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Hi everyone,

Well, Evan and I are both headed home now. Our PCT adventure is on hiatus until next year. I left the trail in Lone Pine and Evan hiked for one more week (doing 25+ days everyday!) and made it to Mammoth Lakes and Reds Meadows. The Sierras brought tons of water sources, afternoon thunderstorms, bear tracks, and incredibly picturesque views. Next year we will hopefully do the Mt. Whitney to Mt. Shasta section, but unfortunately now we have to get back to work and save up!

I'll post pictures from our last few weeks on the trail in the next couple of days. Right now we are both trying our hardest to find jobs and a home in Asheville, NC. Once we get settled, we'll keep on training by doing weekend backpacking trips in the mountains of North Carolina. I'll post pictures of those trips too. Thank you all for your support, and I will update you as our exploits in the outdoors continue!

Kennedy Meadows

Hi everyone,

It has been so long since I last got a chance to post that I don't know where to begin. When Evan and I were first in Tehachapi, we took a day to rest and then got back on the trail at Tehachapi Willow Road. About 8 miles from there the trail crosses Highway 58 which can take you back into town. We camped about 2 miles from that road the day we left town and in the morning we had made it about 3 miles past the highway before I started to feel super nauseated. I had unknowingly eaten some wheat in town and I knew that as soon as I started feeling sick, it would stick around for a few days. Considering that we were headed into a minimum of 90 miles to any town, campsite or other people, as well as some of our longest waterless sections, we decided it would be best to head back into town. Evan and I spent a few days at my parents house, water skiing and eating plenty of food. Oh, and taking showers. We decided to take advantage of the opportunity to let some snow melt in the Sierras. From my parents house we headed to a Buddhist peach farm in Lake Hughes. After a few days of weeding in exchange for food, we decided to head back to the trail. So, about a week and a half later, we left from Highway 58 and set up camp a few miles out. However, as soon as our alarm went off in the morning, Evan woke up with an ear ache.

Once again, we headed back into town and a wonderful trail angel named Duana not only picked us up, but proceeded to let us stay in her air conditioned trailer, gave us beer and movies while Evan tried every home remedy possible. After 4 days he was all better and we headed back to trail. Finally on our third try we made it out of Tehachapi and into the official start of the Sierras.

Over the last 150 miles, the trail passed through pines, back to desert and up again. We saw more climbing than we had previously, which hopefully helped to prepare us for the big mountains we'll see pretty soon (namely Mt. Whitney 14,505 - highest point in the continental US!). We also saw some of the HOTTEST days we have seen yet. We saw a couple of Mountain Lion tracks, which made us move quickly, and a few days later some bear tracks. In the middle of one night, Evan sat up and started playing his guitar, which I thought was a very inconsiderate way to cope with insomnia. As it turns out, he had smelt a bear near our camp and successfully scared it away.

We have also seen our first glances of the big mountains. I'm pretty sure I saw Mt. Whitney several days ago - it looked like a peak-shaped cloud above all of the other mountains. Since we arrived here this afternoon, we have heard that the snow is looking pretty good - apparently only a couple of patches between here and Whitney. I have heard of several cases of HAPE (high altitude pulmonary edema) - basically high altitude sickness categorized by fluid in the lungs. It's pretty serious, but knowing the symptoms and having the Spot accessible, means that if it happens, we can call for help. Evan and I have both been above 14,000 feet before, but we returned the same day to 4,000 feet. This time we will only be returning to 10,000 and the next day we will go back up to 13,000. Oy it's gonna be tough, but we're drinking plenty of water to help prepare for it.

More news when we get to Independence in about 10 days. We'll let you know how much snow we see!

Change of schedule

Hi all,

Apparently the snow in the Sierras is worse than we had expected. In order to keep the trail fun and safe, Evan and I will be taking an additional 10 days off on a peach farm. We'll start hiking again on July 7th. Here is a revised schedule in case anyone wants to send us letters.

7/17
Kennedy Meadows General Store (via Postal Mail)
PO Box 3A5
Inyokern, CA 93527

7/22
General Delivery
Independence, CA 93526

8/3
General Delivery
Mammoth Lakes, CA 93546

Restin' Up

Because of the snow in the Sierras, Evan and I decided to take a week or so to visit my parents, rest, eat and let some other hikers define the trail for us. The more people walk through ahead of us, the easier it will be to find the trail.

