Cottonwood Pass to Kearsarge Pass

So we caught a surprise hitch out of Lone Pine with Adam, a shirtless, bearded fellow from from San Bernadino, CA--Adam. He spotted us walking aimlessly around town and asked if we needed a ride to somewhere in town. Turned out Adam was heading up to Horseshoe Meadow to camp and offered us a ride back to the trailhead! What luck! Dangit and I ran into the grocery store, grabbed food in about 10 minutes (Black Friday style!) and headed back towards the trail in Adam's classy sedan. The rest of the night we hung out with Adam around a campfire, ate fire-grilled steak and fresh fruit and drank Sierra Nevada’s. We also talked about how much we love being outside where life seems richer but also more simple. It was a wonderful and unexpected night and sure beat paying money for a hotel room in Lone Pine!

The next day packed up our stuff, said thank you to Adam, and made the climb up Cottonwood Pass back to the PCT. We also saw our friend Feather before heading out. She was going into Lone Pine to resupply. Hopefully we see her again. Just after Cottonwood Pass we made it above timberline for the first time! The second half of the day we spent walking through deep sand above treeline (strange…). With the burning sun and the sand it felt more like the Sahara Nevada than the Sierra Nevada.

Although the sand makes travel slow and tedious, there were the most interesting dead pine trees in this area that twist and turn like abstract art. Dangit and I agree that these trees would look cool in our house someday.

Surprisingly enough, the next day we... did more hiking. At lunch we spent over an hour in the idyllic Crabtree Meadow watching schools of Golden Trout, soaking up the sun, and washing our shirts in one of the bear canisters with views of Mt. Whitney in the distance.

Most hikers climb Whitney, but we did not since the 17 mile side trip could be too hard on our legs this early in our trip. Plus we will keep from falling behind our friends who are doing a bit higher mileage than us right now.

After our break in the meadow we hiked a few more miles down to Wallace Creek. We thought that it might be cold and dewy next to the water so we wanted to camp just above the creek. To our dismay there were no flat spots until the top of the climb above the creek. However, this turned out to be a blessing! Instead of camping somewhere ordinary, we camped on top of a cliff with views of the waterfall in the valley below and huge mountains in the distance. So awesome!!! Best day on the trail so far!

The next day we spent more time hiking with incredible vistas and even followed a young male mule deer across an alpine mesa. Later we finally made it to the base of Forrester Pass, which at 13,200 ft above sea level is the highest point on the PCT. The climb is pretty steep but snow free due to this years unusually low snow pack. While safer than most years, one false step could lead to a long tumble down granite talus to the valley floor. Yikes! We had lunch on top and spent over and hour soaking in the views. Best part of the trail so far! We decided to glissade, which is a fancy word for sliding down snow on your butt, down the backside of the pass. That night we made camp a few miles down from the pass. What an epic day! This is what we are hiking for!

The next day we decided to hike straight out to the Onion Valley Campground via Kearsarge Pass to reach Bishop, CA. The climb to the pass was beautiful but the 4.6 mile to the campground was brutally long. However, much to our delight two trail angels (Bristlecone and Uberbitch) had a campsite with refreshments, food, and most importantly rides down to Independence. From Independence Snaps, Pounce, Dangit, and I tried to hitch ~40 miles to Bishop. Hitching can be pretty hard. Hundreds of cars went by. Some drivers shake their heads, others change lanes, some pretend they don’t see you, and lots look apologetically. I don’t blame them, I've driven by lots of hitchhikers before. We tried everything first just the thumbs out, then we took a sharpie and wrote “HIKERS TO” and “BISHOP” on Dangit and Snaps’ stomachs. This got a us a few laughs, smiles, and waves but no rides.

Finally a map delivery man whose niece is hiking the PCT (Storybook) was able to take Pounce and Snaps. After a total of 1.5 to 2 hours three ladies picked us up and dropped us off at Hostel California in Bishop!

