The NorthBound Heartsong

Shameless Self Promotion

2012-02-12T04:22:00.000-08:00

Help Apricots and Psycho win a Wedding!!

You can vote for our photo in a photo contest. The winner gets the "wedding of the century" and a trip to Africa.

If you want to get some more wicked awesome travel blog posts, now would be a great time to go vote for us. The contest is almost over.

https://apps.facebook.com/benbridge/contests/158258/voteable_entries/42816732

The above link should take you there.

I mean, she's carrying an Ice Axe. How awesome is that for a proposal?

101 TRULY COMPELLING REASONS TO DO A LONG-DISTANCE HIKE

2011-12-22T23:17:00.001-08:00

Pulled from The New Nomads blog

http://thenewnomads.com/?page_id=215

THE NEW NOMAD’S LIST OF 101 TRULY COMPELLING REASONS TO DO A LONG-DISTANCE HIKE

Confuse loved ones
Look for your purpose in life through solitude in nature.
Get time off work without having to feign illness
Puff out a flat butt
Lose weight
Gain respect and awe from others without having to really do anything other than walk around
Make people miss you
Make people worry about you
Bond with strangers you wouldn’t ordinarily even say hello to in passing
Good excuse to not bathe
Good excuse to talk and sing out loud to oneself
Let bad hair color grow out
Learn to value the little things in life
Only have little things in life
Learn to value and respect nature
Have mystical experiences
Easy to bluff mystical experiences to those at home
Easy way to disappear with secret lover
Meet soulmate
Unload soulmate
Wean yourself away from the poisoned nipple of modern media
Quality time with recently purchased $500 gadget
Hide from debt collectors, ex-wives, and angry roommates
Keep your adult children from moving back in with you
Put off adulthood
Create more empathy with the homeless
Learn to accept help from others
Learn how to balance a pack on your head
Develop an admirable tolerance for wet and cold legs
Finally get to listen to a song all the way through to the end
Create your own religion
Make yourself qualified to write a book
Join interesting community of people who are just as antisocial as you are
Interesting blog topic
Find Yourself
Find God
Find cool things left behind by other hikers
Make peace with the voices in your head
Avoid being constantly tempted by ice cream
Learn to simplify
Learn how complex protecting a bag of M & M’s can be
Be judged not by the amount of money you make, but by the weight on your back
People just have to take your word for it when you tell them where you are
Become intoxicated with beauty
Become intoxicated with exhaustion
Become intoxicated by idle thoughts of hot water
Create a 3rd use for the Power Ranger costume
No reason
Nothing better to do
Empty nesting
Avoiding nesting
Way to stretch unemployment check
Raise money for charity
Become a charity
Squatting is good for developing balance
Break Facebook addiction
Release from the claws of culture
Ample meditation time
Orgy of tree hugging
Excuse to wear nothing but tights
Breathe clean air
Create natural dreadlocks
“hobo” = “athlete”
Inspire excitement over 10 for $1 ramen noodles
Belong to the earth
Belong to nothing
Belong to whoever has chocolate
Discover yet another 10 uses for duct tape
Save gas
Pay no utilities
Become more in tune with a natural existence
Able to not look at yourself in the mirror for many months
Restore feeling of love for life
Learn how to eat wild plants without dying
Great opportunity to practice otherwise useless skills learned at scout camp
Low exposure to electromagnetic fields
No chance of drunk texting anyone
Confront and overcome fears of the dark, animals, death, storms, and loneliness
Fun
Acquire an unflattering nickname based on a stranger’s misperception of your primary qualities
Develop some mighty fine looking legs
Get that look in your eyes
Give your mother an actually real reason to worry about you
Learn to live high on convenience store fare
You can completely change your personality and blame it on “What happened out there”
Great excuse to avoid commitment in relationships
Learn the distinctions between fine granolas
Eat absolutely whatever you want with no ill effect
Can practice many variations on the lyrics of “Tom’s Diner”
Acquire stories to share for a long long time
Justify purchase of expensive camera
Take your mind off anything challenging going on in your life
Learn perseverance
Potential for pranks on other hikers are varied and numerous and almost always invite use of your Diablo voice
See men in kilts without going to Scotland
Redefine cleanliness, hunger, and entertainment for yourself
Gape in awe at the amount of useless things you own when you return home
Learn to sink into a night sky
Gain survival confidence
Get a groove in your move

BUT MOSTLY:

101. Get SANE

Another Hiker's Dream

2011-02-07T22:09:00.001-08:00

One of the more famed trail personalities on the PCT, is planning to do a through hike of the Appalachian Trail. Scott "Squatch" Herriott, of "Walk" fame, and "Sidetrails" fame has decided to attack the AT, with the intent of generating another trail documentary of great humor, and beautiful trail culture.

Take a look at his kickstarter website to read a little more about it.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1676344846/flip-flop-flippin-one-mans-look-for-characters-on

And if you have not seen any of his films, and would like to "rofl", I suggest you pick up any of his fine films
Read up on him here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Herriott
Or purchase some of his documentaries:
http://www.walkpct.com/
http://sidetrails.net/

Apricots and Psycho are in one of the sidetrails documentaries... and Psycho hiked with many of the people featured in the walkpct documentaries.

Seriously folks, this man is brilliant, plus he's tall. .... And if you want to conquer the world someday, it would be a good idea to have a connection to this man.
Oh, and for the ladies, he's a sexy sexy man with delicious hiker calves.

On “Alexander Supertramp” or Christopher McCandless

2011-01-31T14:31:00.001-08:00

"So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more dangerous to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun."
— Chris McCandless

I sat at Vermilion Valley Resort talking with a John Muir Trail hiker. We have met many strangers along the way who took interest in our attempt at through hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. However, his interest in our hike was fresh and genuine. He asked the usual questions of "when did you start?", "how many miles a day?", etc. However, his questions tended to get a little more probing. Finding myself nearing the final day of our hike, I spent time talking with him while he was still in the early stages of his JMT through hike. In fact, he was fairly new to long distance backpacking. As such, he was full of questions for us. I had been thinking about my hike, my experiences, and my overall impression of a PCT through hike, and his questions helped me process my hike just a little more thoroughly. I, too, was interested in his hike. When we came full circle to "where it all started," I asked him what inspired him to hike the JMT. His motivations were similar to many through hikers, but he also stated that he was very inspired by the book (and movie) "Into the Wild." For those who are unaware of this book, I highly recommend reading it (or watching the movie, if you need instant gratification). The story documents Christopher McCandless' life and controversial death. After the discovery of his body, public opinion was (and still remains) heavily divided. Many people feel that Chris' decisions were immature, unrealistic, and ultimately life ending.

I do not wish to comment on his decisions, as there is already enough unnecessary debate regarding that. I do, however, wish to talk about Chris and why I find him to be such an inspiration. From my understanding, Chris had a dream, and he did whatever it took to pursue that dream. I believe that the greatest problem in life is dreams that never become actualized. Our spirits die when we fail to have direction. We need a carrot at the end of the stick. Often times we find ourselves going through life with too many sticks and not enough carrots, which lends us to a life without direction. At some point in our life, we just might find the stick which actually has a carrot at the end of it; a dream or goal that we desire. If we choose to pursue that "dream realized," we will have a direction to move. It is important that at some point we actually get the carrot – a "dream actualized." It is equally detrimental to have never realized a dream or actualized a dream.

Chris did whatever it took to actualize his dream, leading a wandering life taking sacrifices in social connection to achieve his ultimate goal of going "into the wild" in Alaska. I am inspired by Chris because of his severe focus on attaining his dream. It seems he went through life chasing his dreams, making decisions which ultimately led him to his big dream. I find Chris to be an inspiration because of his unrelenting pursuit of his dream.

Many would argue that he made bad decisions along the way, sacrificing good things, sacrificing beautiful relationships with people. He sought happiness, freedom, and truth over love, money, faith, and fairness. When Chris meets his fate in the end, he undergoes a paradigm shift in his understanding of the world. One of the last things he writes in his journal before dying is "Happiness only real when shared."

It is this realization at the end, which rounds out Chris as an inspiration to me. He pursued his dreams with unrelenting passion, and in attaining his dreams he experienced growth. He developed a better understanding of the world, a better understanding of nature, and a better understanding of his relationships. In 2005, I hiked 1000 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail, the latter third was spent largely solo hiking. Ultimately I left the trail, largely because I was no longer happy. This time, while hiking, I was able to spend my time with Apricots. The happiness associated with a shared hike exceeded my expectations. While I did find myself hiking at times wishing I could share what I was experiencing with others, with my family, and with other hiking friends, I knew that Apricots' was always at my side sharing the experience with me.

On “Reassimilating” or Life after the trail

2010-11-23T11:13:00.000-08:00

“To a person uninstructed in natural history, his country, or seaside stroll is a walk through a gallery filled with wonderful works of art, nine-tenths of which have their faces turned to the walls. “

— Thomas Huxley

Leaving the trail is one of the most difficult experiences of the trail. I had adjusted to a life on the trail. I was used to the routine, the regimented lifestyle, and the repeated phases of the trail. Life was simple. It was hard, but simple. Eventually the hike must come to an end, and we are forced to return to “real life.” That return seems to have been broken down into phases of re-assimilation to me, each having their unique flavor.

The first phase was shock, amazement, relief, rest, and celebration. We had just completed an amazing journey, our bodies were sore, our spirits were lifted, and our dreams were actualized. It is not possible to celebrate continually, so once the fizz of the champagne had settled, we needed to enter into non-trail life.

It has been nearly two months since we completed our hike. For the first two weeks after the trail, I still had pains. When I woke up in the morning, I would stand up on feet that have hiked over 2600 miles, have been my greatest asset, and greatest enemy for six months. I placed my hands on nearby furniture to brace my body as I hobbled out of the bed room. Fortunately this has passed, and I no longer have immediate aches when I wake. Occasionally, I sense some faint pain in my knees, reminding me of my accomplishments.

The most noticeable change between life on the trail and life off the trail in this phase is sleep. One would believe that I would be getting more sleep now, with the opportunity to sleep in, but that is not the case. After a fairly lethargic day (any day you don’t hike 20 miles is lethargic), my body has an abundance of energy. As such, I find it hard to go to sleep at a decent hour. If I do go to bed early, I lay restless in bed, mind wandering.

My body is still used to waking at first light, so as soon as light starts hitting my eyes, I wake up. This results in a complete lack of quality sleep. I stay up late, I sleep poorly, and I wake early. Then, around midday, I am tired from poor sleep. I want to take a nap, but know if I do it will only compound the problems of poor sleep. Two months after leaving the trail, I am still waking up early, but I am getting better sleep now.

After settling down in the daily routine of life, I have entered the reflective phase of post trail life. Life is routine enough that mundane time is spent thinking about how I spent my year.

I spent nearly six months of my life, receiving incredible support from nearly everyone who knows me, as well as an enormous collection of complete strangers. I was told on a nearly daily basis how amazing I was or how great it was to be pursuing my dreams against all odds and struggles. There was not a week that went by where someone didn’t say to me, “What you are doing is amazing,” “I could never do that,” “Congratulations to you for the huge endeavor you are undertaking ,” or “You are living your life to the fullest.”

A huge collective of people dedicated their time and resources to helping me fulfill my crazy dream of walking 2600 miles in the woods. I was a complete (dirty and smelly) stranger to them. Why did they help me? What was special about me? How did they arrive at the conclusion that I was someone that should receive their assistance? I know it wasn’t something unique to me, because several hundred other hikers received their own magic, their own assistance, and their own blessings from their own complete strangers.

I did not experience firsthand the magic other hikers received. As a result of that, my journey felt personalized. Every person I met that helped me along the way seemed to be placed on the trail specifically for my journey. They may have only been around to help Apricots and I, and no one else. This constant support from strangers gave me the illusion that I was someone special. In the back of my mind, I knew I was no different than any other through hiker. Yet, at the front of my mind, I was special. This carries over into post trail life, lending itself to what many call post trail depression.

I am not “depressed.”

I am not “hitting the bottle.”

I am not in need of “little happy pills.”

I am getting slapped in the face with reality though. I spent six months of my life hearing how special I am from complete strangers. Now I am back in the real world, seeking a job in a horrible market. I am faced daily with the challenge of competing with other people to prove myself to someone else. This is the opposite of what the trail was. On the trail, I was faced daily with the challenge of competing with nature to prove myself to myself. I had a shared experience with others, where we all lifted one another up (literally and metaphorically). Now, I am in a world where we are forced to claw our way to the top, trying to hold others down.

What is the next phase? I just hope the next phase is being a mindless automaton in a working society again. Grinding through the daily drudge of work, so that I could start paying down my debts and saving up for the next “big hike.”

On "A PCT Through Hike" or Walking for Six Moons

2010-10-30T10:23:00.000-07:00

It is Psycho's birthday today, so for his birthday he would like to present you with his first entry on post trail thoughts:

On “A PCT Through Hike” or Walking for Six Moons

"I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in."
— John Muir

Looking back on a six month hike, and reflecting on changes, experiences, growth, and lessons learned is no easy task. I have been sitting at home reflecting on my hike, and even did so as I hiked. When we were at Snoqualmie Pass, my parents surprised us with a visit. It was my mother’s birthday wish to see her son in the midst of his hike, so they drove from their house to the trail. Over lunch, I turned to my mother and asked her, “What is something new you have learned in the last year of your life that you would like to share with us?”

She looked admiringly at me and said, “You would be the one to ask such a question, forcing upon me a moment of reflection. This is no easy question, let me think on it.”

As she scanned her memory of the experiences she had over the last year, I thought to myself, “How would I answer the same question?” Now I sit here trying to answer that very question.

Long distance backpacking is a unique endeavor. It is a complete wilderness experience that tests your mental limits and pushes your physical abilities. Along the trail, I met many people who said they could never do what I was doing. I once believed the same thing myself, but I challenged myself to do it. I tried once, and several circumstances led to an incomplete through hike. While I left the trail incomplete, I felt that I had learned much about myself and I had become infected with the long-distance-backpacking-bug. I spent the next several years telling friends and family about the hike, and my ultimate goal to go back and finish the miles I missed. I had an incomplete puzzle, and I needed to place the missing pieces to understand the bigger picture. It took me five years to get myself back to the trail.

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, again. This time was different though, as I had a hiking partner for the entire endeavor, and I believe that is what made it a successful through hike. Most of the people I meet along the way who say “I could never do that,” think largely of the physicality of such a hike. The truth of the matter is that the physicality of the hike is only about ten percent of the struggle. The remaining ninety percent is the daily mental battle. I tell people along the way, your body can handle a through hike. Thousands of years of nomadic ancestry honed our bodies into walking machines. It does take a bit of time to adapt to a walking lifestyle, but the body quickly gets used to walking for nearly endless hours among seemingly endless days. Before you know it, the day has passed and the physical pain that you experienced when you crawled out of the tent is long gone. The body gets a rhythm, and while the pain nags (and sometimes screams), the body gets stronger. If you take proper care of your body while hiking, it can endure countless days of hiking.

The real struggle, the struggle that is ninety percent of the through hike, is the mental struggle. Every day you wake up with pain, or challenges ahead, or a general lack of motivation. You have to have the mental willpower to convince yourself that what you are doing is worth it. Sometimes you could walk for days in bad weather, extreme heat, or boring viewless trail. It is hard to understand that these are part of the full through hiking experience, and you need to endure the trials to experience growth. I would be lying if I said that I never wanted to get off the trail. In truth, I probably had that feeling every day at some point. At least once a week, I felt like it was time to give up and get off. I can recall a few times on the trail when I really really really wanted to quit. It was times like these, where I found strength in having a partner who knew I didn’t really want to quit, but rather was just completely miserable with my physical condition at those times. She had listened to me rave about the greatness of through hiking for years, and how disappointed I was to have left the trail last time. Every time I wanted to quit, she reminded me that I would regret it and that my misery was only temporary.

She was right. Often times things would turn around for the better within a couple hours. My physical pain would be gone (or at least forgotten), the weather would change, or the trail offered up some sort of magic which restored my desire to hike – a cold drink, a warm sun, a trailside cache, a spectacular view, or a heartwarming exchange with another hiker. It wasn’t always a couple hours. At times I would hike for a day or two experiencing gloom, wanting nothing more than to find the nearest road and get off the trail. Sometimes we did cut off the trail early, to restore our bodies and minds.

The interesting fact about going into a town full of luxuries, running water, cooked food, and shelter from the elements, is it did nothing for me other than remind me of why I was hiking. Trail towns are amazing healers for the broken spirit, but they also seem to carry a haunting feeling of emptiness. I enjoyed my zero days, and was thankful for the towns, but I was surprised how quickly the hustle and bustle of even the quietest towns made me yearn for the open quiet outdoors. Life is simple on the trail, and the senses are at peace. In towns, it is complicated and I would experience some sort of sensory overload. Often times, Apricots would comment on how I walked around in trail towns with a glazed over zombie like look on my face. I found it difficult to make decisions because I had an abundance of information being thrown at me, forcing me to constantly process what was important from what was not.

So while I found myself yearning for rest days, and town stops while I was hiking, I too yearned for the trail when I was not hiking. This dichotomy existed for the entire hike. Even now that I am off trail, Apricots and I are already discussing future hikes, future long distance backpacking, and future camping. If the trail taught us anything, it taught us that camping is far more relaxing than through hiking.

More Pictures

2010-10-22T19:24:00.000-07:00

Thank You

2010-10-14T14:41:00.000-07:00

The long list of thank you’s --- I am sure we missed some, but I have done my best to include everyone who assisted us in our journey in some way. I have not included every business, but we are thankful for your continued support of the thru-hiking community through tolerating our voracious appetites and our often under-showered bodies.

First and Foremost, we would like to thank our family and all who sent emails of encouragement. It is hard to describe how motivating a single sentence can be when delivered at the right time. We would like to also call out attention to Psycho’s parents who did an amazing job at assisting with mailing packages for resupply. Finally we would like to thank all our dedicated readers, and Apricots’ mother who religiously commented on every blog post.

Below is an almost complete list of those who helped us out along the way. The list is over 200 people long. Thank you everyone that helped… Over 200 people contributed to our dream of thru-hiking the PCT

1. The Binschus Family
2. The Wright Family
3. The Judge Family
4. Cherryville Heartsongs
5. Jillian Wright/Erik Memmott – Hosting us on the drive down
6. Mark Wright – Hosting us, and taking us to the trail head, and offering magic at Casa De Luna
7. Tom Delacey/Diane Delacey – Picked us up in Bishop, and hosted us in Reno
8. Jason “NaborJ” Waicunas – Encouraging Emails, and Trail Magic
9. Debi “Ladyface” Vinson – Encouraging emails and phone calls
10. Jeff “Rabbit” Dishman – Encouraging phone calls
11. Kitty Boryer – Encouraging Emails
12. Lake Morena Campground – Host to ADZPCTKO
13. PCT Association
14. Oregon Mule Skinners
15. Backcountry Horesemen
16. All trail crew volunteers and workers
17. Luka – Stranger we had dinner with in Idyllwild who offered supportive emails along the way.
18. Older Gentleman at bar in Wrightwood, who bought a round of drinks for several hikers
19. Drakesbad Guest Ranch – Stellar service for thru-hikers
20. Red Moose Café in Sierra City – Above standard service for thru-hikers
21. Berkeley Echo Lake Camp
22. The stranger who gave us M&Ms and Gatorade at Diamond Lake while we tried to hitch a ride
23. Big Lake Youth Camp

Care Packages/Trail Gifts

1. Cody Matteucci
2. Jacob “PseudoGnome” Courtney
3. Andrea Harrison and Leslie Altnow
4. Kristine Nystrom
5. Paul and Kelly Wright
6. David and Carol Binschus
7. Carolyn Madden
8. Adrienne Kierst and Barbara Bergquist
9. Jacob Lupton

Established Trail Angels

1. Casa (Mike) Herrara, Inc (including Gourmet)
2. Ray and Susan Goodwin
3. Jeff and Donna Saufley – Hiker Heaven (including Burrito and JJ)
4. Joe and Terrie Anderson – Casa de Luna (including Doug)
5. Richard Skaggs - Hikertown
6. Thomas “Bombadil” Figueroa
7. Dennis and Georgi Heitman - Hiker Hideaway (including SugarMomma)
8. Brenda Braaten – Little Haven
9. Williams’ Family – Honker Pass at Bucks Lake
10. Bill and Molly Person – Pooh Corner
11. Hiker Hut in Etna
12. Lloyd Gust
13. Jerry and Andrea Dinsmore – Hiker Haven

Hikers we hiked with at one point or another (the list is probably incomplete, and not everyone has online journals, but I thought I would link to them if I could find them)

1. Amoeba - http://trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?trailname=10449
2. Axilla
3. Bag Lady - http://postholer.com/journal/viewJournal.php?sid=bf575f267849a6daf9a04da5afbd2044&event_id=597
4. Beaker
5. Billy Goat
6. Boston - http://trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?trailname=9803
7. Buckeye - http://inspireout.com/
8. Calorie - http://postholer.com/journal/viewJournal.php?sid=bf575f267849a6daf9a04da5afbd2044&event_id=700
9. Catch Up
10. Colter
11. Compass
12. Crowdog
13. Cubby - http://trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?trailname=9803
14. Daredevil
15. Darko
16. D’Israeli Gears (three hikers)
17. Dick Wizard
18. Double Check
19. Dreams - http://postholer.com/journal/viewJournal.php?sid=bf575f267849a6daf9a04da5afbd2044&event_id=678
20. Duff
21. Epic - http://trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?trailname=10447
22. Fidget
23. Freebird - http://trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?trailname=9246
24. Furniture
25. General Lee
26. Genius - http://postholer.com/journal/viewJournal.php?sid=bf575f267849a6daf9a04da5afbd2044&event_id=634
27. Golden Child – http://aslowbeginning.blogspot.com
28. Gramma Lissa - http://trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?trailname=10918
29. Granite - http://postholer.com/journal/viewJournal.php?sid=bf575f267849a6daf9a04da5afbd2044&event_id=547
30. Grateful
31. Hot Mess - http://postholer.com/journal/viewJournal.php?sid=bf575f267849a6daf9a04da5afbd2044&event_id=603
32. Ishmael
33. Jackass
34. Joker
35. Johnny Law
36. Kiwi - http://postholer.com/journal/viewJournal.php?sid=bf575f267849a6daf9a04da5afbd2044&event_id=656
37. Lakewood - http://trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?trailname=10398
38. Mango - http://trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?trailname=9761
39. Maybelline
40. The Mayor
41. Mike
42. Missing Link
43. Moa
44. Molasses
45. Motor Giggle Bootie Butt
46. NonStop
47. No Trace - http://trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?trailname=9709
48. Old Scout
49. Papparazi (aka Alabama)
50. Pat Burglar
51. Passant
52. Pika
53. Rally
54. Riffraff
55. Shroomer
56. SlimJim – http://5000milesummer.blogspot.com
57. Square Peg
58. Stick
59. SubZero
60. Sunshine
61. Swift - http://inspireout.com/
62. Terrapin Flyer - http://postholer.com/journal/viewJournal.php?sid=bf575f267849a6daf9a04da5afbd2044&event_id=547
63. Train
64. Trailhacker - http://trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?trailname=10732
65. Tumbleweed
66. UltraBuns
67. Unbreakable - http://trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?trailname=9709
68. Uncle Tom - http://trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?trailname=9956
69. Weather Carrot
70. Wild Child
71. Wolf Taffy
72. Wyoming
73. Yellowstone - http://postholer.com/journal/viewJournal.php?sid=bf575f267849a6daf9a04da5afbd2044&event_id=553
74. Yeti
75. Yowzers - http://postholer.com/journal/viewJournal.php?sid=bf575f267849a6daf9a04da5afbd2044&event_id=667

Caches, Stashes, and Trailside Magic (at least 28 instances, often supported by more than one person)

