Peace, Love, Pacific Crest Trail

Done. Safe. Whole. Happy.

We hit the border on the 28. The next day was our last on the trail. The experience was harrowing and majestic. We got snowed on and rained on. The sun came out and warmed our spirits. We doubled back from the border and received goodbye hugs from most of our loved ones from the last 1000 miles of trail.

Details are too much work and we must rest. We remain in Portland the next few days to begin the transition back to civilization.

We have taken over 5000 pictures. Expect a preliminary posting of them soon.

The Skykomish Split

This morning as we were eating breakfast, we realized that some drastic changes were needed. We planned to stay in Skykomish tonight and get our packages in the morning. Unfortunately that would have made it impossible to get to our next (and final) stop before the PO closed for the weekend. We would need to put miles in tonight to do it. What it meant was that we needed our food drop today,  but it would be nearly impossible to hike the 25 miles and hitch into town before the Post Office closed at 3:45.

Our plan: split up. I took a side trail down to Hwy 2, while Zm carried the torch on the PCT. I was able to get to the highway around 1, and was in town before 2. Got the package, grabbed some food, and now I am at Stevens Pass waiting for Zm to show up. I will cook her dinner as she takes a much needed break, and then we hike on.

It looks like we will hit the border around the 28th, and most likely we will be done on Oct 1 or shortly before. We are looking forward to being done.

9/18 Rain and clouds

Once again, chores have allowed me to squeeze out a blog entry. Zm is sealing the seams on our tent, something we should have done before starting this trip.

This morning we climbed into a cloud. The trail climbs up high with extensive alpine views. Unfortunately the views were obscured for most of the day. Being on high ridgelines in clouds and rain takes its toll. It is similar to night hiking in that you have no frame of reference. Lacking is the sense of forward progress that fuels our hike.

This was also the first time to really test out our rain panchos. They mostly kept us dry. When we took breaks we would drape them over ourselves to hide from the rain completely. As the day progressed, the rain relented and our spirits were raised.  We should have nice weather for the next several days.

Roo and Marmot caught up at Snoqualmie and there are now six of us including Seahorse and Chillidog. We all have the same tent.

It just started raining again, but Zm is already done. Time to sleep once again. As the days get shorter, sleep time gets longer.

Halfway thru WA

We have been at Snoqualmie Pass since noon yesterday. Many hikers are here and the motel has taken on a dorm atmosphere.

The weather is terrible but we are going to roll out this morning anyway.

250 miles left!

9/13 Thirteen miles past White Pass in Washington

Amazingly, we have time for a blog entry from the trail. Several rips and tears on various pieces of gear are being repaired by Zm as I write this. We stopped about 45 minutes early at 7:00 to facilitate the necessary repair and enjoy the bottle of wine that I carried out of White Pass.

The weather has been phenomenal and unseasonably warm. The inevitable rain is still farther out than the forecasters can predict. The hot weather has a downside, which is fire and bugs. The nearby fires have been limiting our long distance views in a way similar to LA pollution. This morning the high pressure system relented enough to allow wind and clearer views for the first time in at least a week.

So far the Washington highlight has been the Goat Rocks Wilderness. This section was clouds, rain, and snow in 2006. Yesterday it was hot and gorgeous. Zm took the appropriately excessive amount of pictures.

Another big change has been the consistency of people. Washington has no choice of resupply points, therefore everybody seems to get in lockstep with other hikers. Also people's paces are aligning because we all know we are going to make it to the border. The difference between a 25 and 30 mile pace is a paltry 2 days at the finish. We are all dialing back to the easier 25 days to enjoy the end of this experience as well as the spectacular scenery that Washington has to offer.

Within 5 miles of us tonight are many hikers. There is a good chance that most of them will be equally as close when we finish this trail. Today we got to enjoy Seahorse, Chillidog, Han Solo, Bubbles, Boots and Pepe Lopez at White Pass. Some left earlier, some later, all knowing that we will encounter each other again in the next few days.

We are in good health and excellent spirits and in near disbelief that less than 340 miles of trail remain. Good night from mile 2317 of the PCT.

Oregon Is Complete

First, an apology for the lack of posts. We have been enjoying our experience to the fullest and blogging cuts directly into sleep time.

We are in Cascade Locks, OR, right next to the Colombia River and the border of WA. Since our last pathetic post in Ashland we have traveled over 400 miles and the entire length of Oregon. The travel has been easy compared to other sections but the days have still been long and focused.

We have seen Crater Lake, the Three Sisters, Hood, Jefferson and tons of other volcanos. We have swum in warm mountain lakes and feasted on huckleberries.

For several days the mosquitoes were really bad. We slathered on deet to ward them off. The late snow melt has delayed their peak for at least a month.

One of the big highlights was our trip to Bend. Our friends Kirk and Anthony were going to meet us at McKenzie pass to take us into Sisters but they weren't there when we got there. After getting in touch we discovered they were in Bend with a busted head gasket. However they had borrowed a car from a friend and ended up meeting us anyway. We ended up going back to Bend with them and staying with the aforementioned friend for two nights of fantastic and unexpected trail magic.

After leaving Bend we were two days behind and behind people we knew. The last part of Oregon has been great because we have finally started to hike with people again. There were a chunk of us determined to make it to Timberline Lodge in time for the breakfast buffet.

We made it but then discovered that the trail had just closed ahead due to a huge fire. The detour was way off to the East and consisted of lots of road walking. But due to the camaraderie of five other hikers the detour was actually fun and not just bearable.

So now we are waiting for the right people to show up. We want good folks around for the final leg of this trek. Either that or we get bored and go in to Washington anyway.

Just 500 miles left!

8/18 ~ Ashland, Oregon

Hello dear readers. Team Colour has made it to the state of Oregon! We have gathered all of our foods for the drops for this state and will be sending them out in the morning. Phew! It is hard work to go shopping in so many stores after only seeing open spaces for so long. This journey is moving more quickly now - under 1,000 miles to go! There is more to tell, as always, but the time to rest is upon me. <3

8/13 Etna ~ Land of the Small Town

This morning Goodness and I hitched into Etna, CA. This town here welcomed us with a space called The Hiker Hut which is a bunk-filled space with a kitchenette, shower, laundry and the wonderful pile of clothing to wear while everything gets clean. There is also a television set for VHS movies... a flick entitled Transylvania 6-5000 buzzes in my present background. :) It is quite hilarious actually and definitely from 1985.

This Hut is next to a small Bed & Breakfast run by a lovely woman named Vicki. She greeted us this morning and gave us the lowdown on the space and the local eateries. After tiding ourselves up and adorning some fun loner clothing, we rode bikes down to breakfast with HappyMeal and Overload. It was so wonderful to finally get to talk to other hikers again as we have been in a lull since the Hat Creek Rim. This place had other magic in store for us this evening when we went out to the Etna Brewing Co. for dinner.. We met Holden there and he had his girlfriend along with three other friends coming in from the east. It turns out that Holden and his gal, Loni, lived one town over in NJ from my hometown and he took his SATs years ago at my High School! I love the small world occurrences! It was wonderful to talk of all the places we knew in common, the roads and 'secret' routes to get somewhere, the small reverse theater, and the best spots for seasonal pumpkin ice cream. These unexpected visitors were a wonderful breath and amazing people with which to spend the evening. I hope to see them out in civilization again sometime.

