Unwelcome Ending

Well most of our family and friends are well aware by now, but I felt I should make a blog posting regardless, to sort make it official. We're off the trail.... for now.

We've had an amazing four months on the Pacific Crest Trail and saw some amazing places, met some amazing people and got to being comfortable living in the dirt and being filthy and smelly for extended periods of time. Showers just haven't offered the same euphoria since we've been home.
We got off for a few reasons. First, Julia's foot hadn't fully healed since Chester and was bothering her still. I had also developed some nagging injuries in my hip and left foot. For me it was probably just plantar fasciitis and either IT band stuff or sciatic nerve. In any event, it wasn't fun. We got off the trail and spent a fantastic 4 days with Julia's parents and decided to hike South back to where they picked us up and then hitch hike back up the trail. We'd pass a ton of people that were about a week and a half ahead of us and it would be great to see old faces that we may not have seen in many weeks or even months! We got back on in Cascade Locks and headed south. We made it about 15 miles out and camped. That night Julia went to go pee and stepped in non buried human fecal matter. Not a fun way to spend your first night back on trail. We got up the next morning and got going but neither of us were into it. We stopped and talked for a long while and decided that was it. It probably seems kind of "all of a sudden" but not really. It was the toughest decision ever and we turned around about a dozen times. Ultimately we backtracked to Cascade Locks, picked up our stuff at Shrek's place and got a hitch into Portland where we picked up a car and had a "honeymoon" of sorts.

Home now and dreaming of a new adventure.... not that we won't go back to finish the PCT one day. We will. Unquestionably.

 

Photos from Etna to Crater Lake

We're now way up in Timberline Lodge / Mt. Hood area, visiting Julia's parents. They picked us up from the trail and brought us way up here to where they are staying. Timberline happens to also be right on trail and is a scheduled stop for us! So instead of having them drive us allllll the way back down to Crater Lake, we may hike south from here back to Crater Lake and then get a ride (bus or hitch or something) back up to here and continue North. If we do this, it'll be great to see all those people that were only a few days to a week ahead of us who we may not otherwise see!!

Photo from Dazzle

Somewhere in the last few miles of California. Our friend Dazzle took this photo as we passed by. The last couple hundred miles have been gorgeous.

Update from Seiad Valley

I'm sitting here in Seiad Valley do I figured I give a quick update since Dunsmuir.

We left Castella with the intention of coming all the way here and bypassing Etna. I'm glad those plans changed. We ended up getting a hitch from the first car that passed and were in town within 10 minutes of getting to the trailhead. Scallywag, Julia and I sat in the back of a pickup truck as the woman sped down the windy, steep road toward town. It was about 13 miles in total and boy was it fun!! I'll try to get up some photos soon. In Etna, we stayed at the house of this incredible family who do missionary work all over the world. The house was given to them to use as a means of continuing this work and so I guess hosting hikers is in some way considered missionary work. The family is made of a couple and their 10 kids, many of whom are adopted. They ween't even home the nigh we stayed as they were going on a camping trip of their own, so the big beautiful home was just full of dirty hiker trash. that was a great stay. We also had punch with Dazzle at the Etna pub and he shared stories of his travels of yesteryear. He's done a lot of bike touring and sailing.

We got out of Etna the following day, much the same way as we got in, in the back of a truck. This time it was just the two of us. We were in the back of a 1970s Fors truck, no tailgate and clinging to furniture that the9 lady was trying to sell at a yard sale. Oh well, we survived and got back to the trail by 12:30. That afternoon / evening we saw about 6 or so others, but haven't seen them since! Yesterday we wanted to do a big day, and we ended up doing our biggest day yet by 7 miles. We finished with 34 miles, 54.5km!! We ended up making it to the trailhead of the PCT at Seiad Valley and camped next to the outhouse. We saw a bear on the way down, but he seemed pretty terrified of us and bolted straight away. The walking in general is getting easier. The scenery is still stunning and we're as filthy as ever.

Julia attempted the pancake challenge here. It's 5lbs of pancakes and got through a third of it. Again, hopefully I can get some pics up soon. There's a big fire here and the trail is closed for 15 miles going north. There's a road walk detour but most people are hitching a ride. The waitress offered us a ride at 2:30 and so that what we're doing. Showers at the RV park!!

Tomorrow, after nearly 4 months, we'll be walking out of California. Dang this state is LONG!! We should be through Oregon in less than 3 weeks.

Magic in Dunsmuir

We averaged 21+ miles per day to get from Chester to Castella (Dunsmuir), 170 miles. That includes two resupplies; one in Old Station and one at Burnet Falls State Park. Days in the mid twenties are comfortable and we're rockin'!

It was just under 8 days and we covered 170 miles.