1. Pioneer Mail Campground Water Cache Trail Angel
2. Scissors Crossing Water Cache Trail Angel
3. Third Gate Water Cache Trail Angel
4. Third Gate Lead Cache Trail Angel
5. Pioneer Mail cyclists who offered us water.
6. Wayne of Pie Town Gear – Trailside store and showers
7. Luka – Stranger we had dinner with in Idyllwild who offered supportive emails along the way.
8. Interstate 10 Water/Soda/Food Cache Trail Angel
9. Mesa Wind Farm
10. Onyx Peak Water Cache Trail Angel
11. Onyx Peak Water/Soda/Food Cache Trail Angel
12. Van Duysen Canyon Water Cache Trail Angel
13. Silverwood Lake Cache Trail Angel
14. Older Gentleman at bar in Wrightwood, who bought a round of drinks for several hikers
15. “Law” and “Order” – Roadside trail angels on the Station Fire Detour
16. Bouqet Canyon Water Cache Trail Angel
17. Oasis Cache Trail Angel
18. San Francisquito Canyon Road Water Cache Trail Angel
19. Dove Spring Canyon Rd Water Cache Trail Angel
20. Cache 22 Water Cache Trail Angel
21. Hat Creek Rim Water Cache Trail Angel
22. The stranger who gave us M&Ms and Gatorade while we tried to hitch a ride
23. Lloyd Gust for rides and maintaining trailside Caches
24. “Catdog” for his trailside food/water cache
25. The tourists who gave us water at Barlow Pass
26. The trail angel who maintains a PCT Hiker Stash by NF RD 23
27. Trout Lake Abbey for maintaining a cache by NF RD 24
28. The trail angel who maintains a food/water cache near Snoqualmie Pass

Hitches (I am sure there were more)

1. The Driver who drove us into Warner Springs
2. Ken Smith - The Driver who drove us from Warner Springs back to ADZPCTKO
3. Squatch – The Driver who drove us from ADZPCTKO back to Warner Springs
4. The Driver who drove us into Idyllwild (from Hwy 74)
5. The first Driver who drove us part of the way out of Idyllwild
6. The second Driver who drove us part of the way out of Idyllwild
7. The driver who drove us into Idyllwild (from Devils Slide Trail)
8. David Ledbetter – Idyllwild Trail Angel/ride up Black Mountain Road
9. The Driver who drove us into Big Bear as well as back to the trail
10. Ormond – The driver who shuttled us around Big Bear to help with Errands
11. The Driver who took us into Wrightwood (via Lone Pine Canyon Road)
12. The crazy woman who gave us a ride to and from the trail for a Wrightwood Slackpack
13. The Driver who drove us into Tehachapi
14. Georgette – Slackpacked us outside Tehachapi, and drove us back to the trail the next day
15. The driver who drove us into Onyx
16. Bessie (“Queen Heffer of them all”)- drove us from Onyx to the trail
17. The driver who took us down from Kearsarge Pass
18. The driver who took us from Independence to Bishop
19. Sue Yeoman – rides to and from the trail, as well as around town in Ashland
20. Jim Flett – ride from Seiad Valley to Dunsmuir, and overnight host
21. The driver who took us from Burney Falls State Park to Burney
22. The driver who took us part of the way from Burney back to Burney Falls State Park
23. The other driver who took us part of the way back to BF state park
24. “Piper’s Mom” who drove us into Chester, and maintains a trail cache for hikers
25. “Piper’s Mom’s Husband” who drove us back to the trail
26. The driver who drove us from Dunsmuir back to the trail
27. The driver who drove us into Etna
28. The driver who drove us from Etna back to the trail
29. The driver who drove us from Seiad Valley to I-5
30. The driver who drove us from I-5 to Ashland
31. The driver who took us from Diamond Lake to the Trail
32. The first driver who took drove us around crater lake, back to the trail
33. The second driver who took drove us around crater lake, back to the trail
34. The third driver who took drove us around crater lake, back to the trail
35. The driver who drove us from Barlow Pass to Government Camp
36. The driver who drove us from Government Camp to Barlow Pass
37. The driver who took us into Trout Lake
38. The driver who took us from Trout Lake back to the trail
39. The driver who took us partly from Chinook Pass to Packwood
40. The second driver who took us the rest of the way to Packwood
41. The driver who took us into Snoqualmie Pass
42. The driver who took us from Stevens Pass to Baring
43. The driver who took us from Baring back to the trail
44. The driver who took us from the trail back to Baring
45. The driver who gave us a ride at Hart’s Pass
46. The driver who drove us to Yosemite Park
47. The driver who drove us part of the way from Yosemite Park, back to Tuolumne Meadows
48. The second driver who drove us part of the way from Yosemite Park, back to Tuolumne Meadows
49. The third driver who drove us part of the way from Yosemite Park, back to Tuolumne Meadows
50. The driver who drove us part of the way from Sonora Pass to Walker, CA
51. The second driver who drove us part of the way from Sonora Pass to Walker, CA and offered trail magic
52. Mark - drove us from Walker CA to South Lake Tahoe
53. The driver who drove us part of the way from South Lake Tahoe to Rocklin
54. The second driver who drove us part of the way from South Lake Tahoe to Rocklin

Our Last morning on the PCT - Video

2010-10-11T09:38:00.000-07:00

Sierras Pictures

2010-10-08T11:39:00.001-07:00

Fate is Cruel Sometimes

2010-10-05T17:59:00.000-07:00

Day 175-October 5th
Destination: Walker, CA
Miles: 0
Cumulative Miles: 2586

Like a bizarre twist of fate, we spent all of yesterday praying for a safe delivery through the storm to a town with a hot shower. We made it through the thick of it all and were dropped in the small town of Walker, CA. We planned to go to Bridgeport, but we were told hotels were far cheaper here and that the burger joint had great burgers, rivaled only by the BBQ joint.

As fate would have it, we got our hot shower, but all four restaurants in town were closed last night, and all day today. We had to subsist on untasty microwave meals and nasty gas station frozen foods. Apricots points out that we forgot to pray for good food. All our prayers were answered, but we forgot to pray for good eats.

We holed up in our hotel room with the heat cranked to dry out our gear. We couldn't dry it outside because it rained most of the day. In fact, when we woke, we saw that the snow line had dropped to around 7000 feet. The weather is supposed to continue for the next three or four days, which means that snow is piling up at the trail. The highway back to the trail is closed, and lightening continues to flash up at the trail.

We have regrettably made the decision to conclude our hike, four days from the end. As we cannot get a ride back to the trail, we would be required to road walk back to the trail. Then we would have to navigate 75 miles of trail in fresh snow and bad weather. Sadly, we cannot wait out the weather because of post trail commitments which loom near. It is a hard decision, but we both feel very accomplished and feel that we have completed a thru-hike of the PCT. Many other hikers we know who have completed the hike have missed miles here and there. Not everyone succeeds at hiking the full distance in one season, but most will agree that 2600 miles is good enough to call it complete.

Over the next few weeks we will be regathering our thoughts. We will not have daily posts, but there will definitely be a few more posts. It would be impossible to thank everyone who helped us on this hike, but we intend to try in a post. Also, we will be posting pictures from our final leg. We're sure there will be a few other posts regarding our post-trail emotions.

For now, thank you for reading. It would be nice to know how many readers we had, so if you could post a comment to this blog, or sign our trailjournals guestbook it would be appreciated.

Thank you. Talk to you again soon.
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Like a Cow in a Snowstorm

2010-10-04T19:02:00.000-07:00

Day 174-October 4th
Destination: Walker, CA (via Sonora Pass)
Miles: 21
Cumulative Miles: 2586

We each wish to post our own thoughts on this day...so this post is Apricots' thoughts on day 174 of the PCT.

Though our day did not start until 5:30 a.m. the lightening and thunder storm that woke me at 2:45 a.m. proved to be an indication of the day ahead. I lay trying to remain calm so I could fall back asleep but found myself counting with each flash...1 one thousand 2 one thousand... Most of the time I got to 7 which meant the lightening was at least a mile away, though occasionally I only got to 4. I thought to myself "I hope the rain that is falling now stops by morning."

When our alarm went off at 5:00 a.m. we could still hear rain so we snoozed until 5:30 a.m. Going about our normal morning routine of breakfast, coffee and packing up Psycho stuck his head out of the tent to get our bear vaults, which he had lazily shoved out of the tent door the night before not wanting to go out in the cold rain. When he loudly said, "F@ck", I thought maybe a bear had run off with them, or they had rolled into Dorothy Lake. I asked what was wrong and he said,"it snowed last night." The light patter of rain I had heard in the middle of the night was in fact snow and so was the still continuing patter on our tent. Knowing this, we took our time getting ready; no sense in hiking in the dark with snow covering the trail making it difficult to see.

Hiking in the snow was not dissimilar to the day of hiking in the rain we had yesterday. The goal was to stay as warm and dry as possible and not slip on the rocks that cover this section of the PCT. The main difference was that my feet were refusing to warm up despite the continual movement, and I started to worry about frost bite. "Just keep moving, that is all you have to do." I said this to myself not realizing how powerful of a mantra it would become for the day ahead.

Though the snow was frustrating it was manageable the same way the rain had been. The trail was covered, but not enough to really lose and this was a relief. My real concern throughout the day was the lightening that continued off and on. Looking at the sky, I could see this was a serious storm that was not going to pass by. It would be at least an all day thing, if not a several day thing.

The biggest concern was that we were going to be gaining elevation throughout the day. Though the first ten miles were pretty gradual, I knew we had to climb to almost 10,500 feet in order to connect to the road Psycho and I had agreed we were going to exit the mountain on. We chose it because it would bring us quickly down in elevation, while the trail remained high for quite a while longer before dropping.

Each time the sky lit up in a bright flash, I found myself counting again. Often I managed to count to seven, sometimes even twelve, before hearing the crash of thunder. At times I had no warning and just heard the loud crash. I became anxious the handful of times that I only counted to two. As Psycho explained to me, light travels roughly five times faster than sound, so whatever number you count to, you divide it by five and that gives a rough estimate of how far in miles the lightening is. Anything less than five is less than a mile and only counting to two...well you get the idea.

As I walked, I thought about how yesterday had been one of the harder trail days, between the very rocky terrain, the grueling up and down climbs over slick rocks, the constant rain, and the fact that we hiked 24 miles stopping to rest only once to eat a quick lunch. I realized that today would turn out to be more difficult due to the snow and lightening. Little did I know, the hardest part of all was yet to come.

Though I tried to remain focused and positive as I walked, I was incredibly anxious and worried. Psycho led the way, moving us along as quickly as manageable. I prayed to just about every religious figure I could think of, my family, the universe, the earth, whatever or whoever. Hell, if the Lord of the Underworld was willing to warm things up a bit and keep us a bit safer (ideally without us having to exchange our souls for the deed) I would be glad to accept the help. Funny enough, the words that kept running through my head were, "Giant warm rubber bubble." I was envisioning Psycho and I each in our own giant rubber bubbles that extended out a half mile all the way around. Yeah, I know I am crazy, but it is thoughts like these that keep you moving in a situation like this. Luckily, my feet had finally warmed up enough that I could feel them again.

As we approached the steeper portion of the hike I heard an animal noise that sounded distinctly like a cow mooing.
We were close to 10,000 feet in the Sierras in the middle of a snow storm so I was a bit thrown off. I began to worry that it was actually a bear roar so I looked all around me for the source. Up the hill a little way from the trail was a heard of cows casually grazing the way they would in a field on a warm summer day. Though it was pretty bizarre to see the cows I thought to myself, "ok, so if these cows are not concerned about this terrible snow and lightening storm should I be so freaked out?" To which I responded to myself thinking, "Ya Lauren, but cows aren't the most intelligent creatures on the planet. But then again, what am I talking about, I am the idiot that is climbing up a mountain in a horrible snow storm?"

As we finally got past the tree line, I looked up at the mountains ahead and my heart sank. The storm had engulfed the mountains and it was white all around. Out of the seeming protection of the trees, I knew the lighting would be a real danger. I stopped Psycho and asked him if heading up further was a good idea. He looked back at me and told me that we had no choice, the storm was not going to let up and staying on the mountain longer would be unwise. As if to confirm my fears, a loud crash of thunder bounced off of the white walled mountains around us. Psycho turned back to face the storm and trudge onward. At this point the snow had completely covered the ground and the trail was no longer visible. Luckily, Psycho had the GPS, and the cows were a blessing of sorts as they had mainly stayed on the trail leaving prints and cow sh*t to guide us.

The further up we climbed, the more dramatic and intense the situation became until I thought that what I was going through could not be real. It had to be a scene in a movie, right? The wind was blowing the snow sideways and this had caused a lot of the hillside to have deeper snow than everywhere else. Psycho was making the steps, and I was following, so despite how hard it was for me, it was more difficult for him. Eventually we followed the trail for as far as we could make out any semblance of it. We ran into a point where it switch backed up the steep grade in front of us. Instead of switch backing, we climbed straight uphill until we intersected it again. As I walked, the whiteness of the snow and landscape around me was so consuming that though I remained totally focused on each step, my eyes began to compensate for the brightness. I started being able to see the liquid on my eyes moving around. They were focusing closer than what I was actually looking at because it was too bright. It was distracting, but I kept moving.

When we finally reached the saddle where the road intersected the trail I was relieved but at my most frightened. The wind was the strongest it had been all day, that is the nature of a saddle. I was struggling through knee deep snow, completely surrounded by clouds, with occasional flashes of lightening and the wind was blowing me sideways. I panicked but somehow kept moving following Psycho down the other side of the mountain. It was just as frightening as the side we had come from but we were climbing down and losing elevation as quickly as was safe to move.

After we had traveled several miles conditions improved and the snow lightened. This was when I accepted that it was all going to be ok. As Psycho noted in his journal, I could not help but think of the three south bound hikers we had passed. I hope they make it through ok because the weather report we saw once in town confirmed that the storm was going to last several more days. We were lucky enough to get rides off the mountain despite the road being closed.

If there is anything that this trail has taught me it is humility. I am now very certain of my place in the natural world.
I am also incredibly grateful to every single person that helped us along the way. It is because of this help that we were able hike the miles we did and have the experiences we did. Every step of the way I was surprised by blessing after blessing from many an unexpected source. Blessings come in sometimes unusual forms, like cows in a snow storm...

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Psycho on Day 174

2010-10-04T18:50:00.000-07:00

Day 174-October 4th
Destination: Walker, CA (via Sonora Pass)
Miles: 21
Cumulative Miles: 2586

We each wish to post our own thoughts on this day...so this first post is Psycho's thoughts on day 174 of the PCT. Apricots' post will follow soon.

(It's long, but the day was epic...enjoy the read)

I woke to my greatest fear this morning...but not after a restless night. The thunder boomed through the night. We were camped at about 9000 feet, and in somewhat of a canyon. The lightening flashed directly overhead, and thunder crashed immeasurably close behind. We were directly underneath the heart of the storm. As the thunder boomed the tent walls seemed to shake in fear.

The tree under which we camped was split in two locations, perhaps from lightening strikes. Normally I wouldn't wish to camp under a tree struck by lightening, especially one the looked like it had been hit twice. Yet after yesterdays wicked weather, I was too exhausted to think about it and only noticed in retrospect. Fortunately lightening didn't strike three times in the same location.

The cold rain made us not want to cook dinner last night. We did a big "no-no" by eating in our tent in bear country. Our dinner was plantains, jerky, mustard, mayo, and hot sauce rolled into a tortilla. The trail has taught us versatility in dining.

Anyway, back to the beginning of the day. I woke to my greatest fear this morning. When I popped my head out of the tent, there was roughly two inches of snow on the forest floor. I dreaded the trail was going to be lost under snowfall, and we would be forced to navigate via map, compass, and GPS. We were at 9000 feet, and would be climbing to nearly 11,000 feet. The snow had to be deeper up at that elevation.

Rather than route finding in the early morning darkness, we sat in the tent until daybreak and broke camp. It was a mad rush once we were out of the tent as we needed to get moving to get warm. The first ten miles were going to be relatively flat, so it would be hard to maintain body heat, unless we moved fast. Moving fast is hard in snow. I was terrified.

Fortunately, all of yesterdays rain flooded the trails, so the accumulated snow was mostly slush along the trail. Navigating was easy for the first ten miles. We only lost the trail once, as I mistakenly followed a stream thinking it was the trail. We backtracked until we relocated the trail, and forged on. My mistake cost us only five minutes, but in this weather, I did not like losing five minutes.

The rain was mixed with freezing rain and snow, and the wind was blowing our ponchos off our shoulders. Every ten minutes lightening flashed, and thunder followed close behind. With every flash, I counted the seconds until the thunder. I don't think the lightening was ever more than half a mile away. For one brief moment the sky showed blue, and we saw our shadows. Yet, it was so brief we didn't even get an opportunity to get our hopes up.

I moved quickly, but Apricots was struggling behind me as her feet were frozen. She told me that she couldn't feel her toes and was afraid of frost-bite. At one point she said she may want to stop to set up the tent and thaw out her toes. I really didn't like that idea, as I knew the longer we waited, the more snow would accumulate at the higher elevations.

It didn't help that all the rain had caused the creeks to be gushing like rivers. The log crossings were covered with snow, as were the rocks to hop across. Going either route would put us at risk of slipping into the water. We were forced to ford the streams. I walked into the creeks, feeling the icy water replace the semi-warm water which already soaked my boots. Every stream crossing offered us an opportunity to replace the warm boots with freshly cold boots. Fortunately, most streams were managed without full on fords.

After making our way across ten miles of drenched trail, we began our climb into the higher exposed ridges. The thunder had died down, and while I would like to say we were in the clear, we had reached a point where the trail was no longer visible. The snow was now six inches deep.

We heard a noise, and at first thought we spooked a cub bear, but realized it was actually free-range cows grazing. There presence in the snow storm was surreal, but I was happy they were there. They tended to stick to the trail, so I was able to lead the way up the mountain by following their hoof prints in the snow. I was, however, slightly fearful of getting trampled by terrified cows. Would my orange pack cover look like a red matadors cape to them?

"Should we walk around the herd?" I asked.

"Just go through them," Apricots replied.

At this point we had reached the timber line, and the thunder had stopped. Apricots still felt a little uneasy about climbing to the ridge, but I told her that it was only going to get worse, and we couldn't stop to wait out the storm.

"We'll be fine, we just have to keep moving," I said. As if to taunt me, the sky lit up and thunder boomed overhead, justifying Apricots' terror over our condition.

We continued on. We had about 900 feet to climb to the pass, where we would follow a jeep road out. Following the ridge in the snow and thunder would be too dangerous. Besides it was impossible to see the trail by then. The trail was following the jeep road for roughly a mile, which made it easier to find. The snow was now about a foot deep, and the wind had caused the snow to drift up to 24-30 inches deep at times.

As we climbed higher, the thunder boomed louder and the wind picked up. We were still a mile from the top when the snow turned into a horrid mix of freezing rain, sleet, ice, snow, and every other miserable form of precipitation. The wind blew it directly into our face, and we were in white out conditions. I turned my face down and guided us up the mountain by keeping my eyes glued to the GPS, and occasionally looking up to read the land.

When we hit the top, the trail went one way, and the jeep road went the other way. By now, the snow was too deep to read any semblance of a road in the conditions, and I had to hope that the GPS accurately reflected the course of the road (which it rarely does). The wind gusts were strong enough to blow us down if we didn't keep three points of contact.

We could see a lake in the distance and knew the road went by it, so we cut cross country down the hill. Every once and a while we found the road and followed it, but the wind had caused snow drifts that were three feet deep, so it was virtually impossible to trudge through the snow on the road.

Gradually we lost elevation, and the snow depth started to subside. Unfortunately, with the drop in elevation, the temperature went up enough that the dry snow flakes were now mixed with wet slushy flakes and thick raindrops.

We started getting wet again. As we were no longer climbing, we were no longer generating body heat. My shorts were pretty much soaked, but my core temperature was still warm enough that I didn't worry too much. I had relocated the jeep road, and the snow was now mixed with slush, so the road was easy to follow.

Then it hit me. With weather like this, the highway at Sonora Pass would likely be closed. When we reached the highway, we would not be done. We would have to hike another fifteen miles to get to any sort of civilization. I had kept us moving all morning, and we were soaked. The jeep road trimmed miles off our day, but we still had hiked about seventeen miles without stopping for lunch (or breaks), or properly hydrating.

We hit the highway. No traffic. I was afraid that we would have to spend the night again in the rain and snow. We were now down to about 8500 feet, and most of the falling snow was not sticking anymore. I told Apricots we should hike down the road a bit to lose more elevation before stopping to eat anything.

Within a mile we saw a vehicle, a road cleaner of sorts. The driver was shocked that we had just come off the trail. He told us the highway was closed, and we would not see any traffic for at least five miles. There was still daylight enough to cover five miles of road walking, if we didn't stop to eat. Ultimately we wanted to get to a hotel for the night. Apricots sang somewhat jubilantly (to the tune of "White Christmas"), "I'm dreaming of a hot shower, just like the ones I used to know."

The road cleaner made it to the top of the pass and came back down. Taking pity on us, he allowed us to catch a ride with him. The illegal ride in the back of his truck was frigid, and probably against company policy, but he was seriously saving us. As we approached civilization, a van started following the truck. The driver pulled over and asked where we were heading. She told us to get out of the wet cold bed of the truck and hop in her warm van, where seat belts and legality awaited us.

She drove us to Walker, CA and dropped us at a hotel, traveling 20 miles out of her way to ensure that we found a warm shower. Her trail magic was just what our frozen bodies needed. The shower that followed was probably the best on the whole trail. The woman who dropped us off knocked on our hotel door and gave us some quality organic goods to enjoy now that we were in the warmth and safety of a hotel room.

What an epic day.

I was praying at least 90 percent of the walk out, and now that we are out, I am worried for the three other hikers that I know are still up there. They are two to three days from a way out, with wicked climbs and drops ahead of them. The weather forecasted for the next four days is nothing shy of horrible. If you are the praying type, there are at least three hikers who could probably benefit from your thoughts.
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Deja WA

2010-10-03T19:47:00.000-07:00

Day 173-October 3rd
Destination: Dorothy Lake
Miles: 23.5
Cumulative Miles: 2565

What a wet day.

It wasn't raining when we got up at the very early hour of five. It wasn't raining when we packed up. Yet, as soon as we started moving, it started raining, and it didn't let up all day.

The first half of our day included three large steep climbs. The granite was slick, and when there was no granite, the trail was a big puddle. This is a bit of an exaggeration, but often we found ourselves walking to the left or right of the trail. It didn't really make sense, considering our feet were already soaked, but we did it anyway. Today was a struggle in avoiding puddles, and maintaining a positive attitude.

Every couple of miles the rain would let up, and we would hope that it was for good. Yet it never really stopped. At times, the rain was thundering down on us heavier than we ever saw in Washington. Thick raindrops beating on our rain coats and ponchos, making furious noise. A few times the rain turned to hail which bounced jubilantly across the trail.

As we made our way across a wide open meadow, the wind picked up and threw the hail violently at the back sides of our legs. It stung, but only lasted a few minutes. We trudged onward, with visions of town warmth ahead. We would just need to survive through another day of hiking. We had succeeded in making up the miles we lost in yesterdays thunderstorm.

Hopefully tomorrow will be bright and sunny. Our hike today was all in the 7500-9500 foot range. Tomorrow the trail gets close to 11,000 feet, and the rain at that elevation is much colder.

On the bright side, we just passed the 100 mile countdown. Woohoo!! Only five more hiking days.
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More Thunder...and Rain

2010-10-02T18:57:00.000-07:00

Day 172-October 2nd
Destination: Benson Lake Trail
Miles: 19
Cumulative Miles: 2541.5

It sprinkled on our tent last night. Yet when we woke, the sky was clear. We packed up our gear and started hiking by 6:45am. The morning was relatively warm and the sky was clear.

As we made our hike toward Benson Pass, the blue sky slowly clouded over. By lunch time we saw the last of the sky. Just as we were finishing up eating, we started getting light sprinkles. We put our pack covers on then, so we wouldn't need to stop later to put them on.

As we made our final ascent toward Benson Pass, at 10,150 feet, we heard the thunder start rumbling. It was an uneasy feeling to know that we were heading up to a pass with thunder overhead. We debated stopping to see if the thunderstorm would move on, but in the end concluded that we were close enough to the pass, and the thunder was moving in the other direction.

We made it up and over the pass with no real thunder, and only light rain. Not wanting to tempt fate, we didn't take our standard break at the top of the pass. The view of the sky on the north side of the pass was a stark contrast to the view looking back. Behind us, all the ridges were shrouded in clouds and rain. Before us, were puffy white clouds and blue sky.