The last few days of trail have been nothing short of wonderful. It has helped that the trail conditions have moderated and that things have become smoother. Last night we hiked until 10PM to reach the trailhead for a true zero day today. This allowed us to be atop a saddle at a time of night we would otherwise already be in camp. In one direction was the rising of the nearly full moon and on the other, the fluorescent sherbert sunset. Words will not aid me here, so please use your imaginations as you await post-hike photographs. :)

We have secured a ride back to the trailhead tomorrow morning at 9AM and will be further celebrating DAY 100!!!! Yes, that's right, Day 100. Only 1,000 miles and a day to go. Our next real stop is Ashland, Oregon which means also that ALL of California will be walked in about 5 days time. Love it! It is our hope that our Cardinals will catch us there as we got a message from Pod revealing that they should be within a day of us! It is wonderful always whether on this trail or across the world to miss and be missed. Now please, what are YOU up to? Only two states left to write letters! ;)

8/9 Castella and cell service!

Listening to the roar of trucks on I-5 as we pack in calories and deal with our resupply packages. The last few days were brushy with lots of poison oak hanging out over the trail waiting to catch the unwary hiker. It is annoying because you can't go on autopilot whenever it is around, much like snow travel.

We have been traversing high ridges south of Mt Shasta. Gorgeous views of the volcano persist into the next section. In fact it will be in view for the next two weeks of walking as we do a big half circle around it.

Our bodies are strong. The midday heat slows us down, but we make up for it by vigorous travel in the evening. Yesterday we did a 2000 foot climb from 6-8 PM. We did a similar climb around midday and it took an extra hour.

In a few days we will be at Etna and will take our first zero day since we left Tahoe weeks ago. Hopefully we will have service there. I would advise all potential thru-hikers to not go with T-Mobile as their service providers!

~ Goodness

8/6 Big Miles Have Begun

We are 1440 miles in, 3 months out, with about 1200 miles to go. As of now we have less than two months to finish the trail before the hypothetical snow kicks in. What does that mean? Big miles!

Every day we try to do a 30+ mile day. Sometimes it works, other times it doesn't. Usually it depends on the terrain and our general well being. The terrain has moderated in Northern California, making big miles much easier.

We are about 12 miles past Burney Falls State Park where we grabbed our resupply package today. Anytime we hit a town, the mileage for the day goes down. We still managed to do 25, which I consider a success.

Tidbits:
--- I was sick as Zm said. It was a fever lasting two days. Hiking with a fever is no fun. You still have to make forward progress lest you run out of food.
--- The trail has been quiet recently. There is a big pack about a day ahead. We have been hiking on and off with Dain and Skipper whom we had hiked with often in the Sierra. Gnar and Pod are somewhere behind, hopefully not too far.
--- Places we have passed recently: Belden, Lassen Natl Park, the dreaded Hat Creek Rim.

Next stop is Castella. We have less than two weeks of California left. It has almost more trail than twice Oregon and Washington combined.

7/29 Refreshed and Resupplied in Sierra "City"

It is now day two out of Sierra City and I am cozy in our tent with my Goodness asleep next to me. Midday yesterday he came down with a fever so we took a nap and then ended our day early. He is much better today although still achy and fatigued. Prior to this surprise illness, we had a different surprise in Sierra City!

On our way in on Wednesday morning we ran into the last Portlander we hadn't seen yet from the pretrail meetup. He was on his way back to the trail and if running into him wasn't cool enough, he informed us that the restaurant we were headed to for breakfast was additionally trail angel's residence! We chatted awhile and returned his watch which Goodness had picked up in the snow(!) and hopefully we will catch him down the way when he stops for a zero.

We walk into town, greeted by a giant Pacific Crest Trail emblem outside of the Red Moose Inn. Inside were Margaret and Bill Price, some of the loveliest humans ever and joining them to hold down the fort was a thru-hiker from a year prior, Coach K. We were greeted by Margaret who gave us a tour of the place before cooking us up a scrumptious hot breakfast. There was a shower for us there, laundry facilities complete with extra clothes to put on while it all goes round, a telephone, and the internet on a laptop upstairs. Not to mention space out in the back yard for anyone who wanted to camp and of course there was home cooking. Amazing. I was able to contact my Dad from there and learn that he was on his way into the wake for my Uncle Jimmy who had passed away on Saturday of a heart attack. My thoughts are with his wife and especially my cousins tonight.

The Prices had only just started Angeling last year so they still had the ability to catch a few of us unaware of their offerings. Our original plan was to just be in town for a few hours but with the company and comforts, we soon were signed up for dinner! Yum. Goodness and I were afraid of getting swooped into breakfast the next morning and wanted also to have an early start on what can be a very hot and dry climb. So we said our farewells and walked back to the trail by the light of the gloaming.

It was good to be up early and complete the climb of Sierra Butte in the shade, I was glad that we hadn't attempted it in the midday sun. There were fantastic views and we ran into a few southbound PCT hikers as well as swarms of day hikers. The day hikers were all on their way to the fire lookout to get an even broader and farther view of the surrounding area. We stayed on the PCT opting to come back and visit the Prices one day and see the fire lookout as day hikers ourselves. At this juncture, Goodness had already begun to fall ill and his fever was on the rise.
We crossed a dirt road and a young boy called out to us asking if we were hikers and wondering where we were going. When I called out that we had started in Mexico, he was so excited! He announced us to the group of parents and the gaggle of children behind him. We soon had them all gathered round as we answered questions and talked about the fun of swimming in lakes in the summertime. The kids were all super sweet and they gave us their extra picnic foods for later. (OK OK I did eat some rice krispy treat on the spot) I could see Goodness fading further out though so we pressed on.

We ate the grilled cheese sandwiches they had given us for dinner that night and I am excited to make them with hamburger buns in the future because that is genius! Both of us too wiped to cook, those were perfect... I think we each slept 10 hours or so that night!

This morning brought more southbounders our way and with that boy still under the weather, we thankfully accepted their extra foods should it take longer than expected to reach Belden. They additionally had an Alkaseltzer packet that Goodness is sleeping under now and he woke to say that the fever has broken. Phew. Today was FINALLY for real the last day with snow. Hooray! With all the snow and broken pine everywhere, it has looked and smelled like christmas threw-up in the forest. This became more apparent as well with Goodness singing carols today... good thing the heat came back today too. Gnar said that once you get carols stuck in your head, you might as well just get off the trail. In other news, the lizards are back. :-)

Today we saw four people right off the bat and then not a soul until the end of the day when we heard a young voice calling out, "Marco!" We came around a bend on Mt. Etna and called back out to a pair of 13 year-olds who said they had gotten scared by a bear growling, dropped their packs and ran, and now were unsure of how to find their group. We had passed the two backpacks about a mile back and we waited at the top on the trail as they climbed up from their bushwhacking. Brandon and Kiersten. Super cool kids. We are 34 miles out from Sierra City tonight.

