Monday, September 16, 2013
Friday, September 13, 2013
August 25 - September 1: Stevens Pass to Stehekin
What a week. I worried so much about how hard this stretch was and I was right,
Saturday, August 24, 2013
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Sunday, August 11, 2013
Monday, July 29, 2013
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Sunday, July 7, 2013
Bought the shirt now have to walk the talk!
As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I bought the "I climbed Whitney" shirt
Return to Horseshoe Meadow and the PCT
We've had 9 days off at Miriam's (AKA Amazon) enjoying her home and
family while we tried to fatten TBG up and rest.
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
June 24 - View From the Top of the World - Mt. Whitney / Mt. Whitney Portal (Lone Pine, CA)(GUEST BLOG By Amazon)
Finally, the big day had arrived
June 24-The PCT Hike and The Hike We Call "Life" (GUEST BLOG POST by Amazon aka Miriam)
On August 8, 2011, I had the distinct privilege of
Monday, June 24, 2013
Sunday, June 23, 2013
June 22- Miner Vincent's Cabin
(ghost written by Sydney) Today, we hiked a half mile to a miner's cabin. Did we find it?
June 21- Bighorn Mine
(ghost written by Sydney) We have been staying with friends and today we went on the Big Horn mine trail in Wrightwood, CA. There were some ups and downs.
Saturday, June 22, 2013
June 15 to Current- Weighing in on Our Decision
We have once again been rescued by Miriam and family.
June 14- Beginning of the End
A big day. Easy trail
but neither of us felt good physically or emotionally.
June 11- The Day the Potty Gods Went on Strike
Today could have been
a good day but we were both tired and the grouchies overcame us.
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
May 23-June 3 Highlights
Okay, --KOKO is in control of the blog again! In order to save time, we are forced to consolidate and, sorry folks, no more journal blah, blah, blahs!
May 23 found us at Mills Creek where we had some cool trail magic. Someone snuck up to our tent as we slept and left us a soda and some candy! In the early morning hours we were awakened by coyotes sniffing the tent so a lot of excitement! They ran away as soon as we moved. That was the beginning of our poodle dog bush trek as well. The next few days were spent either fighting to avoid it on the trail or road walking it to avoid it. We spent a lot of time on roads this week. We have been reconnected with Vertigo and his wife, Calidescope a cute young couple.
May 24. We took the Gleason Rd detour today. Long and boring but avoided a protected species and a lot of poodle dog. The road has been mostly uphill. Funny how you don't realize how UP it can be when you drive it. There was a little ice on our outside gear this morning. Didn't seem that cold! We hiked past/through the remnants of the Camp 16 Ranger Station that was burned in 2009 and where two people lost their lives. It was eerie and so sad. I have lots of photos. We finally got off the road detour and back on trail only to fight poodledog some more and when it finally began to get better poison oak littered the trail. Freaked me out as I REALLY don't want either one. We met Hacksaw briefly. He's doing between 30 and 40 miles a day. He was trying to slow down to 20 so he could rest. Geesh...Seen several garter snakes and another rattler but nothing too exciting.
May 25. Hiked 8 miles into to Acton KOA. Ahhh showers and laundry. It's been a weird week. Bathrooms and garbage and road walks every day. KOA is packed and lots of crazy, noisy people. Had a very exciting night when one of the other guests (not a hiker) decided to take an employee hostage at knifepoint in a building 10' from our tent. Got to see all the action, better than a tv show, but we are ready to get out of that excitment and get back to the peaceful forests.
May 26. Didn't sleep much last night due to the excitment so we are tired but still managed to get to Auga Dulce and Valdez park. Both are fabulous. Auga Dulce reminded me of a small version of Sisters, Oregon. The people were so friendly and intersted in hikers. We got groceries at the local store and then had to figure out how to cram them all into the packs. We met Cookie Monster and Tree Killer among some others that were so fun to visit with and encouraging.