I have been operating under the delusion that Colorado is the only state with incredible mountains. Perhaps this is because I have never hiked in the Sierra’s. I have been absolutely blown away by every vista, switch back, and glacier carved valley. Unlike much of the Colorado Rockies, the peaks of the Sierra are impressible steep and composed completely of grey granite which is decorated with bits of snow. The valleys and passes are without compare. I used one camera battery in the first 3 weeks on the trail, but drained a battery in one day between Forrester Pass and Kearsage Pass! Truly unbelievable. I couldn’t be happier with our decision to hike this summer and I wonder why more people don’t try to experience these mountains.

Kennedy Meadows to Lone Pine

We ended up taking 3 zero days in Kennedy Meadows to rest up our achy legs. The first night we stayed with a local named John, who we lovingly named Trail Angel "Guitar Hero". We were able to shower at his place, hang out with some other hikers and sleep in a real bed. Oh yeah... and we also listened to Guitar Hero give us an impromptu rock concert! Saturday and Sunday night we cowboy camped behind the Kennedy Meadows General Store under the stars waking up to cicadas. Although it's fun to eat hamburgers and drink cheap beer and talk with other hikers, we are so ready to get back on the trail. We met another awesome trail angel-- Betsy Ross (Pat Peterson) who took us to Grumpys, a local dive bar/grill. She also shared some of her amazing artwork with us. Thanks Betsy! Monday night we stayed with Guitar Hero and his daughter Rachel. Finally Tuesday morning we left for the trail!

The first day we did an easy 8 miles and camped near a small creek. We iced our feet in the stream and met 4 other hikers who also camped with us. The stars have been amazing! We can see all of Scorpio, which is the coolest constellation ever. The next few days we hiked with Lobster and her mom, Sue (we're still searching for a trail name for her). There have been lots of climbing and many people have experienced altitude sickness but we haven't noticed anything different. At Death Valley Creek, we camped with about 25 other thru-hikers including Feather!

One thru-hiker, Cynic, said that he saw a bear while he was night hiking into Death Valley Creek. So I guess there is a reason for us having to carry these heavy bear canisters. Last night we camped at around 9500 ft just before Mulkey Pass where we headed down to Horseshoe Meadow and got a ride with Stringcheese's mom down to Lone Pine. We had an awesome meal with Bull Moose and Uncle Sue (although the service was terrible) at one of the local restaurants. While in town, we'll be resupplying our foods, cleaning up and hopefully finding a hitch tonight or possibly tomorrow morning back to the trail. We've contacted PCTA about getting copies of our permits because we realized we accidentally left our permits back in Kennedy Meadows. Sure hope it all works out!

The Beginning of our Journey: Washington to San Francisco to Walker Pass to Kennedy Meadows

We left Thursday, June 5th (happy birthday Daddy-O!), after work from Pullman, WA to San Fran. Our awesome Swiss friends thought it would be fun to road trip it together! Shout out to Patrick and Marc!!
Quite the journey-- got a flat tire at 4:30am, changed it to the spare... then that went flat right after. We waited for the tow truck and after patching the tire, we were back on the road.

We made it to San Fran about 6 hours later than planned but that's okay! Got a great hotel room the first night and then stayed at a friend of a friend's place-- THANKS MIKA! We left Sunday morning for Davis to stay with our friend Tyler. Our bus was leaving from Davis the next morning.

So we missed our bus from Davis, CA to Sacramento... Nice start to our journey. I guess we were a bit too comfortable at Tyler's. But no matter, we were able to catch a later bus for a small fee and catch a later train to Bakersfield.

The train ride was pretty nice. Lots of room to stretch our legs and eat some decent food! After a few hours in the train we made it to Bakersfield. We waited for about 30 minutes in the 108F heat for the bus to Lake Isabella. It felt like standing in front of a hairdrier. The road to Lake Isabella is very windy but beautiful. Once in Lake Isabella we ate at Taco del Mar, hit the grocery store for last minute supplies, and grabbed a sub sandwich for later. Against the recommendation of a local we decided to try to take the last bus to Onyx to hitch to Walker Pass before dark. Our gamble paid off and the very first car pulled over and gave us a ride to the pass. No more are we hitching virgins! The guy (Charlie) who gave us a ride drove an old beatup van with 228000 miles on it who he lovingly refers to as Betsy. He dropped us off at Walker Pass Campground. At the campground we awkwardly chatted with some other thru-hikers then set off towards Canada just before dark. The climb out of Walker Pass is quite pretty and provides views of the desolate valley below.