Northward Bound

We are leaving Tahoe after three full days of rest. Rumour tells us that we only have 80 more miles of snow left. WooHoo!

Next stop is Sierra City. We probably won't have service there and not perhaps for another week or two but we will try to write more often, if for no other reason than to provide more details.

In Tahoe... safe and repairing bruised bodies

How do I even begin describing what we have gone through? On a normal year things are challenging. Words for this year would be stuff like harrowing, brutal, intense and relentless.

The John Muir Trail section turned out to be not so difficult. Yeah there was more snow, but it affected us on the approaches to the passes, making them longer. What we weren't prepared for was the amazing amount of snow in Northern Yosemite and further. These were all sections where we encountered minimal snow in 2006. Indeed it seemed fairly minimal when we left Tuolumne Meadows.

But about 10 miles in the snow kicked in. It showed up in any forested areas with northern exposure above 8000 feet. Anything above 9000 feet had complete snow coverage on average two feet deep.

The snow makes you slower as I have already mentioned. It is also hard on your body. You are constantly breaking with your knees and falling hard several times a day. We have been using ibuprofen in small but constant doses. Our legs are covered in scrapes and cuts.

We have learned to abandon the trail and focus on he route instead. Map and compass are our friends. At a point it became clear that the trail was buried, the map would come out. First we figure out where we are. Then we figure out where we are headed. Then we gauge the terrain to figure out the least difficult way to get there. One of the benefits of snow travel is being able to choose your own route. It generally will follow the trail but not always. If the trail contours up or down on a slope we will often steer around the section, preferring to gain/lose the elevation in areas where we can move straight up/down the slope. We cut switchbacks as a rule.

It is always a good feeling to run into the trail after an extended chunk of bushwhacking. Sometimes it would appear for a mere instant, a clear indicator of good navigation. Other times entire patches of trail turn up and we unexpectedly get trail tread for a bit. Many times the trail is right next to us but we can't use it because it has become a stream or a mudhole.

The stream crossings deserve mention. They got more extreme and abundant in northern Yosemite. In fact, the section was impassable about two weeks before we got there. The Tuolomne river had risen above its footbridge and two weekend backpackers lost their lives trying to cross. The water was below the bridge when we crossed but was still a scary torrent. Most of the other creek crossings had no bridges. We crossed them the old fashioned way. Most were below he waist. One was high enough to force Zm to swim, and me to bounce on tippy toes.

Our schedule put us up front of just about everyone else we had traveled with. Consistency was our main focus, making sure we hiked moderately all day long and took minimal rest days. But since we have taken so many days here in Tahoe, it will be a different trail when we hop on again tomorrow. Racheopod and Gnar were behind us but just pulled in this morning. We will all hit yet another buffet tonight before rolling on.

Some other tidbits:
--- Trail Magic: Three times since Tuolumne, we have had folks unexpectedly show up and give us food. It is a good excuse to take it easy for a few hours. One fellow cooked us burgers, another cooked breakfast.

--- End of the snow: in another 50 miles we expect the snow to largely stop. After that we are back in the high 20's and soon will start doing 30's. It will be clear trail all the way to Canada.

--- The Mars Volta opened for Soungarden last night at an outdoor concert about 500 feet from our motel. We had no clue until we overheard a conversation earlier in the day. We listened from outside the fence. They played for a pathetic 45 minutes but it was still total magic to have run into them.

That is all I have. Journal comes at the expense of sleep and we need as much rest and healing as we can get out there.

I have updated our schedule. Still on track to finish in late September.

Rest in Vermillion Valley Resort

The last ten days of hiking have been the most intense of my entire life. I am not sure how I can even do it justice in the measly 30 minutes allowed to me on this expensive satellite internet connection. Once again I am reduced to bullet points.

• Snow... lots of it. The approaches to the passes were covered with snow. It slowed our progress to 1 mph on the uphill sides. In some places there were four miles of snow before the pass. For the most part the trail was useless to us and we either headed directly to the pass or followed tracks in the snow.
• Sun... WOW! There was no way that we could keep our lips from sunburn. The sun was just too intense in all of those snowy valleys above tree line. Another victim was the bottom of our noses. There was no way we could prevent nasty burning there as well. At the end of the day our eyes hurt from the sun.
• Friends... We caught up to our dear friends Racheopod and Gnar, whom we haven't seen in ~300 miles. We hope that we can stay within a day of them for the rest of this trail.
• Stream crossings... intense. Yesterday we witnessed several hikers get swept off their feet. Zm and I almost lost it as well, an important lesson about picking a better place to cross. Luckily we were supported by another hiker on the far bank that grabbed us before we fell. Our feet are never dry, there is so much water on the trail from the melting snow.
• We radically changed our diet with some plusses and minuses. Good were the drink mixes like coolaid, lemonade and chocolate milk. We had a ton of cheese that we never got sick of. Bad was the cooked breakfast cereal. It disagreed with my digestive system and I am not sure if I can ever have hot mush again in my life. We return to our regular diet from here on out.
• Hikers Bailing... On the first part of the trail we ran into a bunch of hikers that had turned around. They didn't like the snow and stream crossings. Other hikers on the trail bring more stories of folks that have jumped off the trail either temporarily or permanently. The hiker attrition has been amazing this year. It makes us proud to have stuck through it.

Currently we are at Vermillion Valley Resort and the worst of the Sierra is behind us. We still have a few snowy passes and a few more questionable crossings, but nothing of the magnitude we have already faced. Things will stay moderate until we get to Tahoe in about 200 miles. Then things will get easy and stay easy until Washington State.

I wish I could describe this whole thing better. We have been through a ton, but I am out of time. Next update will most likely be from Tahoe. Signal is still impossible to find out here.

Mega Snow!!!

We are at the end of a rest day in Lone Pine. In the last stretch of trail we climbed above 10000 feet for the first time. Snow appeared in patches. On the morning of the second day out we decided to push 24 miles to be at the trailhead before 5pm, giving us a chance to score a hitch before dark. We were concerned that nobody was at the trailhead and had plans to road walk the ~20 miles down to the extremely hot lower elevations. Luckily we got a lift from a mom dropping her son off to hike.

The recommended motel was crawling with hikers, most of which we had never met before. Notable among them were a Portlander couple we had met pre-trail, Topsy-turvy and DataMuffin.

Most hikers staying here have hitched backwards from another trailhead about 4 days ahead of us. They have given us a lot of info about those next days. The snow is going to make things challenging, much more than the last time we hit this section. The snow is record breaking in volume. It is melting insanely fast, swelling the creeks into rivers. 50% or more of the trail is beneath snow. The snow will slow our progress to a single mountain pass a day. We will need to cross each pass in the early morning to avoid traveling on slushy snow.