Leaving Chester at noon, we met Baboon and Spins as well as Scooter. We hiked 18 miles and got to Drakesbad Guest Ranch where we found a TON of hiker trash hanging out! A lot of people that we got way ahead of, but with the section of closed trail and our long stay in Chester, we're able to catch up. Neon and OnAMove, Jesse, Mike and Kim from Ontario, gaitor, Tyler, Sam, Hot Wing, Scallywag and Safari. After a few days of being alone, it was great to see so many familiar faces. Some left that night, but most of us hikes out to the trailhead and camped by a parking lot. Felt like a second kickoff! The next day we got out of camp at 9:20 and had the easiest 20 mile day yet. The next morning we were in Old Station and got some packages from the post office. We replaced our bags, had lunch and hung out as it was DARN hot and we were facing a potential 30 mile waterless stretch, up on a rim with minimal shade. We finally left around 6PM and hiked out about 5 or 6 miles and camped with another couple (Chipmunk and Toad) and a bunch of cows. The next morning we were hiking by 6AM. By 10:30 we made it to the ache that was luckily still plentiful and so the waterless stretch was cut nearly in half. People are amazing. The rest of the day was DANG hot. We made slow progress towards the Crystal Lake Fish Hatchery, arriving just after dinner time. There were 6 of us there and we cowboy camped on the lawn under an incredible night sky. The next morning we headed out for Burney Falls State park and another resupply. It was 12 miles and so we got there around 1PM. We would have been earlier but we came up on this brand new awesome trail magic. There was a new table there and the trail angel left a marker for us to sign the table, and there was soda and evidence of beer! We stayed at the park until 6PM again and then hikes out 5.5 miles and camped with Trip, Cactus, Extra Credit, Scallywag and Chameleon.

The next three days are a bit of a blur. We covered lots of miles and were around a lot of great people. Yesterday evening we crossed the 1500 mile mark and camped on a dirt road. Hollywood showed up after dark and camped nearby as well. This morning we got up, ate the very last bit of our food and hiked the 5 miles down to the highway where we would hitch to Dunsmuir. I should mention that at some point in the middle of the night another hiker passed by. It just so happens that it was Cowboy, who we found sleeping down near the highway. He had done 54 miles that day/night!!! Insane. Do the three of us eventually for our hitch to Dunsmuir from a very nice local lady. She gave us a bit of a tour of the town, dropping us off at the grocery store and suggesting a couple of restaurants.

We decided on the Cornerstone Restaurant. It was busy, and for good reason! The food was delicious, and not only because we hadn't had good, fresh food in over a week! We ordered our food, a meal each plus one to share and while we waited we chatted with a nice older man and his wife. They were regulars and he even had a meal names after him! He had a million questions about our hike and seemed to be pretty impressed! He saw me eyeing the scones in the display case and he went up and ordered one and the waitress brought it, and our bill over to our table. The bill read 'Paid by Glen'. WOW. How kind. We were seriously blown away. We've been on a bit of a high all day.

Hanging out in the motel room all day. Resupply done and we leave tomorrow! Another 158 miles in 7 days or less and we'll be at the Seiad Valley pancake challenge!!

A Day in the Life

So we're sort of in limbo here in Chester. Julia's foot is getting better and it looks like we'll try to leave tomorrow unless it really seems like a bad idea. We spent a night at the Seneca Motel, then upgraded for two nights at Antlers Motel and for tonight we'll be at Best Western. I have some time to kill here so I thought it'd be interesting to write down a typical day in our "trail life". It has changed a bit over the time we've been out here, but we have a pretty concrete routine that we tend to stick to.

I'm always first to open my eyes. Typically around 5:45AM. There was a long stretch where my internal clock had me waking up at that exact time each morning. The first thing I do is start the process of waking Julia up. I'm rarely successful the first time around, so I just keep at it until she's sufficiently awake that I can go get our food bags or bear vaults for breakfast. Once I've retrieved them I climb back in and we have breakfast and then SLOWLY start to change into our hiking clothes and put away our sleeping stuff. I get out and pack up my things and then wait for her to clear out and then I'll take down the tent and put away the ground sheet. Once packed up we set out for the all important morning session. The morning session really sets the tone for the whole day. If you cover good distance then it gets you on a roll and you have a pretty solid day, but if it's tough going and you're interrupted by frequent stops for this or that, it can set up a tedious, slow day. My goal is always to get in a minimum of 10 miles before lunch (which is typically around noon). That's not uncommon. Two hours after we start for the day, we'll have a scheduled snack break. We normally try to schedule these around water and shade, as it can be pretty warm by 9AM. Breaks are normally 10 - 20 minutes. After that we'll go for a while and if another break opportunity presents itself before lunch, we'll take it. Lunch time is about an hour or so (used to be MUCH longer in the desert) and we eat and relax, hopefully near water and shade. I've been reading a book lately. The afternoon session is typically accompanied by music or podcasts. We each go into our own little worlds and enjoy the walk while listening to something. Again, we look to the next water source and decide if we need some and we start to look forward to where we're going to have dinner and camp for the night. The afternoon often becomes a bit of a blur. You get in this zone of just hiking and hiking and if there's nothing spectacular to catch your attention, you just stare at the ground for what seems to be forever. For a long while now, we've been having dinner about 4 or 5 miles before we camp. We'll stop around 5PM and cook up dinner and leave within an hour and then hike until 7:15 - 8:00PM, and sometimes later. Once we get to our camp site for the night, we operate like surgeons. We've set up camp so many times that we know our roles and we start straight away. We throw down our packs and we set out the ground sheet. I unroll the tent and go to the back and put in the one pole and the rear stake while Julia adjusts the hiking poles to the correct height and sets those up. I then come around set up the three tent pegs at the front of the tent and then we each do a side one and we're done. Then we start unpacking our packs. I hand things to Julia that go in the tent and she throws them in (often times the mosquitos are bad so we have to unzip, throw in and zip up). Once our stuff is separated from what goes in and what stays out, we take care of cleaning up. We have a bandanna that we use strictly for cleaning limbs (mostly legs and feet) and so we'll do that, brush our teeth etc and then jump in! Once in we get changed into our sleeping clothes (merino base layer) and blow up our mattresses and set out our sleeping bags. I'll often then look at the maps and what's coming up the next day and Julia will read the data book pages and pages from Yogi's book about the next town we'll be in. We discuss the plan for the next day and pass out. If we plan it right, by the time we're in the tent and settled, it's dark, but it doesn't get dark while we're setting up. So if we start our set-up by 8PM we have enough time to get it done without dilly dallying, but if we're at camp earlier, we may have a fire, or clean clothes in a river or creek or something.

