Category: PCT 2018

5.20.2018

Well, as the sun shined on us leaving Independence the clouds rolled in over the mountains before us. Strider helped us with our bounce boxes before leaving the Mt. Williamson Motel. She and her dog, Indy, drove us back to the Onion Valley Trailhead a little after 8am. We were hiking just before 9. It was still cool enough out to leave the jackets in our packs and wear shorts for the day.

The trail was dry as we headed back up towards Kearsarge Pass (4.6) miles but the clouds we had seen yesterday on the mountains had clearly shown their force as we dropped on the west side of Kearsarge the snowfall was much more abundant. It also hadn’t seen many foot tracks or much sun. As we descended that side of Kearsarge and were headed back towards Bullfrog Lake the trail became a sloppy mess of snow melt and dirt. It didn’t take long before each one of us was walking in wet shoes. It was another 2.2 miles to Bullfrog where we would finally meet back up to the PCT at mile 788.5 again. Friday when we left that spot on the PCT the only snow on Trail was old berms in the shadows of trees that hadn’t seen sun. Today was a whole different animal. And to say the least it was difficult and a lot of work.

Once back on the PCT we ran into 3 hikers, one being Oats who I haven’t seen since Kennedy Meadows. They came over Forrester today which just seems unreal knowing the conditions we had just gone through. They were wanting to get over Glen Pass today which sounded really crazy to us as we had already planned to do it in the morning.

We made it to the camp site at mile 789 around 230. Not being sure what the clouds around us were going to do, we setup and huddled in. We had a late lunch and made ourselves warm for the afternoon. Laura and I evidently were pretty darn tired. We both napped until 7pm!

As I write this I thought it would be my first afternoon where I’d be able to get some reading done–as Andrew did while we slept–but no, tiredness took over and I gave the body a break. Even tho we didn’t crank any mad miles today, it was still an awesome sight to see the lakes and mountain peaks in a whole new setting covered in snow. As we setup at 10700ft we unfortunately can’t have a camp fire. But don’t you worry we stay plenty warm in our tents. We may get more snow this evening or possibly tomorrow but by Tuesday this system should be passing through.

Miles will be slow from here so my schedule will be off. I know a few of you have asked when I will be near Tahoe. It’s almost 300 miles from here and I can only see Mammoth in my future as of now–which will be in a week. If we can get up and over passes while the snow is frozen (and not slushy like today) then the days will be somewhat easier.

I will also add that I’m carrying my heaviest pack today. With 1 liter of water and a bear can of food weighing in at 12.5 lbs (plus an additional 2 pounds of snacks for today) the total weight of my pack leaving the motel was 46 pounds. Ironically it didn’t feel any different from times past. I guess I can say I feel that much stronger (or stupid!) but the body seemed to handle the pack just fine up the steep hill today. And even though I did not step on a scale myself, I can see a difference now in my body and the amount of fat that I have lost. It still amazes me the crap that I’m eating just to keep the calories intake high but it still doesn’t come near the amount of calories we are burning a day. I ordered more meals to a friends house today because of this. I need to eat those larger backpacking meals more to keep the strength going forward.

As I start my 9th week out here I wonder where the time has gone. We will cross the 800 mile mark tomorrow. I feel so removed from the normalcy of non-trail life. But I’m still loving the challenge the trail life continues to bring. Even though our stay in town seems a bit luxurious at times it certainly helps to reset and restore the mindset and goals of being out here. I said it last night at dinner: I feel kinda aloof about being where we are. I wasn’t sure I would make it this far. I wasn’t sure if **I** would still want to be here. I wasn’t sure if I could make the commitment to this wholly and entirely. I wasn’t sure if I would give up. But I haven’t and I don’t plan to. So as the Sierras continue to dump snow and our miles slush, slip and slop away I’m still here taking it all in. I’m thankful for Andrew and Laura showing me the things I don’t know. I know we have a ton of amazing miles ahead of us.

For now goodnight. It’s 9:35 pm and high lightening has started and frozen precipitation is falling. Time to hunker down.

5.19.2018

Zero Day In Independence/Bishop

There’s good things and bad things about staying in a town where the population is 200. First off, there’s 2 gas stations, one market, one cafe — which is in the market, 4 motels and that’s about it. With that being said, the cafe was off the charts delicious. It’s called Fork in the Wild and it’s located in the Owens Valley Co-Op which is run by volunteers. Probably the best burger and pasta dish I’ve had in weeks. I’m not usually one to take photos of my food but in this case I totally should have. Not to mention, the roasted Brussel sprouts yesterday were off the charts good!

The bad thing about being here is that all the really cool gear shops were located in Bishop, some 40 minutes away. We called the shuttle service we used yesterday and paid a nice man named Keith to run us around up there. He dropped us off for breakfast at Jack’s then gave us time to rummage through the 3 gear shops which were all conveniently located on the Main Street in town.