We are carrying a mind bending 20 lbs of food a piece. We figure on ten days of travel to get us about 150 miles down the trail. This next ten days will be the most challenging and spectacular hiking that either of us have ever experienced. In this section we will climb Mt Whitney, the highest peak in the 48 states. We will assault 6 mountain passes each over 12000 elevation. The highest is Forrester Pass at a lofty 13500. All this with record snow cover.

We are ready. We have added snow gear to our load. Today we radically changed our diet. Staples are now breakfast and cheese. We are removing emphasis on sugary snacks in favor of super dense fat sources. Emphasis will be on large feast breaks only a few times a day. We will wake before dawn, cook a  breakfast and be on the trail with full stomachs and some extra leftovers for later. We will start walking as soon as it is light enough. In the evening, we will go to sleep early to maximize morning time.

Sugar will come in liquid form. Powdered drink mixes will fill our water bottles. Kool-ade, lemonade, chocolate drink and cider mix will keep our blood sugar at a happy level.

The 10 lbs of cheese will be lunch and dinner fare. We have some crackers to eat with the cheese to round it out. Dinner will be late and light with mainly fat and protein, providing restful sleep.

We don't know who will be out there when we get up. Hikers will cluster in groups starting at Mt Whitney. If we hit a lull we will likely wait a day for good people. Gene and Charlie are about a day behind us in a big group of cool folks. It would be nice to see all of them again.

We scored a lift back to the trail from a local at 6:30 in the morning. Time for sleep. A few tidbits:

--- you will most likely not hear from us for a few weeks. There will be no cell service or wireless internet for several hundred snowy miles.

--- My Poison Oak is finally on its way out. It was ugly for a bit, but it didn't slow me down.

--- My Achilles is 100%. The last section was strenuous and I didn't hear a peep from it. That injury has been healing for 400 miles now. I am lucky to be this fit at the point it is needed the most.

--- Zm is healthy and strong. Her legs are made of steel.

--- I cast an enchantment spell on our ice axes today. I covered them with runes and power symbols and gave each a name. Zm took 'Ies Fortze' leaving me with 'Cold Fury'. They will help protect us from snow and ice.

Here we go! Most likely we won't surface until mid July! We are ready.

In Lone Pine

We are at the Dow Villa Motel in Lone Pine until tomorrow (Fri) morning. We have no phone service here so you can call our room if you want to say hi. We won't have much time for talk but would love to hear the voice of any loved one. Leave a message if we aren't around.

760-876-5521 x214

I will post an update later to say what has been going on.

6/17: Trail magic and goals met

Today we hit Walker Pass at mile 650. Zm has now hiked up to the point where she started in 2006 and has now completed 1100 miles of consecutive trail from Mexico to Tahoe. Congratulations Zm! Tomorrow we hike on trail familiar to both of us.

We have also brought Southern California to an end with the completion of the last desert section. In two more days, carrying all of that heavy water will be a thing of the past. Shade will be plentiful and unneeded. Sunlight will be a blessing rather than a curse.

In two days we will arrive at Kennedy Meadows, the gateway to the Sierra. Gnar and Racheopod are already there as of tonight taking it easy and waiting for good folks like us to show up. More good folks are less than a day behind us. We will wait for them as well before we start up to the high elevations.

My body afflictions continue. I have managed to get Poison Oak on my feet. I suspect that it came from the laundry at Hiker Heaven. It is pretty ugly, but it hasn't affected my hiking other than the increased time devoted to cleanliness. The worst of it is on and between my toes. Small blisters form over the affected areas. The sores pop, making a mess and increasing the risk of infection. Luckily, it looks like I am on the mend.

Mojave to Kennedy Meadows

Hello everyone! I am seated in a lovely silver trailer in the small community of Kennedy Meadows outside of Inyokern, CA! This place has much changed since 2006 when Goodness and I came through last. The General Store is no longer the main hang-out here, instead there is a Trail Angel here named Tom who has a slew of trailers and all sorts of wonderful amenities for us all at his place just down the road. The last 6 days have taken us out of the lowlands and to the mouth of the Sierra Nevada range. This leg has also taken us to the place I started in 2006, Walker Pass. This time there was trail magic there in the form of food and drink by a woman named Oakie Girl. We woke there on my birthday and I had a wonderful hot egg, cheese, and potato birthday breakfast! Yay! Well, Goodness has some entries trapped in our phone that we should be able to put up in 3 days or so.... I will have to continue this entry later as it is time to cut the solar power out here. :)

Mojave... town and desert

We are in the town of Mojave, 550 miles into the trail.

I haven't blogged since leaving Hiker Heaven on the seventh, about 100 miles ago. Let's see if I can catch us up.

First stop was the Anderson's place about 25 miles in... another set of trail angels in this section. They are less organized and more permissive. They also feed hikers breakfast and dinner. Breakfast is always AYCE pancakes and dinner is always AYCE nachos. The nachos are to die for. Imagine a plate of the most decadent nachos you can imagine: oozy cheese sauce, insane amounts of sour cream, piles of taco seasoned ground beef. You get the picture... and it is all guilt free. The exercise we are doing each day is huge and we need the fuel. Fat is the best!

A day of travel found us dropping to the floor of the Mojave desert. This is a section that hikers regularly dread. But the temperatures are mild his year. I doubt that it got hotter than the mid 80s. The trail follows the LA Aqueduct for about 16 miles on some flat monotonous desert floor. We chose to hike most of this section at night. Given the mild temps, it was hardly necessary to do so. However, the moon was waxing gibbous and there was no tree cover... perfect conditions for after hours walking.

The next day got us out of the desert and into the mountains again, only to drop into the massive wind farms of Tehachapi Pass. Check them out on Google Earth, halfway between Mojave and Tehachapi.

Today was all about setting up the next month's worth of food drops. We got a main box that we had to split into drops. Then we figured out what was missing and went shopping for the rest. Tomorrow morning we lug it all a half mile to the post office. Right now I am considering a taxi. Then it is back to the trail. We are almost out of Southern California. In another week we will be at Kennedy Meadows, the gateway to the Sierra Nevada. Our last bit of low desert is behind us and only one more 20 mile shadeless stretch remains.

Time is short so I am reduced to blurbs. Forgive me.

Lots of hikers have complained about rashes after Hiker Heaven. I think it might be the laundry detergent coupled with heavy exercise . I myself am having some moderate rash issues, mostly on places covered with clothing. Washed clothes twice today to try and fix.

The last section was the first we have hiked mostly alone. Some of our peeps didn't stop at the Anderson's, others left Hiker Heaven before us. We were playing catch up the whole time. Now we are caught up with everyone but Racheopod. She has an appointment that she must meet. Sadly, we probably won't see her until the Sierras.

We did our first 30+ mile day when we crossed the Mojave. I think it was probably around 33 miles. Most likely we won't see those miles again until Northern California. 25's are the norm until we hit Kennedy Meadows. After that our mileage drops to the high teens because of the terrain difficulty.

My heel is not fully healed, but appears to be manageable. Most of the time I feel nothing. Every so often, I feel tightness that stretching can alleviate. I think that another week of inactivity would fix it completely, but I can't sit aside just yet. Currently I am OK with 85% healed as long as things don't deteriorate.