May 27. Hard day with lots of UP in the hot and a lot of poison oak. I'll be happy to get out of that kind of vegetation! We are finding water caches are being hit hard with so many hikers and are often low or even empty. Can't depend on them for our water which is sometimes our only choice. I'm tired so my attitude kind of goes sour but TBG is good at dealing with me. He has developed some blisters but seems to be managing them well. Thanks Lyn for the needle/thread trick, it seems to work. My feet are sore but no blisters. I never knew how much you use you toes when you walk, and boy can they get sore! Also found out by reading log boooks that we're only a day or so behind some of our hiking buddies.
May 28. It was a good day especially for as hard as it was for us. We are meeting a new wave of hikers, some are nice and some aren't. We are beginning to realize that at our current rate we will not be able to complete the trail. When we take a zero day we'll have to sit down and figure out what we'll do. I do know that I will not sacrifice the enjoyment of the trip for the stress of pushing for high daily miles and killing ourselves. Where is the fun in that? Beginning to fight wind more, wonder if that's why they put all these wind turbines in the area?
May 29. TBG is having some blister problems today so off to a slow start. The winds blew so hard last night that it nearly flipped the tent and needless to say, we didnt' sleep much. The tent withstood it famously. We hit mile 500 today! Water is an ever present concern.
May 30. Hiker town!! Cute little conglomerate of "cabins" for hikers to rent. There were about 20 hikers there when we arrived. We showered and filled our water, rested an hour or so and left. It's hot. We now head for the California Aquaduct. Map says we go down today, yippee....never believe the maps. It was UP most of the day in the heat and all those amazing wind turbines were still. Where is the wind when you need it? There's a new fire in Green Valley where we were just yesterday. It's the POWERHOUSE fire and it is not looking good.
May 31. Didn't sleep good again due to the wind whipping the tent again. Wow it can blow. Of course the wind dies down during the day when we could use the respite. Had a water scare today, two dry caches and a dry faucet in a row. There were about 20 hikers at the Cottonwood bridge with little or no water and teh next gauranteed source about 20 miles away. Not a pretty picture. Someone managed to get a call out and got us about 2 cases of 20 oz waters to share which wasn't really enough, yet, we were grateful and made it work. We all pushed on to a hopeful creek about 8 miles on. It ended up being a good source.
June 1. spent the night at the creek. Best night sleep we've had for awhile. Most of the hikers from the bridge are camping here too. We are by far the oldest in the group. We laze in camp in the morning. What a nice luxury to leave at 8 instead of 6:30. We are down to our last remnants of food which is good timing as we need to carry extra water to get through the next long dry stretch. TBG guy will carry about 9 litres of water.We are both getting dehydrated, not serious, but definitely dry. We meet Miriram tomorrow so I'm hard to keep down--I wantto be there, the lure of good company, hot showers, food pull with incredible power. Also the not so friendly rattler who scared me. Nearly 4 feet long, he was only 2 feet away when I rounded the corner and he loudly advised me of his prescence. I was grateful he did warn me even if it did scare me! I hiked the next couple miles on jelly legs.
June 2. Met Miriam at Hwy Yeah! Rest. We will take a zero tomorrow and be back on trail on the 4th. We will be heading for the Mojave and then the Sierras so it might be awhile before we are back online. Until then...
Sorry no photos. Just out of time to get that much done.
Glen and Carol, Jerry and Kathy and Rich and Mary Ann, we have some questions for you regarding Oregon that we'll be contacting you as soon as we can to discuss. Please know we've gotten your messages and have not forgotten your offers to help, and, we are hoping to take advantage of those offers!
We love you all and...we love hiking!
KOKO & The Bald Guy
May 23 found us at Mills Creek where we had some cool trail magic. Someone snuck up to our tent as we slept and left us a soda and some candy! In the early morning hours we were awakened by coyotes sniffing the tent so a lot of excitement! They ran away as soon as we moved. That was the beginning of our poodle dog bush trek as well. The next few days were spent either fighting to avoid it on the trail or road walking it to avoid it. We spent a lot of time on roads this week. We have been reconnected with Vertigo and his wife, Calidescope a cute young couple.