That's really it. It's pretty routine at this point, pretty similar each day.... except for the fact that we never sleep in the same place twice (unless we're in town ;) ) and we're constantly moving forward and seeing different places. It's been awesome.

Update from Chester

We're in Chester. We got here yesterday morning after hiking in from Belden. Last Saturday we left Hiker Haven and got back on trail at 7PM. We didn't WANT to, but we hiked until after 9PM and made it to "Williams Cabin Site", just a campsite where there used to be a cabin, that, ironically, burnt down several years ago. There were 3 weekend hikers there that were heading back down to Belden the following day and so we camped with them. We woke up the next morning and it was a little smokey where we were and it was obviously coming from somewhere down below us. We didn't think TOO much of it and we just continued to climb up towards 7000 feet or so. We had though that Minor and Magic Bag, who also left Belden when we did, had passed us by because we weren't going very fast and we hadn't seen them since the night before. As it turns out, they didn't make it quite as far as we did, and because the fire was much worse than he had thought, they were instructed by the Forest Service folks to head back down to Belden. So we were alone, all alone, but we didn't really know it. The trail that we hiked is still closed and the fire has grown to over 1000 acres. The following couple of days made us raise suspicion because we saw NOBODY, and the day after we left Belden we only did 13 miles. All we could do was keep hiking. At Humboldt rd there was a sign letting people know that the trail was closed Southbound to Belden, and by the time we made it to the Highway leading into Chester, there was another sign saying that the trail was now closed from THERE all the way back to Belden. Wow, we really WERE ALL ALONE out there. Kinda cool.

Along this stretch we hit the PCT midpoint. An unassuming little post in the ground marking the halfway point between Mexico and Canada. How are you supposed to feel at that moment. It's a massive accomplishment to have hiked some 1326.6 miles (to that point) but also a little daunting knowing you have the same distance ahead of you. It took a little over 3 months to get us halfway, but hopefully only another two months to finish this thing off. The terrain is SO much easier to walk and the climbs are nothing compared to the Sierra, and the temperature, although warming up, is nothing compared to the desert. Twenty five to thirty mile days are going to become the new norm, and there aren't so many places to hang out for a while. Oregon will be a smash fest to get through. I found this strategy that keeps you more or less on trail for the entire state. When we get to Ashland, the first, and biggest town on trail, we'll buy all of our food for the state and then mail full resupplies to 5 places that are right on trail. This means no fussing with going into towns to buy food or to go to the post office.

So we're ABOUT to start putting in big days, buuuuut we're kind of stuck here in Chester for a few more days. Julia's foot has been bothering her for almost 2 weeks now and is pretty swollen. We came into Chester to go to the doctor and get it looked at. We got that done yesterday and as it turns out, after some x-rays and visits and the doc's office and hospital, it turns out she's got tendonitis. So the prescription is rest, 800mg of ibuprofin three times a day and a regimen of heat and cold application. Oh well, the Olympics are on, I guess we'll have to stay and watch.

Oh, we also went to the Kopper Kettle here in town. It's highly recommended and for good reason. I watched Julia smash back a plate of pancakes that has me believing in her ability to take down the big pancake challenge up in Seiad Valley, AND she ate a LARGE cinnamon bun (like 5 inch diameter) on top of that. Colour me impressed.

I'm also beardless. I went to the barber today and had the lady touch up the mohawk and shave my beard clean off. I almost didn't recognize myself and my wife thought I looked different than before I had the beard. So maybe I'll keep it clean, or maybe I'll grow it out again. We'll see.

Red's Meadow to Benson Pass

After we left mom and dad, we did about 13 miles and camped with Mark, a math PhD who recently taught for 3 years at UBC. The next morning he left a little earlier than we did and we didn't see him again until the end of the day.

We're in mosquito-land by the way and Julia's legs are ravaged with bug bites.

Anyways, we try to take breaks where there is at least a slight breeze, which helps keep the bugs at bay. Sometimes it just doesn't work out though and you're eating lunch in a bug net. So oir plan was to make it to Tuolomne Meadows, but at 4:30, with 8 miles to go, we passed by Mark, and Britt and David. We stopped for the day and hung out with them. It was nice. It was right by a river and the bugs weren't bad. We were able to clean up and enjoy a dinner by a campfire. Great evening with great people.

The next morning we got out after David, but before the other two, and on our way in we ran into Patch and Lampshade and met their friend Carl, who happens to be from Quebec.

We got into Tuolumne in good time and picked up our stuff from the Post Office. OMG!! We got a box from our most special trail angel that had two brand new Exped mattresses, some cashews and some mini chocolate bars!!! I'm writing this while lying on my brand new, incredibly comfortable mattress, atop Benson Pass, and two deer just wandered past the front of the tent!! How awesome is this?!?!?!

Magical Mammoth

If you reference our original resupply plan, Mammoth Lakes isn't a part of it. The plan was to meet mom and dad Lafleur in South Lake Tahoe, and their trip was booked way back when that seemed like a feasible option. Well we forgot to take some dates into account, namely the 4 (amazing) days in Bakersfield and a few extra zeroes here and there. So the plan had to change and we would meet in South Lake Tahoe.

