Before today had even begun, yesterday quite literally ended with a thud. The thud in this case was the sound of me smacking into the ground neck first as my hammock came unmoored from its webbing on one end while I was lying in it. The ground beneath me was fortunately stone free, so a few minutes and a couple of ibuprofen later, I was back hanging and off to dreamland.
Search Results for: california
The California Blues
Already mid-July, and I'm still in California. This is one long, though beautiful, state. With the Sierra gradually drifting behind us, the trail is inching lower and lower in elevation each day and tomorrow we'll briefly dip all the way down below 3,000 feet--an elevation the trail hasn't descended to since it followed the Los Angeles aqueduct over 700 miles ago.
Tumanguya
The buzzing on my wrist comes as no surprise. In those brief moments drifting in limbo between asleep and awake, I struggle to register what exactly it is floating above my head. Beyond the soft armor of mosquito mesh surrounding me, and through the tarp stretched taut above, an amorphous shape of white bends into unrecognizable shapes and patterns, like sunlight seen from beneath the surface of water.
A Tale of Two Winters
The Sierra Nevada—literally, “the snowy mountains”—has recently begun to challenge its very name. In the past twenty years or more, the cyclical nature of snow and sun in these mountains has become anything but cyclical.
The Other Side of Yosemite
The Sierra must be seen to be fully believed. And Yosemite is the beating heart of that Sierra. Of the more than 4 million annual visitors to Yosemite National Park, the vast majority never leave Yosemite Valley, however. With highlights known the world over—El Capitan, Half Dome, Yosemite Falls, Glacier Point—you can hardly blame them.
The Residentially Challenged Life
Ever since June 2020, when Mountain Man and I embarked on our hike of the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) we have been what some may call “location independent,” “nomadic”, “wanderers”, or even “homeless.”
We prefer to call ourselves “residentially challenged.”
Starting Line
Since I’d first heard of it in 2016, the Arizona Trail has captured my imagination. Completed only five years earlier in 2011, it stretches nearly 800 miles north-to-south down the length of the state, from Utah all the way to Mexico. Along the way, the vast and often unsung diversity of Arizona is on display
Denouement
When we had gone to bed, the sun still dominated the sky with only a handful of brave clouds fending for space amid its rays. When we had woken up, everything had changed. What first began with the lightest of drizzles morphed slowly into droplets that sounded a bit more like sleet. By morning, the snow that dusted the ground and our tents told the rest of the night’s story.
Stone and Sky News & Updates - July 2021
Normalcy. Remember what that felt like? I’d very nearly forgotten myself. The 4th of July has come and gone and the heart of summer is finally here. But it’s not just any summer. Here in the U.S., it feels like we’re slowly tiptoeing our way out into the light, emerging from a state of pseudo-hibernation....
Southeastern
Pancakes, coffee, sausage, eggs, pancakes, hashed browns, and more pancakes. That's the way you kickstart a day of hiking, and our breakfast at Wild Bill’s certainly delivered. I can already picture my own look of ambivalence when faced with tomorrow morning’s breakfast protein bar.
Open Season
Hanging from trees a few steps off a dirt road, the sound coming toward us as we packed up was not surprising. Growing louder, an ATV and a 4-wheeler came around the bend and the two hunters aboard stopped to chat with us about whether we'd seen any other hunters or any big game recently.
Wind River
The day’s writing done, my light went out and was immediately replaced by starlight. Even from among our sheltered stand of trees, there was enough of a clearing to stare up at them from the comfort of my hammock while I listened to the breeze run through the tips of the pines. It's the way you dream of days ending.
A Tale of Fire
I'm on some kind of ride at the county fair, which one I'm not entirely sure. The Tilt-o-Whirl maybe, or perhaps the Scrambler. It might even be the giant swirling swing ride. When my eyes open, I don't see the lights of the midway though, only darkness. Turns out it was only partly a dream.
Observation
Question: What's the best kind of hitch? Answer: The kind where you get one before you even start trying. After almost two full days of resting our feet, we walked along the wide paved shoulder of the one street that runs through the town of Lincoln, Montana.
Gear Porn
I'm beginning to sense a pattern. Up until a few short days ago, warm weather and clear skies had been the norm since we'd returned to Montana. Two days south of Helena that all changed as the blue skies with long views vanished, replaced by a smoky haze that has stubbornly refused to move on down the road. Each Montanan we cross paths with tells the same story…
This Never Gets Old
I'm sitting on the beach in the Bahamas. The water is an impossibly deep shade of turquoise, the sand as bright and fine as baking flour. The wind blows, filtering through the palm trees and issuing a gentle, constant rustling sound as they sway slightly.
The First Five Days on the CDT: A Rookie’s Perspective
In some circles I may appear as an experienced backpacker. In thru-hiking circles and even the wonderful trio of people I am with on this CDT journey, I am a definite rookie.
Forever a Student
No two hikes are ever the same and no matter how many miles you have under your feet there’s always something more to learn—that’s part of what makes it so much fun. Whether it’s learning how to not shower for a week or more (surprisingly easy) or learning new ways of walking when blisters or foot pain make it difficult to walk normally (harder)…
The Five Senses
Sandwiched in between the snowy Crystal Range to the west and the parched Carson Range to the east, Lake Tahoe sits as the second deepest lake in the country and somewhere deep within its inky blue waters lies the California-Nevada state line.