We are carrying 6 days of food plus 20 miles of water out of here. That will be the most weight we have carried so far.

Coulter pine cones are huge. They weigh like ten pounds and are pokey as hell. If one falls on you it will do brutal damage. Google them.

Zm is doing awesome. She has none of the body afflictions I am experiencing and I give her better odds to finish than me right now. Currently I am slowing her down which is an entirely new thing for me to experience. I will try to encourage her to write more in the days to come.

Our AC phone charger was stolen by somebody in Hiker Heaven. I had to get a new one shipped to Mojave. The shipping cost more than the unit.

We are about to enter an area where cell signal is rare. If things go too long I will have my mom post an all clear.

OK it is past bedtime. Night all

On the road again

We are leaving Hiker Heaven this morning. Ahead lies the Mojave Desert and a very sunny section of trail. We plan on stopping in the town of Mojave sometime this weekend. Fun stuff!

Community

Last night was a reunion. Gene and Charlie showed up sometime in the evening. We hadn't seen them since Idyllwild and they have been chasing us for about 200 miles!

We watched a few episodes of Planet Earth and drank lots of alcohol. Later we all talked about the challenges ahead. The Sierras are coming later this month and there is an unbelievable amount of snow out there. We strategized, but also pumped ourselves up. It has been an amazing psychological drain to contemplate the snow and it was awesome to talk it up with other hikers. I could feel solid community develop right as we were standing there.

This forming community reminded me of our community back home in Portland. I went to sleep last night thinking of them.

5 June ~ HIker Heaven!!!!

Hello m'dears! Goodness and I arrived this morning to Agua Dulce where we had a wonderful breakfast with Racheopod and were reunited with our Gnar. I am now sitting in what is appropriately named, Hiker Heaven. We will be taking a zero here tomorrow and enjoying the unbelievable hospitality! You walk up to this ranch and see all of these white tents set up outside with cots inside and many stations to meet all hiker needs. An array of clean clothing and sandals to choose from as your laundry is washed, a pile of movies for all to enjoy, and even a few 'private' sleeping spaces for couples. Goodness and I have scored the horse trailer! This space is the platform that you see above a pick-up truck bed and it is quite sweet. There are a row of hiker boxes to sift through for gear, a single wide trailer kitchen, community hair clippers, and even a sewing machine that I will be hitting by and by today! We spent last night about 2 miles away so today is a near-0 for us which gives us much time to rest. The first of the month was Gnar's 22nd birthday. I grabbed a pair of numeral candles and we sang near the top of Mt. Baden Powell over snow cones. I randomly and magically found an unopened bottle of Grenadine at the top, so we busted out our cook pots and mixed the snow on in! It was fantastic! Yum! Most of that day I spent in a meditative state through some loverly country. That evening, our Cardinals split for the Frog Detour. Gnar went up to scout it out and we went down to a roundabout trail that resembled a rock quarry. It was certainly rougher terrain than we were accustomed to thus far but reminded me greatly of the Sierras. We cowgirl slept at the river after a nice long descent.

The next detour day found us also in Sierra reminiscent territory as we climbed and climbed and climbed up to a sweet saddle. We also went out on a short jaunt to a formation called 'Devil's Chair' which was just a nice long rock jetty that looked out over a valley. The odd thing was that there was this cage around the entire thing of which Goodness felt was condescending. We later supposed that it was for the area laymen to feel safe out in the wild. We joined the PCT again that evening and were delighted. :) The following day was the 3rd and we awoke after more cowgirl camping out at a small empty boyscout camp. My first thoughts of the day were happy birthday wishes to my Aunt Carol and my old pal Dave Gehrke!! Hope your day was more than you wished! We slept next to a stream with Racheopod that night and I sang Bobby Gentry's Ode to Billie Joe as a lullaby per the date. Music has been central to my walking experience and the trail is the perfect place to memorize lyrics and poems. I will be printing out many more things that I want locked in my head. So if anyone has something wonderous in mind, send it my way! I wrote out the lyrics to the Siren's song, Go to Sleep Little Babe from O Brother Where Art Thou and now Gnar, Racheopod, and I have it memorized to sing at the gloaming tonight.

Tomorrow we are getting an Angelride to REI and a larger grocery store. I will attempt to write more catch-up entriage tomorrow to detail my adventures living in a castle with Racheopod.

5/31 Cold Windy Night

We climbed into the San Gabriel mountains yesterday. The elevation gain was 5000 feet over 15 miles. The temperature was balmy at the bottom and frigid at the top.

A ton of hikers camped at the top. It was the only water source in the entire stretch.  Water sources tend to clump hikers into groups. There were hikers we hasn't seen for a week, others we had never met before. The campfire is obligatory whenever a bunch of folks are camping in the same place. Sometime after dark Gnar wandered in. He had left the motel room several hours after us.

As the night grew darker the wind picked up and the fire grew higher. Outside of the fire ring the temperature was extremely cold.

At some point in the night, I realized that I wasn't sleeping due to the wind buffeting our tent in the most outrageous fashion. I became convinced that cowboy camping without a tent was he sleep solution.

I woke a, reluctant Zm and we stumbled out into the intense wind. After some comical fumbling we were able to reconfigure into cowboy mode. Now it was our sleeping bags that were being buffeted. It was not a good night of sleep.

This morning was a quick 4 mile walk for the hitch to Wrightwood. It was all business: stuffing our faces, getting mail, and buying food for the next 100 miles. I was able to score a ride back to the trail around six. A mile down the trail led us to our friends.

Tonight a legend was born. As we got to camp one of our friends was on the way back to the trailhead. He was convinced that he could hitch back to Wrightwood and bring back some pizza. I was skeptical as the highway was not busy at all. However, just before dark he returned with two large pizzas and a steak. We gorged ourselves on pizza while Gnar cooked the steak on a stick above the fire. The fellow that went out on the pizza run got his trail name that night. We called him 'Legend' due to his legendary pizza obtaining abilities.

Hunkering down again

We are at the intersection of the PCT and I-15 at Cajon Pass. Yesterday a cold front moved in, making us reluctant to climb into the San Gabriel mountains. We decided that the best option was to get a room at the hiker friendly Best Western and start the climb tomorrow morning.

It has been a long time since the last journal. The problem has been people. We are surrounded by awesome folks. Nights have been full of campfires and interaction, leaving little time for writing. As I write this I am forgoing more of this camaraderie in our motel room.

I will try and sum up the last chunk of time. We have been traveling with our friends, Racheopod and Gnar, both of which have been mentioned previously. It has been difficult to part ways with them, and it may become more difficult as the shared miles accumulate. We all hike at different paces. Racheopod is up early and hikes fast. Yesterday we didn't even see her until we pulled into the campsite she had selected for us all. Gnar likes to build fires and stay up late. His pace is the fastest and he catches up with Zm and I even though he leaves camp at least an hour after we do.

Our stay at Big Bear was brief. At that point I had only been back on the trail for 20 miles and neither of us were interested in a town stay. Quick in and quick out to get food and fuel.