Such great selection at each place. It’s probably a good thing we were on a time crunch as Laura and I would have dropped some serious cash there if we’d had more time. Laura found me a pair of crampons at a stellar price and I also purchased some snow gaiters to go with. They will help keep the snow out of my shoes better if we have to posthole at any point in the afternoon slush. No luck on the tips for the trekking pole, so I’ll just be a little gentle on them for the next week when I get my box from Las Vegas.

We said goodbye to Dude and Luc after the gear shops. Dude is going to take a bus north on Monday and hike the Tahoe Rim Trail for a few days before his girlfriend comes down to meet him in Reno. Luc has decided to take another zero tomorrow as he’d like to wait out some of the colder weather and let his body rest up a bit more. I’m sure we will see him back in the trail in a week or two somewhere. It always happens.

After hitting up all three gear stores, Keith took us over to Vons were we grabbed our last bit of resupply food items. Yet another trek to the store to purchase items you will hopefully want to eat 7days from now. Im going to bounce a few items to Mammoth then send some things home from there (like my MicroSpikes that I won’t be using anymore on trail).

We drove back and packed our bear cans with food for the next 120+ miles. Strider has a hanging scale so my bear can alone weighed in at 12.3 lbs. I’ll weigh my entire pack before we leave in the morning. Laura and I both have “day food” that won’t be in the bear canister tomorrow since we notoriously overfoodpack so if there’s a bear incident tomorrow it’s our fault!

Laura, Andrew and I had our 2nd meal of the day (dinner) at Fork in the Wild and shared a bottle of wine. We grabbed a few items for breakfast and then they showed me some of the info I hadn’t seen on the upcoming passes. Interesting to see photos of the places I will hike with them and to see what those places look like in heavy and light snow years. I’m pretty excited about the next week alone.

Tomorrow we will head out around 830am. The hike back up to Kearsarge Pass will be somewhat brutal with the heavy packs so wish us luck. Only doing 9 miles tomorrow but those first 4 a re the heavy grind up.

I got a very nice email from Fossil last night. Today was his Pole, Peddle, Paddle competition in Bend, OR. He said he had 3rd locked in before it even started as there were only 2 others signed up in his age division. Ha!!!! I can’t wait to hear how well he did! I sent him some photos of our time on the PCT together.

It’s past 10pm now and I’m feeling tired. Last night was the best sleep I’ve gotten in weeks. I’m hoping for another night of that.

****Heidi & Heather — It’s been DAYS without Justin! I did get a message from Fireman yesterday. Fireman is in Mammoth until Monday is then I will hopefully get a Justin update for you–unless you’ve gotten one before then.

****Last night and this morning we were all busy sharing photos between the group. I’m not one for taking videos on the trail but Andrew seems to have a knack for it. He caught some pretty cool footage on Thursday for us. Enjoy.

5.18.2018

off Trail PCT miles 6.4This mornings wake-up wasn’t near as early as yesterday, nor near as cold. Yet we planned to be hiking by 6am to beat the sun one more day. The views along the Kearsarge Pass trail were stunning again. Our hike was 2 miles up and 4.4 down to the trailhead. The first 1.5 wasn’t all that terrible, it was the last half mile that felt like it went on forever. We were on top of Kearsarge by 730. Such a beautiful way to watch the sunrise amongst the mountain lakes.

There wasn’t much for snow on the upside and less snow than we expected on the downside so today’s miles were much easier than we all had expected. There was only one segment of Trail where we used our ice axes for a little extra security.

Once at the bottom of the trail head, only half of us had phone service. Karma and Luc scored a ride with a random group of people who had gone for a drive to the mountains this morning and Andrew was able to arrange a ride through a shuttle service for the 4 of us left. Kurt picked us up about an hour later. Nice, retired man. We chatted all the way down the hill as I found out he was a retired pilot from US Airways and the Air Force. He drove us to the Post Office to pick up our resupply packages and then dropped us off at the Williamson Motel.

Since Laura and Andrew had already prearranged this stay I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. I just go with the flow but this place is pretty darn cute! Strider (the owner) hikes the JMT every year. She’s got quite the resume of life achievements herself. She’s an awesome trail angel as she has specific hiker packages for her motel, complete with laundry, shuttle rides and a welcoming beer. She even gives out necklaces handmade from a friend of hers to all the lady hikers. Super sweet.

The rest of the day from then in was pretty chill. Laura and Andrew worked on mileage and resupply strategies for the next week. There are several days of passes and river crossing coming up. I was planning on 7 days to Mammoth from here, but 8 actually sounds a lot better.

I was able to catch up on all these blog posts and chat with my Pops. I’m sorry if I caused anyone alarm as I couldn’t update the blog while I was in the mountains. I always have the tracking on my Garmin during the day, so as long as the dot is moving, I’m doing alright.

Tomorrow we will get a ride into Bishop. Just a few things need for the food resupply. Hoping to find a decent gear store there to fix my trekking pole and buy those crampons. Other than that…. just another town day. It’s nice to be out of the cold for a bit. I should mention, yesterday was probably the first day all week that when we set up camp it wasn’t uncomfortable. We were actually able to sit and have dinner together before we went to sleep. Just strange that now that we’re in town, it was 80 degrees here in Independence.