The Pacific Crest Trail is a 2,668 mile (4,294 km) trail running through the tallest mountain crests and volcanic peaks of California, Oregon, and Washington from the Mexican border to the Canadian border. I walked its entire length in 2013 and was back on trail for more casual fun in 2014 and 2015. In my opinion, it is a 16″ by 2,668 mile slice of heaven.
Hiking with my good old hiker trash pals Coincidence and Hot Tub in the Salmon Huckleberry Wilderness, near where we’ve been camped out the past couple days in the rain in our buses. We’re so lucky to have such a reprieve. Love is our best weapon. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
This guy. Hiker “Paint Your Wagon.” If you’ve been on the Pacific Crest Trail the past four years you’ve probably met him. I met him when we both worked Ziggy and the Bear’s in 2014. He’s always upbeat, a hard worker, and has a really hard time finding hiking shoes for his size 17 feet. He happened to be at VVR with his engine running when I got off a private Edison Lake boat shuttle (which I yogied a ride with on principle that I’m a web developer for the tour company that commissioned it) and I had a ride straight to Mono Hot Springs with a blistered hiker quitting said tour group. This magic is part of how I… continue reading
Yesterday after leaving my blissful private hot spring spot, I climbed 3300 feet into a hail storm, hid from thunder in a granite cave, and crossed Silver Pass (~11,000ft) in pouring rain and wind to my camp 17 miles later. Just to say, blissed out cool shit doesn’t always come easy.
Many of my IG followers know Lionheart, die hard hiker and gentle soul. What a treat to run into her in the Sierra and hike a little with her. I hope her foot cooperates and she finds her “carrot” (at the end of the proverbial stick) wherever she is headed, whether it be a trail end or some other fun life detour. xo I hope that for everyone! Focus less on the destination. You know, as our good ol’ pal Emerson said, “Life is a journey, not a destination…” (Yet again in photos from this week, that’s Mt Whitney in the background, right of center.)
Dear @wild_ish I was serious when I said I was jealous you were headed up to Horseshoe Meadow to hike in the rain tonight but maybe now I’m worried about you. I hope you and your posse and my other friends are alright. This was the biggest lightning storm I’ve seen in years, with countless strikes, wind, and speed. As it approached I could sense its intimidating enormity and I ran for cover inside. You can’t do that tonight. Yikes. 😬 (To those unfamiliar with the Southern Sierra, that is Horseshoe Meadow road switchbacking up the mountain, from ~4590 to ~9900 feet, just south of Mount Whitney, the tallest mountain in the lower 48 at 14,505 feet. PCT hikers use… continue reading
I’ve been shopping for new gear for 2016 and something is bugging me… So here’s my call out to manufacturers and users of tents and sleeping bags and camp stoves and other camping gear. All outdoor folk who love nature. (Hopefully that includes you.) Stop advertising gear with images that clearly violate the Leave No Trace ethic. Stop glamorizing these violations. Instead, set great examples of people camping using LNT principles. Dude. What are you talking about?! More specifically, I’m talking about images of camps set up right on the sides of lakes. They’re so pretty, but they’re so… wrong. Please stop posting photographs of tents pitched less than 200 feet from idyllic lakes. Less than 100 feet from lakes…. continue reading
In the middle of October, after having finished an amazing L2H hike with two great guys (Bulldozer and Abram), I was looking at wrapping up my season and heading back to Portland to spend the holidays with my mother. But it was driving me crazy that I hadn’t finished my Sierra High Route hike. I walked around Mt. Williamson, summiting two 14ers to compensate, and I made some excuses, but still it was driving me crazy when I wasn’t trying to put it out of my mind. I’m not sure I’d feel right if I didn’t complete the SHR in one season as I intended. LoveNote showed up in Lone Pine and planted the seed again, a few days later…. continue reading
This 23-mile stretch of the Sierra High Route took me almost three days. I left Tuolumne Meadows Saturday June 13th at 7am and came out at Twin Lakes on Monday the 15th at 4:30pm. Granted, I’m usually able to hike 23 miles in one day, that’s when there’s a trail and I don’t have three unusually steep mountain passes to get over. Over three days I had my ass handed to me by this route and once finished, tentatively decided to not continue hiking it. Day 1: Tuolumne Meadows to Cascade Lake June 13th. I was originally set to leave on June 5, and was posted up in Tuolumne acclimating to the elevation, but rain came in and wasn’t letting… continue reading