The next few days were a big trial period for my achilles. I started out super slow. So slow that my legs were sore because I wasn't used to the pace. But over time I was slowly able to build up speed. After sixty miles I was able to reach a functional hiking speed when we were reunited with Racheopod and Gnar at Deep Creek Hot Springs. We hadn't seen them since Big Bear when they zoomed ahead.

Deep Creek is a well known hiker hotspot. There were about 10 hikers there when we showed up in the evening. Needless to say, good times were had. The hot springs are fantastic at night but quite an oven by day. We stayed for about 24 hours, leaving in the early evening after the heat had passed.

As the days have rolled on, my foot has continually improved. I am now able to walk at full speed. The injury hasn't completely gone away but I don't think that my hike is at risk anymore.

I wish I could say more. Maybe a few blurbs...

-- snow in the sierras is intense. We will get there early and might have to sit for a while
-- last night we were sleeping under the stars and had to put up the tent at four in the morning when it starting raining.
-- yesterday we got a ton of free food out of some Spanish speaking locals at a picnic area. People like to give you stuff when they find out what you are doing.
--- we ate at McDonald's today. The only one on the trail. Then a Del Taco. Only fast food and convenience store food here.

That's it. Tomorrow we climb into the San Gabriels. Wrightwood on Tuesday and Aqua Dulce sometime next weekend. I will try to journal more in the days to come.

Somewhat recovered

I am hiking with Zm again. My foot problems are not fully solved but they are back to the level that they were at when I first started noticing. I am hoping a slower pace will keep me on the trail. We are off!

Big Bear City

Hello!  Zm here, finally!!  I found my Goodness on the trail about 100 miles away in 4 days time and things have been wonderful.  Racheopod and I had our own grand adventure through some very diverse terrain.  There were a few moments of heated weather, but predominantly we had more wind and it was too cold to sit in the shade.  Before the trek to Camp Goodness, she and I and Grizzly Jones did a 27+ mile slackpack which was absolutely lovely. Grizzly Jones slept most of that day but got excited with us when we ended up dropping down to a road on accident from a poorly marked trail junction. We stopped to pick up some trash, per usual, when low and behold we found Bananagrams!!!! A little more searching by Racheopod and she'd found the banana bag too!!! Such magic!! I'll tell more of my adventures soon... now it is time to bust back up to the trail! Taking a zero day at some hot springs in two days. Next stop is Wrightwood in 5 days or so. :)

5/19: Beautiful People

Our cabin has been a place of goodness the last few days. My injury has been healing but progress is slow.

Zm is currently slack packing the south San Jacintos with Racheopod. She will return here tonight and head forward tomorrow up the Devil's Slide trail and across Fuller Ridge. I will not be joining her.

Ouch

My plan is to hitch about 80 trail miles ahead and camp on the trail. I will see many loved ones go by.

When Zm arrives I will hike the last ten miles into Big Bear with her. If I am not healed. I will repeat this process. Unless it makes me too unhappy.

That is the tough stuff. The rest has been great. Its all about people. In this journaling I am trying to give personality to people we interact with but it is difficult and there are alot of people.

Today is a day off. The bad weather shifted, and everyone went up the mountain. Quiet = journalling.

Zm hasn't been as interested in journalling as I have been. I imagine that many of you long for her voice. She is having the time of her life right now... surrounded by beautiful earth and people that love her. She is on a 30 mile slackpack through some intense scenery as we speak. Her body is in top shape. She has a 1000+ miles of experience. Her decisions are wise. Two days ago her and Racheopod turned around and backtracked out of a vicious spring storm. I was so relieved to see them in Idyllwild the morning after we had parted.

The bad weather brought friends. Charley 'Babyface') and Gene whom has lost 40 lbs of combined body+packweight in the last few weeks.

Gnar who is Boone who isn't Bundo graced our presence. He has recited half of 'The Lorax' to us, leaving the other half for future meeting.

Chrystal walked out of the storm yesterday. She is inexperienced but has shown adaptability and determination. She has switched out her hammock with a tent and dried her sopping wet sleeping bag. Already on the trail, I don't see her hike running short anytime soon.

Women create community on the trail. There aren't enough female hikers.

OK nap time. Need some rest before the people return.

5/17 Split and Reformation. Health and Hurt.

We are in Idyllwild. I have Achilles tendonitis. Zm is completely healthy. The weather is foul, but we are warm, safe, and in good company.

The last chunk of trail was excellent, even though my Achilles was always present. It hasn't been painful, just persistent. I would like to avoid things getting worse and am immobile for the time being.

We have been hiking with Racheopod, who is in love with a farmer in France. She is a trail veteran, having completed the AT and the Florida Trail. Attached to her pack is one Grizzly Jones, a 8oz stuffed bear of great import.

The weather has been cold and windy since Warner Springs. At times we were joined by two separate hikers from Iowa. Sticks carries two found sticks of wood as hiking poles. Joshua has an 8 lb base weight and a silver umbrella. Zm and Racheopod bestowed the name Silvertree upon him. Perhaps it will stick.

5/12 day six morning

The travelling has been spectacular. The storm that blew through has moderated to clear skies and mild temperatures for our first desert crossing. We have also developed a crew of folks to hike with. Gene is an older fellow from San Antonio with a heavy pack. Bundo was on the trail last year and has returned with a lightened load. Mondo is an animated nightclub bartender from Hollywood. Racheopod is a delightful Floridian that loves bugs. We have all been travelling at roughly the same pace, around 20 miles a day. The mileage has been the biggest difference from the last hike. Because of our earlier start date, we are able to take it easy in and not bump up to 25 mile days until a few weeks from now.

The terrain has turned from chaparral to desert as we dropped to the dreaded Scissors Crossing and huddled underneath the highway bridge to shelter from the noon sun. All six of us were there, until Mondo left, triggering the rest to follow suit.

We left the last, planning a few hours of night hiking under the waxing gibbous on a well engineered trail. Around ten we stopped and camped in a soft sandy wash a few miles short of the third gate water cache. It is now morning and I am writing this next to a sleeping Zm who is about to be woken up.

Thus far, our hike has been fantastic and virtually complaint free. Our bodies are happy, well fed, stinky and dirty. Tomorrow morning we will arrive at Warner springs and take a day off. Hopefully we will have cell service!

5/9 Day 3... cold!

We are currently huddled inside our tent at mile 49. It is cold and windy but we are warm and safe.

The start of the trail was fantastic. A beautiful Laura sent us off amidst a few other hikers starting on the same day. The flowers were in full bloom and Zm encountered her first rattlesnake. Other creatures seen were giant black bees, many little lizards, butterflies, ravens, some non rattle snakes, and various other strange bugs. We hiked about 19 miles in low 80's sun. So far the first day has been our longest.