We picked up our 5 day resupply at Muir Trail Ranch and I cursed the fact that we had to carry it up the ensuing climb. We were carrying 5+ days food and would be in town in 2 days! What doesn't kill ya.... I guess.

We left the Ranch around 5:30PM and ended up making it to Sally Keyes Lakes, at mile 864. It was dark, Mosquitos were bad and we were tired so we just went straight to bed. The next morning we arose and got our early enough that a mile up the trail we found an old friend, Gut Feeling, who we hadn't seen for nearly a month! We all hikes together for a bit throughout the day, but we ended up camping a little short of where she did that evening. That day we also passed by the cut-off for VVR, where many people go for a break, or just a beer an and a burger. You could also mail yourself a package there, but it's $18 to receive it, plus it's $18 for the ferry ride across the lake that you need to take to get there. We opted to pass up the opportunity, but when we were passing by it was just when the evening ferry had dropped off and so we saw a bunch of others we hadn't seen for a while! Trip and Dazzle, who we hiked with for a while up to Kennedy Meadows, Cactus and Extra Credit who we hiked with way back before Agua Dulce and Dubz and the Wiz who we also hiked with a tiny bit around the Saufley's. They had all just spent the day at VVR and were going to camp right there where the junction was, so we chatted for about half an hour, but we had to move on. We made it a good ways up the climb to Silver Pass, which we would complete the next day.

July 2nd. Today was a 'get our asses to town' sorta day. We were 25 miles out, but it was SO gonna happen. It did. It was work, but it did. We were meeting my parents in Mammoth now and so we were excited to get there. We rolled into Red's Meadow (where you get off to go to Mammoth) and ran into Meredith (Action Pack) who we met way back at Scout and Frodo's, before we even stepped foot on trail! She was just on her way back out, but pointed us in the direction of cabin B, where there were trail angels! Gut Feeling and Safari were already thee, but they had room for us too!! We wee able to shower, they fed us fruit salad and we slept on a pull out couch. Amazing.

The next morning we had hot cocoa and made our way to the bus. $7 gets you a return ticket to the Mammoth Mountain Lodge. As soon as we stepped off the bus, we heard the voice of my mom calling our names. So awesome! Big hugs ensued and then we went into the lodge where they were staying and my dad got us checked in to our own room! That place was awesome. We each had a nice, loooong shower. Mom and dad were also so nice as to buy us Subway, so we shared that as well. All the euphoria of getting to town was there, PLUS the awesomeness of meeting my parents!! After we cleaned up we all went for a nice lunch, the to Schat's Bakery, then the grocery store. We spent lots of time just chatting and relaxing at the hotel, and made dinner plans, of course. We managed to convince them to go for sushi! After dinner we went back to the hotel and RELAXED. It felt great.

The next day was much of the same. We went for breakfast and ran some errands and relaxed and enjoyed our visit at the hotel.

On the morning of the 5th, we slowly got our packs packed up and all 4 of us took the shuttle up towards Red's Meadow. Mom and Dad hit off at Devil's Postpile and Julia and I went back up to Red's and got back in the PCT where we left it. It goes by Devil's Postpile, so we met up with them again down there and said our goodbyes.

Lovely visit.

Tuolumne to South Lake Tahoe - What I remember of it!!

So it's nearly 10PM on Sunday, July 15th. I'm sitting in the lobby at the Best Western in South Lake Tahoe. Well fed (just had Indian food), getting cleaner (we're never really "clean") and got a lot of resupply stuff done today.

Our original plan was to get to Echo Lake yesterday and then hitch into town today, but we met this family on trail and they offered us a ride, so our day was a few miles shorter than expected, but we got into town yesterday. They dropped us off at the Motel 6 and we got the last vacant room they had for the night. It was so nice. Anyways, I didn't do much writing on the trail, so I'll have to try to recount this massive stretch as best I can all in one go.


I'll start at Tuolumne Meadows (34 miles from Mammoth and 148 miles to the highway from which we got a lift). We got into Tuolumne pretty early and hung out most of the day with Britt, David and Mark, and a bunch of other hikers that were passing through, or on their way down to Yosemite valley. We decided to forgo the option to finish the JMT by hiking down to the valley and then getting the shuttle back up. We had 5 boxes to pick up and sort through so we had a hectic couple of hours, trying to get everything sorted out and mailing ahead two boxes. Oh, and the Post Office is only open for a short period on Saturdays. WE RECEIVED AN AWESOME PACKAGE FROM A VERY SPECIAL TRAIL ANGEL! We received a box with 2 Exped mattresses in them, and THEY ARE AMAZING! I've had the most incredible sleeps this past week, with the exception of our last night on trail, because we were camped on a slope and I was sliding off. The box also contained some chocolates and other little treats. Thank you. :)


We left Tuolumne in the late afternoon and got to Glen Aulin camp around 8PM. It was only 6 miles, but we did 8 in the morning, so still a 14 mile day. The next few days can be summed up in two words: "F&%$#*G MOSQUITOES!" !! They were brutal in the morning and evening. Living in our head nets. But when it was the heat of the day they hid, and it was a little better. One morning in particular (mile 988) we passed this lake where we had to stop for water, and I have never seen so many mosquitoes in one place. I put my pack down and within seconds there had to be at least 40 or so on it, probably because of my sweat or something. When we were walking, there'd be about a dozen on each shoulder at any given time. It seemed to be the only part of the body where the clothing wasn't moving, so they could land and get you right through there. It's one of those things where, in the moment it's hell on earth, but after the fact you're kind of like "ok, that wasn't so bad, we survived it". It definitely set a benchmark for the future.


