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!!

Long Update

This blog posting is somewhat long overdue. I haven't had wifi for a while and so I haven't been able to upload anything. Let me preface this by saying I'm writing this as I sit on a rock with my legs up to my knees in chicken spring lake. Look it up, it's GORGEOUS.

I'll bring us all the way back to when we left Walker Pass. It was early and we had 52 miles and some decent elevation changes to cover to get to Kennedy Meadows, but I knew we'd do it in 2 days. We left with Team Tokyo but their plan was to do it in 3 days, so we didn't really see them after lunch in day one. To be honest, the two days were pretty uneventful. On day one we covered 25 miles and camped solo up high on a ridge, 5 miles back from Chimney Creek campground. Early in the morning, we shot down to it and came across a beer cache! It was still early, so no beer for us, and we were about to start a serious climb of 2400 feet or so. Julia lets me hammer for 20 minutes and then I pull over and let her catch up, and then on and on. This day was 5 repeats of 20 minute hard efforts of hill training. After the third interval we stopped for a snack and Julia sat down in this awkward little rock about 6 inches high and about a foot wide. What neither of us noticed was a rattler sitting all coiled up behind the rock!! Her butt was inches from his face! I got a pic and video, pretty funny. The climb finishes up in this burn area, no shade to be found. It was getting warm so we just decided to keep moving back down until we found shade, at which point we'd have lunch. That wasn't for another hour and a bit. We got all the way down the other side and found a creek, barely running and a spot of shade, perfect! We were there for a little while but felt the draw to finish the last 9 or so miles of the desert. These last miles were hot, but you do get some spots of shade. Finally we spilled out on the road, made the right turn and walked the last half mile or so to Tom's. Upon arrival we found him chatting with Virgo and Kushy, and he offered us a trailer to stay in! I can't explain how nice it is to stay in a trailer and sleep on a bed after a 27 mile day! The next day was dedicated to showering, organizing, laundry and eating ice cream. Over the 48 hours we were there we polished off 5 pints of Ben and Jerry's. On the afternoon of r zero day we went to use the Internet, just to update a few things and upload a few photos. Tom's got a trailer with 4 laptops that hikers can use. While Julia was on the computer I ran down to our trailer to grab something and when I walked in, someone had just placed a bottle of champagne on ice with two glasses in there! What an amazing surprise! We shared our treat with Virgo and June. Virgo offered to give us a 'pre-Sierras shake down' to help shed some pack weight. This ended up being a very helpful 2+ hour ordeal and our packs are considerably lighter as a result. We left Kennedy Meadows in the evening, bear vaults and all, and headed a whole 2.4 miles to the campground.

The next morning we were all pumped to be finally making our way into the mountains. Our first destination was a bridge, about 10 or so miles in, where we'd have lunch by the water. It ended up being way more than lunch by a creek. As we walked up I saw Virgi in the water filming something. I assumed it was just some artsy footage he can add to his PCT trail magic documentary he's filming, but the then he motioned us over to the water's edge and we could see a bunch of drinks being kept cool by the running water. Beer, soda and even margaritas! Tom and the crew did it again! They were there with punch for us and everything. About 10 - 12 hikers were there for lunch. We were even invited to stay for dinner, but we HAD to get going. That evening we camped with the crew + Dazzle and I had the most luxurious sleep on trail yet. Dazzle is an incredibly kind, soft spoken, easy to talk to guy and Julia and I really enjoy chatting with him at breaks. Anyways he came over after dinner and since we were cowboy camping he could see what we were sleeping on. Julia has her neoair, but my Z rest isn't exactly luxury. He was telling us about his 'Exped' mattress and it sounded awesome. He said he'd be right back and when he returned with it, I thought he was just going show it to us, but he offered to trade with me for the night!! That's how awesome he is. I had the best sleep out here yet and you can bet I'm buying one ASAP.

The next day we heard that Dead Animal (another hiker) had seen a bear about a quarter of a mile past where we slept, and June saw one early that morning! The day was pretty uneventful. Walking and unbelievable beauty, but lots of climbing in the afternoon which was exhausting. We all slept in the same area again, at about 10300 feet.

