at weigh in for this hike was also 35 pounds (down from over 40). Between my weight and my pack, I started this hike almost 20lbs lighter than my previous attempt in 2019. Additionally, as I mentioned in the forward, our pace at the time combined with my overall trail weight, caused my knees to give out on me after 35 km of hiking over just a day and a half! Our trip south was over in 2019 much earlier than anticipated.
I am happy to say that this time around, lesson learned, my knees were fine in fact everything was feeling pretty good this time around at Oiseau Bay or map mile 30km. We will get more into the specifics as to why we turned around on this trip at Oiseau Bay, but I’ll say that in a group Hike, just because one hiker is feeling “OK”, that’s not good enough for continuation.
As you may have determined, the most important thing to think about in terms of preparation is the weight of all your equipment and yourself. The lighter the better. After that you need to start thinking about equipment and food. Luxuries really aren’t something you should be thinking about on a trip like this. You will be amazed that just how heavy the necessities are, especially if you are planning for a longer duration hike where every extra day means more food.
Equipment. Before I get into the nuts and bolts of all the equipment is that we invested in, first and foremost a Garman in reach mini was obtained. This device was priceless as it allowed us to stay connected with family through satellite text messaging and it allowed us to retrieve weather forecasts which could help determine our path forward or backward. Most importantly, an SOS function would of relayed our coordinates to the authorities should we have need a medical evacuation. Obviously a good map and compass was part of the kit, as well as knowing how to use them.
I bought an Osprey 55 L backpack a couple years ago and I love it. It is approximately 3 pounds and has an amazing amount of places to tuck,ttie and strap other equipment to. I ended up buying a Teton lightweight one person backpacking tent online, it also weighed approximately 3 pounds. My sleeping bag was a lightweight 7°C rated bag which probably weighed close to 3 pounds as well. My sleeping pad is one thing that I wish I would’ve exchanged for something lighter. Although it was comfortable and did the job I think I would’ve benefitted from trading it in for something half is heavy. The other newly purchased item that I was very very happy with was my new jet boil stove. This also helped my companions as we shared the stove and allowed them to not have to carry one, although they did help by bringing some fuel. Other equipment that I would’ve brought with me included a spoon, a gas cannister for the jetboil, A small first aid kit, some bug repellent and some bear spray, I also brought a headlamp and a bag of clothing which included extra underwear socks and a T-shirt and a raincoat. I reckon all those items I just mentioned were luxuries as I think I could’ve done the trip without them if I had to.
Water. I am a big believer in Aquatabs. One small chlorine tablet would disinfect the already cool clear Lake Superior water in 1/2 an hour. Additionally, I carried a life straw which wasn’t needed, as KD’s bag water filtration system proved quite effective and efficient.
Food. My food plan was a bag of Costco keto granola and a small amount of powdered skim milk, this would constitute my breakfast for every day on the trail. Obviously some small ready to go Coffee packets were essential! There is nothing like trail Coffee out in the backcountry!
At the onset we were planning for eight nights on the trail. Each day after breakfast would have consisted of to boil in a bag meals, two protein bars, one small bag of trail mix, And a fruit bar. I did my best to pack approximately 2800 cal for each day. And it was also rather surprising how after some of the most exerting days how little we actually felt like eating. But it was certainly important to try to consume those used calories because the next day never seemed any easier than the one we just completed. Each day of food weighed just over 1 pound each. It is important to really know what you’ll consume. Don’t bring unnecessary food and unbearable weight!
My trail companions shared a tent which was an excellent way to distribute weight. To make a long story short, like me, they probably had a few extra items that were not required or considered luxurious. PR had a pre-hike bag way in of about 42 pounds while KD tip the scales at over 45 pounds. Again it was tough to imagine these fine fellas who completed the Boston marathon having any issue carrying these weights. But again the challenges of bad country hiking on a very tough and adverse trail is hard on anyone.But as PR famously said “ I thought we were going hiking, not to Golds Gym!”
We certainly had everything we needed. We had the right mindset and all the gear to make this trip successful. The advice to you as you may be thinking about doing this trip is this, everything adds up, you need to be as light as you think you can be for this trip. If you need it you need it but if you don’t I would leave it behind.
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