Yesterday, we wound our way up into the Lagunas amidst changing weather. We passed many swallow nests built below a bridge and spooked a small skunk who was sitting on the trail! We each looked one another over and then he was on his way without event. Just before a nice climb, a trail angel appeared at the road crossing bearing Gatorade and super yummy cookies. He was there with his mom, a cute little grey-hair who had been his trail mailer back in 1982 when he thru-hiked under the name, Cowman. Our miles came to around 13 as we decided to camp low to stay as warm as possible. It was nice and refreshing to sleep next to a water source and we could hear the frogs talking all night long.

The next morning saw cold and rain. We climbed up another 1800 feet to mount Laguna and the land turned to an ice wonderland. The trees were coated with ice and the intense wind was blowing the ice off in crystal showers.

We ran into a fair amount of hikers waiting for the post office to open. One of them was a Portlander named Crystal.

After our resupply we hiked into the blowing wind and cold. As we were following the desert divide, the clouds stopped right at the edge and we were able to get excellent views of the desert thousands of feet below us.

The wind was too intense and caused us to stop early to set up camp to be safe.

Alive and well !

Hello everyone!

I am sitting in Warner Springs,CA where we are spending the night in a lovely cottage-style room with four of our new friends! Unfortunately, we have NO service so far on our smart phone and all prior blog entries are therefore trapped at least for the next week if not more. Booo. So this short message of 'all is well' will have to suffice for now...

Also, I haven't been able to watch the videos that accompany the following article, but it was a sweet surprise to see this in my e-mail: http://www.opb.org/artsandlife/outdoors/article/oregonians-tackle-pacific-crest-trail-thru-hike/

Please e-mail us with how YOU are or write us a letter perhaps... ;-)

Pack Weight

We have put our gear together for the border.

Base weight is the total weight of the gear minus food and water.

Goodness base weight: 12.5 lbs

Zm base weight: 11 lbs

Additionally, we are starting at the border with 8 lbs of water each plus 4 lbs of food. There is a ~20 mile waterless stretch right from the start. The general formula is one quart/liter per 5 miles, and 2 lbs of food per person per day. So I am starting out with 24.5 lbs and Zm has 23. The nice thing about carrying water is that the weight constantly goes down as you hike.

Surprise! On the trail in two days!

Yep you heard it right. We will be on the trail on the morning of Saturday May 7. That is two days from the time that I am writing this message.

We are in Santa Fe staying with my mom. On the way down from Boulder, we stopped at the Great Sand Dunes to fill our shoes with sand.

On Tuesday night we arrived. Our plan was to stay until Friday or Saturday, putting together the last food drops, and then head to Utah for some awesome canyoneering. But Wednesday morning I got an email from Erin with a strong command to move our start date back. Her plan is to take it slow in the snowy Sierras, and duck out for food often. The email hit me hard. I realized that I would rather be on the trail and taking zero days in SoCal than poking around Utah in the car with occasional side hikes. Capitol Reef and the Grand Canyon will be around a long time. The PCT is a living, breathing community that is getting further ahead of us with each passing day. Snow or no snow, its time to hop on.

Zm wasn't even up yet while this was going on. I used my mom as a sounding board and waited for Zm's alarm to go off. Upon waking, she agreed that starting soon was better. First order of business was to get the rest of our gear and supplies in order. We pulled every piece of hiking stuff out of the car and spread it out in the living room. Food was spread out so we could gauge what was missing. Next was leaving a message with Laura in Prescott to see if we could get her to give us a ride on our original start date, the 8th.

Then we hopped in the car and shopped like crazy people. We had three goals:

• Put together 9 days of food. We will start the trail with 2.5 days, and break the rest into 2 drops. This will get us to the first grocery store on the trail in Idyllwild
• Get more food for our supplemental drops. These are three drops that we are sending to big on-trail resupply locations where we will be putting together the next ~25 days of drops. We are sending food that is hard to buy at grocery stores to these places
• Buy the remaining pieces of gear. This was mostly little stuff like lighters, trash compactor bags, batteries, and toilet paper.

We hit the Vitamin Cottage for bulk bars, Whole Foods for bulk spices for our spice kit, Trader Joe's for bulk nuts, and finally Albertsons for the rest of the 9 days of food.

Upon arriving back at home we started portioning out the food into boxes. First we dealt with the 9 days of food, set that aside, then tackled the supplemental resupplies. While this was happening, Laura called back and told us that the 8th was no longer possible, but that the 7th was possible. A quick look at the calendar revealed our schedule. We had the rest of Wednesday into Thursday to finish our remaining tasks. Friday morning we will leave here around 4am and get to Prescott around noon. Scoop up Laura and get to the trailhead in the late evening on Friday after about 16 hours of driving. The next morning (Saturday) we begin and Laura takes our car back to Prescott.

Today we still have much to do. Boxes still need to be taken to the post office. We need to finish our final gear configuration. Blogs and emails need to be written. Phone calls must be made, and we need to clean up the huge mess we have made in my mom's place. We also need to make sure we get to bed at a reasonable time to be out the door by 4 tomorrow.

Some other news: our Peek gave up the ghost for the second time. All of the sudden the screen doesn't work anymore. We will be taking my Android phone on the trail instead... along with the solar charger that Rick gave us. While it is heavier, and the plan is more expensive, it will give us phone and full internet wherever we have signal. Thanks Rick!

We have lots to do today, so I will be wrapping up this post. Next posting should be from the trail! WooHoo!

Getting Ready in Boulder

We have been in Boulder for about a week now and time is flying by. Our friends Devin and Laura are putting us up in their new roomy place.

Today we hit Costco, buying large amounts of bulk nuts, bars, jerky, and cereal. This food is for our first 2 resupply boxes on the trail as well as the initial few days until Mt Laguna around mile 45.

The big PCT Kickoff party is this weekend and we are missing out on it. The bulk of this year's hikers are starting the trail as I am typing this. Honestly I am a bit sad not to be there. The kickoff is a huge tradeoff. You get ~100 people all starting the trail at once and having a huge party beforehand. I am sure that the camaraderie and excitement cannot be beaten, but the trail is extremely crowded for days afterward. My heart goes out to all hikers starting now. Especially our friend Erin. Check out her blog here: erinspctjournal.blogspot.com

Boulder is fantastic for getting ready. The weather is much nicer than Portland, even though it has snowed flurries a few times since we have arrived. A few days ago we had weather in the 70s. Today we are lucky to get above the low 40s. Thursday we carried full 30lb packs up 3000 feet to the top of 8500' Bear Peak. A slow and steady pace was all we needed. Along with the obvious benefits of training, it also serves to boost your mental confidence by telling you that you are ready to begin the journey.

And ready we are. Well except for all of the minute details that we still need to take care of. Our gear is still not fully assembled. Some stuff will be waiting at my Mom's place in Santa Fe. Other stuff is being sent to Laura in Prescott, our final destination before the start of the trail. I finally figured out my 'trail outfit'. Each of us has to live up to our team name of course! Zm has a fantastic trail dress that looks great. I needed shorts and a t-shirt that would look just as cool. The look is pretty much similar to last time, grey shorts plus a bright orange tee.

As I type this, Zm is cranking away on the sewing machine, and Devin is practicing jazz piano. Later tonight I will eat Korean food and play some Tichu.

