I walked from Mexico to Canada | Pacific Crest Trail Q&A

hi I'm Alan also a sceptic and I am home and New Zealand after having completed hiking PCT and finishing up my PCT video series I'm here to answer a couple questions that you sent through to me on Instagram so I think if you did see me some follow me if you're not it's a great beauty have a little seat and let's get into it okay so the first question was how am I thank you for asking I actually finished the trail about seven months ago now which is kind of insane when I think about the four and half months I spent on the trail a lot has happened since we have always said we would act early decisively and go hard and we were currently in New Zealand we are unlevel full lockdown so we are only using our cars for essential services such as the grocery store medical supplies non-essential businesses are all working from home my work hours have been half time currently in the digital marketing temporal some hiking plans have and travel plans have probably been postponed for a year or so yeah it's a crazy time in the world but all things considering I'm doing okay how do I get into hiking and what was my experience before trial I always just say that growing up in New Zealand do you have no excuse to not be into hiking at the wrong time I had some friends who into it so gradually I got more into it I did not inherit my passion for it from my parents whatsoever I've four siblings none of them really into hiking sit for kinto which I dragged along and to doing the PCT I probably inherited some of my I guess alternative seeking or adventurous side from my parents I mean that's probably what lived them both to joining a cult and being married in a mess wedding before speaking the same language but there's another story my experience was that I'd done many many day hikes and a handful of overnighters and multi-day errs but nothing that extensive I'd also never hiked and snow purple how did I pray physically I didn't change too much I'm quite into running so I was training for half marathons I think of robic fitness is great but I also don't think you need to train physically for it just having a good idea of what you're getting yourself into is where to start mentally I read the book Pacific Chris trials which I thought was super helpful really insightful to what I would be facing mentally out there so coming from overseas you definitely have more to prepare more to worry about you have to sort out you know international flights your visa your insurance your the logistics just seemed a lot more overwhelming which I found for sure but not impossible I got through it on the second wave of permits I didn't get my PCT permit confirmed until January so I had about four months before I started I think the thing to keep in mind is that no matter what you do you will still feel completely unprepared for your first there like spinning I mean there's no way to feel on top of it if it's your first time hitting out on something like that keep that in mind do all the research you can prepare yourself you know be smart out there but also be aware of the fact that there's gonna be a lot out of your control and you can only do so much to get yourself to that stop line over starting monument was i nervous traveling solo no and I think that was purely due to me having traveled a lot in 2017 I actually spent about 13 months in the US and I lived in Brooklyn for six months I lived in Denver for a couple months I traveled a fair amount I think I flew 37th I'm so sorry for what but just crazy and yeah crazy so I wasn't so nervous about that because I was quite used to being you know feeling out of my depth and having no idea what I was doing in regards to hiking solo I think that the majority of people out there are there to make friends and build relationships people are very warm and open and also of the similar mindset so you don't need to worry about not making friends because I had a little bit of that fear but as soon as I go out there you realize everyone is very like-minded and it's not something to worry about and people look out for each other that's another thing people do look out for each other so how did I decide on my camera setup and how did I find the little DJ I was my pocket my camera setup was the camera that I've been using for years for work the sony a7s mark - i switched it up and took a 35-millimeter if 2.8 limbs I really liked it I also just took the camera that I had been using so I was confident and then I didn't have to worry about figuring out tech problems while I was on the trail and yeah I loved it I loved Sony the DJI was my pocket when I found out about that camera I was really excited because I knew I was an ideal hiking camera purely because I don't like stopping when I'm hiking so that's why I chose that was my pocket I found it really helpful and really cool in that sense where I could just keep walking and filming and capturing little moments cuz I could just pull it out really quickly like pork and it was small so those lists I guess obtrusive I think for next time I might not take the Osmo pocket I might just take my Sony just to challenge myself a little bit more to sit up more composed shots or take time with my filming as opposed to being a bit more I guess in a rush in something but I would recommend that was my pocket if especially if you're new to cameras you literally turn on and record all righty did I experience culture shock in the u.s. not really I think that came from having lived and worked in their states but I think the thing that always reminds me so blatantly that I'm in the States is the number of options there are in the grocery store it overwhelms me every single time and makes resupplies really really hard because we just do not have that in New Zealand the tipping culture is something I was already aware of so it wasn't too shocking but it does always add up you know when you think things are cheaper in the US I you know you end up adding tax tip and then converting to New Zealand and it's as expensive as okay yeah so the other thing I love it's not really culture shock but I just love that filter Coffee is a thing in the States and diners a refillable Coffee is my favorite we do not have that here in New Zealand if you order a coffee at a cafe you have to be specific with what you're ordering if you wanted a black coffee you would have to say americano or long black but generally people get flat whites which is also not a thing in the States okay essential items that specifically somebody said aside from peanut butter okay yeah I get it I know I talk about it a lot so things little things I think that made a difference one was my cake design camera clip I found that so great because having your camera so accessible means you're you are actually going to use it if you're having to put it in your pack back and forth you're way less likely to use it so I found that essential another one was my sunglasses during really random very inexpensive but life-changing because you know just how you sang to us off it's hanging the other one was