That changed quickly as we made our descent. Soon the rain came and the thunder. It rolled heavy around us, and we were glad to be heading downhill. The wet rocks, and bone-jarring steep descent was not pleasurable, but we were dropping down away from the thunder clouds.

Our goal for the day was another high pass, or just past it. We decided that it would be better if we didn't climb back up. The rain was getting heavier, and we didn't know what the thunder had in mind for that pass. It was a hard decision to make, because it almost certainly sets us up to arrive at Sonora Pass a day later than we wanted. We have the food to do that, but we are running out of time.

Daylight hours are short, and the trail is difficult here. It is hard to make up lost miles, without night hiking. We'll see if we can make them up tomorrow, but the morning is offering us some steep climbs, and we're not sure if this weather will pass by morning time. For now, the thunder has stopped, but the rain still falls lightly.
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Thunder Overhead

2010-10-01T20:12:00.000-07:00

Day 171-October 1st
Destination: 11.5 North of Tuolumne Meadows
Miles: 11.5 (plus 1 off trail mile)
Cumulative Miles: 2522.5

Last night, when we were hoping to get solid sleep on a flat bed, a tank rolled up to our "not-tent-cabin tent cabin." The rumble of the giant diesel engine woke us at what seemed to be the middle of the night. Two people rented the adjoining space to ours, and while the gentleman was kind enough to whisper, the woman couldn't keep her voice quieter than a loud screech.

After the noise died down we fell back asleep, happy to get rest and an opportunity to sleep in. Fate would have it otherwise, as our neighbors alarm clock went off before dawn, and they took five minutes to turn it off. Unable to really get back to sleep, we woke up. Apricots went to shower, while Psycho tried convincing himself sleep would come back. It did not, so he went to shower as well.

We packed up and went to the store to buy some coffee and donuts. Later, while waiting for the shuttle bus to take us out of the park, Apricots knocked the box of donuts on the ground. All our powdered and chocolate donuts were now sprinkled with dirt and gravel. Catastrophe! Like any true thru-hiker we brushed them off and ate them anyway.

We slowly hitched our way back up to the trail. Our first ride was an outdoor educator at the park. The second ride was a San Francisco couple who had come to the park to climb Half-Dome. Our final ride was a retired couple who had won a free stay at the Awahnee Hotel in the park. They made us peanut butter sandwiches at the trail head and said goodbye.

One hour into our hike it started sprinkling. Overhead we heard thunder rumble across the sky. It was close by, and every time it rumbled, it seemed to echo off the giant granite mountains that surrounded us. We trudged on, and the clouds slowly passed us by.

The trail passed through a meadow where every few steps tiny froggies would hop around in front of us. We looked down at the minuscule hopping legs. They were smaller than a pinky fingernail, and far cuter.

Studying the map, we realized that the stream which would provide us with water at the end of the day was dry. We picked a new location, but had to wander off trail a bit to get to it. Our campsite is in a tangled web of trees, and we just heard a branch break. Hopefully it isn't a bear.
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Yodisemiteland

2010-09-30T19:24:00.000-07:00

Day 170-September 30th
Destination: Yosemite Park (via Tuolumne Meadows)
Miles: 9.5 (plus 1.5 off trail miles)
Cumulative Miles: 2511

It was a cold morning when we woke. Due to the nature of air temperature and our position in a valley, we found ourselves hiking out in moderately cold temperatures. The walk was very flat and easy going, which made it difficult to generate our own body heat for warmth. As we wound along the serpentine stream, we were treated to views of a golden yellow meadow of short grass frosted white from the cold night. Seven to eight foot dome like shrubs sprouted periodically out of the meadow as the sinuous water idly slipped slowly down the valley floor misting in the cold morning air.

After a few hours of peaceful morning walking we started seeing and hearing signs of civilization. We were approaching the road at Tuolumne Meadows. Our resupply strategy was to mail a package to Tuolumne Meadows, which was just off trail. Unfortunately the post office there was closed so we had to hitch to where our package was sent. Fortunately, this meant hitching to Yosemite Valley, the heart of Yosemite National Park.

Daniel, Karen, and Matt picked us up. These three were returning from a Mt. Whitney summit trip. We crowded into the small car, with our packs stacked upon our crunched bodies; five campers with packs in a compact rental. We arrived at the valley, exploding out of the car and promptly became disoriented in the tangled web of tourist villages and streets and shops and sights.

We first made our way to a deli for lunch. Then after adequately stuffing our bellies we waddled over to the showers. We showered and did laundry, losing all motivation to get back up to the trail. Naturally we chose to go eat pizza and drink beer to develop motivation to go back to the trail tonight.

Now we are staying in a "not-tent-cabin tent-cabin." Guess we'll head to the trail in the morning. As we sit over dinner, a neighboring camp has a violinist providing us with dinner entertainment.

Apricots would like to personally thank California for the real summer, which Oregon and Washington seemed to forget about.
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Still Alive

2010-09-30T14:08:00.001-07:00

We are at Yosemite.... no reception to send out blog posts.

hopefully we'll be able to soon.

We should be in civilization again in four days...

Island Pass + Donahue Pass

2010-09-29T20:07:00.000-07:00

Day 169-September 29th
Destination: Lyell Creek
Miles: 10 (plus 7 alternate trail miles)
Cumulative Miles: 2501.5

We slept in an extra forty minutes this morning. Sleeping at higher elevations is always less restful. When we hit the trail, we were excited about the lakes we would be walking past. The alternate route was supposed to be far more scenic, and one mile shorter than the PCT.

What we failed to notice was that there were several significant climbs between the aptly named gem like lakes. Ruby Lake and Garnet Lake were both magnificent, though not red. The trail had fairly significant climbs between the lakes, and another decent climb before reaching the PCT again at Thousand Island Lake. This lake quite possibly could have a thousand islands in it, but we never counted. We were fairly tired, wondering how it took us four hours to go only seven miles.

After lunch at Thousand Island Lake, we made our climb toward Island Pass. Island Pass, at 10,207 feet didn't feel like a pass, but rather just another high plain that we walked across. The ascent from Thousand Island Lake, and the drop down afterwards were both fairly minimal. We had larger climbs and drops over unnamed saddles on the alternate route we took. Both times we hit high points this morning on the alternate route, we were above 10,000 feet.

Just past Island Pass was Donahue Pass, which stood at 11,064 feet. The ascent to this pass was long and exposed. The entire hillside was covered in enormous granite slabs, often serving as stepping stones for our trail. Once we reached the top and started our descent, we passed the last place we'll be above 11,000 feet on our trek.

The north side offered a descent worthy of being the most difficult. At first we lost the trail, following a dry river bed thinking it was the trail. A few minutes down the river bed we realized that there were rock cairns to our left. We cut over to the rocks to try to follow the trail. Psycho looked back at Apricots and said, "Finding the trail is easy, just look for the stack of rocks in the stack of rocks."

Eventually the trail became more easy to follow, but not easier to walk upon. The trail was incredibly steep and rocky. At times it felt like we were walking across a very old, poorly laid, cobblestone road which cut down the hill at nearly 45 degrees the entire time. Apricots slipped and nearly hyper-extended her knee, and Psycho trudged on at a pace which would make a turtle look fast.

When we reached the bottom of the descent, we were both beat. We stopped at the first flat site and set up camp, two miles shy of our goal.

Woohoo!!! 2500 Miles

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Red's Meadow Pit Stop

2010-09-28T20:20:00.000-07:00

Day 168-September 28th
Destination: Gladys Lake
Miles: 15.5 (plus 6 alternate trail miles)
Cumulative Miles: 2483.5

Rising a little later than usual, we began our 13.5 mile trek toward Red's Meadow, where we hoped to grab a few supplies, lunch, and a shower. We noticed that as we work our way further north in the Sierras, the rock formations are starting to include some volcanic rock. The trail wound its way through the trees, passing lava rock, red and pockmarked with gas bubbles.

Our morning hike seemed very slow and difficult. We had eaten such a large breakfast at VVR that we took a late lunch yesterday. By dinner time we were not hungry, so we just snacked. This had the adverse effect of not giving us the necessary energy to hike this morning. Slowly and with frequent breaks we trudged toward Red's Meadow.

We arrived at Red's Meadow around 1pm and immediately hit the cafe for a filling lunch, and some coffee. Afterwards we bought a few supplies to get us the rest of the way to Tuolumne Meadows. Then we went to the campground to grab some showers.

When we arrived at the hot spring showers, there was a high school class there on a field trip of some kind. All shower stalls had lengthy waiting lines. Disappointed that we didn't have time to wait for the lines to exhaust themselves, we walked down to the creek and took a quick splash bath before continuing down the trail.

Our first mile after Red's Meadow took us past Devil's Postpile National Monument, an impressive display of columnar basalt, which had been glacially polished at the top. Along the base of the towering basalt columns, large hexagonal basalt lay piled in mounds which have grown over time. The area was designated a national monument in 1911, and is considered part of Yosemite Park.

We continued on, taking a suggested alternate to the PCT, which is part of the official JMT. The alternate is slightly shorter, but has more climbing and takes us past a few more lakes. We arrived at Gladys Lake just after 6:30pm, and set up camp for the night.
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We're alive

2010-09-28T19:17:00.001-07:00

We have no cell reception so we can't get posts out often. But wanted to let you all know we're alive and should be in cell reception in a couple days. Today we are at red meadow.

Silver Pass

2010-09-27T20:07:00.000-07:00

Day 167-September 27th
Destination: Purple Lake
Miles: 14.5 (plus 1.5 off trail miles)
Cumulative Miles: 2462

There is no better way to start a day on the trail then to sleep in and roll out of bed to eat homemade pie and drink good coffee. Everything about our stop at VVR was worth it. We caught the ferry back to the trail and started hiking around 9:30am.

We heard it was supposed to get up to eighty degrees at 8000 feet, and it felt that way. Our climb up Silver Pass was fairly warm, bordering on hot. When we reached the top, at 10,910 feet we took a break and sought shelter from the subtle wind. As we continued down the pass, we were amused by the pint-sized chipmunks which would scurry out, see us, and then flee to shelter. At these higher elevations the chipmunks all tend to be half the size of their lower elevation counterparts.

We dropped down into a small valley for lunch, where the autumn colors made an otherwise plain walk something to revel in. After lunch we made a rather large climb up Tully Hole. The top might as well have been a pass, because by the time we reached the high point of the trail, we were just above 10,500 feet. We descended five hundred feet to Purple Lake where we set up camp for the night.

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Side Trek to VVR

2010-09-26T18:16:00.000-07:00

Day 166-September 26th
Destination: Vermillion Valley Resort
Miles: 4.5 (plus 1.5 off trail miles)
Cumulative Miles: 2443

We woke up this morning without any bear incident. It seems (for us) Bear Ridge was a name only, as we did not see any last night or this morning. After packing up we made our descent off Bear Ridge.

We have added a day to this leg, which was a result of slow acclimatization and a late start at Kearsarge Pass. The miles in the Sierras are difficult. Not only do we face higher elevations and serious climbs and descents, but the trail is also knobby. Often we are walking carefully across loose talus or boney granite. Sometimes we have to lift our body and pack up a two foot step, or slowly drop down two feet trying not to roll an ankle.

With the additional day of hiking, we found ourselves low on food. Fortunately at Mather Pass we met two Canadian women who gave us a little, and the group we camped with the night before last gave us some Top Ramen. This set us up fairly well to make it all the way to Red's Meadow. We, however, had it in mind to side trek to Vermillion Valley Resort (VVR), but we did not know if it was still open.

When we reached the trail junction to VVR, we sat down to decide whether to take a gamble. If VVR was closed, we would have added three unnecessary miles to this leg. A shower, a burger, and more food was mighty tempting. We were more or less resigned to testing fate and heading down, but we decided to flip a coin. Tails came up, telling us to head toward VVR. Feeling a little hesitant, we flipped again. Tails again. We donned our packs and moved quickly down the trail towards the ferry.

When we arrived at the ferry landing, we were happy to find out VVR was still open, and the ferry would be arriving in half an hour. We met a section hiker who was leaving the trail, and had a surplus of food. Once we had ferried across Lake Thomas A Edison, he walked us to his truck and dumped all his food on us. Then another hiker offered us food. He is hiking the John Muir Trail, and misjudged his food needs.

Now with all the extra food given us, we will be able to bypass our next town stop, offsetting time lost by heading in to VVR. Once again, everything always works out on the trail. People's generosity continues to restore our faith in humanity. We are getting well rested after a hard leg. Tomorrow morning we will take the ferry across the lake, and start our four day leg to Tuolumne Meadows. Hopefully it is still open.

Time for homemade pie.
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Selden Pass

2010-09-25T20:12:00.000-07:00

Day 165-September 25th
Destination: Bear Ridge Trail
Miles: 22
Cumulative Miles: 2443

It is safe to say that we are acclimated to this higher elevation hiking, or maybe the trail was just easier today (which it was). We started with a long slow gradual descent, before making a long mostly slow climb of nearly 3000 feet to go over Selden Pass at 10,887 feet.

At the top of the pass, we had a stunning view north to Marie Lake. The blue water was interrupted by several islands and crooked peninsulas. We descended off the pass taking a few switchbacks down before walking along its shore. Passing the lake by we continued our gradual descent down into Bear Valley, where we rock hopped across Bear Creek, another creek which proved to be dangerous and difficult for the hikers who entered the Sierras in June.

A few miles later we started our steep climb up to our camp on Bear Ridge. We are hopeful that all the "Bear" names does not imply that bears will be bothering us tonight.

We would like to thank Andrea and Leslie for the care package sent to us. We are making good use of all the tasty food, and your coffee gets us going in the morning. We can't wait to make use of the lotions for our feet.

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Muir Pass

2010-09-24T17:46:00.000-07:00

Day 164-September 24th
Destination: MM 852ish
Miles: 20
Cumulative Miles: 2382

So technically Mather Pass was our last pass over 12,000 feet, as it stands 12,087 feet above sea level. Muir Pass, our challenge today should get a fair mention though as it is 11,976 feet.

Apricots woke first this morning and crawled out of the tent to do the necessary. While squating in the dark, she saw eyes looking back at her, reflecting her head lamp. She came back to the tent to tell Psycho that there was a bear roaming around, but upon further inspection with the head lamp, we realized it was just one of the deer that had been roaming around our campsite all night long.

As we made our six mile climb up Muir Pass, we were given a false hope. We saw a dip in the ridge and assumed we had made good time to the pass. Unfortunately, just as we achieved that point on the trail, we realized it was not the pass. We still had another mile to go, and another 700 feet to climb.

At that point we passed a large flat lake, casting a perfect reflection of the mountain ridge wrapping the water. The only disruption to the surface were several ducks swimming here at Helen Lake. Occasionally they would dive under the water seeking food. Circular ripples grew out from them, calming shortly before they popped back up to the surface making new ripples.

Passing by the ducks at play, we made the final climb to the top of Muir Pass, named after John Muir the naturalist who first postulated that the Sierras were glaciated mountains at one time. Atop the pass, a small stone hut is built in honor of him.

We took a short break at the top, chatting with Giraffe, a southbound PCT thru-hiker. Then we made our long gradual descent down the pass towards evolution valley. As we passed Lake McDormand, we scared several frogs off into the water. Leaping from the bank, where the trail skirted the lake by a few feet, we watched as they kicked their little legs to flee from our wrath.

Late in the day we arrived at Evolution Creek. Signs directed hikers towards a location for a safer crossing when the creek is more like a swollen river. Our friends who went straight through the Sierras had one of their most difficult stream fords with this creek. For us, it was more or less a rock hop across, where our feet barely got wet.

We made the last bit of a descent down a rocky and root filled trail, arriving at a campsite with four other section hikers. We talked with them over dinner before crawling into our tent for the night. Tomorrow we have a long hike before going over Selden Pass late in the day.

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Mather Pass

2010-09-23T21:02:00.000-07:00

Day 163-September 23rd
Destination: 5.5 Miles south of Muir Pass
Miles: 18
Cumulative Miles: 2382

Last night was cold, but not as unbearable as we expected. Our bags kept us warm through the night. The tent was covered in frost. We packed up and set out for our two mile climb up and over Mather Pass.

The ascent up the pass was fairly easy, but crossed a steep rock chute. After witnessing the rock slide last night, we were a little uneasy. We made the climb with greater ease than the previous passes, as we are finally getting adjusted to the higher elevations.

So far this pass has been one of the most beautiful passes we have gone over. However the descent was quite difficult. The initial descent took us past the Palisade Lakes crossing massive slabs of granite, with rocks aligned to direct us where the trail was. Then we hit a grueling descent over talus. The trail lost nearly 2000 feet in elevation over two miles.

We eventually emerged in a valley rich with the aromas of dirt and trees, ferns and Southern California forest. The sun had worked up a fierce heat rivaling yesterdays abundant cold air. We dried out our tent over lunch, and continued our hike towards Muir Pass. Ultimately we were aiming to stop a few miles shy of the pass, but we met some section hikers who had a great campsite, and a fire.

We decided that camping at a lower warmer elevation would be nice, and a campfire and company would be nicer. We ate dinner and talked around the campfire with Jim and Ryan. Ryan hopes to do the PCT some day, so he was full of questions for us. We were happy to share many of our stories with him.

Tomorrow morning we have a 2700 foot climb up to Muir Pass, the last pass over 12,000 feet for us.

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Pinchot Pass

2010-09-22T18:59:00.000-07:00

Day 162-September 22nd
Destination: 2.5 Miles south of Mather Pass
Miles: 14.5
Cumulative Miles: 2364

We woke up to clouds this morning. This made us a little uneasy, as we were afraid we brought the Washington rain with us down to the Sierras. Fortunately the clouds burned off within an hour of us starting our long arduous climb up Pinchot Pass. Our ascent took us from roughly 8600 feet all the way up to 12,093 feet at the pass.

We were cold for most of the climb, and remained awestruck at the ability of other thru-hikers to make this climb in the snow. Perhaps the snow made for more level terrain to walk across, thereby making it easier. However, the non-existance of a trail to follow would require time consuming navigation. Furthermore, walking on snow is also very fatiguing. By the time we reached the top, we had covered seven miles in five hours, making our hopes of going over Mather Pass look less realistic.

Our slow moving, and acclimatization to these higher elevations has required us to add an extra day to this leg. We have nearly enough food for that extra leg, but are light on snacks to power us between meals. As such, we were very thankful when we met two hikers who are a day ahead of schedule. They were able to give us a small portion of their food making it easier for us while lightening their packs.

After passing over Pinchot Pass, we dropped down a few miles to a small creek where we had lunch. The clear blue sky started filling with clouds, making our ascent up Mather Pass look daunting. Just after lunch it started snowing for a little bit. We were not sure how long the snow would last, so we had to stop to cover our packs and put on rain gear.

By the time we started our climb to Mather Pass the snow had stopped. It started to warm just enough that we shed our jackets. All the time lost over the long slow climb up Pinchot Pass and the short snow flurry set us up with a tight window for making it over Mather Pass.

Rather than potentially running out of daylight on the steep northern descent, we chose to stop shy of our desired camp. This puts us even further behind schedule. The days are very short here in the Sierras, and the miles are quite difficult. It looks like we have our work cut out for us for the next five days.

While sitting at one of the best campsites we've had, we prepared our dinner. On a neighboring mountain a massive rock slide occurred. We saw a boulder which was easily a couple tons lead the crashing rumble down the mountain.

We're camped just above 11,000 feet and the sky has pretty much cleared up. We expect a very cold night. Hopefully our water bottles don't freeze overnight.

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Kearsarge Pass + Glen Pass

2010-09-21T15:16:00.000-07:00

Day 161-September 21st
Destination: Paradise Valley Trail
Miles: 11 (plus 5.3 off trail Miles)
Cumulative Miles: 2349.5

Getting back into these higher elevations takes a bit of time to acclimate. Unfortunately, we don't have time to do so. We just have to hike, and hope that we'll be adjusted in a day or two. We started our day with an immediate ascent up to Kearsarge Pass at 11,760 feet.

We exited the Sierras a little over three months ago through this pass, and the extreme difference was amazing. All of the snow up to the pass was completely gone, and once we topped the pass we looked out and saw a total lack of snow. Kearsarge Pinnacles and the neighboring mountains stood without an ounce of white on their faces. Kearsarge lakes and Bullfrog lake stood in their blue beauty, unfrozen. We expected the snow to be mostly gone, but not completely.

The wind was blowing heavily, so our stay atop the pass was short. Thankfully the heavy wind also blew most of the smoke from the nearby fire away from us, and we had relatively clean air to breath, albeit thin. We dropped down from the pass, only to begin an ascent up our next pass, Glen Pass.

Glen Pass stands at 11,978 feet, the last thousand feet gained over a rough mile. We climbed slowly, frequently taking breathers. By the time we reached the top, the wind had died down. Our energy levels also dropped. Shooting for four miles past the pass for lunch, we only made two. We stopped on a large land bridge between the Rae Lakes and ate our lunch in the afternoon sun. It is so nice to be back in dry air, where lunch is enjoyed rather than inhaled between cold wet shivers.

We continued our descent down towards Woods Creek, where we realized our speed today was less than desirable. We may need to add an extra day of travel to this leg, if we don't pick up our pace. It is very likely that we were slowed greatly today due to the fact that we went over two passes, both nearly 12,000 feet. It is, however, more likely that we are still acclimating.

On the agenda for tomorrow is two passes that are both over 12,000 feet. We will wake early and make the near 4000 foot climb to the top of Pinchot Pass, and hopefully have enough time left over to go down the other side and up and over the next pass, Mather Pass.

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Back to the Sierras

2010-09-20T20:05:00.000-07:00

Day 160-September 20th
Destination: Gilbert Lake
Miles: 0 (plus 2.5 off trail Miles)
Cumulative Miles: 2338.5

We woke this morning and drove the final seven hours to the trail head. As we approached the trail, we noticed heavy smoke in the area. We learned the smoke was a result of a forest fire started months ago from a lightening strike. The forest service is watching it as a controlled burn now, but the air is thick with smoke.

Jumping from sea level two days ago, to near sea level this morning, to a camp just over 10,000 feet is very noticeable. Hopefully we acclimate tonight a fair amount, because tomorrow we are going over two passes that are both around 12,000 feet in elevation.

The sun began setting around 7:30, and the temperatures are cold. However, it is dry, which is a great change from our last few weeks in Washington. We are almost done. Hopefully the bears present us with little to no problems with these last few legs.

Time to face the Sierras...again.
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Driving South

2010-09-19T16:38:00.000-07:00

Day 159-September 19th
Destination: Rocklin
Miles: 0
Cumulative Miles: 2338.5

Yuck, long hours of driving. Our legs are not used to sitting for fifteen hours. Thankfully we had a generous host (Psycho's sister) to welcome us at the midpoint of our drive.

Tomorrow we will drive the remaining eight hours back to the trail, and then enter the Sierras.

This will likely be the last time you hear from us for the next seven days.

Cheerio
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Video's From Washington

2010-09-18T16:42:00.000-07:00

Hiking in the Goat Rocks Wilderness

Hitchhiking in the rain.

Crammed into a truck

Zero in Oak Harbor

2010-09-18T11:23:00.000-07:00

Day 158-September 18th
Destination: Oak Harbor (via Manning Park)
Miles: 0
Cumulative Miles: 2338.5

We stayed with Psycho's parents last night and tonight. Tomorrow morning we will start our long long drive back down to the Sierras. A single rest day to do our "work" and then 1.5 days of driving. Sure, we won't be hiking, but it will not be fully restful.

Psycho's mother watched as we went through the process of drying gear, washing clothes, and preparing food for our last few legs. She commented that our "zero" days are not true rest days, because we have all sorts of town chores. We couldn't agree more, but that is the nature of the hike. We only have two more weeks of hiking, and then we'll be done.

We did find some time to relax. We ate pizza while enjoying a Duck football game. The Oregon Ducks smashed on the Portland State Vikings (which was expected), running the score up to 69-0. They continue to average one point per minute of play, leading the nation in most points earned in the season.