The first few days out of Tuolumne we hiked with our friend Gut Feeling. We'd leave earlier in the morning than her, but she takes fewer breaks and generally hikes a little quicker, so she'll catch us by lunch time, and then we'll end up camping around the same spot in the evening. One night (the night before that awful morning of mosquitoes) we camped at the same spot and the mosquitoes were terrible, but we made a fire which helped and once it got pitch black out, they more or less disappeared, and that has got to be one of the most incredible feelings ever.


On this stretch we also crossed the 1000 mile mark! What a benchmark for us. We came up on the marker in the mid afternoon and Dancing Feet and NotSoBad were hanging out there, taking a break. We joined them and soon after Guts (Gut Feeling) showed up and we took some photos and hiked another 7 miles. Apparently the mosquitoes were worst between 988 and 1002. I sort of knew this beforehand, and it was so true. They seemed to disappear after 1007. When we got to the campsite, Green Machine was there, which was awesome, but we had a feeling he should have been at least a half day ahead of us. He said that he got to the campsite early in the afternoon but realized he forgot his solar charger some 3.6 miles back, by a bridge, so he had to backtrack, an extra 7.2 miles. Poor guy. At that same bridge, Julia and I stopped for water and ran out of AquaMira, so at the campsite, we asked Guts if we could steal some from her to get us to Tahoe, and she was more than happy to share. :) For her it's just a back up as she uses a SteriPen.


The next morning we started climbing immediately. Out of the trees and away from mosquitoes. It was kind of like the desert Sierras, arid and dry, but windy and cool. A nice morning to hike, but I was feeling the altitude or something because I did not feel good AT ALL. I just felt lethargic and had a mild stomach ache. We took it easy at the top for a bit and I eventually came around. It turned out to be an amazing day of hiking. The views up high are always breath taking, as is the hiking! When you leave 1007, the maps say there is no water until ~Sonora Pass, about 10 miles or so, but just on the other side of the top, there was this awesome little stream of water coming down from snow that was up above us. Someone had rigged up a piece of plastic pipe that was part of a sign so that it caught the water and served as a hose, or spout. It was cold and delicious. That night we camped about 50 yards off trail, right by the creek. Just the two of us. It was perfect. We were now 69 miles from Tahoe and we made a plan to do the miles in three days.


Day 1 sucked. The flies replaced the mosquitoes and though MOST of them don't bite, they are annoying as hell, and harder to avoid. They fly into your face, ears, nose, under your sunglasses etc. We did 22 miles and camped alone at a spot we kind of made ourselves at mile 1047. 47 miles to go. The next morning was awesome. Such an easy walk. After about 2 hours we came up on this trail crew that was up to clear some brush on the trail. They stopped us and we chatted for a while. One gentleman had a banner that read "Hey mom. I just hiked 1000 miles on the PCT." and we took a photo with that. Another lady gave us some cookies. Encounters like this are the best. You're temporarily made to feel like a bit of a superstar! Day 2 was awesome all around. The bugs weren't bad at all and we cruised for almost all of it. In the late afternoon we started a climb, expecting to camp at the top of it on a saddle, but it was just WAY too windy, so we ended up hiking an extra few miles down to Lost Lakes, a 24 mile day that left a mere 23 miles for the last day.

TOWN DAY. Every day that you hike into town, your legs just seem to move a little quicker, with a little more ease and a lot more urgency. We knew we would do the miles, but we knew that the store at Echo Lake closed at 6PM, so we wanted to get there ASAP. The morning was nice, a little climb to start but then a nice long downhill to Carson Pass. It was a Saturday and so there were TONS of day hikers out. We passed quite a few on their way up to Frog Lake or another, smaller one, whose name escapes me. Around 10AM we made it to HWY88 crossing, where there is a visitor centre. There were a huge number of people around because it was a Saturday, and not only that, but there was a bike race going on too. http://www.deathride.com/index.html It was a pretty cool feeling as we walked up to the visitor centre, amongst all the clean day hikers and race watchers. It was evident that we were different. Our filth and stench was, for once, pretty friggin' cool! People took notice, especially when the employees (mostly awesome volunteers) talked to us, offered us fruit and soda, informed us of the trail log and asked questions about our thru-hike. It had now been over a week since we did laundry or had a shower (other than in a creek or river of course) and so it was pretty obvious that we had been out in the wilderness for a little while. We sat and had an awesome chat with Ginger, one of the volunteers, while enjoying a peach, nectarine, some cherries and a Coca Cola! Yes, Coke at 10AM felt SO right! We finally dragged ourselves away from that place around 11:15 or so and headed back out, passing by day hikers, weekenders and big groups. While passing one group, a lady asked Julia where we "were going to camp tonight" and Julia simply replied, "in South Lake Tahoe"... The lady was shocked! But what she didn't realize is that we had already hiked 9 or so miles before we saw her! We stopped for a very brief lunch and continued on towards the last sort of "sustained climb" of the day. Once at the top, we met this family of three that I mentioned earlier. They asked about a lake we had passed as if they were going to be heading there, so I told them it was coming up soon and we continued on. We stopped for water and they came by us on their way back down, I guess they changed their minds. Anyhow, about 20 minutes later we came up on them from behind and they let us by. We were hiking towards ice cream after all and it was clear that we were on such a mission. We got pretty close to the highway where we would cross and hike another couple miles to Echo Lake, where the store with ice cream was, when I saw this big building with a huge "OPEN" sign on it and picnic tables out front. It looked desolate, but maybe they had cold drinks and other food, so I cut down to it to check it out and lo and behold they did! It was a pretty bare store, I think the winter season is more their peak time, but it had soda and snacks and it was perfect. We bought some stuff and sat our front to eat. Wouldn't ya know it, the family came strolling up to get some snacks too! I had a prettttty good feeling we had a shot at getting a ride with them, so we kind of dropped a couple hints and even though they were going the opposite direction down the highway, they gave us a lift to town. How awesome. Great chat in the car. One funny thing was that I took notice of the license plate that was "IMTNBKR" or something like that, and so I mentioned about the big race we had learned about earlier in the day. He says he's not so interested in road cycling because "those guys are weird, they shave their legs!" Hahaha, little did he know.