the waterproof case for your phone you don't want your phone to crap out when you're out there so you should invest in hard proof case in the last three are specifically for my glass ankles they were ibuprofen which I'd pop in the morning KT Tape a little bit expensive but really helpful especially for restoring sending my ankle and tiger balm the hottest drink I'd put that on every night super soothing and have warned my ankle up and just gave me that little bit of comfort pumpernickel yeah it's trying to work a little bit but I've taken some ibuprofen I put an ankle strap on I've got KT Tape okay personal hygiene and dealing with my period first of all guys you are very very lucky you do not have to deal with this a lot of women say that they lose their periods I had the opposite effect and got my back the trail provides I think a good option that people there a lot of woman use the diva cuts I had never used them before so I start to pads and tampons and like used toilet paper carried out Leave No Trace with personal hygiene and shaving there was another thing I was asked some people use wet wipes to clean themselves I didn't bother everyone smelly you just accept it that's your part of life and shaving some people shave some dog the guys a lot of guys got their beds a lot of girls grow their leg hair it's not important nobody really cares it's just up to you and your personal preference you're likely to go into town every two to seven days so if you want to have a shower if you want to prioritize personal hygiene in town then you have the opportunity every two to seven or eight days dog food I'd honestly talked to Rams most delicious meal aside from peanut butter okay I get it thank thank you she's already ate one jar in two days got into her second job I really got into my huff Japanese side on the trail I packed out soba noodles I was packing out sesame oil miso soup packets Lucy would forage a lot and he would get wild onions so like spring onions I think my favorite meal was anything Japanese inspired the other one that I really loved was pecking out the Japanese curry cubes and dehydrated veggies and just making a delicious Japanese curry pot out in this era it was really good if I could kick one person out of my trial family who would it be well we did actually talk about making like a survivor style confessional Lussier history [Music] it didn't happen but Catan oh yes it would be you I tried getting rid of you from day one so what was it like hiking a group with so many people it was difficult to portray exactly what that looked like especially on the day to day I think we only hiked in a conga line maybe three times in total despite what it looked like I personally really enjoyed it you spend a lot of time alone and you have the option of having conversations with people food and you know you're really bonding and going through this experience together which kind of just reinforces your relationships and I also really enjoyed just you know going to camp and having a bunch of people I could chat to equally the same when we've gone to towns it's super fun and yeah it's interesting because when I went out there I had no expectations for what my experience would look like whether there be solar hiking or an air travel family I did not envision I would finish in a group of a living that was not what I'd ever pictured but my approach going in was if I met people I really got along with then I would make the effort to stick with them and that's kind of what happened and I really liked it also probably because I'm used to being around a lot of people growing up in a big family so that wasn't a big change for me how is Irish makes it so adorable like in a sexy way not a cute boy way haha um you'll have to ask him he does have a youtube channel so I'll link it below also somebody asked him to do a tiny home tour because I've heard he's got a pretty sweet one in Montana so what did I do after the trail and what was it like returning home I went to Vancouver with some of the blob the majority of us made up in Seattle after that wait Lindsay oh my god I then went to Denver back to where my friends were did a bit of travelling in Colorado did small hiking then I went to Hawaii where I have some family very lucky there and then I came home from then on I have been working on my videos did some road tripping and hiking in New Zealand but yeah coming home was interesting you know I felt like I'd lived many lifetimes over those months and you always think when you come home from a trip that nothing is gonna change I found that a lot of my friends had gotten engaged and all were getting pregnant we're buying homes so everyone had kind of stepped up their domestic lives and I had gone in another direction how do i edit my video so I write dialogue then create the film or vice versa I think with my PCT videos I just kind of watched everything and relived it when I went to make the videos I would reference my daily journal that I'd kept to remember how I was feeling and then I would kind of write it as I watched through the clips that I was editing and just go back and forth with that I don't know if that really helps there's no real formula but that it's kind of how I approached it it was super overwhelming to hit into an edit when you had so many video clips but it's just doing it one step at a time one step at a time and you get there what is the plan so the dream for me is nonfiction storytelling documentary filmmaking and right now YouTube is the platform that works for me so if you do want to support me I have started a patreon to test the waters a little bit there are a couple of ways you can help me in the channel out in ways we can connect this if you want to check filming yeah anything it's completely up to you will I be posting more hiking videos now that I've finished my PCT video series I would say yes 100% there's a lot of hiking to be done in New Zealand especially while I'm still here I do want to make other kinds of videos too so stay tuned for that in terms of thru-hiking what's next the 80s acidity the GD teaser ta Patagonia Triple Crown I was actually planning to hike the gdt this year but I'm unsure if that is going to happen as for the rest of the hikes I mean I wouldn't say no I would like to do them o in my lifetime all righty I'm cutting it there the video is already way too long if I didn't answer something I'll put some a fake use in the description I am also going to make the gear video I will I swear but if you're impatient and you want to see my gear list I have made a whole webpage on it so also check that out in the description alrighty like subscribe this is YouTube alright um let me know if you're done with my face and so with that is another nightly version of Scout produce after dinner okay this is our duck

Channel: Elina Osborne

Views: 170,848

Rating: 4.9696259 out of 5

Keywords: pacific crest trail, thru hiking, it is the people, new zealand, community, people, hiking, nature, pct

Id: MZVACd6Td-8

Length: 17min 34sec (1054 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 26 2020