We have been trying to eat a great deal of food, to rebalance our depleting bodies, but we can't keep up. Psycho has lost roughly 35lbs since the beginning of the trail. Apricots continues to complain that she isn't losing any weight (except the initial ten), but it is visibly apparent that she is becoming a well oiled machine of muscular pistons that push her over passes, down valleys, and through forests with simplistic ease.

Tomorrow morning we will drive most of the way back to the trail. We are very thankful that Psycho's parents are helping us get back down for the final chapter of this epic adventure.
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Video of Washington Pictures

2010-09-18T08:58:00.001-07:00

CANADA!!!!

2010-09-17T21:08:00.000-07:00

Day 157-September 17th
Destination: Oak Harbor (via Manning Park)
Miles: 15
Cumulative Miles: 2338.5

It was rough sleep last night, on a very uneven campsite. Yet, despite our poor sleep accommodations, we moved out ambitious for the border crossing. We headed out largely as a train, six of us marching closely together talking away the miles.

Motor's boyfriend planned on hiking south from Manning Park to meet her on our final day. When we finally connected with him, a happy reunion was had. While Motor and Isaac hugged and kissed, the rest of us broke out in a horrible bad attempt at singing "A Whole New World," from Disney's Alladin.

Three miles later, we heard whoops and screams in the forest below us. A few minutes later, there were more screams. Then a few more minutes later we were screaming ourselves. We had arrived at Monument 78, the marker on the trail distinguishing the border between the United States and Canada. There also is a wide clear cut swath of land along the entire perimeter of the border between the two countries. There is probably some cynical comment that could be made about the fact that our Mexican Border is a barbed wire fence next to a steel wall with hired gunmen, whereas our Canadian Border is a wide open swath of land, but we'll leave that alone.

Enjoying wine, whiskey, candy, butter sticks, maple syrup, vodka, Stehekin Bakery goods, and the remains of anything good and tasty, the nine of us jumped and celebrated, indulged and screamed, drank and posed. It was a very wonderful opportunity for us to get to cross the border with others, celebrating in the company of finishers, and almost finishers like us.

We may not be completely done yet, but this is certainly the beginning of the end for us. We just need to head down to California and pick up a few hundred missed miles. But first we had to hike the nine miles from the monument to the highway at Manning Park. What a cruel joke it is, to celebrate being done, only to have nine miles and 1000 feet of elevation gain to deal with.

We got it done, and then ate a meal at the lodge. Afterwards we showered and soaked in a hot tub before Psycho's parents picked us up for the drive south. Tonight we are sleeping in Oak Harbor in the San Juan Islands. Sunday we will head south.

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One More Night

2010-09-16T20:10:00.000-07:00

Day 156-September 16th
Destination: Hoskins Lake
Miles: 23.5
Cumulative Miles: 2323.5

(The attached pictures are for yesterdays post...but the views expressed are similar to today's experiences)

We woke up this morning to Shroomer singing the old 80s song "One More Night." He was, as always, one of the first to rise. He was singing the chorus to the rest of us as a motivational speech. We have two days left before we are done, today and tomorrow. We aren't "not having fun," but we are all a little ready to be done. The eight of us will cross the border together tomorrow, five having completed their full thru-hike. Three of us still need to get a few miles completed in California.

The weather today was cold, and it was hard to stay warm, even while moving. The clouds did part for a bit, allowing the warm sun to strike our bodies, which was a pleasant treat for us. It, sadly, disappeared again before the day was done. Sprinkles started falling around 4pm, and now a full rain is singing us to sleep, or something like "singing".

The views were spectacular, and the clouds were high enough to allow us to see them. Rocky ridges flowed in all directions, with deep forested valleys between them. Our hike took us up and over several passes today, but fortunately there was no real big climbs like in the Glacier Peak Wilderness last week.

Near the end of the day we walked up and over the highest point on the PCT in Washington. From there it is all downhill to Monument 78 at the Canadian Border. We didn't go the full distance to the border today, but rather stopped shy six miles to camp at a lake. Tomorrow we will hike to the monument of our monumental achievement, and then hike 9 miles out to the nearest road.

Tonight, while being loud and setting up camp, three deer walked through our campsite. They seemed to be interested in us, more than afraid of us.

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Kinda Like the Ivy League

2010-09-15T21:01:00.000-07:00

Day 155-September 15th
Destination: Hart's Pass
Miles: 28.5
Cumulative Miles: 2300

The sun lasted for the first half of the day. We woke to a sky bordered in light pink lipstick. As the sun rose, the clouds lost their color, and slowly evaporated. We made our climb up to Cutthroat Pass, and were given our first fantastic view of the North Cascades, from the center.

The rich yellows and whites of the rocks we walked across were occasionally interrupted by red rocks. As we hiked northward on the trail, we saw red mountains with long tendrils of green trees growing up them like ivy on bricks.

Around 3pm, the rain started. It was light infrequent sprinkles, but the sky looked daunting. We donned our rain gear and pack covers. As we neared the next pass the wind picked up and flung cold horizontal rain on to us. We discussed setting up camp early, but we wanted to catch up with all the hikers we left the Dinsmore's with, so we could celebrate at the border together.

We pushed on. Thankfully the trail dipped behind a hillside and out of the wind. The rain eased a little, and we continued on towards Hart's Pass, our revised further goal for the day. When we hit a road two miles before the pass, we met a woman who offered us a ride so we could get to camp before dark. As it was only two miles, and we were wet, cold, tired, and hungry, we took her up on the offer. When we arrived, she shared some Grand Marnier with us, before heading back to her campsite.

To add to the trail magic, we caught up with our hiking mates. Now we don't have to pull 30 miles tomorrow. Yay!!

We just hit 2300 miles. WooHoo!!
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The Long Slow Uphill

2010-09-14T20:59:00.000-07:00

Day 154-September 14th
Destination: Porcupine Creek
Miles: 21.5
Cumulative Miles: 2272.5

Shadows! All Day!!

Today's hike was relatively dry. The only thing that got us wet was the fact that we were sweating from sun beating on us on an exposed trail. We'd be happy to take that any day over rain.

We left Stehekin this morning at 8am, stopping at the bakery to buy more fantastic goods. Reading something somewhere while in Stehekin, we learned that if Lake Chelan was drained, the lowest point in the lake would be considered the lowest land point in all of the United States, which puts the lake well over 1000 feet deep. This impressive depth is easily understood, when one looks at the steep hill sides dropping down to the lake.

We walked a long river valley, deep in steep hills today. The mountains loomed beside us and ahead of us, with their craggy peaks. When we reached Rainy Pass this evening, we began our climb into the heart of the North Cascades. Views are opening up, and we are both very excited for the final days of Washington, especially of today's weather holds out a bit longer.
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Weather, What a funny thing

2010-09-13T20:57:00.000-07:00

Day 153-September 13th
Destination: Stehekin
Miles: 5
Cumulative Miles: 2251

"That's the problem with this. They did it wrong. I want everything. I want cake. I want frosting. I want ice cream, and they are all separate, making it difficult to eat."
-Apricots on our dessert

Waking before sunrise, we packed quickly so that we could catch the first bus to Stehekin. We needed to cover five miles to High Bridge Campground, where a shuttle bus would pick us up for a eleven mile ride down to Stehekin Landing. We would resupply here.

As we walked the five miles, the weather got better and better, until we had clear blue skies. We are afraid that we'll have perfect weather on our "nero" day, and the rain will continue when we decide to leave town. Psycho has been warned to step carefully, lest he should fall and bring the rainstorms.

Once at the campsite, we had thirty minutes to wait for the bus. When it arrived, we took a tour down to the landing. The bus stopped at a ranch, an orchard, a waterfall (pictured above), and most importantly a bakery. The bakery is famed for its amazing baked goods, and it did not let us down at all. The danish was delectable, and the cinnamon roll was unfathomably fantastic. We suspect that if we weren't thru-hikers, we would still be overwhelming impressed with the quality of the food. We are already planning on hitting the bakery one or two more times before heading out of town.

We checked in to the resort to get a solid dry nights rest before doing the final Washington leg. Stehekin is located 50 miles up Lake Chelan and is accessible only by boat, float plane or hiking in over the mountain passes. We hiked in, and took a shuttle bus that will take us back up in the morning.

We spent our day drying gear out while indulging in obscene amounts of delicious fattening foods. The weather offered amazing views of the stunning lake. Tomorrow, on to Canada. We should be there by friday evening. We just hope the weather we had today for the remainder of our hike.

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Falling Down Causes Rain

2010-09-13T11:50:00.000-07:00

Day 152-September 12th
Destination: Five Mile Camp
Miles: 26
Cumulative Miles: 2246

Last night, while hiking in the dark, Psycho stepped off trail falling down for the second time in the week. Two hours later, at camp, it started raining. It rained off and on through the night. In the morning we woke to a lack of rain. We packed quickly, and started moving just as it was getting light.

Half a mile down the trail, Psycho stepped on his gaiter, which had started to come off his boot. This tripped him up, causing him to fall to the ground, banging his knees and pulling a shoulder muscle in the process. About ninety minutes later it started raining again. We have concluded that since Psycho fell 3 times and rain followed shortly afterward, there must be a causation (or at least correlation) between the two. Apricots has advised Psycho to watch his footsteps more carefully for the rest of the hike.

We found the campsite we were looking for last night. It was about ten minutes past where we camped directly on the trail, if only we kept going last night. Of course if we had, we would have had to contend with the enormous downed tree we came across this morning. The nearly ten foot diameter tree had fallen across the trail, and reached 100 feet into the woods in both directions (when you considered the other tree of equal girth that had also fallen there). A small tunnel of sorts was dug into the ground under the tree, allowing us to crawl under it.

The next few miles, up to the Suiattle River, were riddled with downed trees. While it was not as bad as our experience a couple months ago on Girard Ridge, it certainly was trying. Four miles into our day we came to the Suiattle River. A flood a few years ago took out many of the bridges crossing the streams we have been crossing. Fortunately, trail crews have been hard at work rebuilding damaged trail, and adding bridges that have been washed away.

The bridge over the Suiattle River is supposedly built, but no trail to it exists yet. As such, we had to do a log crossing of the river. Sitting on a wet log, sliding our butts slowly across it with a raging river five feet below was more than unnerving. At one point we had to lift our leg over a branch, being careful not to shift our weight to far to the right, as we would fall in. A few feet later, we were forced to transition from a seated scoot position onto our hands and knees. Waddling on all fours with a loose pack atop our backs we inched closer to the other side. Then we dropped back down to a seated butt scoot for the final few feet. At this point the tree widened and we were hitting the root structure of the downed tree. We were forced to climb back onto all fours, and grab the roots to climb over onto the other shore.

Shaking with adrenaline on the other side, we hugged and continued our hiking. Psycho told Apricots (after the crossing) of the unfortunate drowning that occurred two years ago when a hiker fell off the downed tree. She in turn told him of one who fell this year, but survived. This southbounder decided that he was done hiking for the year, which is sad because this would have been his last difficult stream crossing for the remainder of the trail.

After crossing, we climbed up and over Suiattle Pass. The weather became nice long enough for us to take our rain jackets off. Ten minutes after we took our jackets off it started raining again, pretty much for the remainder of the day. The clouds never really lifted, but occasionally we would catch faint glimpses of what we were pretty sure was stunning landscape.

We trudged onward, sloshing through mud pits, stopping only once for lunch and once to fix the broken shoe laces on Psycho's left boot. Late in the afternoon the rain stopped. Unfortunately we were repeatedly walking through heavy brush, which dripped copious amounts of water down our bodies filling our boots with water. Our feet have been nothing but soaked for four days straight.

It's miserable at times, but we are very close to the end and will and determination is pushing us along. Tomorrow we get a town stop in Stehekin where we will get to dry everything out, and start the final leg fresh and rested.

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The Mysterious Miles

2010-09-11T22:05:00.000-07:00

Day 151-September 11th
Destination: 2 Miles S. Of Vista Creek
Miles: 21.5 (plus approx. 3.5 mystery miles)
Cumulative Miles: 2220

The day started with a climb of a couple thousand feet. This was good, as it warmed us up. The morning temperature was not too bad, but as we gained elevation it became cooler, and started to mist and rain a little. The clouds still blocked much of our views, but as the day progressed more views opened up.

Midday, Psycho pointed out his shadow to Apricots. He thought it was gone for good, but it was just away on vacation, avoiding the nasty weather. As soon as blue patches returned to the sky, it came back. Both of us were ecstatic to see blue, even if small and distant.

Psycho had heard the fording of Milk Creek was difficult, and felt a little anxious as we approached the rushing water. Fortunately a new bridge had been built over the creek which washed away the last bridge a couple years ago. Unfortunately, two extra miles of trail was added, which threw off our rhythm and timing for replenishing our water. We arrived at the creek a little thirsty, and there was no safe way down to the water to get some.

We had to hike four miles up a very steep hill before we found a tiny tarn to pull water from. After rehydrating, we walked across some of the most beautiful hillsides. Yellow-orange corn lilies covered the land, complimenting the multicolored granitic rocks which have slowly tumbled down the glacial carved valleys.

Towards the end of our day, we saw a bear in the field we were walking through. We tried to scare it away, but it just looked at us with those "I've-had-a-short-summer-and-I'm-hungry-leave-me-alone eyes". We cautiously trudged on, keeping an eye pointed in the direction of the bear.

As we descended to Vista Creek, the miles seemed to be extra long. We think new trail was added, entirely throwing off our camping plans. After hiking for over an hour with our head lamps, we chose to set up camp in the middle of the trail. Low on water, a little dehydrated, and beat from an exhausting day, we didn't like this option. Walking another 2-3 miles by head lamp was not a better option.

So, we camp directly on the trail. We will have to rise early, so that we can break camp before our tent blocks the trail for any hikers.
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A Better Day

2010-09-10T20:31:00.000-07:00

Day 150-September 10th
Destination: Sitkum Creek
Miles: 23.5
Cumulative Miles: 2198.5

Our new gear kept us dry through the rainy night. It rained all through the night, but stopped by the time we crawled out of the tent. The only hard part about getting up this morning was sliding our warm feet into wet cold socks and boots. Once that was done, we moved quickly to start getting warm.

Low clouds and heavy fog dominated our morning. At one point, Psycho reached out to the cloud covered valley (or mountain for all we could tell) and told Shroomer and Apricots of the serene beauty that was down (or up) there. Miles later the fog cleared, and the clouds lifted. We were offered amazing vistas of long sweeping glacial carved valleys. The steep slopes were covered in lush green plants. The corn lilies broad pleated leaves were changing from green to yellow, creating hillsides of green and yellow. Other shrubs added splashes of red and maroon, rendering the hillside with a full spectrum of color, as the peaks disappeared into the clouds.

To combat the cold temperature, we kept ourselves moving, covering all of the distance with only one sit down break. It was our desire to do 27 miles today. Near hitting our goal of 27 miles for the day, we ran into the collective of thru-hikers we left the Dinsmore's with. Wolf Taffy came over and told us their plans to slow down enough to pull into Stehekin the morning after we were planning to. We talked it over, and decided that we had enough food. The weather seems to be getting better, and arriving at camp early sounded nice.

We sat around together eating dinner. Shroomer, who we met on day two of the trail, fried up fresh picked mushrooms to have as appetizers to our dinner. Also here is Johnny Law and Missing Link, fellow Portlanders who we met in the Sierras, Motor and Mike. Two more thru-hikers rolled up as this was written, bringing the total at this campsite to ten.

During dinner, Wolf Taffy played his ukulele and sang a song, warning us of the woes of giardia.

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Back to It

2010-09-09T10:42:00.000-07:00

Day 149-September 9th
Destination: Saddle Gap (by Benchmark Mtn.)
Miles: 6 (plus a repeated 16.5)
Cumulative Miles: 2175

The weather called for a good day. Sadly the weather was mildly wrong. It certainly wasn't the torrential downpour we experienced last time we left the Dinsmore's, and we did have some blue patches early in the day. By ten miles, the sun was gone and the off and on sprinkles came.

Our better gear, and the company of other thru-hikers made the trek easier. Sadly, the landscape was shrouded in thick clouds and fog, so we were unable (for a third time) to see what we hiked through. As we head north, we will also be heading eastward, which means the rain should clear up.

We arrived at camp at dark. The last uphill trudge was wet, slick, and a little worrisome. We did not know if there would be a campsite, and neither of us wanted to night hike in the rain. Once we arrived, we quickly set up the tarp, and then set our tent up under it. So far, it seems to be doing the trick of keeping us drier, which means we are happier campers.

It is a little cold, and we have a long day tomorrow.
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Zero at the Dinsmore's

2010-09-08T20:46:00.000-07:00

Day 148-September 8th
Destination: Steven's Pass (Dinsmore's Hiker Haven)
Miles: 0
Cumulative Miles: 2169

"I call it the morning dose of self-loathing."
--Johnny Law on Pop-Tarts

Today, we reassessed our plans to move forward. We are not giving up this close to the end, we just needed to figure out how to move forward, without putting ourselves at risk. This meant getting some more gear, drying out our existing gear, and waiting out the rain while we developed our strategy.

Psycho's parents came to Baring, to take us into an REI to up our rain protection. We bought pack covers and a tarp to pitch over our tent to help keep our bags drier at night.

The benefit of our return was coming back to a small herd of hikers. After all our jumping around, we have hiked the majority of the hike outside of the culture of fellow thru-hikers. Now, as the good weather returns, we will be hitting the trail with a collective of hikers we have known for a long time, but not hiked with in several months.

The ten of us (or so) here, all have roughly the same goal time for hitting Monument 78 at the Canadian Border.
This means that we should all be hiking roughly together, which will be a nice change up from our rather solitary hike we have had for most of Oregon and Washington.

Tomorrow we will hit the trail at Steven's Pass, covering the 16.5 miles for a third time. This time, however, the weather is supposed to be better, and we should be able to see the very scenic section of the PCT. While our decision to turn back set us back 2-3 days, everything that has resulted seems to be working out. Things work out on the trail. They always do.

We are probably going to be without phone reception for the next 8-9 days, so take care. See you all after we get to canada (lest we find some random place with a signal).
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Rewind and Retreat

2010-09-07T22:42:00.000-07:00

Day 147-September 7th
Destination: Steven's Pass (Dinsmore's Hiker Haven)
Miles: 0 (plus 16.5 repeat miles)
Cumulative Miles: 2169

Our tent dripped profusely on us through the night. We woke with wet sleeping bags, and a decision on our mind. Retreat, or forge on. As we hit the trail junction we had a decision to make. The difficulty of the decision lent itself to possible regrets in either direction. If we continued on the trail, we might regret arriving at camp with wet sleeping bags. If we headed back to town, we would possibly regret heading out prematurely.

In the end, we have no real regrets. We made the decision which carried no ill-effects to our health and well being. We could possibly face hypothermia if we continued, so we have decided to retreat back to town to dry out our gear, and visit a store to purchase a better tent, some pack covers, and better rain jackets.

It is annoying that we had to hike the same miles back, and may have to hike them a third time. It is annoying that we are further behind schedule now. It is, however, not annoying that we have a warm dry bed for the night. The Dinsmores are hosting close to 20 hikers here tonight, and we are all feeling pity for those out in the rain.

We of course will have to face it soon enough.
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500 Mile Countdown

2010-09-06T20:58:00.000-07:00

Day 146-September 6th
Destination: Wenatche Pass
Miles: 16.5
Cumulative Miles: 2169

"There's no such thing as bad weather, just bad gear."
--Some Pompous Rich Outdoorsman

I don't generally write our blogs in the first person, but I think I will do so for this one, because it will be a lot of my emotions. I cannot fully speak for Apricots' emotions.

It is exciting to know that we are 500 miles from the end of this long journey. Sadly though, fall is here in the Northwest, and there is no denying it. We have had several bouts with rain, and it's not letting up. This morning we debated on whether to hit the trail or not, but we felt we should despite the bad forecast. If we waited around for good weather, we would be waiting until next August.

It is important for us to finish Washington quickly, so we can get back to the Sierras before fall sets in down there. As it stands, we are already behind our desired schedule by several days, maybe even a week or more. As such, despite our anxiety, and the weather forecast, we chose to hit the trail.

I was okay with this decision at first. I am no longer okay with it, probably because I am miserable. The first half of the hike was cold and misty, but not bad. We were moving, so we were warm. All our gear was still dry. This changed.

The further we got from Steven's Pass, the worse the weather got. We are now in a tent, and the rain is pounding heavily on the tent. Some of the seams are leaking, so we're getting the occasional droplet getting in on us. My temperament was positive pretty much all day, but that changed once we slid into our tent, and I discovered that my "dry clothes", which are strictly for sleeping in, had become damp.

I have a little extra clothes that was dry, so I am not entirely miserable. This rain, however, is supposed to last for three days. The trail is a slick mud already, and I slipped once today, catching myself on a high embankment. It's only going to get worse.

I find myself walking down the trail, asking myself "Why am I out here?"

I chose to do the hike for several reasons. First, for the enjoyment of it. Second, for the scenery. Third, for the challenge of it. I have come to realize that this rain takes away all the joy, and makes it impossible to see the scenery. It is a serious challenge, but I would be lying if I said that I came out on the victory side of all the challenges I have faced.

Tomorrow morning, I want to hike the 16.5 miles back to Steven's Pass. From there, I wish to get our way down to the Sierras, and knock those off before fall and winter sets in down there. We would miss about 175 miles of washington, making it an incomplete thru-hike. We would have to come back next year to finish these miles, but it would give us a "Monument 78" (Canadian Border) finish to our hike, rather than some strange unmarked middle point.

I have to reconcile these wants with Apricots, my love and hiking partner. She tends to be in higher spirits than me...at least while in the tent.

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Ten Days

2010-09-06T09:48:00.000-07:00

We have about ten days to the border...bad weather forecasted.

No reception points until then.

See you all on the flip side.

Pray for us.
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Wet... What's New?

2010-09-05T21:25:00.000-07:00

Day 145-September 5th
Destination: Stevens Pass (Dinsmore's Hiker Haven)
Miles: 8.5
Cumulative Miles: 2152.5

It was raining all through the night. Our tent was situated in a place where puddling occurred, resulting in a very damp tent floor. While our sleep was fairly warm, our gear did get a little wet through the night. Fortunately, we were heading to town. We packed our gear, donned our rain coats, and hit the trail.

It wasn't long before we were uncomfortably wet, but it wasn't much longer before we hit the road. Standing in our dripping wet gear, we held our thumbs out for about an hour before a nice couple picked us up for the ride down to Baring, the tiny town that plays host to our fabulous hosts tonight.

Arriving at town, we immediately changed out of our wet clothes and went into the store for a hot coffee and an excellent breakfast. It wouldn't look like it, but the breakfast were some of the best we've had on the entire trail.

Now we are drying out our gear and relaxing at Hiker Haven. Gerry and Andrea are providing much loved accommodations. Gerry just cooked up a dandy meal of burgers, and while gorging ourselves on meaty goodness another hiker arrived. He was picked up in Glacier Peak wilderness by Heather "Anish", someone who Psycho hiked with in 2005.

Psycho looked at her and said, "You look familiar." When she looked at him, recognition clicked, and Psycho said her name. Hugs were given, and catch up was had. It was nice to see someone from his 2005 hike.

The weather looks grim for the next three days, and we are going to sleep with high levels of anxiety about the next leg. This section is very remote, very difficult, and the weather is certainly unfavorable.

Anxiety...what a miserable emotion.

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Was that a bird? Nope just Pikas and Marmots.

2010-09-05T12:46:00.000-07:00

Day 144-September 4th
Destination: Hope Lake
Miles: 22
Cumulative Miles: 2144

It was a cold morning, and thankfully we started with a good healthy 1000 foot climb. Naturally this was followed by dropping about 1000 feet only to climb 2000 feet, drop 1000 feet, and climb another 1000 feet before descending a little over 1000 feet to camp.

The guidebook described a stream crossing as treacherous, and suggested an alternate route. We chose to ignore the guidebook, and head towards the treacherous waters, only to find a relatively difficult but completely manageable stream crossing. We did take our boots off to ford the water, but it never went above our knees and only sounded intimidating because of the fierce rapids above and below the crossing point.

After crossing, we made a 1000 foot climb up to Deception Lakes, where we found a stunning campsite to do lunch at. The sky was patched with clouds, but there was enough sun for us to dry our slightly wet gear.