So after one of the most awesome, long, challenging, rewarding stretches so far, we are clean and rested and ready to get back to the trail! <-- I wrote this over two days. :s

Double Trouble - June 27

We started today about a mile back of Glen Pass (11978 feet) and got up and over that by around 8AM. It was a long way down, and often times the downhill parts are more punishing that uphill. See they have these BIG rock steps that are often awkward to step down and the quads just take a smashing the entire time. Easier on the lungs and heart, but certainly harder on the ole legs. We stopped for a quick break, grabbed some water and treated it the new way, AquaMira. Easier, much easier. The Mosquitos were pretty bad and so we pushed on without much of a rest. It was worth it though. The most amazing views of lakes and mountains. So many tiny lakes with the most beautiful, clear water. Nature untouched.


We passed a sign and walked up over this slate rock and I noticed the trail below me, so I back tracked to get on it. MISTAKE. About 10 or so minutes later I thought it just felt wrong, so I checked the GPS and sure enough we were off track. I should have walked up and over that big rock. A little while later we were back on track, crossing creeks on logs and rocks and following the magnificent shoreline around these little lakes. Much of the late morning was pretty stock standard. Mosquitos were pretty bad so we just kept moving. We finally stopped for lunch by a poorly running creek and sat in the sun with just enough breeze to keep us cool and keep the Mosquitos away. After lunch we walked down to where the trail would bottom out in terms of elevation for the day, just around 8600 I believe. At that point there was this long wooden bridge held up by wires. The type you see in movies where the people are inching their way across in terror that it may fall down. There was in fact a sign that said only one person can be on the bridge at any time, and some boards were indeed missing, but it wasn't that bad at all. Besides, I doubt death would result from a fall, it wasn't really THAT high up. Anyways, from that point on it was all climbing. About 3500 feet or so up to Pinchot Pass at 12132 feet. It was a slow slog most of the way. We were both pretty tuckered, but knew it would be so nice to know that we wouldn't have to tackle it first thing in the morning. Oh, in case you're wondering, Team Tokyo wasted about 5 miles back from us. We have deadlines and can't hang around with them for the next week. If we have a REALLY slow morning, they could potentially catch up, but it's unlikely we will see them again until after Mammoth. So we made it here to Marjorie Lake after 7:30PM and we went to work immediately. Putting up the tent, cooking dinner, collecting more water, cleaning socks and undies, drinking Sambucca, blog, pass out.......

Loooouuud Nooooiiiiises!!!! - June 28

That's one of our favorite quotes from Anchorman. All the fellas are in Ron Burgundy's office complaining that the news station hired a woman and they're yelling. All Brick (slightly mentally delayed) yells is 'loooooud nooooiiiises!!'. Anyways, more on that later.

So we started today just shy of Marjorie Lake. We camped up high, near a stream that fed that lake, and the morning was pretty frigid. Our latest sleep-in yet. Maybe 6:30 or so. I woke Julia up and we grabbed some breakfast, cleaned up real good and got to hiking around 8:45AM. The morning was amazing. Such easy, mostly downhill walking with beautiful views of all the little lakes around us and the massive mountains that tower overhead. We know that we'll have to climb over one of them, eventually, but which one we never know until the climb begins. This morning's pass was Mather. A relatively easy one. It's 12000+ feet, but the majority of the climb up is so gradual you barely notice it, and it starts around 10000 feet. We had lunch at the top with Waffles, a Belgian, Hollywood, another Canadian named Jesse and an American named Tyler. Waffles had been around us most of the day. Him, Jesse and Tyker are a part of a foursome that includes another Canadian that left Independence earlier because he was on a deadline to meet his girlfriend in Mammoth. Anyhow, Waffles left the pass first and then we left about a half hour later. The rest of the day was descending, from the pass to about 8000 feet. Sometimes it's nice and you just walk, but the majority is steep, with big rocks to go over, steps to walk down and downed trees to climb over or find a route around. We're just now getting to the area that suffered the massive windstorm last November that caused thousands of trees to fall. The crews have done an amazing job clearing it all, but there are still a lot of trees that have fallen on the trail that we must navigate around, over or under.

