Back on the TRAIL - mile 1158

The tides of snow have finally turned back here in Nor-Cal (I'm getting hip to the lingo).  Just finished two short sections to get me to Truckee where I got in touch with my college friend Katherine who lives in King's Beach on the north shore of Lake Tahoe.  I've been here for a couple nights taking care of business for the next few hundred miles and getting good R&R in - live bluegrass show, swimming in the lake, BBQ on the beach, good greasy spoon breakfast... life is good.

Coming back from NYC was harder than I thought.  It was a stark difference from being surrounded by people I love and having awesome fun reunion times plus the wedding celebration extravaganza to being dropped in the middle of the mountains at Sonora Pass knowing that the folks I've been traveling with were a week ahead and expecting to be doing a lot of walking on my own.  As luck turned out I ran into some friendly familiar faces right at the trail head and did some traveling with Queso, Nacho, Cerveza, and Caveman coming into South Lake Tahoe.  The trail has been mellowing out for us.  It's still a bit hard to follow in some spots but in general is getting back to a solid path.  The tradeoff for less snow has been more bugs - the 'skitters are out!  Every challenge has a silver lining I suppose though.  With the snow, even though it made everything slower and harder I could never genuinely wish it away because it also made everything so damn beautiful.  The bugs have a clever way of staying uncondemned as well - their deal is as long as you are walking, they'll stay off your back (and your face, and hands, and whatever other skin you're showing).  But once you stop it's a feeding frenzy.  Obvious solution - keeping walking!  It's a good thing too that they keep us motivated seeing as how we're 3 months into a 5 month trip and just approaching the halfway point.  Time to make miles my friends!

At South Lake Tahoe we got in touch with an AT-super-enthusiast, Superman, who rolls with the Riff Raff crew back east helping out hikers and keeping the good times rolling both on and off the trail.  He brought the tradition out west and has been puting up hikers and showing all a good time.  A bunch of us stayed in his place - the set and setting for a good time with good people and a gripping 5 dollar poker tourney that Superman came on top of (now I know why he puts up so many hikers!).  Most folks decided to stay another night but in the morning I was antsy to get back to the trail after taking a week off.  So I said my goodbyes to Team Fiesta and the Car Camp crew and headed back to make some miles.

So I hopped back on and had a blast walking through a beautiful section of trail in the desolation wilderness.  Beautiful glacial lakes everywhere!  My favorite, hands down, was Aloha lake - a humongous pile of bold blue water spotted with rock islands and surrounded by still-snow-covered peaks.  The area was a little more crowded than most of the spots we've been to (and I actually got "carded" by a ranger who checked my permit.  First time!  It's official, I'm walking the PCT!).  But that's how it works in beautiful places.  If anyone has the time and is in the area I would definitely recommend checking this spot out.

I've really enjoyed walking and camping by myself this week.  It was nice to have some quiet time after the hustle and bustle of my last two weeks.  And now the trail is back to mind-wandering walking as opposed to the highly-focussed "where am I?" "don't slip now" "holy crap this river is huge!" stuff we've just been through.  I'm headed back out today and am not sure what hikers will be out there but if I'm on my own for a few more days I won't be disappointed.

Cool!  So I've been slacking in the whole "here's where I'm going to be if you want to send me stuff" department.  Here's a list of the next few places I'm definitely stopping into.  I should be in all of them on weekdays so no problems there.  Definitely give me a call AND write me an email if you plan on sending anything out and I'll try to stay on top of that stuff.  Also, make sure to check out the how-to before dropping something in the mail.

Chester, CA 96020 ETA: 8/7
Burney, CA 96013 ETA: 8/11
Mount Shasta, CA 96067 ETA: 8/16

Awesome!  Thanks in advanced for anything that might come my way.  Next time I'm in touch I'll be past the halfway marker, whoop whoop!  Then it's Oregon on the horizon and the race to Canada is on.  Catch you all later!

Father Pepe gets official in NYC - mile 1020

The last two weeks have been unlike any other since I started this trip.  First, the trail:

Leaving Mammoth the general feeling rang something like, "Hey we're through most of the big stuff.  We're gonna be below 10 grand for the most part and yeah, I hear there are some rivers we gotta deal with but I'm a tall guy with a steady step.  It's going to be cruiser!  Right?"  WRONG.  The hundred miles or so from Mammoth to Sonora Pass kicked our butts big time.  I remember one day in particular when I couldn't believe all the crap we walked through and over to get our 15 miles in for the day.  From return creek to the far side of Piute creek we did something like 6 scary crossings over rippin' "seasonal creeks" mostly on the convenient balance beams place near the trail, hopped over a pass, did a little map and compass work on the snow (now in the trees), bushwacked next to a waterfall to avoid circuitous trail miles (found the 40 foot cliff that sent the trail southward and the snow shoot that let us glisade down the thing) and wait for it, my favorite - walked through what felt like a quarter mile of chest deep water!  Yeah!  Big day!  Clawing for those miles.  Other highlights included walking on a bridge that was 3 feet deep itself to get past the lake to Falls Creek which was another trip in itself.  Water water everywhere!  And hell yeah you can drink it all!  Hit the 1000 mile mark the day before hopping off the trail and like magic our path was revealed.  Finally, some dry ground to cruise on for a little while.  