May 24. We took the Gleason Rd detour today. Long and boring but avoided a protected species and a lot of poodle dog. The road has been mostly uphill. Funny how you don't realize how UP it can be when you drive it. There was a little ice on our outside gear this morning. Didn't seem that cold! We hiked past/through the remnants of the Camp 16 Ranger Station that was burned in 2009 and where two people lost their lives. It was eerie and so sad. I have lots of photos. We finally got off the road detour and back on trail only to fight poodledog some more and when it finally began to get better poison oak littered the trail. Freaked me out as I REALLY don't want either one. We met Hacksaw briefly. He's doing between 30 and 40 miles a day. He was trying to slow down to 20 so he could rest. Geesh...Seen several garter snakes and another rattler but nothing too exciting.
May 25. Hiked 8 miles into to Acton KOA. Ahhh showers and laundry. It's been a weird week. Bathrooms and garbage and road walks every day. KOA is packed and lots of crazy, noisy people. Had a very exciting night when one of the other guests (not a hiker) decided to take an employee hostage at knifepoint in a building 10' from our tent. Got to see all the action, better than a tv show, but we are ready to get out of that excitment and get back to the peaceful forests.
May 26. Didn't sleep much last night due to the excitment so we are tired but still managed to get to Auga Dulce and Valdez park. Both are fabulous. Auga Dulce reminded me of a small version of Sisters, Oregon. The people were so friendly and intersted in hikers. We got groceries at the local store and then had to figure out how to cram them all into the packs. We met Cookie Monster and Tree Killer among some others that were so fun to visit with and encouraging.
May 27. Hard day with lots of UP in the hot and a lot of poison oak. I'll be happy to get out of that kind of vegetation! We are finding water caches are being hit hard with so many hikers and are often low or even empty. Can't depend on them for our water which is sometimes our only choice. I'm tired so my attitude kind of goes sour but TBG is good at dealing with me. He has developed some blisters but seems to be managing them well. Thanks Lyn for the needle/thread trick, it seems to work. My feet are sore but no blisters. I never knew how much you use you toes when you walk, and boy can they get sore! Also found out by reading log boooks that we're only a day or so behind some of our hiking buddies.
May 28. It was a good day especially for as hard as it was for us. We are meeting a new wave of hikers, some are nice and some aren't. We are beginning to realize that at our current rate we will not be able to complete the trail. When we take a zero day we'll have to sit down and figure out what we'll do. I do know that I will not sacrifice the enjoyment of the trip for the stress of pushing for high daily miles and killing ourselves. Where is the fun in that? Beginning to fight wind more, wonder if that's why they put all these wind turbines in the area?
May 29. TBG is having some blister problems today so off to a slow start. The winds blew so hard last night that it nearly flipped the tent and needless to say, we didnt' sleep much. The tent withstood it famously. We hit mile 500 today! Water is an ever present concern.
May 30. Hiker town!! Cute little conglomerate of "cabins" for hikers to rent. There were about 20 hikers there when we arrived. We showered and filled our water, rested an hour or so and left. It's hot. We now head for the California Aquaduct. Map says we go down today, yippee....never believe the maps. It was UP most of the day in the heat and all those amazing wind turbines were still. Where is the wind when you need it? There's a new fire in Green Valley where we were just yesterday. It's the POWERHOUSE fire and it is not looking good.
May 31. Didn't sleep good again due to the wind whipping the tent again. Wow it can blow. Of course the wind dies down during the day when we could use the respite. Had a water scare today, two dry caches and a dry faucet in a row. There were about 20 hikers at the Cottonwood bridge with little or no water and teh next gauranteed source about 20 miles away. Not a pretty picture. Someone managed to get a call out and got us about 2 cases of 20 oz waters to share which wasn't really enough, yet, we were grateful and made it work. We all pushed on to a hopeful creek about 8 miles on. It ended up being a good source.
June 1. spent the night at the creek. Best night sleep we've had for awhile. Most of the hikers from the bridge are camping here too. We are by far the oldest in the group. We laze in camp in the morning. What a nice luxury to leave at 8 instead of 6:30. We are down to our last remnants of food which is good timing as we need to carry extra water to get through the next long dry stretch. TBG guy will carry about 9 litres of water.We are both getting dehydrated, not serious, but definitely dry. We meet Miriram tomorrow so I'm hard to keep down--I wantto be there, the lure of good company, hot showers, food pull with incredible power. Also the not so friendly rattler who scared me. Nearly 4 feet long, he was only 2 feet away when I rounded the corner and he loudly advised me of his prescence. I was grateful he did warn me even if it did scare me! I hiked the next couple miles on jelly legs.