Marmots and pikas were abundant in today's hike. As we passed over large fields of white and black granite, we heard the whistling of the marmots. We had thought until recently the whistling was some sort of bird, but now we have seen the marmots whistle. Also the "eeep" or maybe "eeeek" or perhaps "peeeeh" of the pikas, we had thought were birds. Now we have seen the small mouse like mammal peer at us over the granite and make the sound. All through the crossing of the granite boulders and rocks, the pikas chattered all day long.

All total for the day, we climbed roughly 6700 feet, and dropped the same. While this is not a large number for a day, it is significantly higher than your typical day on the trail. The rain is starting to fall on our tent, tomorrow may prove to be another wet monstrosity. Fortunately we are only 8.5 miles from town.

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A Warm Day in Washington

2010-09-03T21:11:00.000-07:00

Day 143-September 3rd
Destination: Deep Lake
Miles: 24.5
Cumulative Miles: 2122

This section is particularly difficult. We have great climbs, and great descents. The trail is often along cliff sides, or across steep slopes of talus, where the rock slides have created difficult footing. Yesterday we had a 3000 foot climb.

Today as we reached the summit of a 2000 foot climb, we ran into two section hikers. The couple was 84 years old. We were impressed. Further down the trail, we came to the realization that they had braved the torrential downpour that we experienced a few days ago, and after arriving at their destination, they have turned around to hike all the way back to where they started for a total of 152 miles.

The morning started with a simple descent down to Delate Meadows. By some unfortunate oversight, we found ourselves down a side trail into Lemah meadows. Fortunately, the trail reconnected with the PCT, and we didn't gain or lose much mileage. Unfortunately, we had to ford a stream, rather than walk a bridge across it. The stream had split into two sections, and we both agreed that the second section had to be several degrees colder than the first. Afterwards we donned our boots for the 2000 foot climb.

Stopping briefly at a mountaintop tarn to grab water, we met an injured hiker who was slowly waddling her way back to Snoqualmie Pass. We asked if she was good on food, she was. She, however, said she was low on toilet paper. Psycho offered up some, as he seemed to be carrying an abundance this leg.

Carrying on, we made our descent down the other side of the mountain. Our timing was great today, as our long ascent was in the shade, and we crested the hill around noon, allowing for a largely shaded descent down the other side. When we made our final 1500 foot climb, it was late enough in the evening that the heat of the day was not really a factor. It was somewhat bizarre having a warm, almost hot, day in a state which has been largely gray and overcast.

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Alps in Washington...Who knew?!

2010-09-02T21:33:00.000-07:00

Day 142-September 2nd
Destination: Delate Creek
Miles: 19
Cumulative Miles: 2097.5

"In all, this section will challenge your legs, lift your spirits, and probably confirm your reasons for backpacking"
--Wilderness Press PCT Guidebook

Our legs were challenged, our spirits are renewed, and undoubtedly today was easily in the top five of the entire trail. The hike started with a relatively arduous 3000 foot ascent, starting first in fir and hemlock, before reaching the higher unforested ridges. The descent was equally difficult, almost a mirror image of the climb, but the views were ever changing.

As we made our climb, we had stunning views of Snoqualmie Mountain and Red Mountain. It wasn't too long before we could look south to Mt. Rainier, and north to Glacier Peak. Exiting the forest, we began a long on-again-off-again crossing of talus. The views opened up, the Hemlocks became smaller, and vast valleys swept away under the steep slopes we trod across.

Looking up we saw craggy peaks of many shades and colors, matching the talus we walked across. Looking down we saw fir filled valleys, filled with shrubs starting their autumnal color changing. At times the hillside was so steep, we actually walked on a trail blasted into the cliff face. Hiking along the flank of Alaska Mountain, we could peer down into the blue green depths of Alaska lake, its perimeter highlighted by rock slides scattering into its crystal depths.

Taking a tight chute down the mountains in the evening, we made at least 40 tight switchbacks before reaching a beautiful waterfall at Delate Creek. We are camped at a tiny campsite just before the waterfall, and will have the pleasing sound of the cascading river to lull us to sleep.

Our camp is being visited by a small mouse, or perhaps it is a Pika. Hopefully the critter doesn't chew its way into our tent. On a side note, Psycho's spider bite from two days ago has caused his leg to swell a bit. It looks as though he is trying to grow a softball just above his sock line. If we see any other hikers, we're going to see if they have anything that could help, because he notices a subtle pain with every step.

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Out to Dry

2010-09-01T22:46:00.000-07:00

Day 141-September 1st
Destination: Snoqualmie Pass
Miles: 19.5
Cumulative Miles: 2078.5

We woke from our mostly miserable sleep with mixed emotions. Psycho was set on leaving the trail, or skipping the remainder of Washington at the very least. He wanted to call someone to drive up to the trail and pick us up, but Apricots' kept her head square upon her shoulders motivating him to "face the music and dance."

We donned our wet clothes, and packed up our wet gear. Once you get moving, you start to warm up, so being wet is only a small discomfort. It's the initial prospect of slipping into wet clothes which is so difficult.

Our hike started with some early trail magic, in the form of oranges and sodas. The sky was still fully grey, but the rainfall was minimal, and the overgrowth was largely non-existant. After two miles, we passed an abandoned camp with water for hikers. Had we hiked just two miles further yesterday, we would have had warm chilly and hot dogs, as well as a temporary shelter to put our tent under.

We continued on. The sound of the water buzzing on telephone lines was loud and energetic, perplexing us until we saw what it was that we were hearing.

Shortly after arriving at Snoqualmie Pass, we discovered that Psycho's parents had driven here to see us. Today is his mother's birthday, and she wanted to see her son for her birthday. It was a very pleasant surprise to see them, particularly because it was unexpected and they brought fudge, more warm clothes, and more rain gear.

We shuffled through everything today, drying out our entire collection of gear. The great news is that the next few days are supposed to be very nice, so we should be able to get ourselves further north while staying dry. The hotel is overrun with hikers who have amassed here to dry out and seek break from the grayness.

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What A Day

2010-09-01T22:22:00.000-07:00

Day 140-August 31st
Destination: Abandoned Weather Station
Miles: 13 (plus 0.5 off trail miles)
Cumulative Miles: 2059

We started our hike with a decent descent down to our first water source for the day. Shortly before arriving at the water source, Psycho rolled his ankle just enough to cause him to go flailing about and falling to the ground. He didn't hurt himself at all, except for a small bruise on his bum.

Then, after refilling our water supply, we continued down the trail. About five minutes into the walk, Psycho's trekking pole snapped into two pieces. He still has one working trekking pole, and has become less reliant on his poles, but the uphills will now be more difficult.

Around 9:30am, the rain started coming down. We put our rain gear on and kept moving. Unfortunately, the trail was winding through dense huckleberry overgrowth, so by noon we were soaked clean through to the bone. Our rain gear is good for a few hours, but the added droplets of water coming off the brush spelled wet disaster for us.

As we were heading largely downhill, our bodies were not generating enough heat to keep us warm. We decided we would find a dry-ish patch to throw our tent up, and wait out the passing rain storm. We made a lunch and hot tea to warm ourselves. It was still raining at 1pm. We napped for an hour, it was still raining at 2pm. We continued to nap.

When it was still raining at 3pm, we realized that we had to go hike in the rain, or else we would have too many miles to cover the next day. We slipped on our wet socks, a most miserable feeling, rivaled only by the far less pleasant experience of sliding into soaked boots. We of course had to pour the water out of our boots first.

Packed up, and still soaked, we started hiking again, to churn out a few more miles. Shortly after starting, some sort of spider bit Psycho's leg. For the remainder of the day, every left step reminded Psycho of the bite.

The good thing about being soaked, is that you can't get any wetter. We stepped through trail puddles and rivers with careless abandon, and tried to lift our spirits by shouting how "fun" this was.

Eventually we arrived at an abandoned weather station, where we hoped to find shelter from the now down pouring rain. All the doors were locked, and the windows were boarded over. We found one unlocked door, but sadly the door behind it was locked, and the alcove was only large enough for one person to stand in.

We fought off the very strong desire to break into the building, and instead settled for a 3'x5' covered porch. We huddled our drenched gear and bodies into the porch. We decided to layout in the small confines of the porch. We stretched our ground cover over the steps, and draped our tent in a way that would best keep out the rain.

After dinner the wind picked up, and beat the tent furiously against the metal walls of our cramped quarters. The wind did not let up all night, and neither did the rain. Our sleep was perhaps the worst on the trail, and our sleeping bags were soaked by morning. Fortunately, we stayed warm, huddled close together.

Psycho was thoroughly impressed and shocked by Apricots' positive attitude throughout the mostly miserable experience.

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If you don't like the weather, wait five minutes

2010-08-30T21:38:00.000-07:00

Day 139-August 30th
Destination: MM 2370ish
Miles: 27 (plus 0.4 off trail miles)
Cumulative Miles: 2046

A cold day indeed.

We're tired, and most of the scenery today was of clear cut forest (or lack of forest), so the blog post will be short.

By some good fortune, the sky was reasonably clear this morning. Then that changed. We took lunch at the Urich Camp Shelter. There was a bit of sun, but that changed. Thirty minutes after we started hiking, we got rained on. Then the weather changed again.

Temperature changes matched our grade changes, up and down, but mostly down. In the end the clouds cleared, making way for a very cold night.

On the bright side, at one moment the sky was clear and we were able to see Mt. Rainier. It was far off in the distance. It would seem that we walked all the way along its side without ever seeing it... Except for a few days before, and a few days after.

On a side note:
By luck, our phone had reception, so Psycho was able to call his father and wish him a happy birthday. Post blog comments to wish him a happy birthday....Psycho's mothers birthday is the day after tomorrow.

Oh, and we saw two elk.
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Back to Foggy Washington

2010-08-29T21:40:00.000-07:00

Day 138-August 29th
Destination: Crown Basin Shelter
Miles: 10.5 (plus 0.3 off trail miles)
Cumulative Miles: 2019

After pulling a late night catching up with old trail friends, we crashed in our tent only to wake just before 8am. PseudoGnome joined us for a walk over to the room Uncle Tom got. We hung around with him saying our goodbyes. It was kind of difficult. How does one say goodbye to someone they hiked for two months with and now knows that they probably won't see them on the trail again, perhaps never again.

It was great to see MeGaTex, and sad to say goodbye. Good luck guys. In the morning madness, we missed a few friends, but we had to get back to the trail. We packed up while PseudoGnome ran to the store and picked up a few groceries for us. Then we hopped in the truck and made the long drive back to the trail, arriving just before 4pm. He's a trooper, doing whatever he can to help us, and for that we are very thankful.

We left him to his 3 hour drive home, and hit the trail. Very quickly we climbed up into the fog. At times it was so thick, we could only see 100 feet ahead of us, if that. The air was very damp and chilly, leaving moisture on the plants. Our pant legs did a good job at grabbing said moisture.

At one point Psycho was sure he saw a bear, and certainly heard it. He backed down the trail to a reasonable distance and started yelling to scare the bear. It did not run away, so we were rather concerned. As we started making more noise, we heard the "bear" talk. Oops, the bear was actually some campers.

We chatted with the campers who told us that we were going to be getting showers tomorrow, but the worst of the weather should pass after that. We didn't like that news, but we more or less expect rain up here. We made the final two miles towards camp, wandering off trail a few yards to grab water. We then put on our head lamps and hiked another quarter mile to a shelter.

The shelter is more of a lean-to than a cabin, and we put our tent up under it, but we'll be very appreciative of it if it does rain tonight. We are bundled in our bags, hoping tomorrow is warmer, but we doubt it will be.

We wonder what magnificent views were hidden by the fog. We're in Mt. Rainier National Park, but we have yet to see the mountain.
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PCT Days

2010-08-29T09:51:00.000-07:00

Day 137-August 28th
Destination: Cascade Locks (via Chinook Pass)
Miles: 0
Cumulative Miles: 2008.5

It was nice to have a zero day that wasn't cluttered with necessary chores, a day about relaxing and socializing. At the last minute, we were able to figure out a way to get back to Cascade Locks, but were sorely disappointed to know that none of our old hiking mates were going to make it.

As the day unfolded, more and more thru-hikers showed up. Before we knew it, we had re-connected with Golden Child, SlimJim, Train, Uncle Tom, Axilla, Richard Wizard, and Duff, as well as several other hikers we have known, but not really hiked that much with.

The event was fun. It is a fund-raiser for the PCT Assoc. Started about five years ago as more or less a gathering of ten people BBQing and hiking, it has grown into an event of 300-400 people with several gear vendors. This year they roughly tripled the amount of money raised for the PCTA, in comparison to last year.

We bought some raffle tickets, but sadly did not win anything. PseudoGnome, our traveling trail angel super hero, did won some Backcountry Pantry meals. The evening was spent watching a movie put together by a past thru-hiker called "Wizards of The PCT", very funny. It is available online for purchase, so go get it.

Tomorrow PseudoGnome will take us back to the trail. Only about 330 miles left of Washington, then we head back down to crank out the last 300 of the Sierras we missed. The end is close enough to see.

What then??
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2000 Miles, Baby!!

2010-08-27T22:24:00.000-07:00

Day 136-August 27th
Destination: Chinook Pass
Miles: 13
Cumulative Miles: 2008.5

As if to signify the fact that we would be entering into Mt. Rainier National Park today, it got rainier last night. Around 3am, the sound of rain started beating on our tent. While the pitter patter of the rain was soothing to Apricots, it woke Psycho up enough that he had trouble falling back asleep.

We had 13 miles to cover today, so we were not in a real hurry to get moving. We laid in the tent, listening to the rain die down. Fortunately it pretty much stopped by the time we were out and moving. The collected rain on the undergrowth did a fair job at wetting our boots and pant legs, but the afternoon sun prevailed and we did not end our day wet.

Taking a short break early in the day, Psycho noticed a small animal scurrying up a tree. After talking with others, and researching it a bit, we believe it was a Pine Marten, a very rare sighting from what we're told.

The day, though cloudy and foggy, was fairly nice. The rain was scattered in mercurial drops on the vegetation. Psycho was repeatedly stopping to attempt to photograph the perfect dew crystal, while Apricots urged him to move faster as it was cold outside. The thick fog limited our visibility to no more than 100 yards.

As the day wore on the sun cooked off the fog, and we found our shadows which seemed to forget to wake up with us. The grade allowed us to move with relative ease, and the tread was only rocky in a few places.

About two hours into the day, Psycho turned around and screamed "Two thousand miles, baby!!!" This gave Apricots quite the scare, as it was completely peaceful and quiet otherwise.

When we arrived at Chinook Pass, we hitched our way back to the town of Packwood, where PseudoGnome agreed to meet us. He is driving the long leg up here, just so we can go to PCT Days in Cascade Locks. What a rockstar!

Hiking for Cherryville Heartsongs.
Visit our blog to find out how to donate.
http://northboundheartsong.blogspot.com

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2010-08-26T21:27:00.000-07:00

Day 135-August 26th
Destination: MM 2319ish
Miles: 16 (plus 0.5 off trail miles)
Cumulative Miles: 1995.5

It was a fairly simple day, mostly uneventful. After our late night last night we chose to sleep in a bit. Our plans only called for 29 miles over two days, so it was not too important to get an early start on the day. As we haven't been making our desired miles as of late, we have been fortunate enough to be arriving close to a road for an easy out to town. This enables us to make the trip back down to Cascade Locks for PCT Days, an event that has grown over the years. It should give us an opportunity to catch a few of our old friends from earlier on in the trail, as well as help generate income for the PCT Association. (More on the event later, when we get there)

Psycho went down to the Kracker Barrel store to pick up the resupply boxes this morning. He ran into Kern, another thru-hiker who had just pulled into town. One of his resupply boxes had not yet arrived, so he was waiting out the time until the daily mail came. Since he had an hour to kill, Psycho offered up a shower to him. Like any thru-hiker, he was happy to come up to our hotel room and get a shower in before we checked out.

After packing most our gear, we wandered down to the store for some breakfast before heading back to the trail. A giant cinnamon roll, two sausage and egg muffin, one bacon and egg muffin, two americanos, and some candy sufficed. Once refueled, we finished packing and went to the trail.

The hike was pleasant, mostly green corridor, but several lakes dotted the landscape making it easy to enjoy. Furthermore, the grade of the trail was easy and the tread was mostly smooth. This allowed us to pull 16 miles, despite not starting until 1pm.

The overcast sky led to a very chilly walk, at times downright cold. In the evening the sun had set, and the clouds hid any early evening twilight. Slipping into the forested overgrowth presented the feeling of arriving at camp well past dark, which it nearly was. The days are getting shorter, and we both sense it.

Shorter days, and closer final day.

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A Good Treat to a Bad End to a Great Day

2010-08-26T09:29:00.000-07:00

Day 134-August 25th
Destination: White Pass
Miles: 22.5 (plus 2.5 off trail miles)
Cumulative Miles: 1979.5

Some days are hard to put to words, because they are just so breathtakingly beautiful. Today is one of those days, easily making the top ten for the whole trail, except the tail end of the day which falls into the bottom ten.

After rising later than we wished, we began our hike with a nice walk out of the valley we were camped at. We climbed up to the Packwood Glacier. Crossing a couple small snow fields, we arrived at the glacier which sloped dramatically down off of Old Snowy peak. Rather than facing the dangers of following the official PCT across the glacier, we chose to climb up and over Old Snowy as the guidebook suggested.

From the top of a steep rocky climb we were offered views of the entirety of the Goat Rocks Wilderness. We made the descent down the mountain, which was even steeper, and more difficult to hold secure footing on. The clinking rocks sounded like someone putting ceramic dishes away in the cupboard.

We made several steep climbs and descents along a razor-edge ridge, where the rocky slopes dropped off to our sides at 70-80 degrees. One false step could have fatal consequences. The first six miles of our day took just over four hours, because the terrain caused serious slowdown, and the views were so amazing, we were constantly stopping to admire them or take pictures. At times we wished others were here to see what we were seeing, but in the end we were both glad that we had only each other to share it with.

We dropped down into the forest just before lunch, and had a brief forested walk afterwards before climbing 1500 feet back up to open landscape. The day was nearing it's end and we were hurrying to make it to White Pass. We saw the occasional marmot, with their white backed coats and monkey-like demeanor.

As we were running out of daylight, we took a recommended shortcut. This trail would drop us right at the store, and not require us to do the road walk. It also trimmed about 2 miles from the distance. All of that sounded great, as the day was late. We took the "Chairlift Trail" which was simple to follow for a quarter mile. Then it ran into a road and disappeared. Any way we looked at it on the map and GPS, this road would not be shorter than the trail, and would not drop us at the store.

We wandered around, backtracking a couple times, looking for this elusive trail which promised to be better than the PCT, and never found it. Eventually we resigned ourselves to not searching anymore, and followed one of the roads until it was close to the PCT, where we cut cross country back to the official route. Just before we arrived back on the PCT, we heard loud crashes in the forest and Psycho caught the tail end of what appeared to be a couple Elk running off.

Back on the official PCT, the sunlight was gone, the mosquitoes were fierce, and we still had 2.5 miles to go. We put on our head lamps and started cruising, as fast we could while preserving our ankles in the dim light. We talked the whole way down, on the off chance that we might cross paths with a bear. About 100 yards before reaching the trail head, we spooked up some sort of large animal. Given the sound and size of the sound, we figured it was another Elk, but we never saw it. The loud crashes startled us enough to double our heart rates, and give us enough energy to make the final half mile to the tiny community of White Pass.

It was nearly 10pm when we arrived, and everything was closed. The office at the hotel was vacant. We were destined to camp, which made the push to town annoying. At the last moment, we found the door to the assistant manager. We knocked a few times but to no avail. As we walked away, sad and angry, Apricots heard a shuffle behind us. She looked back and saw the manager feeding the office cat. We were able to get a room, and so ended the bad end to our good day with a good treat.

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The Midday Turn Around

2010-08-24T21:14:00.000-07:00

Day 133-August 24th
Destination: Cispus River
Miles: 22.5 (plus 0.6 off trail miles)
Cumulative Miles: 1957

Our hike started this morning with your typical green corridor, which we would like to call our northwestern friend. We, however, tend to look at it as a guest which has over stayed their welcome. Fortunately the sky was blue, the temperature was about perfect, and the grade was undeniably easy.

When we arrived at our lunch spot, we passed up a murky pond for a stream about a quarter mile further. It turned out to be a dry creek bed, as was the one just past that. So we were forced to turn back to the murky pond. Knowing the mosquitoes would be in full force down at the water, we left our packs in a shady patch and grabbed water from the pond. When we returned, the wiley sun had moved (or rather the earth rotated) and our shaded lunch spot was no longer.

After fussing with three trees to find an adequate place to hang our gravity filter, we sat down in a new shaded patch to go about making lunch. Before lunch was done being made, we found ourselves in the sun again. Oh well, we were hungry, no moving now despite the cramped dining quarters.

Apricots had mixed the salmon with some water and powdered cheese. When she went to add the macaroni noodles, she kicked a whole bunch of dirt into our cheesy mix. After carefully spooning the dirt out, thereby diminishing our cheese supply, she carefully added the noodles. This time we were relatively free of nature's gritty untasty pepper.

Picking up our bowels, to scoop said lunch onto tortillas, Apricots noticed dirt on the bottom of her bowel. Brushing it off she managed to bump her spoon and fling a cheesy macaroni morsel onto Psycho's arm. All the while, the absence of mosquitoes was replaced with an abundance of flies, which were annoying but fortunately did not bite. As abundant as the flies were the swear words being thrown out of Apricots mouth like some sort of Truckers Convention. We agreed that this was perhaps the worst lunch we have had on the entirety of the trail.

As we readied ourselves to leave, Apricots shook her sun screen bottle to apply some. The white paste shot out, missing her hand, landing in an unusable clump in the dust at her feet. Five minutes later, we were hiking. Fifteen minutes later, we crossed a creek which would have served as a nice lunch spot, had we only but walked another quarter mile.

"Oh, Discordia"

After lunch, we began our climb into the heart of the Goat Rocks Wilderness. What a significant change. The views were breathtakingly beautiful, and easily the best we have had in Washington, and some of the best we've had on the entire trail. Trees gave way to towering rock spires, and hillsides sloped steeply with rocky landslides. We found ourselves taking breaks, not because we needed them, but because we wanted to absorb our experience.

In the evening, we found ourselves cooking dinner next to a clear cascading creek running straight down the hill from snow melt. We climbed just uphill from the creek to a flat area caught in a valley that slopes downward and out towards Mt. St. Helens. We sat around watching the sun set as Crowdog and Beaker rolled in. We caught up with them while they ate dinner, before finally crawling into our tent, positioned at one of our favorite sites on the whole trail.

"Oh bliss"

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Out of the Tunnel

2010-08-23T21:57:00.000-07:00

Day 132-August 23rd
Destination: MM 2258ish
Miles: 20.5
Cumulative Miles: 1934.5

Things work out on the trail. They always do. Ask any thru-hiker. This morning, when we discovered that the two trail angels in Trout Lake were out of town (one on a long drive for another thru-hiker), we had resigned ourselves to hitching. While grabbing a coffee at an espresso stand near a gas station, we were offered a ride back to the trail by a retired forest firefighter. It's a small bit of magic, but appreciated to the maximum, as hitching has never been fun despite the "fantastic" experiences we've had with it.

Back to the trail by 11am.

The Gray that lingered for our first three days of Washington was gone this morning. Our hike was under a blue sky, and we emerged from the seemingly endless green tunnel which had sucked the joy out of hiking. And what splendid sights were to be had as we climbed into the Mt. Adams wilderness.

The heavily glaciated Mt. Adams stood as a constant backdrop to the majority of today's hike. Psycho told Apricots the old lore of Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams vying for the love of Mt. St. Helens. In a fit of rage, Hood smashed his fist on Adams. This is why the top of Adams is rounded rather than pointy. Apricots added that this kind of behavior caused Mt. St. Helens to "flip her lid" back in 1980.

When we had our backs to the mountain, we had an expansive clear view towards Mt. Rainier, and Mt. St. Helens. If the distant views of the other Cascade mountains became too much for us, we had many lupines, indian paintbrushes, and other wild flowers to look upon.