This trail can be such a tease!  You don't see it for a whole day and just when you're starting to get really fed up it comes back and is all like "hey baby.  I'm here.  I'll stay with you.  Just follow me and it'll all be okay.  I promise"  And you come crawling back all relieved and pathetic like nothing ever happened.  And right when you get your momentum going and things are back to business as usual it runs off again!  What a hussy.  But hey, we made it to Sonoran pass and I'm still having an awesome time!  

I've heard about a lot of people skipping sections in the Sierras it all kinds of ways - bumping ahead and walking south, bumping ahead and walking to Canada with plans to come back, road walking 100 mile sections to avoid scary trail miles (really?!), etc.  Maybe it's the right decision for those folks.  I'm not here to judge (well maybe I judge the road walkers a little bit... just skip the section guys.  It's all good).  But I definitely made the right decision for me.  Even if all this slow walking means not getting to Canada before the snow starts falling up north I'd be 100 percent satisfied.  The walking has been great adventure and I wouldn't give it up for any trophy. 

The only disappointment I've had with other folks with all the moving and shaking around is the fear mongering that's been going on the trail.  If something doesn't feel comfortable or safe to you, by all means, turn around, go a different way, skip the section... do what you need to do to stay safe, happy, but still challenged.  But PLEASE, don't come away from that experience and tell others that the trail is impassible or not safe.  We all came out here to challenge ourselves and by the time we get off the trail we will all have pushed our comfort levels.  But where and how that challenge occurs will be different for everyone.  It's those moments of pushing ourselves (yeah, in a safe way) to make hard decisions, manage risks, take on physical challenges, etc. that we learn most about ourselves and what we're capable of.  If you tell someone not to do something then you rob them of that experience - even if that experience is simply walking to a point, realizing you're out of your element, and turning around.  That is just as valuable as successfully fording the giant river that scared the crap out of you - maybe in some ways more so.  I just hate hearing about people that were planning on climbing Whitney but then heard a bunch of war stories and because of that didn't even go and look at it.  I'm all for informing hikers of conditions they may face, especially if you're concerned with a particular person's abilities.  But let's try to leave the ego out of it as much as possible and present the facts as close to objectively as we can so folks can make their own decisions.  OK. Rant over.

So got to Sonora pass and thumbed a quick ride to Bridgeport to spend the night and get my ducks in order for heading to NYC.  Yeah yeah!  Wedding time.  I knew the hiatus was going to be a head trip but honestly being back at home with the friends and fam has been amazing.  The most shocking part was Reno!  Holy crap!  Coming off the trail and winding up in a windowless casino with flashing lights and ringing bells everywhere was a trip.  The buffet was well worth it though!  Being the minister at my sister and friend's wedding was super fun and rewarding.  The ceremony went great and the festivities were a blast.  Everyone's psyched about how it all worked out.

Well now it's back to the trail.  I'm excited to jump back into what will prove to be a healthier lifestyle.  Staying on California time was a good call - staying up late and sleeping through the morning.  Thank god the metabolism is still high or there would have been a few nights there when I would have wound up passed out on the street.  Trying to get to see everyone in NYC and get my kicks in is always a whirlwind but I did pretty well this time 'round.  Hopefully by tomorrow night I'll be sleeping on the ground again and on my way to Tahoe.  It's time to start runnin' to Canada.  We'll see what the trail dishes out next.

High Sierras Part II - mile 908

Finished up the second big section of the Sierras moving from Kearsarge pass into Red Meadows and Mammoth and I'm STUFFED.  Great breakfast at The Stove (gravy on everything) big ol' BBQ spot, a little pizza here and there, and just got done with the Mexican.  Yeah.  Food has become really important.  Maybe it's going over a pass every day... maybe it's the cold weather we ran into... maybe it's the tortuous rationing going on during these long sections... but this boy's gotta eat a lot and has been doing a pretty good job.  Helping speed that process along and providing good company and tasty beverages has been my cousin Mike (trail named "Cousin Mike" or "cus" for short) who came from his new spot on the west coast.  It's been a good and lazy time recovering from lots of big walking.

So every day in the Sierras involves some of the biggest adventure I've ever been involved in.  Big passes and lots of snow walking.  Forester was exciting and all but the days only got more intense down the trail.  More snow (Muir, Pinchot) steeper slopes (Mather), and lush lush canyons (Palisades).  Then the big water crossings that at 6'2" I do alright in but can be exciting bringing my 5'1" friend through (you're a champ Bubbs).  It's hard to do the walking and the landscape justice.  You all will have to wait for the photos I'll post on my week long hiatus to NYC for my sister's wedding - crazy culture shock.

After getting over all the 12 granders we took a "wrong turn" coming down silver pass and wound up in fish creek.  We had big plans to hop on a different trail to get back to the PCT at Purple Lake but when we got to the junction a mind-bending sign said PCT right, Red's Meadows left!  Left?!  We don't have maps that go left!  Whatever, that's where we're going.  If going right was the "right" way to Red's Meadows the sign would point that way.  The fish creek trail was gorgeous!  Awesome river, beautiful cliffs on the canyon, a warm bivy spot off some switchbacks looking over it all.  Love it.

So from here it's another longer section through Yosemite to Sonoran pass.  The elevations drop but word along the trail is that the rivers are gonna get big.  We'll sort it all out.  Boots and Bubbs are gonna hang in town for another day while I run off with Spicerack so I can catch my flight in Reno on the 12th for a whole different kind of adventure.  Town has been good but I'm ready to get back on the trail.  I'll catch you all up from the big apple.