Luckily, this gave us the opportunity to upload a bunch of our pictures - here is the link to the album on facebook: PCT

In a couple of days we will take the bus back down to Tehachapi. Then we will have 150 more miles of desert and grasslands as we climb up to Kennedy Meadows. Then 200 miles of snow! Should be an adventure. We'll update you the next chance we get.

Long Time

Hi everyone,



I'm sorry it has been so long since we posted - although we have had the opportunity to stay at several trail angel's houses, internet access has been somewhat limited since Big Bear.



Over the last couple of weeks, Evan and I have experienced more snow, and spent the last two days in the Mojave Desert. Coming out of Big Bear, the next stop were some natural hot springs. We arrived there the morning after a long day and enjoyed a good soak. It was the beginning of Memorial Day weekend, so there were tons of people there, and less clothes. We spent an hour or two jumping into the cold creek and back into the hot springs before pushing on a few more miles.



A day and a half after the hot springs came the famous "Cajon Pass" - a dreamland of McDonald's, Del Taco and Subway. Hikers had talked about Big Mac's and fries since our starting point in Campo. We got there on Memorial Day morning, starving and I was a little dissapointed that there were almost no wheat-free options. Evan put down several sausage mcmuffins and I enjoyed a morning mcflurry. It had been heating up for a few days and, after a little discussion, we decided to stay a night at the Best Western, which offered a hiker rate. Unfortunately the washing machine was broken, so we washed everything in the bathtub and dried it. A wonderful day of showers, air conditioning and tv. Ahh.



From Cajon Pass, we began the first of two detours due to fire and endangered species (some special frog). The first detour followed a few jeep roads, which are much more steep than the trail normally is. After the jeep roads, it merged onto a paved road which it followed for several miles into a shooting range and back up a jeep road to finally meet the official trail again. Unfortunately, walking on pavement is not only boring, it can really take a toll on your body. Evan's achilles tendon started to bother him there, and it still acts up from time to time.



After getting back on the trail, we climbed up and up into the pines again. My favorite sections of the trail so far have been after a big climb - leaving the desert behind you round a corner and suddenly there it is: the scent of pines and thinner air. The next afternoon we reached Inspiration Point, where we caught a ride into Wrightwood. Such a hiker-friendly town! We re-supplied at the grocery store and spent a few hours talking with other hikers at the local coffee shop (free coffee for thru-hikers!). That evening we got back on the trail and camped at the summit trailhead for Mt. Baden-Powell. Early in the morning we climbed the steep switchbacks, which gave way to steep snow. We reached the summit at 12pm and enjoyed the views - mountains on one side and desert on the other. At a little over 9,000 feet this is the highest we have climbed so far (although that will change once we reach Mt. Whitney in a few weeks).

Leaving the summit, we learned an important lesson: never leave the ridge line. Following footprints when the trail was snow-covered, we made the mistake of descending onto the north face, which forced us to spend several hours bushwacking acrost snow and scree shoots until we reached what we thought was Islip Saddle. From that point, we followed a trail only to discover that this was in fact Dawson's Saddle (not on our map) - a boyscouts trail rather than the PCT. Oy Vey. Once we reached a road crossing we got a ride back into Wrightwood, where we enjoyed a good nights sleep and a smoothie for breakfast from a local trail angel.

The section from Islip Saddle into Agua Dulce has also been re-routed (approx. 50 miles of jeep roads and highways). Since Evan's ankle is still sore and since we didn't want to be hit by a car, we decided to skip that section and were offered a ride to Agua Dulce in a fellow thru-hiker's RV. In Agua Dulce, we stayed at Hiker Heaven - where Jeff and Donna Saufley put up 50 hikers at a time on cots in their yard. It was amazing. 24 miles from there Teri and Joe Anderson house hikers in their endless Narnia-inspired backyard. 40 miles from there is Hikertown - a somewhat eerie hiker hostel composed of recycled hollywood sets and wind. We picked up our tent (finally a house on the trail!), Evan's new pack and a set of fiddle strings there, before trucking the next 40 miles along the CA Aqueduct and through the Mojave to our current location: Tehachapi, CA. We really lucked out with the wind and lower temperatures for what is otherwise an unbearably hot section of trail. Here in town we are going to rest for a couple of days, heal up Evan's achilles tendon and pray that the snow in the Sierras melt. From here it is 150 miles to Kennedy Meadows, and another 200 snow-covered miles from there to another town.

