Home again

I made it to Canada yesterday, September 22, and am now sitting in my parents house. I have mixed emotions right now.... it doesn't feel right being here.... like I have some place to go. I guess having traveled nearly every day for the last 4.5+ months will instill that sort of restlessness in a person.

Still moving

I just pulled in to Cascade Locks today - 2 states down, 1 to go!

Jake is still alive

I'm alive and well, and still having fun. I'm not really feeling like spending as much time on the computer as I used to so I probably won't be updating my blog as much as I have.

The Dude must abide

After a week of beers, jello shots, and white russians it is time to start hiking again! So long Casa de Luna.

Pictures!

Check out my trail journal to see pictures from the first weeks of my hike (I only have through Big Bear uploaded so far).

I've taken another day off at Casa de Luna.... so no news from the trail today!

Casa De Luna

Yesterday I slack-packed (using a car to carrying the majority of the pack weight) from Agua Dulce to the Anderson's. At 22 miles with less than full gear I had to move right along to make sure I wasn't caught out at night without my sleeping bag. I had bought new shoes, which caused a few new blisters, but nothing too bad.

The Anderson's have been hosting hikers for 9 years now. Terrie cooks breakfast and dinner for 20+ hikers nearly every day for the whole hiking season. They have a large back yard, with a manzanita groove for secluded camping sites. Unfortunately this is going to be the last family run hiker haven until Northern Washington, so I have to make sure I'm not getting too used to being spoiled!

Hiker Heaven

May 31 - Day 30

Wingit and I made it to Agua Dulce last night. Hiker heaven is everything it was made out to be! There is free laundry, internet, camping, and more. Here's a quick day by day recap of the last couple of days:

May 30 -Last 21 miles to Agua Dulce. Made 10 miles by 10 AM to achieve a "10x10". Thanks to Monty for hooking us up with use of the swimming pool at Robin's RV park (fully lived up to it's reputation as the "dumpiest place on the PCT"). Fried chicken for dinner didn't end up being as good as it sounded.

May 29 - Woke up at Sulfur Springs with significant frost on both sides of the tarp tent. It was so cold I was unable to get the tarp in it's stuff sack. Hiked with Sparky most of the day. Decided to push for 26+ miles to get within reach of Agua Dulce.

May 28 - My 30th birthday! Descended from the snow early in the morning. Wingit brought a birthday cupcake for me. Walked a re-rout to stear clear of an endangered frog. Ran into Sparky towards the end of the day and camped with him that night. Covered 22 miles on the day.

May 27 - Hiked up and over Mt Baden-Powell. Some fellow hikers had a birthday party on the top of the Mt. Lot's of snow, trail was hard to follow at times. On the far side of the Mt, no more than a dozen hikers had pushed through the snow before us... often all of them lost the trail all together for long periods, but the snow had melted enough by the time we got there that I was able to follow the trail well enough. Camped at Little Jimmy Campground - mostly cold and snowed over with only a handful of bare sites to pitch tents. Cold night!

May 26 - Long hard climb up above Wrightwood. Pretty much uphill all day to Guffy Campground. First campfire of the trail!

May 25 - Hitched back to the trail from where we left off. Easy stretch of trail of mild ups and downs. Went by Lake Silverwood. Hit McDonalds at around 4:30 to fuel up for another couple of miles. Boy Scout Troop 849 carried water for us to a dry point up the trail.