June 20, 2012 - The Tuna Turns 26
Like any classy birthday, it began with breakfast in bed after sleeping in. S'mores Poptarts in her sleeping bag at 6AM. We slowly got ready to go, and the others left about 40 mins prior to us. The morning highlight was Taka wishing her a 'very good day on her birthday' in his broken English. Taka's a really nice man, wish we could chat more easily. He's named me (phonetically) 'keen-ee-ku mam' which is 'muscle man'. I'll let him call me that. Anyways, the morning was pretty easy. Some flat and downhill sections through forested areas and open ridges with spectacular views. Our final destination was to be Chicken Spring lake, a mere 15ish mile day, ending around 11300 feet. The climbing in the late morning started to take a toll as we were somewhat low on energy since we had to make our food stretch an extra day and a half. We stopped for lunch early as we were both exhausted from the lack of fuel, elevation gain and the climbing. At lunch we tried making some phone calls with mediocre success. All calls got cut off a little too early, but at least we made some contact with family. The afternoon went by pretty quickly, and with full tanks of energy and a little shot of caffeine, we climbed up to Chicken Spring Lake pretty comfortably. It is absolutely beautiful. A lake surrounded by mountains. We were here just after 4 and so have lots of time to enjoy ourselves! Team Tokyo should be here soon. Whitney in two days!

We Passed Some Serious Windies

What makes the title funny is that 'windies' are what my mom calls farts. Haha. But these windies were farts from hell! After our incredible 4 day vacation at Casa de Carmen et Abby, we met up with Shutterburst and his aunt gave us all a lift back to Willow Springs road, where we left the trail some 4 days earlier. It was Friday evening so we knew we weren't going far, but maybe a few miles to get away from the road.

A few minutes back on trail and it was evident that we were in for some serious winds. The place doesn't house some 5000 windmills for nothin'! It was intense, at some times frustrating and all round difficult hiking. We only went about 2.5 miles until we found refuge from the wind behind a big bush and called it home. It was 7:30, we were tired and wanted to get a good start the following morning. Julia and I cowboy camped among piles of cow dung and Shutterburst set up his little tent and we watched as all the lights lit up on the windmills admit got darker and darker.

Saturday morning we woke up at just after 5AM. The wind didn't let up at all and we had dirt and dust blown all over us. We knew it was inevitable, we had to fight this wind to get out of it, so we packed up quick and were on trail shortly after 6AM, fighting the wind with everything we had. A few days earlier, people had to turn back because the winds just made the trail way too dangerous. It was a long grind to make any progress and it would only let up long enough for you to stumble forward and then it would hit you with a strong gust to knock you back again. We took refuge behind a couple shrubs here and there, but eventually made our way down to hwy 58 and a water cache, where we had a small break with Shutterburst. We had made the goal of reaching a water source 23 miles from where we woke up. He left and we really didn't see him again until the evening. The trail followed the highway for a short while and then cut away towards the mountains. Just as you turn in, there's a gate and a register.we were curious to see who may have passed us while we were in Bakersfield so we scanned the names who had signed recently. MUCH to our delight, we saw our great friend June!! She had signed it that morning as well, so we assumed we'd catch her by the evening! We were so excited now. As we climbed, the winds got stronger and stronger. Like stop you in your tracks and knock you over strong. It was a slow go and a couple times I would drop my pack and run back down the trail to make sure little Julia was ok. She's a beast though and handled it beautifully. It was just very tiring and made the day seem to go on forever. There was this one spot that was a gap between two canyons, maybe about a 20 foot stretch that was just crazy intense. I managed to get through okay, but Julia had to go off trail a bit for some shelter from the wind. Many others did the same apparently and some others even crawled. We found a nice little spot with refuge from the wind and had lunch and a nap there. Nothing like a nap, food, a shot of caffeine and some music to get the energy levels up!! We headed back out into the wind and fought our way to the top. We even had fun with the wind.
The rest of the afternoon and early evening was pretty uneventful and the wind eventually died down a bit and it became a little more pleasant. We finally made it to the water source, to find 3 hikers already sleeping and Shutterburst quietly cheering our arrival! He told us that the they were Flatlander (a guy he hiked with early on) and two Japanese hikers, a guy and a girl. Juney! It appeared as though she was sleeping, so I took out 'Manicky Necko' that's the rough, phonetic translation of 'lucky cat' in Japanese, that June taught us way back at Warner Springs, over a month ago! I put it on one of her platypuses that was lying beside her, so she would see it in the morning and realize we were there too! Well she sort of turned over and looked our way, so we waved and she waved back but she didn't quite recognize us so she turned back the other direction and the noticed what I had left there and she immediately shot up in her sleeping bag with a big grin on her face. We went over and gave her a big hug and the three of us chatted for about fifteen minutes or so. What a great reunion!!

