Desert Strategy for a Redhead

There are going to be a lot of difficult things about hiking the PCT. Bugs, foot pain, terrain, snow, hunger, rocks off of which I could tumble, sore muscles, sheer boredom, etc. But the thing that makes me the most worried is...the sun.

On the Appalachian Trail I carried sunscreen but barely ever wore it, mostly because it turned the dirt that settled naturally on my skin every day into a greasy film which proved nearly impossible to wipe away without a half dozen of the meager wet wipes I carried for just that purpose. But I also didn't wear a lot of sunscreen because I didn't need it. The AT is nicknamed "The Green Tunnel." The trail rarely goes above tree line and is usually winding up and down hills covered in lush forests.

David in the green tunnel

I did get sunburned once. It was the day we crossed into North Carolina and even though the air was hot, the trees at higher elevations were still bare of leaves. My shoulders and the backs of my calves were pink and stinging by the end of the day. It was horrible! Being sunburnt is bad enough, but when you are carrying everything you own on your back and you have to keep moving or risk running out of food, it becomes miserable.

And here lies the problem: the first 700 miles of the PCT are Straight. Up. Desert. Cactus-ridden, tumbleweed-inhabited, no-trees-for-miles, let's-hope-we-can-find-some-shade-behind-this-medium-size-rock-style desert. And I'm in trouble.

At least there's a flat spot for setting up the tent.

So here is the plan:

• Long sleeves (Obviously.)
• Sun gloves (SPF 50. I honestly didn't know such things existed until now.)
• Sun hat (It has a 5 inch brim. I look like a satellite dish.)
• Long pants (I don't own these yet because I have been avoiding buying them. Pants sound awful. Out of pack, out of mind.)
• Sunscreen (I am carrying 8 oz to start. Somewhere, a super ultra-light hiker is feeling a voodoo-like back pain because of this weight.)
• Hike when the sun isn't around (Wait, what?)

Yup, that's right. My best strategy for being a pasty white redhead in the desert is just to completely avoid the sun. I think we are going to have to night hike.

David and I tried night hiking on the AT once. A few minutes after it got dark my headlamp batteries died and it started to downpour. It was not a hard decision to stop and set up camp. But this will be different. We will be starting our hike in the shade-less, sun soaked wastelands of the American Southwest.

Am I being dramatic? Maybe, but also I was born and raised about 700 miles and a full 10^° latitude further north of the equator than the Southern Terminus of the PCT. I am not built to withstand the power of the close sun for so many hours a day. So, like the scorpions and coyotes, I will emerge at dusk.

This is actually not an uncommon plan. Many hikers attempt "10 before 10," that is, 10 miles before 10:00 am. Then they siesta until the heat of the day has passed and try to get in another 10 miles or so during the evening. David and I will probably augment this a little, depending on where the day fits in on a scale of awfulness (1=annoying, 10=strangle something), but I predict waking before sunrise and taking a 4 hour nap after lunch. Although, if our only source of shade is our heat-trapping tent, that could be a whole other struggle.

It's hard to know for sure what will work for us in a desert section of a thru-hike, but we'll figure it out.