In the late afternoon we were descending down along the river (can't remember the name) and Waffles was in front of us. After I stopped for a quick pee break, he was probably about a minute ahead. A few minutes later I saw a bear! I stopped for a second to check him out and see where he was heading. The guy was literally walking the trail! Julia was a little hesitant to move down the trail at all at first, but once he was out of sight we continued slowly. Again we saw him up ahead and so we started making loud noises so that he would at least know we were there. Bears are more or less content leaving you alone, they just don't do well with being startled, and if you've got food they want, they'll challenge you for it! We were literally yelling 'looooooud nooooiiiises!!!!' and laughing too. I yelled very loud once and he looked back at me and then kind of jogged off the trail to the right. He slowly went out of sight, but we continued to talk aloud, mostly gibberish. About a minute later we came up on Waffles, just setting up for dinner, probably not the best idea. He must've heard our loudness and thought we were insane, but once we informed him of the bear he was more than happy to pack up his dinner and move on. The three of us had dinner together a couple of miles down the trail. On the way though, we saw another bear, a smaller one in the distance. We are in bear country! Neon and OnAMove came by during dinner and we let them know about the bears. They continued down the trail and we caught up with them a little later ad they were by a campfire with Natty, Navi, Snow Turtle and her boyfriend, can't remember his name. We stayed there and chatted with them for a bit and then moved on. It was evening now and getting darker. We went another few miles, past Neon and OnAMove and are camped beside a meadow at around mile 828.

Tomorrow morning we climb to Muir Pass!!

What a day!

Today Epitomizes What This Trip is About

We woke up this morning at our solo spot by Grouse Meadow at mile 828.5. It wasn't too cold so I got out and retrieved our Bear Vaults sober could have breakfast. Neon and OnAMove came by pretty early and we were packed up and on our way by around 7:45 or so, but not before seeing a deer in the meadow. The scene was amazing. A meadow with massive mountains on either side, a deer grazing amongst an early morning for from the small ponds. Another 'wow' moment.

From the moment we broke camp we were climbing, and it continued until we reached the summit of Muir pass in mid-afternoon. I must say though, that despite the fact that it was one of our longest climbs yet (just over 8000 feet to just under 12000 feet) it was the most beautiful and most pleasant. We were amongst water for most of it. Whether it was a stream, creek, river, waterfall or lake, there was always water nearby. Beautiful sights and sounds. We played leapfrog with Neon and OnAMove for most of the climb up. Neon is awesome. He's 50 years old, recently retired from NASA and gas the best outfits on trail. OnAMove is his wife. They both definitely have unique looks and are great people all-round.!

I really can't put into words how beautiful the scenery was on the climb up, especially the last few miles. Lakes, streams, waterfalls, some snow. Just beauty all around. At the top we went in the little round hit they have there and found Scallywag and two other hikers just hanging out. The shelter offers protection from the elements should they be undesirable. It can get windy, cold and even rainy (hard to believe based on our experiences) and so hikers can take refuge. Neon and OnAMove came in shortly after and e all stayed there for about a half hour. Neon mentioned they were planning to stay at Sapphire Lake and so we decided it would be a good target too. The decent, as beautiful as it was, was long. We were so hungry for dinner. Scallywag and the two of us arrived first and started making dinner straight away. At first it was breezy, which was perfect for keeping the mosquitos away, but as soon as it died down they were horrendous. All over us. Bug nets and full length clothing were a necessity. We ate quick, threw up the tent and jumped in. We chatted for a long while with Neon. He told us about his work at NASA and about life in Tucson. A couple others showed up and we all fell asleep easily. Utter silence by 9PM, hiker midnight.

Euphoria, luxury and restlessness - June 26

Three adjectives that accurately describe my experience of town stops. After 5 or 6 days on trail, no matter how beautiful it all is, you really look forward to getting to town. Having a shower is the most awesome experience ever. The dirt you see on the floor of the tub makes you feel both proud and a little disgusted. You earned that dirt, but dang are you dirty. The one thing that MAY precede a shower is food. Whatever is closest normally. Most recently it was a Subway, and in the the 24 hours we were in Independence, I ate 3.5 feet worth of Subway sandwiches. Maybe next time I'll make an effort to eat my height in Subway sandwiches, that would be a decent challenge. Once those two needs are met, it's time for business. Resupply from either a store or a Post Office. Luckily this time around we mailed a FULL resupply from Bakersfield, so we didn't have to worry at all about shopping for groceries. We'll also seek out a place to do laundry. Once all that's achieved, all that's left is to relax. I don't like that. I get restless. Sleeping in a hotel, motel or even hostel is almost uncomfortable. Sleeping on a bed feels weird and before the first night in town is spent, I'm ready to be back on the trail.

We got into Independence by about 11:20AM on Sunday. We had to hike 9 miles of a side trail with a pretty decent little pass (Kearsarge) in the middle to get to the Onion Valley trailhead, a dead end road at a parking lot of a campground and the start of the trail. It can be a tough hitch because there's just not much traffic, but luckily for us there were two trail angels (UberBitch and Bristlecone) that were there with food, drinks and rides to Independence. We had last seen these two awesome people back at the Saufley's. We had a nice chat with UberBitch and Bristlecone gave us a ride to REI. You help pay the gas of course, but without people like this, logistics would be much more difficult. We enjoyed some pancakes and then Bristlecone gave us and another couple a lift to town. The top of the pass is at 11700 feet and town is around 4000 feet. It's much warmer and you kind of feel like you're back in the desert.

We tried to get as much done as we could in Independence. Laundry, showers and binging. It was Sunday so we couldn't get our package in the mail until the next morning, so we stayed at the Courthouse motel, $60 cash, and pretty decent. I asked the owner if he knew of a place where I could get my Mohawk touched up, but obviously there was nothing. As I had hoped, he offered to let us borrow a hair shaver kit and Julia did a beauty job. I trimmed my mustache in the mirror. First time ever! That's when I already started getting antsy to get back out there! We were taking a zero day in Lone Pine, so I needed to figure out how to chill out. I ended up watching 3 movies and falling asleep.