That night we cowboy camped too. There were six of us right by this little spring and the another few nearby. What a great day! Insane adventure to get there and to be reunited with June after more than a month of wondering how she was doing. Awesome!

Water Drama

One last little treat from the desert.

We woke up yesterday morning amongst big trees and under the shade of a forrested area. It almost lends itself to make you believe that you're almost in the Sierras, but we know better by now. Soon we were walking in less shade, and then no shade, and then the return of the sandy trail and rock. Back to desert. Dang. It got hot and we were getting low on water. There's a water cache at mile 616 which is where we intended to make it, but with water caches, you never really know. The same lady does the water caches at 616 and 631. Without her, there would be no quality on-trail water between 602 and 644! Not cool in the desert!

So anyways, after lunch and my obligatory nap, we made it to the cache around 4PM. GLORIOUS! Water, plenty of it. Lots of gallon jugs all in a pile, connected by a rope through the handles. It can make pouring awkward, and any spillage is devastating, but you do your best and just make it work. After filling up, we joined the other hikers that were hanging out up under a Joshua tree. There were 13 of us in total; Virgo, Dazzle, Flatlander, June, Taka, Trip, House, RoboKnee, Sea Hag, Voodoo, Twinkle Toes, Buffet and Mister C!

7 Weeks and a Day

That's how long we've spent in the desert. We're finally at Kennedy Meadows and the start of the Sierras!! We got here on  Friday evening after two really long days (25 and 27 miles). We had this place in sight and just wanted to get here! This last stretch has been one of the toughest so far. We have some stuff to do, and I have other blog posting to upload but no wifi here, so hopefully in a week or so!

In this next week we'll be hitting the highest point on the PCT and climbing up to the peak of Mt. Whitney, highest point in the lower 48!

I'm Terrible at Relaxing

We're at mile 558 of the PCT, Willow Springs road. We got a hitch into Tehachapi and then Abby and Carmen picked us up there and we're at their place in Bakersfield. We had sent them a TON of stuff from home that we now had to sort and prepare about 15 resupply boxes. Wednesday and Thursday were spent setting up 30 days worth of FULL resupplies that we mailed Thursday afternoon. This will get us all the way to South Lake Tahoe, and if needed we can supplement out of gas stations and small stores along the way. We also set up about another dozen or so boxes that they'll send to us between South Lake Tahoe and Cascade Locks. Mainly just supplements, couple pairs of shoes, supplies etc. We ALSO sent 3 boxes up to Shrek's hiker hostel in Cascade Locks, all the stuff that we'll need from there until Manning Park. When we get there we'll sort through it again and set up the boxes that we'll mail to ourselves that will get us the rest of the way. Oh, and we also sent two boxes home. Some stuff that we don't need, namely our brand new ice axes, Camp Corsa Nanotech, never used. For Sale.

It's been awesome to be here. Be clean for more than a minute after a shower, to enjoy good food, to enjoy the company of friends. But it also feels a bit weird. I feel myself seriously longing to be on the trail. I miss it a lot. I miss the feeling of walking and walking and walking, taking a break and walking a bunch more until we decide to camp. I love the feeling of making progress up the trail and I see people's pictures of the Sierras and do I ever want to be there. We're now pretty well at the back of the pack and I'm also a bit worried that we'll run out of time later on in Washington. Most of the people we know are now a few days to a week ahead, and even those that had fallen behind are probably now a bit ahead, we'll see. Also, my parents have booked a place in Tahoe and I don't think we'll be there in time. We'll have to arrange to meet them somewhere south of there.

Anyways, back to the trail early tomorrow (Saturday) morning after 4+ days off. Hopefully we can remember how to do this "hiking" thing.