June 2. Met Miriam at Hwy Yeah! Rest. We will take a zero tomorrow and be back on trail on the 4th. We will be heading for the Mojave and then the Sierras so it might be awhile before we are back online. Until then...
Sorry no photos. Just out of time to get that much done.
Glen and Carol, Jerry and Kathy and Rich and Mary Ann, we have some questions for you regarding Oregon that we'll be contacting you as soon as we can to discuss. Please know we've gotten your messages and have not forgotten your offers to help, and, we are hoping to take advantage of those offers!
We love you all and...we love hiking!
KOKO & The Bald Guy
Monday, June 3, 2013
May 22 - Road Walk
PCT miles: 383.36 - 403.56: 20.2 miles
Lat/Long: 34.34378, -117.98328
Elevation: 5,790 feet
Great day! I (KOKO) started out whining to myself,
Lat/Long: 34.34378, -117.98328
Elevation: 5,790 feet
Great day! I (KOKO) started out whining to myself,
May 21 - Mt. Baden Powell
This may get a little weird because The Bald Guy is doing the blog from KOKO's journal, but here it goes . . .
KOKO and The Bald Guy's 2013 Challenge
Hey, check out the new folder tab on top of the blog. Get challenged and change your life!
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Sunday, May 19, 2013
May 19 We have arrived!
Once again we have arrived at a land of luxury! We arrived in Wrightwood last night at about 5:30.
Saturday, May 11, 2013
May 11-Happy Mother's Day and more
May 11 is finding us relaxing at Big Bear. We pushed hard yesterday with a 19 mile day to get us to town, showers and of course pizza!
Scene From the Trail - Photo page 3
I was just getting ready to sit and soak my feet in this stream when
Monday, May 6, 2013
May 6, catching up
It's been awhile! I've actually had to resort to the old fashioned pen and paper format and wow, is it slow and painful and spell check just doesn't work on it!
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Saturday, April 27, 2013
April 27 Back on the trail again...
After a week of resting and elevating our feet we plan to hit the trail again tomorrow.
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
April 23. Faith, friends and...what day is it anyway?
As you know from prior blogs we've been temporarily delayed due to blisters.
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Thursday, April 18, 2013
April 18, Why don't skeletons climb mountains?
...Because the don't have the guts! Gotta love those laffy taffy riddles!
So here we sit under a bridge at Scissors crossing trying to do the blog.
So here we sit under a bridge at Scissors crossing trying to do the blog.
Friday, April 12, 2013
April 12, 2013 Here we go into the clear blue yonder...
Here we are, sitting at gate C4 waiting for our plane.
Saturday, April 6, 2013
April 6, 2013 The Identity Crisis is Over!
With less than a week to go I have finally been blessed with my trail name. After months of listening to me tell stories of
Monday, April 1, 2013
Great video to make you want to take a walk!
This is an excellent video but it is two hours long so be sure to bring popcorn! (Seriously, not joking!)
Blackbeard and Destroyer video
Blackbeard and Destroyer video
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Thursday, March 7, 2013
New friends, Resupply, and Life on the Trail.
So I was talking to Andrew at Next Adventure the other day about getting a new hip belt for my ULA pack and the fact that we were not planning on coming out to the store. He mentioned that he would be giving a slide show about his PCT hike and that would be our excuse to come on out. Plus -- there was going to be beer...
Thursday, February 14, 2013
The Best Hiking Partner
Okay, here goes...it is The Bald Guy, and I've hijacked the blog! I want to share with you about the best hiking partner a guy could have.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
January 20, 2013 Elk Mt. again
I know I said I'd never come DOWN Elk Mt again after our last experience but we did and you know what? It wasn't that bad.
Saturday, January 19, 2013
January 19, 2013 What ARE we thinking? ?
I was so inspired by the hiking fools recent post that I was encouraged to add a contemplative one of my own. As our departure day draws closer I find myself both more nervous and more confident the same time.
Sunday, January 13, 2013
January 13, 2013: Cape Lookout
Well we invited our friends, the HIKING FOOLS to the coast for an afternoon hike.
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