We started our training for the PCT by hiking 2 hours every day with 15-20 pound day packs on flat surfaces. We will increase these hikes up to 4 hours per day. The pack weight increased to about 35 pounds. Eventually we began hiking on local trails to get used to uneven surfaces.

Planned training hikes:  

Pleasanton Ridge

A quick hike up the ridge can be made into 10 miles and 2 thousand feet of elevation change.

DipSea Trail

Hike the Double DipSea from Mill Valley to Stinson Beach and back. This is about 14 miles with 3 thousand  feet of elevation change. And lots of stairs at both ends!

Mt Diablo

Hike from Clayton to the top of Mt Diablo via Mitchell Canyon and back. This trail is about 15 miles with 6 thousand feet of elevation change.

Mission Peak

Hike from Stanford Court in Fremont to the top of Mission Peak. This trail is 3 miles long with 2100 feet of elevation gain.

Ohlone Wilderness Trail

Hike from Sunol Regional Park to Del Valle Regional Park. This version of the trail is 20 miles with 4-5 thousand feet of elevation change.

Hike from Fremont to Del Valle. This version of the trail is 30 miles with 5-6 thousand feet of elevation change.  

Another possibility is to camp at Del Valle and return the next day.

Henry Coe State Park

Hikes in Henry Coe State Park can be 10+ miles and have thousands of feet of elevation change.

What we learned on the PCT:

Our training hikes were good, but they didn't prepare us for the heat of the Southern California desert. It was 120º in the shade, but there wasn't any shade.

Blisters were a problem for most hikers for the first month. These blisters were the biggest I have ever seen, and some of the ugliest. After the first month blisters were really rare. The best solution seemed to be to drain them ASAP and keep them clean so they didn't get infected.

Other than those problems, our conditioning seemed good enough. We started out with nearly 20 miles per day.

Current training:

Marcia continues to walk daily with friends. Ken only walks infrequently. We both like to get out and hike when the weather warms up in the spring. The EBRP trails are also a source of training hikes in our area.