Tuesday we leave Boulder and head South to Christine's (my mom) place in Santa Fe. The final round of logistics will be taken care of there.

Sun on the Scalp

At The Boulder Dushambe Teahouse with my father!

Atop Mt. Sanitas

Off With Her Locks!

Before

During

After

800 Miles

Today marked 9 years of togetherness for Goodness and I... we marked this by spending ALLLLLLLL day in the car travelling from Cle Elum,Washington to Evanston,Wyoming. :-)  What a relief to be back out on the open road and moving forward. 

Also, there were these great rainbows!

On our way once again

As of now, we are preparing to leave Cle Elum where we have been staying for the last few days.The car has a new radiator and has survived a test drive on the highway. We will have spent a total of 4 nights at the Chalet Motel, which we more or less have moved in to.

On Sunday, we took a big walk on the 'Mine Trail' which connects Cle Elum with the nearby historic communities of Ronald and Roslyn. The trail was nice, flat and came with lots of good scenery. It is nice to be in pine forest after so much Western OR fir.

The weather has been cold, reminding us of the excess snow in the mountains. We are considering pushing our PCT start date back by about a week to May 15 to account for it. Here, though, the wind is coming straight down from the mountains. The days have been sunny, but the temperatures have rarely gotten above 50.

Our days have been spent with lots of internet time and gaming as well. We have two computers between us and the motel has internet. Last night we turned the TV on for the first time to watch Conan. Today I decided that I would tune into daytime television for the first time since the last PCT trip. I think things have gotten worse in the last five years. I got to see a remarkable episode of 'Dog the Bounty Hunter', one of the most bizarre things I have seen in a while.

The manager of the motel has taken a liking to us. He has fed us dinner for the last two nights. After dinner we end up talking for quite a while. He is the first Fox News watching person that I have had the patience to speak with in a while. It has been interesting finding common ground with him. Truthfully, there is a fair amount of common ground to be had.

Unfortunately this big delay has cost us a visit to my friend Patrick in Montana. We need to make a line straight to Boulder at this point to meet Zm's dad who is flying in tomorrow (Wednesday). Look for our next update in Boulder!

Love is Rachel Parker

Today I finished setting up this blog and made the previous posts... here is a picture from the Coal Mines Trail we hiked yesterday that shows the remains of the Coal Washer:

Later, Rachel sent this lovely poem for adventurers by LeGuin:

Please bring strange things.

Please come bringing new things.

Let very old things come into your hands.

Let what you do not know come into your eyes.

Let desert sand harden your feet.

Let the arch of your feet be the mountains.

Let the paths of your fingertips be your maps

and the ways you go be the lines on your palms.

Let there be deep snow in your inbreathing

and your outbreath be the shining of ice.

May your mouth contain the shapes of strange words.

May you smell food cooking you have not eaten.

May the spring of a foreign river be your navel.

May your soul be at home where there are no houses.

Walk carefully, well loved one,

Walk mindfully, well loved one,

Walk fearlessly, well loved one.

Return with us, return to us,

be always coming home.

-Ursula K. LeGuin

The Heart of the Cascades

A new day with ACTUAL blue sky as we rolled out of Auburn - Goodness asked me if I wanted to go see Snoqualmie Falls but I decided that it would be wise to skip it (despite my affection for Twin Peaks) and not tack anymore time on what looked to be a long long day of driving already. As we got to the top of Snoqualmie Pass, we exited to see the point where the Pacific Crest Trail(PCT) passes through. As we pulled into the Chevron parking lot, billows of steam began rising from our hood! Popping it revealed much coolant had escaped and we began to both adapt to that first wave of adrenaline. We went in to purchase more coolant and it was a first for me to see a post office & post office boxes inside a gas station convienince store! There was a sign on the door that I will read again in a few months which read: "PCT Hikers Pick Up Your Packages Here." That made me smile deeply and forget about the car for a minute. It was cold up there at the pass and this is a photo of the amount of snow next to me. Yes, that pile really is up to the Chevron price sign!

After funneling in the coolant, we continued with quite the sense of alarm. We hadn't gone more than a few miles when the car began to overheat - we pulled over and poured our two bottles of drinking water into the radiator.

Continuing on just a bit further we came to Keechelus Lake at the side of the road and Goodness jumped down over the edge of the highway and filled the bottles in the lake twice to fill the radiator to the top. I watched the gauge like a hawk on the way down the mountain but it held steadily at a normal level, about 20 minutes later we arrived in Cle Elum, WA. We checked to see if the car would take anymore water and it did, which meant it was indeed leaking..

Yuck. Being a Saturday, our chances of finding an open repair shop were slim yet just on the way limping through the town I spotted a wide open garage door! Sam's Shop! Goodness pulled a U-turn and we met two great and honest men, Sam and Mike. They had us pull the car in to check things out and told us of a way to hike up just behind the shop to catch a view of the surroundings. Turns out this place's nickname is The Heart of the Cascades. It was surreal to be out of the car and hiking up up up as I had prepared my mind to be seated in the car for umpteen hours. This place is absolutely gorgeous though and I'd gotten over that by the time we'd reached the top and pulled out a picnic. Goodness decided to digest by climbing into a tree..

When we returned to Sam's Shop, he and Mike showed us the gigantic crack in the radiator. Sam told us that a new one would ship overnight except that wouldn't be able to happen until Monday which leaves us in Cle Elum until at least Tuesday afternoon. We took this news in stride and Sam even offered us a place to sleep in a trailer he had on the property. He also pointed out this motel across the street and we decided to walk on over to check it out.

In walked a kind Italian man also named Mike. We told him of our state and he spoke with us for a good hour and a half before setting us up with a discounted room. He is one of those people that you like straight away if you are one who picks up on persons with open hearts. We rested and went out to a restaurant to celebrate how in our own way, we had made it. Less than 24 hours prior we had closed our home in Oregon and now here we are - resting, charging up for the next leg, and being thankful that we are safe.

Goodbye Portland, Hello Washington

Hello! This is the first post of the Adventures of Team Colour! Goodness and Zm are our trail names for traversing the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail.

Yesterday we held a House Cooling Open House and had many of our friends come by to send us off - this is the opposite of a House Warming and a fantastic way to empty one's cupboards and refrigerator!

Our dear friend Kirk came by to hang out and assist us with a whirlwind cleaning of the apartment today. It took us four more hours than we had anticipated to get out of town, but after taking that last load to storage, we stopped by for farewells with our neighbors downstairs. This photograph is the last one taken of us in Portland and I am holding Atlas, one of the best friends I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. I waved and waved to her as we drove away in our new home, our car.

The drive to Washington was very pleasant, we missed all the traffic and even got to see some fireworks exploding over the Puyallup Fairgrounds to mark the first day of the Spring Fair. This made me so happy - felt like we were exactly on target. We arrived up in Auburn and had a short but full visit with Goodness' Dad, his wife, Grace, and her daughter, Holly. Looking to get up early for a 13 hour drive to Montana to Patrick and Lynn's place.