Limits
When I reached out of my hammock and lit the stove for coffee, the contrast of the dull warmth of the stove’s heat against the chill of the morning air only amplified how cold of a night it had been. Nestled into a basin all its own, Star Lake had made for a beautiful but cold night under another blanket of stars with the Milky Way on full display.
The Land of Dust and Fire
The shade of blue hadn’t changed at all. From high above and through a scrim of smoky haze, the sapphire hue of Lake Tahoe was no less brilliant than when I had last seen it two years ago while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. Only this time, Emily and I were back to join our good friends Beardoh and Sweet Pea for a summer send-off thru-hiking the Tahoe Rim Trail.
Eagle Creek
The third and final day on the trail with my Mom was also our final day in Oregon, and what a fitting end it was. The final 15 miles in Oregon are spent by nearly all thru-hikers, not on the official PCT, but on the alternate Eagle Creek trail. Plunging down 4000 feet, the alternate leaves the PCT and follows the course of Eagle Creek along a series of waterfalls…
Mountain Relay
Today was divided neatly into thirds: 8.5 miles of uphill sandwiched between two 8.5 mile sections of downhill. It's unusual for a day to be carved up like that and for the downhill sections to have very few moments of climbing and vice versa. Regardless, the grade was always pleasant and steady and it made for easy going even for another long day.
Blowdown
Far more often than not, the PCT is an incredibly well-maintained and thoroughly modern hiking trail that switchbacks its way up and down steep slopes, rather than taking a more direct and erosion-prone route. Today, however, the "well-maintained" part of that description was called into question.
Welcome to Oregon
The sound of the morning was an unusual one: a distant chime and then a cluster of them, faint but clear. High on a ridge near 7,000 feet, the list of possible sources was quite limited. As it grew louder, the chimes revealed themselves for what they really were: cow bells. The patchwork of meadows we'd seen since yesterday were the perfect place for a herd of free-ranging cattle to graze.
A Golden State of Mind
Today marks my last full day and night in California, and although the trail is positively pulsing with excitement at the prospect of reaching Oregon, it would be impossible to forget the nearly endless string of beauty that has been on display as we've followed these first 1700 miles.
The State of Jefferson
The town of Seiad Valley hardly qualifies as a town at all, complete with its population of 350 and comprised only of a cafe, store, post office, and RV park that occupy consecutive lots. Aside from hosting a pancake challenge--anyone who eats 5 pounds of pancakes, gets them for free--its real claim to "fame" is…
I Love a Good Steam Bath
I'd almost forgotten what humidity felt like. That unpleasant stickiness that had been a constant companion growing up in the heat of the upstate New York summer and had followed me for months of my Appalachian Trail thru-hike has been nearly nonexistent on the Pacific Crest Trail. Oh, how that would change today.
The Thinning Herd
The high drama that the trail had been lacking for the past week or more returned in a flash today, as we entered into the Marble Mountain Wilderness, where rugged and rocky peaks with high alpine lakes quickly replaced the dense forests.
Etna
The anticipation of getting into the town of Etna for resupply today was heightened even more by wanting to reunite with Beardoh and Sweet Pea, and to learn how Beardoh had been faring since they left the trail two days ago. Aside from getting stung by a bee during my last break of the day when I sat on some fallen timber that had a hive beneath it, it was a pretty uneventful stroll.
Crumbled Crags
I pondered this sentiment as I began to take my first steps of the morning, thinking of how one of history's most famous mountaineers had redefined what it means to triumph, to succeed in any wilderness endeavor. Far from a rousing barroom tale of adrenaline-filled daring, each success is less a story about the outward achievement and more about the inner struggle…
Fire and Ice
The morning air was dead calm as I climbed through fields of sun-cupped snow. When I caught up with Beardoh and Sweet Pea, we stopped and listened to an eerie silence--no wind, no voices, no chirping birds. No sound, only light.
Farming the Wind
Any day that begins with the promise of real food and a shower at the end of it is a great day and after nearly 400 miles since my last day off in Idyllwild, I'm ready for both. Another early start to beat the heat, we took off one by one in the early morning hours just before sunrise, marching east directly toward another beautiful installment of the waking sun.
Two weeks
Today marks two weeks on the trail and even so early in the trip it's hard to wrap my mind around all the beautiful sights I've seen and all the wonderful people I've met. Other than the storm north of Mt. Laguna, today also marked the return of something that I'd seldom seen these first two weeks: clouds. Little white puffy ones.
10,834 feet
With X-man leaving after only one zero day and Emily having flown home to Seattle, our little hiking group has been whittled down to just four. We set off from the cozy confines of the Idyllwild Inn at 6am, hoping to get a hitch to the state park where a side trail would take us back to the PCT on the north side of the trail closure.
Rain and Reset
Little known fact: it does, in fact, rain in Southern California. In what can only be described as hypothermia on a silver platter, the first half of our day was spent managing the 40ish degree temperature, rain, and wind while making our way down towards the Anza-Borrego desert. Not surprisingly, we stopped only for 10 minutes in the first 9 miles of the day.
CT 341
A short day heading into Kent, CT with Northern Harrier, Footloose, and Jan, who is heading home to New Jersey from Kent. A nice little quintessentially New England town, good food, and of course it's always nice to do laundry. Splitting a room tonight with Footloose and Harrier to relax a little and get some more rest. Lately, everyone seems to be feeling very worn down and shelter registers are filled with more and more pessimism and hikers talking about their "trail blues" and overall mental and physical weariness.