Monday morning I went over and got a breakfast sub and let Julia sleep in. She hadn't slept well as she had a bit of a tummy ache, probably on account of the altitude change. We got packed up and I ran over to the Post Office and got our boxes. There I ran into Flatlander. They had gotten into Independence later than us the previius day and hitched right over to Lone Pine. I told him we were on our way over too and that we'd get a hold of them once we find a place and get settled. The hitch for us took about 20 minutes or so. Finally a nice firefighter man picked us up. He was on his way 3 hours past Lone Pine but had to go through. He dropped us off right at the Best Western. Despite the fact that it was about a kilometer from everything else, we decided to stay. Julia's birthday had just passed and she deserved a little luxury. All they had was a room with two queen sized beds. It was pricey, but the nice lady gave us the AAA rate. Julia also mentioned that it was our honeymoon and we ended up scoring a bottle of wine! We dropped our stuff off and headed into town to meet the others and do some shopping at the outfitter. We had a list of stuff, but only managed to get a couple items. It was a pretty tiny store. We had lunch with Team Tokyo at the Mt. Whitney Restaurant. It wasn't half bad!! After lunch we went back to our room to sort out or food and repack it all. We planned to meet up again for dinner. I secretly knew that Team Tokyo wanted to take us out for dinner for Julia's birthday. We had Mexican. Pretty tasty and super filling! Good times with great people. After dinner we waddled home and passed out, only to wake up early this morning and gorge ourselves at the complimentary buffet. We met the others at the bus stop for 8:30 and got back to Independence where we hitched (they got a ride in 5 minutes and we waited another 30 after that) back up to the trail. Ahhhh, home again. Only a massive climb up to Kearsarge Pass faced us, then another 5ish back to the PCT. And here we are now, cowboy camping at 11,250ft and nestled in our sleeping bags. Taka is snoring a few yards from us, all is good.

Six days till Mammoth Lakes and a visit with Mom and Dad Lafleur!

Two Mind Blowing Days

We woke up at 4:30 yesterday, left our tent up and open (so marmots could go in and out as they please rather than chewing a hole to get in), put our bear vaults away and headed out on the 17.4 mile (27.8km) round trip to Whitney's Summit. The morning was frigid, like below freezing and so we were glad we didn't go with some others that left at 2AM to see the sunrise. The whole walk is just gorgeous. Massive trees, creeks and small lakes are all surrounded by towering mountains. The trail follows the creek for a while and before you know it you're at Guitar Lake and now you're about to do the real work. Constant climbing from Guitar Lake to the summit. Endless switchbacks that are steep at times with big steps, to long and drawn out grinders. You can feel the air getting thinner. I was in front of our group, then Taka, Julia, June and Flatlander. At the junction with Whitney Portal it gets busier as that is the way up for the non-PCT/JMT hikers. It was a Friday so it wasn't too bad. Julia and I got to the summit first and there were only two other people up there, Sam and Hot Wing, fellow PCTers. It was a great little moment. We snapped a few victory shots and then Taka came strolling up and we took some for him. The three of us his from the wind in this little shelter made of rocks (not the building) and had a snack. About 45 minutes later, June and Flatlander made it, again we took more photos of the group, they joined us for more eating and that was it! It got busier by then, maybe about 25 others or so up there and we passed a ton on the way down, so we had PERFECT timing. Coming down was so much more fun than going up. I took a lot of photos, but the camera I was using isn't our best so I hope they turn out okay. The whole walk back to camp was so enjoyable. The scenery was like you'd see in a painting, or a professional photograph. It was incredible. We got back to camp around 3:30 and then Taka came running in about 4 minutes later. He said that his hobby for two years was trail running but he gave it up because it was too hard, now he walks! Hahaha, Taka is great. Oh, another Taka quote, atop Whitney he pulls out an entire plastic bottle of honey and goes for a shot of it, and when Flatlander asks him how it is, he replies 'oh, honey, ya good taste'. We love hiking with Taka because he's always in a good mood! Flatlander and June were back about 30 minutes later and we all ate and I convinced the group that we should knock another 4 miles up the trail to make the next day easier, as we had to climb Forrester Pass (13200 feet), the highest point on the PCT. We got to that campsite around 7PM and Sam and Hot Wing were there already. The mosquitos were horrendous so we just threw up the tent ASAP and jumped in, we'd sort out the rest in the morning.

This morning was good. No Mosquitos and not quite so cold. We had oatmeal (cooked!) and a protein shake and got moving (Julia and I are always last out, but we hike fastest so it works out). The day started with a long gradual climb and then some rolling hills that take you to Big Horn Plateau. Amazing views of the mountains all around you. We caught up with Taka shortly after as he was making his way down to the river and taking a ton of photos all the while. At the river we all had a snack and then moved on to start climbing up! The climb is gradual for quite a while and Taka, Julia and

Some pics for Ya'llll

 Here's a selction of some of the photos from Kennedy Meadows to where we are now (Independence)

Sorry that the blog is a little out of sorts. I haven't been able to upload much so it goes back a while. I have some to finish up regarding the past two days (Whitney and Forrester Pass)

I'm showered, Julia's in the shower now and then she's going to touch up the mohawk with some borrowed clippers!!