We miss you all! Think good thoughts for the Sierras!

More snow . . .

Evan and I slept in a bed for the first time in 18 days last night. It was simply amazing . . . running water, laundry, and coffee at the Big Bear Hostel.

When we left Idyllwild, we took a re-route up a jeep road to avoid tons of snow and an indiscernible trail on Fuller's Ridge. When our detour met back up with the trail, we did 15 miles of switchbacks back down to a the windy valley surrounding West Palm Springs, CA. I don't think any of the hiker's got a good night's sleep in that valley - between the high winds and Interstate 10 - but we did manage to get some McDonald's fries and burgers, which was a special treat.

The next morning, we walked past a junkyard and through a wind farm, leaving civilization inch-by-inch as we entered the San Bernardino mountains. It was fairly windy all day, and sooo hot we had to spend an hour or two resting under some trees, but that night we had the most beautiful camp right by a fast creek and a bunch of other hikers.

In the morning, Evan and I felt little drops of rain blowing from clouds that were still hidden by surrounding mountains. The trail crossed and re-crossed the creek probably 20 times (not an exaggeration!), and the clouds started to roll over the ridges bringing intermittent hail, then intermittent snow, then a white-out snowstorm that lasted for several hours. By about 1pm we set up camp and built a fire to dry off our soaking clothes and warm up. Within a couple of hours the snow had stopped (or paused, I thought), and we packed up to push on to a shelter 20 miles from our original campsite. Along with 5 other hikers we made just before dark, built a fire in the fire place and settled in for a pretty cold night at 8,000 feet.

Monday morning brought sunshine and a very visible trail. About six miles in we came to a road crossing and hurried into Big Bear City straight to the all you can eat buffet at Sizzler's. Although it was pretty cold the last couple of days, it has been nothing short of an adventure. This afternoon we will head back out and push on to Wrightwood in another 100 miles. We hear there is a re-route there due to a forest fire, so we'll let you know how that turns out!

Evan and I have limited time here in Idyllwild, and so much to tell you all about. Since we left Julian, the most notable aspect of our hike was the lack of water. Until we reached mile 150, there were back-to-back waterless sections. If it weren't for the kindness of Trail Angels, who hike or truck out scores of gallons of potable water, I'm not sure what we would do. In the middle of many of these 20+ mile sections, there are usually caches with fresh, cool water, and registers where we can read up on where our hiker friends are at.

We stopped into Anza, CA to resupply and take a rest day at the local campground. The 28-mile section between Anza and Idyllwild (from highway 74 to Devil's Slide) was by far the most beautiful and epic two days we have seen yet. We climbed past boulders, large conifers up to Apache Peak and the high San Jacinto Mountains. Fog poured into and around the peaks and hawks flying next to us created shadows on the slopes. The climbs were steep but well worth it. We spent Monday night camped by Fobes Spring, where we met Bacon and Meander, two hikers who started April 15th. They had had to return to this section later in the season because it was impassable in late April. They were planning to attempt Fuller's Ridge (just past Idyllwild), which is the topic of all hiker conversation these days - do you really need an ice axe?, is it passable?, did someone really freeze to death up there two years ago?. Evan and I had assumed that the descriptions in our guidebook and water report were exagerrated.

The water report told us that the last 2 miles leading up to Devil's Slide (a spur trail leading down to town, and an escape route before Fuller's Ridge), were entirely snow-covered and that crampons and an ice axe were highly recommended. After days of heat, water warnings and rattle snakes, that was pretty hard to believe until we turned the corner onto the north face. We followed footprings in the snow and trailmarkers on the trees for about half a mile until the footsteps dissapeared. Or scattered. Suffice it to say we weren't the first ones to get lost up there. After about two hours of wandering, studying the guidebooks and climbing onto rocks to look for the trail, Evan found it. We created some carns and arrows with sticks to help the next people through. But sure enough 10 minutes later the trail dissappeared again. After bushwacking about a mile, we miraculously re-found the trail and booked it down to town for a delicious and well-earned mexican dinner and a margarita.

Here in Idyllwild there are a ton of injured and tired hikers all hanging out together. Tomorrow we will take a re-route with a few of our friends, avoiding Fuller's Ridge and on toward the Sierra's. Hoping they melt soon!