The blue gray basalt highlighted the tips of the lupines abundant throughout our day. Several small streams, glacial melt, wandered almost aimlessly through lush green meadows. Most stream crossings were done with a few rock hops, or a bridge. We did meet with one rather shallow but wide flowing stream that required us to take off our boots. The glacial water was fiercely cold, and our feet hurt after crossing. Yet once we donned our boots, they felt so refreshed, as if the last 15 miles were only 5.

Wandering off the mountain side, we dropped through a forest arriving at a lava flow with a spring percolating out of the lava rock. Crystal clear clean water for drinking. No mud or muck. We set up camp not long after sunset at this spring.

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PseudoGnome to the Rescue

2010-08-22T23:21:00.000-07:00

Day 131-August 22nd
Destination: Trout Lake
Miles: 14.5 (plus 3 off trail miles)
Cumulative Miles: 1914

Another day in the green tunnel. It was cold, but not unbearable, and it only lightly sprinkled on us twice, for less than ten minutes.

We knew we had to drop down to Trout Lake to get our resupply box, so every road we crossed was a temptation. We scanned the maps and saw several options that would take us out of the cold and down into a warm cafe, hotel, or even grocery store. We debated hitching with each road crossing, but ultimately made it to our desired road before hitching.

We even (very reluctantly) passed up a ride offer from a gentleman out supporting a PCT thru-runner. (These facts are a little gray) the thru-runner is Bob Holtel, author of "Soul Sweat and Survival", an 80 year old man doing a two season thru-run of the PCT. His book tells the tales of his first 3-season thru-run just over two decades ago.

After passing up the offer, we hiked the final 5.5 miles to our desired road, which was dismally empty of cars. We put our rain jackets on, and started the 13.5 mile walk down to Trout Lake. After 30 minutes a car passed, but didn't stop. Another 30 minutes and we found ourselves sitting on the forest road discussing what we would do if we failed to get a ride. Before settling on a plan, a mini-van pulled over to give us a ride the rest of the way.

As we reached the road, we came across a cache of goodies put together by the kind folks at Trout Lake Abbey, a zen temple of sorts. We enjoyed fresh fruit, and new toothpaste to replace our nearly empty supply.

Our filter is toast. A new filter takes about 2-3 minutes to filter 1 liter of water. Our filter now takes nearly 30 minutes to filter one liter. This means that if we want to filter enough water for a full day, we need to filter for about 3-4 hours. Our replacement cartridge is a week or more away.

This is why PseudoGnome, aka DK, aka Jacob C. is our hero. He drove from Portland to Trout Lake at the last minute to bring us a new cartridge for our gravity filter. REI was all out, so he brought us his own cartridge, driving 90 minutes one way to help make our hike easier. Yay PseudoGnome!! No giardia for us, thanks to you.

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Mmm...Cheetos and Whisky

2010-08-21T20:29:00.000-07:00

Day 130-August 21th
Destination: 0.5 North of NF RD 23
Miles: 21.5
Cumulative Miles: 1899.5

We slept in today. Yesterday's miles kicked our butts, and we found it mighty difficult to wake when our alarm went off this morning. We didn't start moving until just after 9am.

The late start affected us in the sense that we didn't have enough daylight left to make it to our goal for the day. We had to drop off trail to a tiny muddy pond to get water, as we weren't prepared for dry camping, despite our knowledge it might have happened.

Today's hike was a little better with a few lakes along the way, but both of us want some scenery, need some scenery, and need it soon. "The Long Green Tunnel" is rarely inspiring to hike in. As such the miles are harder and less enjoyable.

The highlight of our day was a PCT Hiker Stash five miles in. The bucket was filled to the brim with snickers, paydays, kitkats, starbursts, cookies, chips, and m&m's. We took a break, and enjoyed the sweet treats put there by past thru-hikers. We met a section hiker there who told us that there was a forecast of snow or rain at the very least for the coming days. By the temperature of the day and the lingering clouds, it looks daunting. It was very cold, making the hike difficult. Hopefully today's temperature is not an indication of how the rest of Washington will be. We sure are glad that our jumping has put us up here sooner than the herd of hikers who may have an early winter to face.

1900 miles. Woohoo!!
Well...almost 1900 miles, enough to call it at 1900 and enjoy the whisky that Jacob (Psycho's old boss) gave him. One mini bottle each. Today we also enjoyed many of the treats provided to us by Kristine N. Kristine is an old friend of Psycho's, he met shortly after his first thru-hike attempt. Thank you Jacob and Kristine.

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A Hard Day

2010-08-20T21:04:00.000-07:00

Day 129-August 20th
Destination: MM 2202ish
Miles: 27.5
Cumulative Miles: 1878

Today was a very hard day.

We started with a climb of roughly 1600 feet, only to descend 2200 feet and turn around to climb 3200 feet. Oregon made us soft, and arduous climbing like this is unfamiliar to us.

We woke extra early with the intention of covering 30-32 miles, and before half the day was done we realized that would be near impossible. By four we realized we a had a "snowballs chance..."

Any way we cut it, it looks as though we won't be able to make the necessary mileage to get to a road to head back to Cascade Locks for PCT days. This is disappointing, but acceptable.

Tomorrow has some more climbs, but not nearly as bad. We did get our first view of Mt. Adams late in the day, which was pretty much the highlight of the day.

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Up Up Up into Washington

2010-08-19T21:34:00.000-07:00

Day 128-August 19th
Destination: Rock Creek
Miles: 19.5
Cumulative Miles: 1850.5

We slept under the stars last night, and we're doing the same tonight. The lack of mosquitoes and flies is nice, but we don't fully expect it to last, as we'll be heading towards a lake basin soon enough.

After waking later and slower than desired, we drove down to Cascade Locks where we had a large breakfast at Char Burger. While there, we bumped into "The Orange Hat Crew", originally three, now two, thru-hikers noted for their orange hats. We talked briefly with them during breakfast.

Then we packed our gear into our packs, and started our walk. The Columbia Gorge is the lowest point on the entire Pacific Crest Trail, which inevitably means our hike out would be climbing. First, however, we had to walk across the Bridge of the Gods. Originally there was a land bridge across the Columbia river here, but it has since collapsed into the water, and now a massive steel bridge arcs across the water.

Unfortunately for us, there is no pedestrian walkway, so we were forced to walk in the drive aisle on steel grate which seemed to be spaced just close enough to walk across, but just far enough to give a little vertigo to the pedestrian user. Throw in a little famous Columbia Gorge wind, and passing semi's, and you have the recipe for an unnerving road walk. Fortunately, we passed over with no incident.

Our hike started off relatively flat, and in one mile we hit the official low point of the PCT before beginning our 3000 foot climb up past and around Table Mountain which from a distance looks like a layered cake dusted in cocoa and sprinkled with trees.

We took a quick lunch at a saddle before descending roughly eight miles to Rock Creek, where we chose to camp for the night. We only hike 19.5 miles, but we didn't start until after 11am. This push to Snoqualmie will be difficult.

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Zero Number 2 at the OR/WA Border

2010-08-19T20:31:00.000-07:00

Day 127-August 18th
Destination: Herman Creek Campground
Miles: 0
Cumulative Miles: 1831

Today was more restful, but we still had food to buy, and hot tubs to be relaxed in.

At the end of the afternoon, NaborJ took us back out to Cascade Locks. We crossed over the Bridge of the Gods to go into Stevenson for dinner. We had some fine ales with our pizza before returning to the Oregon side of the river to camp.

Tomorrow we walk into Washington to begin our trek across the state. We hope to make it to Snoqualmie Pass by the evening of the 27th, so we can come back for PCT Days in Cascade Locks. To do this, we need to pull near 30 mile days for nine days straight.

Guess it's time we tested our endurance.

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Zero in Portland

2010-08-18T17:23:00.000-07:00

Day 126-August 17th
Destination: Portland
Miles: 0
Cumulative Miles: 1826.5

Sweet Glorious Zero Day...

Of course we had "homework" to do...guess we'll just have to zero tomorrow... Fer relaxin' sake
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Old video of blowdowns

2010-08-18T10:25:00.001-07:00

An old video, but we'll post it anyway

Oregon Photos

2010-08-17T17:53:00.000-07:00

This is a collection of photos from our Pacific Crest Trail Thru-Hike. It covers some of northern California, and all of Oregon. Next up.... Washington

Down and Out

2010-08-17T13:37:00.000-07:00

Day 125-August 16th
Destination: Portland (via Cascade Locks)
Miles: 9
Cumulative Miles: 1826.5

Generally "down and out" implies the negative. This time it implies the positive. "Down" to Cascade Locks and "Out" to Portland for some much needed rest.

Psycho's old manager from his job at Myhre Group Architects was going to hike up to meet the three of us for the hike out. In order to allow Jacob to see the better portion of the Eagle Creek Trail (perhaps the best suggested alternate route of the entire PCT), the three of us took our time getting out of camp.

Usually on a "town day" we like to get an early start to allow for more town time. That was not the case today. We wanted to take our time and enjoy the walk out. It was PseudoGnome's last day of hiking with us, and the longer we waited to start the day, the further up the trail Jacob could get.

We met up with Jacob at the pinnacle of the Eagle Creek Trail, Tunnel Falls. The trail, blasted into a cliff side at times, passes through a tunnel behind this waterfall. We walked along the rough wet trail, holding onto a steel cable for a little mental comfort as we skirted the 100 foot cliffs.

With four and a half miles left, we stopped at a bridge crossing and ducked down to the water. We all put our packs down and shed our shirts for a dip in the cold creek. The frigid temperatures were borderline unbearable, but we all fully submerged at least once. Afterwards we made the final hike out, stopping briefly at Punchbowl falls to watch some cliff jumpers take the three second leap.

When we arrived at the trail head, we went into Cascade Locks to catch some grub at the PCT Pub&Hostel. Unfortunately it was closed, so we went over to Char Burger and ate a large meal.

Then we made the drive into Portland, facing extreme heat on the slow moving freeway. Construction brought movement to a standstill, and only freed up on time to drop us into Portland rush hour traffic. It is nice to be back in our hometown, but at the same time, we were quickly reminded of the burdens of urban living. Hopefully our zero days will be restful, we still have a lot of "homework" to do.

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Thru-Camping

2010-08-15T20:31:00.000-07:00

Day 124-August 15th
Destination: 3.5 Miles North of Indian Springs
Miles: 10
Cumulative Miles: 1817.5

No rush this morning. We laid in our tents as two hikers walked past at 6:30am. Generally only thru-hikers are moving at that hour, so we figured they were such, and later learned it was probably "Yeti" (who we met in Sierra City) and "Captain Obvious" (who we met at Pooh Corner.

We started hiking around 10am, finishing our walk along the Bull Run Watershed. Not long after that, we dropped down to Indian Springs. Just before doing so, we were given a terrific view of Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Adams, and Mt. Rainier, as well as a deep gorge through the hills which is probably the Columbia River. We will cross the Columbia when we hike from Oregon into Washington in a few days. We plan to rest in our home town of Portland first.

At Indian Springs we made lunch and played dice while our water filtered. The gravity filter is a nice addition to our gear as it allows our hands to do other things while water is filtering. It is slower, however. When we left Indian Springs we took the Eagle Creek trail, which was viciously steep for the first mile and a half. It eventually flattened out to more easily managed terrain.

We found a nice campsite a couple hundred feet from a creek. While Pseudo-Gnome was gathering fire wood, he found a better off trail campsite with benches for sitting on, and more room for laying out tents. We lounged away the afternoon playing games and making two dinners.

Tomorrow, on our hike out, we plan on meeting Psycho's old boss who is hiking up to meet us. We will hike out to Cascade Locks with him, and then head into Portland for our first "Zero Day" since July 17th.
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Slow is The Way to Go

2010-08-15T20:01:00.000-07:00

Day 123-August 14th
Destination: MM 2132ish
Miles: 14.5
Cumulative Miles: 1807.5

Sleeping in.
What joy it is.

Not that we really slept in that much, as our bodies are so adjusted to rising early, but rather that we woke with no sense of urgency, no sense that time was being wasted, no sense of needing to get "on with the show."

We built a small campfire this morning and drank coffee by it's smoldering flames, our bodies slowly waking after the long night. DK, now known as "Pseudo-Gnome" rose first. He wasn't around the tents when we popped our heads out, so he was likely admiring the morning light scattering through the trees across Ramona Falls.

The four of us slowly packed up camp, and wandered out close to 10am, following the creek down from the falls. The trail gently sloped down next to the creek, which seemed entirely too small for the size of the falls. Across the creek a massive rock wall paralleled us, flanked in it's departed rock masses.

When we reached the Muddy Fork, NaborJ planted the evil idea of walking out with him to his car so he could drive us to a point five miles ahead at Lolo Pass. This would help us skip a steep hot climb, and position us in such a way that water would not be a concern, something we were trying to figure out at the moment. Twenty miles without water is not too difficult if you are pulling 20 plus a day, but since we are not at the moment, we would be required to dry camp.

Eventually we decided that since we had hiked this section a couple times before, we wouldn't feel too guilty about skipping five miles. We left it to fate and flipped a coin; heads we hike, tails we skip five miles. It came up tails, so we hiked the 1.5 out to the car, netting us a loss of 3.5 miles, which we have easily made up for in the side trips for water.

Once dropped at Lolo Pass, we made a lunch and played 10,000 (a dice game) before starting our hike up into the Bull Run Watershed. Bull Run is the source of Portland's drinking water. About seven miles into the hike we found a saddle with a tiny campsite that would serve as our home for the night.

We played dice and cards in the wind, and struggled to limit our water consumption as it was a dry camp and we have about six miles to hike tomorrow.

We crawled into our tents before 8pm, and don't plan on emerging until twelve hours from now. This slower pace is allowing our bodies the rest they need, and while we have no doubt that "Pseudo-Gnome" can pull more miles, we don't want to, so we continue to take it easy.

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Slowing Down

2010-08-15T16:58:00.000-07:00

Day 122-August 13th
Destination: Ramona Falls
Miles: 15
Cumulative Miles: 1793

We rose this morning early to get packed up before our tent was spied illegally camped. We hit an espresso stand, and then went to the Huckleberry Inn for a bagel breakfast. Afterwards, we hit the highway to hitch back up to Barlow Pass. Our goal was to get up by 8am, so we had time to hike the five miles to Timberline Lodge to catch the breakfast buffet.

We secured a ride and were able to start hiking by 8:15am. It would be tight, but we had about two hours to cover five miles and about 1500 feet to gain. The first 3.5 miles were easy, and we cruised. Then we hit some sort of cruel joke. The hill became much steeper, the trail became a imperfect mix of silt and sand that slowed our pace to half of what we were moving at. To top it off, the wind picked up and kicked up sand into our eyes. Sticky grit lingered on our chapstick covered lips, and we were running out of time.

Fortunately we arrived at the Lodge with ten minutes to spare. We charged into the dining room and sat down for a delicious breakfast buffet, loading our plates in heaping mounds of eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits&gravy, fresh fruit, french toast, and belgian waffles.

After eating, we snuck showers at the lodge, and waited for "DK" to arrive. Psycho's old roommate will be hiking with us from Timberline Lodge down to Cascade Locks.

He arrived around noon, and after going through our resupply and re-pack routine we hit the trail. The walk started at Timberline and meandered along the mountain side before dropping down into several gullies created by run off from Mt. Hood's glacial and snow melt. We took a short break in ZigZag canyon before climbing out and working our way towards the headwaters of the Sandy River, another rocky silty canyon.

A new pesk has been added to our travels: flies. We heard the flies were going to be bad, but doubted the actual annoyance of the insect. We were gravely mistaken. Not only were the flies abundant, they were also prone to biting. Our breaks were interrupted by a constant swatting to preserve sanity.

After crossing the Sandy River on a small log bridge upstream from the trail, we side tripped up to Ramona Falls, a must-see for all thru-hikers. The side trail is equal distance to the PCT, and the falls hold a perfect majesty to their cascading beauty.

Jason "NaborJ" W. met us at Ramona Falls. Psycho hiked with NaborJ in 2005. Since he now lives in Portland, he wanted to come up and see us as we passed through the area. Arriving at Ramona Falls, NaborJ greeted the three of us with tasty cookies, wine, extra food, and beer. We all sat around a campfire and talked of trail stories.

It was our first campfire since the Sierras with MeGaTex, and one of the very rare times where we actually stayed up past midnight, not just "hiker midnight," but real midnight. To top it off, we get to sleep in tomorrow morning.

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Approaching Hood

2010-08-13T11:30:00.000-07:00

Day 121-August 12th
Destination: Barlow Pass
Miles: 22.5 (plus 0.2 off trail miles)
Cumulative Miles: 1778

We planned on having a shorter day today (less than 25 miles), and so chose to sleep in a bit. We got up around 6:30 and didn't speed to break camp. The casualness of it all gave that sort of enjoyment of camping that is rarely seen in the regular "hurried" lifestyle of a thru-hiker. Thru-hiking is not for people who love camping. Thru-hiking is for people who love walking.

Nevertheless, we are still thru-hikers, and we can't "dally" long, so we were moving just before 8am. The day started with an easy descent down to Timothy Lake, an easy get away for "urbanites." While it is always a good thing for people to get out to nature, such public easily accessed retreat locations are disheartening. We have spent several splendid months in serene clean locations, as this place once was undoubtedly. Now the trails are littered (albeit sparsely) with signs of humans. Countless piles of used toilet paper, and even a dirty diaper, were strewn about. Wrappers from granola bars glinted a sad reflection of our standard lack of care for our natural environment. The closer we are to "civilization" the less "civilized" we seem.

It wasn't a bad experience, riddled with trash, but rather a sad experience with the occasional disruption to an otherwise enjoyable walk. Just past Timothy Lake we took a small detour to Little Crater Lake, an artesian spring 45 feet deep, and about as wide across. The crystal blue water was perfectly clear, and was so distinctly blue those who walked past were heard mumbling "how does it get SO blue?"

We took lunch at Little Crater Lake and then hiked eleven miles further through relatively viewless terrain. Apricots noted how disappointing it was to be walking through Mt. Hood National Forest and yet never seeing the mountain. Three miles before Wapanita Pass we were given one of our first clear views of "our homeside mountain."

Once down to Wapanita Pass we ate a dinner, as we were starving and low on energy. Five and a half miles later we arrived at our destination for the day, Barlow Pass. We knew we wouldn't be able to do laundry at Timberline Lodge, so we opted to hitch five miles down to Government Camp. Once we arrived, we found a laundromat where we did our laundry. We sat and ate a cheeseburger in the laundromat, commenting on the rather surreal nature of such an experience.

Afterwards, we tried to hitch back to the trail, but the sun had nearly set and we were unsuccessful. We walked back into Government Camp to try and find a hotel room (so we could shower), but the town was all booked up. We wandered to the edge of town and found a pseudo-hidden flat camp spot behind an abandoned building.

Tomorrow we will hitch back up to Barlow Pass and hike the final five miles to Timberline Lodge where we'll meet up with "DK", Psycho's old roommate.

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A Casual Day in The Long Green Tunnel

2010-08-11T21:05:00.000-07:00

Day 120-August 11th
Destination: MM 2080ish
Miles: 26.5
Cumulative Miles: 1755.5

We woke up this morning and returned to the Olallie Lake General Store for morning coffee and relaxation. We sat on the porch drinking our coffee and looking out at the misty lake. Small tendrils of lake water clouds misted upward, entangling themselves around the boats of the early rising fishermen. Mt. Jefferson hid behind the clouds, and only showed partially, briefly, as we were leaving.

Our hike was casual, with more frequent than usual breaks, as we were making good time. We stopped for lunch after only 9.5 miles, and dinner after 20. We filtered water out of two simple streams at both stops. The trail wandered viewlessly through what many call "The Long Green Corridor" or "The Green Tunnel". Either are less than fond terms for the Oregon stretch of the PCT. While the trail has it's scenic parts in Oregon, some only remember these mind-numbing types of days, and so look negatively upon the state as a whole.

The highlight of our day came between lunch and dinner. Psycho heard a scurrying scratching sound to his right. Typically this means a bird, or more commonly a squirrel or chipmunk. This time, however, it was much too loud. He looked toward the sound and saw a baby cub bear climbing quickly up a tree. Psycho pointed and Apricots noticed as well. Not wanting to find ourselves splitting a mother from her cub, we quickly looked around and made noise as we hiked further on.

We went 2 miles further than we had planned on as the miles were easy, and pulled in to a relaxing evening in the tent. Joint foot rubs. :)

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Race to a Beer

2010-08-11T07:45:00.000-07:00

Day 119-August 10th
Destination: Olallie Lake
Miles: 26.5 (Plus 0.2 off trail miles)
Cumulative Miles: 1727.5

We planned on getting to Olallie Lake today, a mere 26.5 miles away. We did get there, but it took longer than expected, and we were fearful we would not make it before the store closed.

Our hike started with finishing the suggested detour and returning to the PCT official route. At the bottom of our descent, we reached a beautiful creek. The valley floor was pretty flat, as such the creek spread out and meandered; a different course every season, for sure.

After climbing back to the PCT, we made our way to Jefferson Park. Along the way we met three older women who wore more weight in perfume than in clothing. They told us the mosquitoes were nothing shy of furiously abundant, and that we needed to cover every inch of our skin to preserve our sanity. Their perfume was so thick, they might as well be wearing flashing neon signs that said "Free Blood."

The mosquitoes turned out to be small and pesky, and were really only bothersome because they kept trying to fly into food while we ate. After lunch we climbed out of the beautiful flat and flowered pastures of Jefferson Park, up to a high point Psycho recalls as being one of the most scenic on the trail. Unfortunately clouds were covering much of the land, and we had limited obscured views of Mt. Jefferson because of it.

After our somewhat snowy descent down the hill, we checked our time and mileage to the Olallie Lake General Store. There was little to no chance of us making it by 8pm, yet there was the potential that the store may be open later, and we could grab a bite to eat or a beer. We put our motor boots on and charged ahead at a lightening pace.

As we walk/ran up to the store, we saw the lights were off, put the sign said "Open." We found the door locked, and almost walked away disheartened. Then the store owner walked out of her neighboring cabin and asked if we needed anything.

Success! A 26.5 mile walk with fantastic views, and tasty cookies at the end to accompany our Coors Light. "The Silver Bullet never tasted so good."

----

As it was said, a second mosquito poem would be presented. Hopefully our faithful readers are submitting their own mosquito poems.

---
The Mosquito

by D.H. Lawrence

When did you start your tricks,

Monsieur?

What do you stand on such high legs for?

Why this length of shredded shank,

You exaltation?

Listen Here

{mosgoogle}

Is it so that you shall lift your centre of gravity upwards

And weigh no more than air as you alight upon me,

Stand upon me weightless, you phantom?

I heard a woman call you the Winged Victory

In sluggish Venice.

You turn your head towards your tail, and smile.

How can you put so much devilry

Into that translucent phantom shred

Of a frail corpus?

Queer, with your thin wings and your streaming legs

How you sail like a heron, or a dull clot of air,

A nothingness.

Yet what an aura surrounds you;

Your evil little aura, prowling, and casting a numbness on my mind.

That is your trick, your bit of filthy magic:

Invisibility, and the anæsthetic power

To deaden my attention in your direction.

But I know your game now, streaky sorcerer.

Queer, how you stalk and prowl the air

In circles and evasions, enveloping me,

Ghoul on wings

Winged Victory.

Settle, and stand on long thin shanks

Eyeing me sideways, and cunningly conscious that I am aware,

You speck.

I hate the way you lurch off sideways into air

Having read my thoughts against you.

Come then, let us play at unawares,

And see who wins in this sly game of bluff,

Man or mosquito.

You don't know that I exist, and I don't know that you exist.

Now then!

It is your trump,

It is your hateful little trump,

You pointed fiend,

Which shakes my sudden blood to hatred of you :

It is your small, high, hateful bugle in my ear.

Why do you do it?

Surely it is bad policy.

They say you can't help it.

If that is so, then I believe a little in Providence protecting the innocent.

But it sounds so amazingly like a slogan,

A yell of triumph as you snatch my scalp.

Blood, red blood

Super-magical

Forbidden liquor.

I behold you stand

For a second enspasmed in oblivion,

Obscenely estasied

Sucking live blood,

My blood.

Such silence, such suspended transport,

Such gorging,

Such obscenity of trespass.

You stagger

As well as you may.

Only your accursed hairy frailty,

Your own imponderable weightlessness

Saves you, wafts you away on the very draught my anger makes in its snatching.

Away with a pæan of derision,

You winged blood-drop.

Can I not overtake you?

Are you one too many for me,

Winged Victory?

Am I not mosquito enough to out-mosquito you?

Queer, what a big stain my sucked blood makes

Beside the infinitesimal faint smear of you!

Queer, what a dim dark smudge you have disappeared into!

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A Gray Day

2010-08-09T22:05:00.000-07:00

Day 118-August 9th
Destination: Bingham Ridge
Miles: 25
Cumulative Miles: 1701

When we woke this morning the clouds had rolled in, and mired us in their gloom. We lingered in our sleeping bags, not wanting to step out into the cool moist air. With our surplus of food we were able to eat a bigger breakfast to help us face the day, and when we finally stepped out, we could tell the sun would burn off the clouds shortly after we began hiking.

They did.

After the first couple hours of hiking, we hit Santiam Pass, where "Catdog" had left a cooler with Beer, Soda, and cookies. The beer was all gone, but we enjoyed sodas and homemade cookies from this trail angel, who hiked the Appalachian Trail not long ago.

Then we continued our northward walk. We (regrettably) chose a suggested alternate route which is roughly the same distance as the PCT, but passes by more lakes and water sources. Unfortunately, this also meant a bit more mosquitoes. Sadly most of the lakes were fairly unremarkable, and so the detour seemed like an unfair trade for the possible ridge line vistas we missed.

In the afternoon, the clouds returned, putting a gray fog across our walk. The burnt forest mixed with an overcast setting sun created a somewhat gloomy end to our day. We were tired and climbing with extra water (for dry camping). The absence of sun depleted our energy and made for a difficult last couple of miles.

At last we arrived at something somewhat flat, and set up camp.

On a less grey note: 1700 miles.
Woohoo!! 1700 miles.

Psycho's brother submitted two mosquito poems, so we'll share one today and one tomorrow. It would be fun to have our readers write their own mosquito poems and post them as a comment on our blog. Visit:
http://northboundheartsong.blogspot.com

And add your own mosquito poem.
:)

---
Here's one to inspire you:

Familiar whine in my ear

You settle on my forearm

Prepare to pierce my skin with your proboscis

I raise my had to strike

Wait!

What if I let you complete the cycle?

You might feed the songbird

Who cheers my day.

Your larvae might feed the minnow

Who feeds the fingerling

Who feeds the pike

Who feeds me.

You might be a meal

For the brown bat

Whose guano fertilizes

Tomatoes for my salad.

SMACK!

But not today.

Deborah K. Frontiera

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Lava Rocks!! Part Deux

2010-08-09T10:07:00.000-07:00

Day 117-August 8th
Destination: Big Lake Youth Camp
Miles: 11.5 (Plus 0.8 off trail miles)
Cumulative Miles: 1676

We planned to get out of Bend by 10, but the town demons held us longer...and by demons it is meant the allure of sleeping in and milling about slowly, free of mosquitoes. We left town closer to noon. Our faithful trail angel, Lloyd Gust (who picked us up yesterday), drove us back to the trail. He was even kind enough to drive us to the grocery store so we could buy a few resupply items.

Once back to the trail head, we helped Lloyd restock the water cache he maintains there. He also maintains one back at Windigo Pass. Then we hit the trail running, stopping after one-eighth of a mile to make a lunch. Then we really hit the trail, but not running. It was semi-slow movement, as the trail was very rocky. We were crossing a massive lava field near the Belknap Crater.

Before we walked on the moon, we believed the surface of the moon was much like the surface of lava fields we were walking across. NASA brought their astronauts to this area to have them try walking the surface in their space suits. The first paved trail, now serving the D. Wright Observatory, was built for the media to use while filming the Astronauts testing their gear in the field.

Crossing the barren lava fields, where only a few trees ever took hold, we met several day hikers exploring the desolate landscape. Once we passed the lava fields, the number of day hikers dropped to zero, and we had returned to our own more familiar people-less hiking. Yet the views were still magnificent as we approached Mt. Washington.

Washington had a pointy conical dome with a red scarf wrapped several hundred feet below the summit. We walked along it's foothills, passing a trail crew constructing a new trail. The existing trail was rutted heavily from overuse, and was causing a disruption in the natural flow of water. The crew was working to reset the hydrological state of the environment we were enjoying.

A few miles later we arrived at the trail junction to Big Lake Youth Camp, a Seventh Day Adventist Church Camp, which offers showers, laundry, and food service to thru-hikers. They provided us with soap, shampoo, and a giant fluffy towel. After setting up camp we hit the showers. We passed on the dinner (and breakfast) as we were carrying a surplus of food.

After the shower, we sat on the lake shore and watched the sun set beautifully while we finished our dinner. Then we retired to our tent. Back to big miles tomorrow.

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1000 Mile Countdown

2010-08-08T10:46:00.000-07:00

Day 116-August 7th
Destination: Bend via McKenzie Pass
Miles: 24
Cumulative Miles: 1664.5

We were pretty beat after two consecutive long days, and so we decided to sleep in until 6:45am. It seems a bit of a joke that sleeping in still means that we're up before seven, but we'd be hard pressed to remember the last time we slept past seven (save for town days).

It was a stunning day from start to finish, perhaps one of the most beautiful we have experienced. In a couple short miles we reached a vast flat plain on volcanic scree and wildflowers at the base of South Sister. The mountain loomed to our right with its red cap hidden between large snowy glaciers.

Middle Sister hid just behind it, and was our company as we hiked northward into obsidian covered trail. Everywhere we looked small flecks of obsidian glinted reflections of the afternoon sun. We took lunch at Obsidian Falls, a small waterfall which cascaded over a hillside riddled with larger chunks of obsidian. Over the rock outcroppings we could see the craggy peaks of North Sister, the most technical of the three summits.

As we passed by North Sister, we dropped down into a small meadow filled with rich purple lupines. The purple meadow had highlights of rich magenta red Indian Paintbrushes, and another vibrant yellow flower. As we wound our way through the wildflowers we climbed around Yapoah Crater, which fed the lava flows we finished our day with.

For roughly ten miles we walked over and around vast fields of lava flow. The hillside was all but covered in endless mounds of lava rock. Our trek took us up a hillside where climbing was difficult because our feet would slide down a couple inches for every step we took. Despite our struggle to walk smoothly, the terrain was too beautiful to not enjoy our hiking.

Despite sleeping in, we still hit a highway (24 miles away) and got ourselves into town and a hotel before sunset...and inevitably big juicy burgers and hoppy beer shortly thereafter to celebrate the 1000 mile countdown. It's odd how we celebrate everything. 100 miles, 500 miles, 1000 miles, 1500 miles... 10%, 25%, 33%, 50%....suppose we do it as some sort of reward or motivation to encourage us along. If we didn't congratulate ourselves regularly, we might not feel like we were making any progress.

Our 1000 mile countdown reward consisted of a hotel, a big burger, and some fine Oregon Microbrews on tap.

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Dr. StrangeLake (or how I learned to love the DEET)

2010-08-06T21:53:00.000-07:00

Day 115-August 6th
Destination: Sisters Mirror Lake
Miles: 28
Cumulative Miles: 1640.5

We woke to a chilly morning and a tent damp with condensation. It has been many weeks since the morning was this cold, and rarely have we had as much moisture on our tent as we did this morning. As such, we sluggishly moved quickly; meaning we moved slow until we were out of our sleeping bags, and quickly after that.

Today's hike was about the lakes, ponds, bogs, and tarns we passed along our walk. Irish lake and the next couple lakes were lost in a shroud of thick morning mist rising from their glassy surfaces. They held a certain eerie witch-like charm to them.

About one mile later we passed a small pond, made black by the decaying vegetation that had fallen into it. The surface cast a perfect reflection of the trees across the way from us. It was as if we were looking at black glass, or perhaps fully reflective obsidian.

The remainder of the day was filled with small lakes ranging from crystal clear to blue, green, brown, and black. Often the smaller ones were freckled with Lily Pads, while the larger ones caught the wind on their surface and cast a thousand shifting constellations across their surface.

Near the end of our day we passed two Sobo thru-hikers. Shortly after that we passed another, bringing the total to four and a half (the half is from one Sobo hiker who skipped 75% of Washington). We had a nice chat with the couple about conditions ahead, and behind. Given our plan to return to Echo Lake and hike south once we get to Canada, it is quite likely we will slip into the Sobo herd of hikers, small though they are.

The surplus of lakes surprisingly did not create a surplus of mosquitoes, and we were able to enjoy most of the day free of head nets. Sadly though, our camp was overrun with the whining mini-beasts. We quickly put up our tent and dove in for the night.
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A Thousand Splendid Toothpicks

2010-08-05T22:13:00.000-07:00

Day 114-August 5th
Destination: Irish Lake
Miles: 25.5 (plus 1.5 off trail miles)
Cumulative Miles: 1612.5

Twenty Seven miles today, and we didn't even start until just past 9am. We've done 27 before (if memory serves correctly), but not on a day with such a late start.

Our hike took us up past the Rosary Lakes, which shown like gems in the hill when we had climbed above them. We continued along through relatively simple terrain, and generally unscenic after we had gained enough distance from the Rosary Lakes.

The real joy of hiking through a forest without views is in training your eyes to see the subtle changes, training yourself to "see the forest for the trees." Throughout the hike, we have seen more than our fare share of blowdowns. What is amazing is the variety of ways that trees "combat nature."

Some trees are like the green stick that is too large for the campfire. When you try and break the stick into smaller pieces to fit in the fire, you end up twisting the fibers, never quite breaking the stick. The stick is broken, yet still one piece connected by string-cheese-like strands of wood tissue. Storms pass through knocking several trees down in this stingy fibrous fashion.

Still other times the wind knocks a tree down that has withstood storms for decades or even centuries. Wind combined with saturated soil allows the tree to rip right out of the ground, tearing it's own roots as it lifts the earth in its crashing end. This generally is the case with the larger trees, and often results large pits in the ground next to the torn roots.

Once we saw a tree that we couldn't figure out what happened to it. The small tree, maybe 6-10 inches in diameter was split down the core. It's sapwood split and splayed outward, drooping like taffy on a hot summer day. Perhaps the tree was struck by lightening and exploded in some fashion, rendering the pealed banana look to it, but there were no signs of burns caused by lightening.

Lightening is a powerful force. A single storm can ignite 40 plus wildfires, as was the case with the Hat Creek Rim. This evening we walked through the remnants of a burn zone. The forest had begun it's restoration process; Fireweed was blooming, resetting the soil pH to something more hospitable to the wider diversity of a typical forest. The rain had soaked most of the blackened wood ash into the soil, leaving a burn zone which was largely clear of black charred wood.

The bark had fallen off all the trees, and the sun and weather had smoothed over and bleached all the tree trunks. The fire burned the limbs from the trees, and wind has taken the tops of most the trees. What is left behind is a shadeless forest of large white toothpicks. The afternoon wind blew through the desolate area, creating an eerie, yet pleasant, whistling as it passed through the trees.

Over time and miles, and countless opportunities to "stare off into space" does one start to notice the "forest for the trees." We passed a burned out tree stump. The hollow place, where the heartwood once lay, held a sapling. The sapling had it's own fence to protect it, the hollowed out stump. Everything anew.

The mosquitoes were not as bad today. In fact the only times they were bothersome was during lunch, at a small pond, and at camp tonight. This is to be expected when near bodies of water, especially this time of year. So in light of our recent mosquito surplus, we will share a poem passed to us by Apricots' mother.

Taken from Mississippi River Journal to benefit the Audubon Society John Pugh and Jessica Robinson

Ode to A Mosquito

Mosquito. Oh you @!*^%*# mosquito.
My loathing toward you has no bounds.
You are my nemesis.

No friend would torment me so.
Painful proboscis poking.
Suck, suck, sucking away at me.

Why must you torment me so?
I've done you no harm, yet.
So small, yet such a big pain.

Come hither my pretty.
Just a little closer.
Steady now. That's it.
No quarter for you.

Mosquito. Oh you @!*^%*# mosquito!

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Type III Vampires

2010-08-04T19:03:00.000-07:00

Day 113-August 4th
Destination: Shelter Cove
Miles: 12.5 (plus 1.5 off trail miles)
Cumulative Miles: 1587

Mosquitoes so thick, one might have thought they were swimming in a lake of insects. Sure, they died down a couple miles before the end of this short day, but not before Apricots said:

"There is a special place in hell for mosquitoes, a place where they fly about with thousands of miniature mosquitoes swarming them endlessly biting at their small ravenous bodies."

Psycho added, with a quote from the Tale of Graydick in Wolves of Calla, "May their first day in hell last 10,000 years, and may it be the shortest."

Usually in the morning, the mosquito swarm has dropped down, with the cold night as the sun retires for the day. It would seem that this was not the case today though. We woke with a swarm as abundant as the one we went to bed with.

Wearing head nets and raincoats we packed quickly and abandoned our site, hoping to escape the mosquitoes. We did not. As we climbed into the Diamond Peak wilderness, we walked along the snowy base of Diamond Peak which we paused to enjoy, until the mosquitoes overwhelmed our perfect sitting rocks.

Afterward we dropped into the shade of a forested path, which was riddled with many small lakes and tarns, each with their own family of mosquitoes and the families were large and extended. We fought our way through the writhing clouds of agony until we descended to Odell Lake and Shelter Cove.

We planned to only shower, eat, and do laundry before pushing a few more miles into the day. Yet sadly, or perhaps gladly, the serenity of the place (and general lack of mosquitoes) lured us in for a short hiking day and a restful afternoon.

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Mosquito Mania

2010-08-04T06:53:00.000-07:00

Day 112-August 3rd
Destination: 4 miles north of Summit Lake
Miles: 24.5 (plus 0.8 off trail miles)
Cumulative Miles: 1574.5

So many mosquitoes.
So many mosquitoes.

We had short reprieve from their constant whining as we took lunch, overlooking Cowhorn Mountain, and that was pretty much it.

So many mosquitoes.

While we took dinner at Summit Lake, the mosquitoes were the worst we had seen all day. When we left Summit Lake, with it's beautiful view of Diamond Peak, we followed a trail through flatish land with multiple bogs...so many mosquitoes.

Finally, when we couldn't take it anymore, we set up camp and dove into our tent. We spent the next twenty minutes killing all the mosquitoes that followed us in.

So Many.

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Paying Tribute

2010-08-02T21:43:00.000-07:00

Day 111-August 2nd
Destination: MM 1875ish
Miles: 22.5 (plus 1.5 off trail miles)
Cumulative Miles: 1550

This morning we woke, and hiked a quick six miles up to the Mt. Thielsen summit trail. When Psycho hiked in 2005, he passed up an opportunity to summit the mountain. Two hours later, he was semi-lost in the snow with broken trekking poles and soaked feet. He chose to turn back. Since then, he has felt that Mt. Thielsen acts as a sort of gate keeper to the rest of the trail north. As such, he felt it necessary to linger on the mountain, perhaps even climb it.

We stashed our packs a few hundred feet up the summit trail, and decided to hike up the mountain, at least some of the way. The trail is about one mile long, but you climb close to two thousand feet. This steep ascent was made on loose scree, which had eroded off the rocky escarpments which make up the sides of this shield volcano. We did not go all the way to the top, and the last 50-100 feet require ropes for safe climbing. We went far enough to get above tree line, and have a fantastic view of most of the surrounding land, including Diamond Lake (pictured above).

After taking in the view, we had to return to our packs, and our hiking. We made the skiing sliding descent down the loose scree. When we arrived back to our packs, we put them on, only to find that they seemed much heavier, as we were used to the packless hike up Mt. Thielsen.

Mid-afternoon as we passed by the red dome of Tipsoo Peak, we hit the high point of the PCT for Oregon and Washington. It was only 7560 feet in elevation, and the climb up to it and drop down from it was barely noticeable. It is, however, another PCT landmark to be moved to the "been there, done that" column.

Hiking along the forested hillsides after Tipsoo Peak, the mosquito population grew to unbearable levels. We put our head nets on (which we always carry in our hands lately), and sprayed our arms with DEET, a nasty pesticide which works wonders (who knows what it's doing to us). A few more miles, and we arrived at camp.

We dove into our tent to escape the mosquitoes. Then we made sandwiches, an atypical meal for us. Perhaps it was the nice day, perhaps the sandwiches, or maybe the Deet on our skin, whatever it was we had a laughing party. It was hard to say anything without our sides cramping with laughter, or our eyes watering with joyous tears. Pleasant, it was.

Hiking for Cherryville Heartsongs
Visit our blog to find out how to donate
http://northboundheartsong.blogspot.com

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Rim Walk

2010-08-01T21:28:00.000-07:00

Day 110-August 1st
Destination: Highway 138
Miles: 11 (plus 2 off trail miles)
Cumulative Miles: 1527.5

We awoke early and caught a glimpse of the sunrise over Crater Lake. Stepping out of the tent, Psycho took a few pictures before returning to the comfort of his warm down sleeping bag and catching two more hours of sleep. We would have stayed up, but we were in no rush today, as we knew our resupply package still hadn't arrived at Mazama Village.

After a breakfast with a postcard perfect view, we packed up and began hiking. Most of today's walk took us along the rim of Crater Lake. First we climbed around Hillman Peak (which we mistook for "The Watchman" yesterday). Passing around its red rock crags, we saw the towering hill that was actually "The Watchman."

When we approached the towering hill on the rim, one of the highest points along the rim, we chose to take a half-mile detour to the lookout tower at the top. Alone at the top, we took in a fantastic panorama which showed peaks as close as Mt. McLoughlin and Mt. Thielsen, as well as peaks as far as Mt. Shasta and Diamond Peak. Shortly after we began the half mile descent back to the trail, we started passing a large collective of day hikers making their way to the top. If we were ten minutes later, we would have had to share the view with ten plus heavily perfumed and cologned people. It's nice to find an ounce of solitude in an otherwise overrun natural landmark.

We continued our hike around the rim, constantly stopping to stare in wonder at the blue depths; a blue so rich one could get lost in it's crystal depth transfixed on thoughts of infinite complexity.

Before long, yet no long enough, we arrived at Crater Lake Lodge, and with it the plentiful hordes of visitors. Years before the discovery of Crater Lake by settlers, the Native Americans would intentionally steer settlers along paths that avoided the lake, in an attempt to preserve it's majestic, if not spiritual, beauty. It was eventually discovered by "white folk" and we have preserved it as best we could in this world... Sort of.

Hiking a quick 5 miles down to Mazama Village, we bought supplies for the next leg, as our resupply box hadn't arrived, and we wanted to keep moving. The worker at the Lodge was kind enough to print maps for us, so that we were not going blind, and the workers at Mazama Village store let us return some food when we realized the hiker box was bountiful.

Four hitches later we arrived back at Highway 138, where we started Sobo yesterday afternoon. We walked a quarter mile in from the road and set up camp just after sunset in the midst of a devilish symphony of whining mosquitoes.

---we would like to say thank you to all those who have helped us along the way with kind emails and care packages. Andrea, thanks for your regular motivational emails. Kristine thank you for the care package that we will eventually get to. Adrienne and Barbara, you rocked our world. Cody and DK, you help make our days easier. And of course thank you family, our most ardent supporters...packages, emails, liquor, and visits.

Trail Angels...You are our magical guardians.

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Sobo to Crater Lake

2010-07-31T21:47:00.000-07:00

Day 109-July 31st
Destination: Crater Lake Rim
Miles: 12 (plus 1 off trail mile)
Cumulative Miles: 1516.5

We woke this morning after getting some of the best rest we've had in more than a week. Fully rested, we went to a breakfast buffet with Apricots' mother, before saying goodbye to her. Today she is driving south to visit Apricots' brother. As her car was full, we had to try to hitch back to the trail.

We decided to hike from Diamond Lake, southbound (Sobo) back to Highway 62 where we left yesterday. This would make for an easier hitch, and more time for our resupply package to arrive at Crater Lake. Once we get back to Highway 62 (tomorrow) we will check to see if our resupply has arrived, and then hitch to Diamond Lake and continue northbound (Nobo). Team Psychricots is a jumping flip-flopping team if nothing else.

Sitting on the side of the highway, we waited out the day in long slow hours, as most of the traffic was heading in the wrong direction. While waiting at the road, trying to hitch a ride back to the trail, a truck drove up. The passenger asked if we were hiking the PCT. We told her yes, and she said her father hiked the trail last year. She couldn't give us a ride, but she did give us a bag of M&M's and a large Gatorade. We saw them driving into Diamond Lake, which means they turned around to drive out and gift us. Once again, the kindness of strangers blesses us.

After close to three hours of hitching, we secured a ride that took us exactly to where we needed. Their timing was perfect, because we were beginning to question alternative options for getting back to the trail. Furthermore, they dropped us off with just enough time to hike up to the rim, and grab a camping spot with a perfect view of the lake as the sun set.

We made the 12 mile hike and sat on the rim, staring at the majestic blue water, as the sun cast it's last red hues on the opposite rim. The lake is more beautiful when you have to walk up to it, rather than just driving up to the viewpoint. We walked across pumice flats where light rocks of pumice lined our trail through the volcanic dust and gravel. The trees cleared just before reaching the rim, and we were given a fantastic view of "The Watchman", one of the rocky crags that sits on the rim.

Beautiful camp.

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MD

2010-07-31T09:00:00.000-07:00

Day 108-July 30th
Destination: Highway 62
Miles: 19.5 (plus 0.9 off trail miles)
Cumulative Miles: 1504.5

Today was a simple day. Our hike was less than 20 miles (more or less), and there were no significant grade changes. Most of the trail wandered through flat-ish forest, and most of the higher points were without noteworthy views. Yet the lack of views were not constant and certainly didn't detract from the day.

We had passed through a burn zone that was rich with new growth. The green grass complemented the reds and browns left behind in the blackened forest.

When we reached the highway, we walked about a mile down the highway to Mazama Village, the small campground/development at the bottom of Crater Lake. At the store, we found out our resupply package had not yet arrived. This required us to develop a creative strategy for the next leg.

As Apricots' mother is visiting us, and we are staying at Diamond Lake, we plan to hike south from Diamond Lake back to Mazama Village. This will allow a little more time for our resupply to arrive while allowing us to continue hiking.

On a side note:
We have now passed the 1500 mile mark. Woohoo!!

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Mosquito Mosquito, My Lustful Mosquito

2010-07-29T21:55:00.000-07:00

Day 107-July 29th
Destination: Honeymoon Creek
Miles: 22 (plus 1.6 off trail miles)
Cumulative Miles: 1485

Most all of today was about mosquitoes. We wore our pants and long sleeves for the entire day, despite the heat. We also wore our mosquito head nets most of the day, which caught glare from the sun, making it difficult to see where to step occasionally. Overall though, despite the mosquitoes, today was a fairly nice day.

We walked 4.5 miles before having our morning coffee and breakfast. Huddled in our rain coats, to keep the bugs from biting, we quickly ate our oatmeal and trail mix. Afterwards, we hiked another 12 miles to snow lakes where we ate lunch. But just prior to lunch we faltered in our navigating.

Sometimes we find ourselves wishing the trail designers had put more thought into the way they designed trails. For example, placing a trail junction at a sharp turn in the trail is not a good idea. Both of us failed to see that the PCT cut sharply to the left, which resulted in both of us turning on to a side trail. We only realized this after walking over half a mile down the wrong trail, which meant we had to turn around and walk the half mile plus back up to the PCT.

Once rejoined with the PCT, we dropped off it for lunch at snow lakes. After lunch we hiked up past Lucifer rock and Devil's Point. Lucifer rock looked like a towering tidal wave of lichen covered rock towering overhead. We were filled with a little unease as we looked up at the looming crumbly rock which could collapse at any moment, but we passed it by with no harm and carried on to Devil's Point which was tamer by far.

Dropping down and hiking a few more miles we arrived at Honeymoon Creek. We set up camp here, and look forward to a shorter day tomorrow, into Crater Lake. The mosquitoes joined us for dinner. Now they are whining dramatically, angry at us for not letting them into our tent and killing those who snuck past our gate guards.

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Lava Rocks

2010-07-28T21:21:00.000-07:00

Day 106-July 28th
Destination: MM 1788ish
Miles: 25.5 (plus 0.2 off trail miles)
Cumulative Miles: 1463

It happened again. We aren't certain it was a bear, but we took no chances. Something was stomping around outside our tent, and fled when we yelled at it, but it came back. It was leaving us restless, so we packed up and moved away from our cozy little nook. Perhaps it was the cozy little nook of some animal, and we had taken it when they were away, like Goldilocks.

Moving to another site was a little more difficult, as Apricots' head lamp had dead batteries, but we managed to get ourselves to a new site, a little lumpy, but at eleven at night anything will do.

Despite our midnight move, we woke feeling fairly rested, and churned out eight miles before taking a break. We only did so because we needed the water which we pumped from a well outside of the small South Brown Mountain Shelter, a cute little hut with a wood stove and room for four or five people.

After leaving the shelter, we skirted around Brown Mountain, which offered great fields of old lava flow. The large grey-black rocks lay scattered across the hillside like some sort of rock slide, and the trail cut right through it. The trail was formed out of a red pumice stone laid in a bed through the grey-black lava. From a distance the hillside looked like a rough chalkboard, with a loosely straight line of red chalk drawn across it.

After eighteen miles we took a lunch break, much later than usual. We rested a bit after lunch and then churned out another 7.5 miles. These came with relative ease, but the mosquitoes were out in full force. We had been told by some southbounders that the mosquitoes were intense in this area, and they didn't exaggerate. We ate dinner in our tent to stay away from their fiendish ways. Hopefully this decision won't come back to haunt us with midnight visitors.

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Hyatt Lake Pit Stop

2010-07-27T20:27:00.000-07:00

Day 105-July 27th
Destination: Big Springs
Miles: 24 (plus 1.8 off trail miles)
Cumulative Miles: 1437.5

We woke this morning with a dry tent. Yesterday's rain storm had passed with the day, and we were thankful to have a cooler day ahead of us, now that the storm has sucked the moisture out of the air. Warm, but definitely less muggy. We enjoyed the last of Sue's tasty blueberries with breakfast and the first half of our hike. (Thanks again Sue)

Around 9am, we happened across a coyote on the trail. He was eating his morning breakfast, some squirrel who proved to be less squirrely than the coyote. We had the good fortune to see the half eaten remains of the coyotes conquest.

After about 11.5 miles, we made a 3/4 mile hike off trail down to Hyatt Lake Resort where we re supplied with a package sent from home, and refueled with a delicious pizza. With full bellies, and full packs, we waddled over to the Hyatt Lake Campground where we took a midday shower before returning to the trail for another 12 miles or so.

The latter half of the day cruised by fairly simply. Most of the trail was without noticeable landmarks or views, and only briefly passed through a burn zone which offered little to look at. We did see three turkey vultures flying about, and one deer late in the evening. Just prior to camp we passed through another wooden graveyard, where there were more downed trees than standing trees. The forest floor was littered with over sized white toothpicks, where the gods played a fierce game of "Pick Up Sticks."

After grabbing water from Big Springs we set up camp in a tiny nook created by a small collective of trees. The shelter of these trees almost give a sense of being in some elf's living room.

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Welcome Back to Oregon

2010-07-26T22:08:00.001-07:00

Day 104-July 26th
Destination: MM 1738ish
Miles: 11.5
Cumulative Miles: 1413.5

We hoped to sleep in this morning, but the sprinklers at Callahan's came on at 5am, wetting our tent and disrupting our sleep. Psycho went to the front desk to ask that the sprinklers hitting the tent be turned off, but the office was closed until 7am, so we packed up and took a shower.

After the shower we had breakfast in the lodge, and then prepared to go to downtown Ashland to handle our town errands. Sue, a local trail angel, picked us up and drove us to town. She let us keep our gear in her car while it stayed parked downtown, so our errands would be easier. After going to the post office, grocery store, library, and outfitter, Sue drove us back up to the trail. She even gave us fresh picked blueberries and cherries to enjoy while we hiked.
(Thank you Sue for being superbly accommodating to our erratic schedule)

There was a light rain falling as we started hiking, as if Oregon wanted to welcome us back to our home state. The clouds rumbled with thunder. Thirty minutes into our hike lightening struck one-quarter of a mile from us, and hail a quarter inch (at least) in diameter started pelting us. We took shelter under a small tree while we waited out the heaviest part of the storm.

About twenty minutes later, the hail had passed, and the lightening seemed to have died down (at least in our neck of the woods). We continued our hike. The rain pretty much stopped, and we were left in a quiet forest. The bugs, which usually buzz with the sort of ferocity reserved for the birth of electricity, fell silent. Birds with their songs and chatter were nowhere to be heard. The thunder had ceased temporarily, and the soil underfoot was just barely damp, cushioning and silencing our steps.

For a moment, the silence was deafening. We heard nothing, and we only had sight and smell. The air carried a semi-pungent odor; a frothy mix of damp soil, wet greenery, and electricity. It was an isolated feeling, but our sense of smell rooted us to the ground, where our sense of hearing was away on vacation.

We came upon a robin bird sitting on the trail. Unaware of what happened, we could only stand in silence as we watched it sit upon the trail, quivering and breathing, but not moving away from our approaching boots. We continued along, allowing nature to run it's course with the bird.

Miles later, and several lightening strikes later, we arrived at camp. The small spring allowed us to replenish water while we cooked and looked upon the dramatic pink-orange sky created by the collision of the setting sun and the passing thunderstorm.

Very Beautiful.

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The Hitching Day

2010-07-25T22:24:00.000-07:00

Day 103-July 25th
Destination: Seiad Valley/Ashland
Miles: 6.5
Cumulative Miles: 1402

Today was about hitching. We woke, with no serious rush. After a leisurely breakfast we made a hike down the final 6.5 miles to Seiad Valley. It was all road walking, and most of that was along the Klamath River. Other than detours from the official PCT, this is the longest stretch of trail on road.

We made the whole hike without hitching, which is often a "draw" when road walking. But then again, we saw our first car when we had only one mile to go. Upon arriving at Seiad Valley we enjoyed a breakfast at the cafe and then showers at the RV park.

Close to noon we began our long efforts to hitch. We have already covered the leg from Seiad Valley to Ashland, one month ago, so we needed to find a way back to Ashland. We sat on the road next to a horse ranch, and waited several long hours before a car picked us up.

It was sad looking at the horses who stamped their feet and shook their heads to keep the flies at bay, but the flies were relentless. At times 100 or more sat across their long face, and we felt total pain and pity for them, knowing how annoying bugs in the face could be. Sadly these horses had no hands to beat away the flies, so they just stood there as the flies crawled into their eyes. It was so sad to watch.

Our ride finally arrived and drove us up the Klamath River to Interstate five, completing the first leg of our journey. We snacked for lunch at the rest stop where our ride left us, and then returned to the sweltering heat to hitch a ride up to Ashland. This wait was longer, but eventually we were picked up.

Our ride was another one of those roller coaster thrill seeking demon driven cars. Driving 80-90mph down the highway, we made it to Ashland in no time. We had the driver drop us at Callahans Lodge, a restaurant/lodge on the outskirts of town known for it's hospitality to hikers. We enjoyed a free beer (kindly given to all thru-hikers) with our dinner and retired to our tent which was strangely placed in the lawn outside the lodge, where all patio/porch diners could look down upon.

Tomorrow morning we'll head into Ashland for a few small errands and then return to the trail.

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Sometimes Nature Comes When Nature Calls

2010-07-24T20:43:00.000-07:00

Day 102-July 24th
Destination: Grider Creek Camp
Miles: 20
Cumulative Miles: 1395.5

We woke up this morning to find that the bears had paid us no attention thankfully. We had good rest, and only 20 miles to do today. After a couple miles we reconnected with Weather Carrot who we would hike most of the day with, taking breaks together in the shade, and eating lunch next to a stream.

Today carried fairly easy miles, in the sense that the trail was not rocky, and there was little climbing to do. But it did get hot today, especially as we dropped in elevation close to 5000 feet. Furthermore, at times our trail was so overgrown with ferns, big leaf maple, and other lush vegetation, it made it difficult to see the trail, to see if there were rocks or stumps that could trip us. We made it through without incident though, and Psycho's ankle seems to be getting better.

We parted ways with Weather Carrot not long before camp. As he is only section hiking, he does not need to maintain momentum like us. Lucky him.

Late in the afternoon nature called for Apricots, and she answered. Removing her pack and stepping a little off trail, she knelt down to find relief. In the midst of her "break", she heard a stick break and looked up. Ten feet in front of her was a bear playing peeping tom. At once she stood up and grabbed her pack while yelling down trail to Psycho. The bear fled the scene immediately running towards Psycho but down hill and off trail. He never heard nor saw the bear for he was further back than Apricots anticipated. But when he rounded the corner and saw Apricots' ashen face he knew something happened. She recounted the events, and Psycho held his tongue when he wanted to ask, "Did the bear scare the piss right out of you?"

Following the scare, we made our final mile descent down to Grider Creek Campground where we took a pseudo-bath in the creek water to wash off any oils we may have picked up from the poison oak, and our own sweat which poured like rivers out of our pores today in the muggy heat.

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Marble Mountains

2010-07-23T22:06:00.000-07:00

Day 101-July 23rd
Destination: Paradise Lake
Miles: 20
Cumulative Miles: 1375.5

We had a slow start this morning due to last nights commotion, yet we were still moving by 7:30. It's a good thing we were moving by then because the terrain slowed us, as well as our poor sleep, enough to limit us to 20 miles by sun down.

We started our day off with a rattlesnake, in the forest. We don't expect to see these in this area, and weren't looking for them, so it caught us a little off guard. We did see one a few days ago, but we were in hot rocky conditions, not a shaded forest. The snake did not rattle, but rather slid slowly off the trail and coiled into a striking pose. We gave it wide berth and continued our hike.

Shortly afterward we caught up with Weather Carrot who was chatting with friends of his who are south bounding a large section. We had coffee and talked while we filtered water, then pressed on. We walked across several crystal cool streams that cascaded over the trail and down the hill.

Late in the afternoon we reached Black Mountain, a rocky peak of marble. The white marble runs about 600 feet deep at points and is filled with cracks and fissures which make several dark caves. A few miles later we arrived at Paradise Lake. We did not have much daylight left so we opted to camp here.

We only hope that the frequent use of this sight will not put us at risk of losing our food to bears. After dinner we bagged our food and hung it from a tree, which hopefully will keep it protected. Now we just hope to have uninterrupted sleep, with our food still around in the morning.

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Testing out the ankle.

2010-07-22T06:53:00.000-07:00

Day 100-July 22nd
Destination: 2nd Saddle Past Cub Bear Spring
Miles: 9 (plus 0.4 side trail)
Cumulative Miles: 1355.5

"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees."
-John Muir

One hundred days, and we're barely past the half-way point. This means that at our current average pace, it will take us nearly 200 days to complete this thru-hike. We were hoping to take 154 days at the bare minimum, maybe as much as 168 days. What this means is that we need to average about 23 miles a day to finish on time. To date, we have averaged around 14. Of course our skipping and flipping have added unnecessary zero days to our adventure, but we are done with that (for the most part).

When we woke this morning we had the dilemma of trying to figure out if Psycho should rest his foot for a whole day, or just part of the day. We also had to figure out how to get back to the trail where we jumped off. It would be a difficult hitch, first down a lonely highway, then down an even lonelier back country road.

First, we decided a good half day of rest would be good for Psycho's foot, followed by easy hiking days. We planned our food accordingly. Outside the grocery store someone offered us a ride up to Etna summit, but we declined, as we needed to go back to where we jumped.

Later when we were eating lunch at the Etna Brewery, another person offered us a ride, which we declined for the same reason. All the while, Apricots was having a funny feeling about the 20 mile section between where we jumped and Etna summit, where we had repeated offers for rides. Psycho was taking it easy on his foot when an old hiking friend, Nabor J, called to offer condolences and advice. He stated that the 20 mile section through the Russian Wilderness was very rocky and it would be unwise to take a sore ankle across the crooked terrain.

Packed up and sitting on the highway, trying to hitch a ride, we waited out in the heat of midday. After being unsuccessful for so long, we assessed our likelihood of pulling both hitches before the sun set. The day was getting late, and things looked grim. Several factors stacked up:

1. A forecast of a steep snow patch, slightly dangerous.
2. Three rides offered to Etna Summit
3. Apricots' "feeling"
4. Nabor J's advice
5. Unsuccessful hitching

We decided to bail out on the 20 mile stretch and head towards Etna Summit. We stopped for milk shakes in town and then hit the road with our thumbs. Within ten minutes we had a ride up to Etna summit, and those who passed without giving us a ride all gave apologetic faces.

The man who gave us a ride was a 90 year old rancher who was heading up to do a small hike of his own. He was great conversation, and full of love for nature. He said, "The trails through the forest are the aisles to God's Cathedral."

Dropped at the trail head we made a short 7.5 mile hike to Little Cub Springs and set up camp after sunset. Shortly after dinner we heard a bear which we scared off. Ten minutes later the bear (or another) came back. Only this bear did not run when yelled at. We banged pots together and yelled at it. His eyes reflected silver-green in our head lamps while he walked back and forth. Only after we really started making noises and yelling did he leave, and not too fast at that.

Rather than facing more bear problems through the night, and perhaps losing our food, we chose to leave the campsite and hike to a less frequented site. We packed up quickly and walked 1.5 miles down trail. We passed a snake on the trail and several spiders, whose eyes reflected our head lamps.

We found a decent flat spot at a saddle, complete with a tree to hang our food off of. We set up camp and now have crawled into our sleeping bags again, this time a little before midnight, several hours later than we usual do.

The ankle did okay today, no shooting pains, and only the occasional warm reminder of a past injury. We'll see how it holds out tomorrow, for a longer day.
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The Ankle Issue

2010-07-21T20:46:00.000-07:00

Day 99-July 21st
Destination: Forest Highway 93
Miles: 15.5
Cumulative Miles: 1346.5

The morning started with a beautiful climb up and over a ridge red with iron rich mafic rock. As we approached the ascent, we were offered a brilliant display of color, from the rich green meadow below to the soft blue sky, with a rusty red mountain between the two splattered with patches white snow reflecting the sun leaving the hillside looking like silver gilded rock. Forest green trees held infrequent bursts in this menagerie of color.

After our ascent over the ridge, we dropped into the shaded forest, where firs offered us reprieve from the generally unrelenting sun. Occasionally the trail would hit a small saddle, where expansive views of the valley below were offered.

About a week ago, while hiking in the Desolation Wilderness, Psycho rolled his ankle a few times in the day. This is a common occurrence, and the reason he chooses to wear boots rather than shoes. This time, however, he seemed to hurt himself a little more than usual. Taking a break from hiking while traveling north from Echo Lake back up to Castle Crags seemed to help a little, but to be safe, he is wearing ace bandage around the ankle.

Yesterday he noticed a little pain on his achilles tendon, and blew it off as just a bruise from the ace bandage. This morning walking was just fine, easier than yesterday. However, just before lunch he started experiencing pain in his achilles, sharp shooting pain. We took lunch at a refreshingly cool stream, after covering 14.5 miles. When we started moving again, the pain was present, sharp, and frequent.

Psycho trudged slowly up the mile ascent to the forest highway, and upon arriving explained his pain to Apricots. This time the road had a new meaning:

1. Do we hike past
2. Do we hitch to town a day early

Apricots said that it was better to hitch down and rest the foot, better than hiking on it and perhaps injuring it more. While Psycho wanted to endure the pain and walk on, he wanted to rest it more than anything, and we were at a place where that was an option. We chose to hitch.

The first car going the wrong direction provided a touch of comic relief. The small red truck came to a skidding halt on the wrong side of the road. Before it was even stopped, the door was open and the driver was half out of the cab. He jumped out quickly, crowbar in hand, and ran into the forest sliding quickly down the steep embankment. At first we thought that the man had a bad need to dig a cat hole with the crowbar, and empty his overflowing bowels.

When he ran back up the hill, we discovered that this was not the case. He was uprooting a mustard plant that is an invasive species. Apparently they spray weed killer to keep the plants down, and he (and others) have agreed to uproot all sightings of the plant to keep the weed killer from contaminating their watershed. He chatted briefly then hopped in his car shooting 50 yards downhill only to repeat the process. It was a very bizarre experience to witness his repeated exiting from the truck and uprooting of the mustard plant.

We waited for a hitch on the lonely highway. The first truck pulled over to tell us that he could not offer a ride (how peculiar). Forty minutes later, the second truck pulled over and gave us a ride. Upon arriving at Etna, we immediately hit the post office and did a mad exchange of items to mail ahead, mail home, and keep.

After a shower at the Hiker Hut (a pseudo trail-angel/Bed&Breakfast combo) we went to dinner at the Etna Brewery & Pub...a must stop for thru-hikers. Now as daylight fades, Psycho is icing his ankle while we discuss how to carry on with our "Extreme" adventure.
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Half Way!

2010-07-20T21:05:00.000-07:00

Day 98-July 20th
Destination: MM 1571ish
Miles: 24.5
Cumulative Miles: 1331

Some days start out looking easy. Long flat miles, frequent water, and imperceptible grade changes. Very often these types of days, although rare, turn out to be easy. However, sometimes this is not the case. Upon putting our boots on in the morning, it became evident that we just weren't "feeling it."

This dictated our day. With frequent breaks, and sore feet, we moved slowly through the "easy day." Near the end of the day we chose to stop one mile shy of our goal. This, however, still put us past the halfway point of the entire trail. We celebrated with a couple mini bottles of Henessey Cognac provided by Psycho's parents.

At the 20 mile mark for the day we intersected a small highway. We were faced with the dilemma every thru-hiker faces upon reaching a road:

1. Do we walk past
2. Do we hitch to town for a quick bite, and then hitch back
3. Do we hitch to town for an overnight stay

And the worst

4. Do we "get off the trail" permanently

The road, and the town at the end of it held a haunting allure that caused us to take a break for nearly an hour, discussing our options. Showers, beer, burgers, pizza, and laundry all beckoned for us, but eventually we overcame the call to town, and moved slowly trudgingly onward. We will get to the town in due time. We walked on, casting fleeting glimpses at passing cars, hoping one might stop and "change our path." None did.

We climbed 1200 feet to a water source, and chose to set up camp. Tomorrow looks a little harder, but perhaps our bodies will be feeling better.

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A Ridge Walk

2010-07-19T21:41:00.000-07:00

Day 97-July 19th
Destination: MM 1546ish
Miles: 24
Cumulative Miles: 1306.5

We slept in two hours this morning. Our bodies needed to catch up from the lack of sleep yestereve. Fortunately, the day was relatively easy so we were still able to make decent miles.

Our walk followed a ridge most of the day, occasionally dipping down off the top to pass by some water sources. This was a welcome drop, as we had a small scare in the morning. Our first water source was dry, and we were facing ten dry hot miles with one liter of water between us. We had to stop and melt snow, as their were no runoff streams and the snow was melting into the soil, to emerge as a spring some place far down hill.

Late in the afternoon, while crossing a large rock slide we saw a deer. The deer looked at us and either decided we were not a threat, or realized it had nowhere to run. It would easily have hurt itself if it left the trail, as large granite boulders teetered precariously on one other flanked the trail. The tread itself was somewhat difficult to walk on, so the deer just casually sauntered ahead of us for several minutes. We didn't want to scare it into running on dangerous ground, so we slowed our pace until the deer found her own way off the trail.

Not long after seeing the deer, we passed Deadfall Lakes. Ten minutes past the lakes, we ran into a family out on an overnight hike. The two girls jumped happily along the trail. Their less then eight years of age bodies free of the burden of packs moved effortlessly and happily. Pulling up the rear, and asking, "how much further," was their father who was carrying a pack overrun with all the gear. The extra sleeping bags and pads pounced along as he trod slowly up. Surely he collapsed at Deadfall Lakes before doing anything.

A few miles later we found camp atop a ridge freckled with tiny yellow flowers and a stunning view of Mt. Shasta as the sun casts red hue across the snowless patches.

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The No Sleep Hike

2010-07-18T21:07:00.000-07:00

Day 96-July 18th
Destination:
Miles: 16
Cumulative Miles: 1282.5

The train departed just after midnight, and we settled into our seats that make first class flying look like coach. Despite our spacious accommodations, sleep was still difficult. We probably managed two, maybe three unrestful hours of sleep before being dropped off in the cute quiet morning of the small city of Dunsmuir, on a sunday. Naturally, at 5am on a Sunday, nothing is open, so we walked to a Chevron, waiting for it to open at 6am, so we could get some coffee and muffins.

After we ate, we realized that we were still too tired to hike, and no one was up yet driving to pull a hitch from to the trail. So we wandered down to a semi-secluded park under the freeway to take a power nap. Psycho lay awake, just enough coffee consumed to prevent sleep, while Apricots took half of a power nap. Around eight thirty we went back to try our thumbs at hitching.

Since we were on the far end of town, we doubted we could get a ride south. We chose to walk to the southern end, in hopes that our luck would be better. While walking across town a woman returning from her morning walk asked if we were thru-hikers. After telling her that we were, she offered us a ride back to the trail. What luck! Hitchhiking on the interstate is nothing shy of difficult.

Well, it would seem that hiking uphill in the heat of day on three hours of sleep is nothing shy of difficult as well. The trail started out flat with very easy grade and tread through douglas firs and incense ceders, and the day was looking up despite our lack of sleep. But after eight miles, we began a serious climb on exposed trail. The sun was cooking us, and the climb was steep.

There was an onslaught of bugs which hover in front of your face for five seconds before dive-bombing your eyes like some sort of kamikaze pilot. It was necessary to constantly swat at the air in front of our faces, or else we would have bug guts in our eyes or mouth. It is tricky doing a steep climb and breathing only through your nose, but it was necessary. Apricots "ate" five of these pesky creatures today.

Fortunately, the view was fantastic. We climbed the hill with constant picture perfect views of the rocky spires, Castle Crags. It wasn't long before we climbed out of the live oaks (and bugs) and made our way into sparsely populated Ponderosa and Sugar Pines. The hillside was dense with Huckleberry Oak.

Near the end of our day, we filtered water from a spring with Pitcher Plants, glorious insectiverous plants that help limit the quantity of bugs by eating them when they get trapped in their sticky pitchers. The Pitcher Plant has a small zone of where it grows, so seeing them is a welcome treat.

After dinner, we climbed another 3/4 of a mile to a small saddle with views back to Castle Crags, and to Mt. Shasta. We called for an early day, as we were beat from poor sleep. Tonight we hope to get good rest to set us up for a decent day tomorrow.
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The Train North

2010-07-17T22:52:00.000-07:00

Day 95-July 17th
Destination: Sacramento
Miles: 0
Cumulative Miles: 1266.5

Tomorrow is Robin's birthday. It would have been nice to linger around for it, but the trail beckons. We took her out to lunch as a gift, but our visit was more than enough for her.

We took two naps today, and Psycho iced his ankle a bit, before heading to the train station to catch a midnight train to Dunsmuir.

Rest is nice, but it can't last forever. We are now sitting at the train station waiting for our five hour ride. We will arrive at 5am, eat a breakfast, and then continue our Northbound Heartsong. Hopefully we get good rest on the train tonight, or else the hiking will be hard tomorrow.
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Zero in Rocklin

2010-07-16T22:01:00.000-07:00

Day 94-July 16th
Destination: Rocklin
Miles: 0
Cumulative Miles: 1266.5

A day of rest.

Psycho's sister, Robin, picked us up yesterday and brought us to her apartment where we did mostly nothing but relax. We did pick up a new pair of boots for Apricots and replaced her trekking poles, which seemed to be collapsing several times per hour.

Robin prepared a tasty dinner for us, which we enjoyed while hearing stories of her latest Air Force deployment. It would seem that while we were enduring wind and sand, so was she.

Tomorrow we will relax all day before heading to Sacramento to catch a train north to Dunsmuir. We had hoped to head north today, but the train was booked up, and the bus could not get us where we needed to go, nor could it get us to a reasonable place to hitch from at a decent hour. Oh well, the extra day is needed so Psycho can elevate and ice his swollen ankle.

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