We continued after dark for about 1 mile using the moonlight to guide us. At the top of the climb we made camp and devoured our sub. It feels so good to be on the trail. All the worries have disappeared. Next few days we did lots of climbing. There are amazing views at every turn! Joshua trees, horny toads, lizards, a rattlesnake and one giant black widow!

Injuries are feeling good and doing more mileage than orignally anticipated. Last day into Kennedy Meadows Ford's achilles tendon started bothering him so we planned on taking as many zero days as necessary.

Our Gear for the PCT

Ford Sythetic long sleeve button down sun shirt Sythetic boxer briefs Synthetic ball cap with homemade sun cape Covertable pants Brooks Cascadia running shoes DIY UL trail gaiters 2-3 pairs sythetic socks Thrift store down hoodie DIY nylon windshirt Modified Golite Gust Pack DIY Poncho tarp Mariah Sythetic long sleeve button down sun shirt Sythetic running shorts OR sunrunner hat thrift store wind/warmup pants Merrell minimalist type trail runners Dirty Girl Gaiters 2-3 pairs sythetic socks Thrift store fleece hoodie Montbell Alpine down jacket DIY nylon windshirt Modified Deuter ACT lite Pack DIY Poncho tarp Shared Gear DIY UL bivy Western Mountaineering Ultralight mummy bag Aluminum pot MRS pocket rocket and fuel Phone charger Camera charger First aid (bandaids,IBs, gauze, antibiotic, etc) stakes

Ultralight sleep systems for couples

Ever since Mariah and I got married we have wanted to buy a two person sleeping bag. We like the idea of sharing warmth, being close, and cutting about 1 lb from our packs. Unfortunately, the awesome Spoonbill from Feathered Friends that we wanted was a bit out of our price range ($840!).

I wondered that we might be able to adapt the bivy/quilt combo that is popular with ultralight hikers to a fit two people. So I sewed a two person bivy using the same dimensions as the FF Spoonbill. It has 1.1 oz uncoated nylon for the top and 1.3 oz silnylon seconds for the bottom. There is also a zipper and a no-see-um netting panel in case there are bugs.

For the quilt I had ambitious plans to design and sew one. However, it's really hard and would cost about $300 if I used premium materials. Instead, we are decided to try sharing my Western Mountaineering Ultralight. By itself the bag narrow to share, but the bivy helps hold the sides of the bag so it covers both quite well. Just in case, I sewed an attachment using down from an old blanket and left over 1.1 nylon to make the top edge a bit wider. The attachment had 1 baffle also made from 1.1 oz nylon. I sewed the attachment to the zipper area of the bag to avoid hurting any of the nice nylon on my bag. That way I can seam rip it off easily without affecting my nice WM mummy.

Open bag in "quilt" mode

Attachment I made to make bag wider

Our shelter is also built for couples since we can't sleep next to each other in my beloved MLD Speedmid due to the middle pole. As the PCT has surprisingly few rainy nights (according to previous hikers) we wanted to use poncho tarps so that we have rain gear and shelter in one. However, one poncho tarp would be too narrow to cover both of us in our bivy. To solve this problem, I made two poncho tarps that over lap and attach with velcro. I used a modified version of Roy Robinson's poncho tarp pattern.

The connecting poncho tarp in shelter mode

So for two people our sleep system is pretty light I think and will hopefully keep us warm, dry, and comfortable on the trail.

Sleeping bag (32.5 oz)

Bivy (8.3 oz)

Poncho tarps (8.4 oz each) + stakes and guylines (couple of ounces)

Injury woes continued...

So I went to see a doctor about my weird toe pain. He said it's probably metatarsalgia, capsulitis, or Morton's Neuroma. Basically, what I had deduced using WebMD. He recommended getting corticosteroid injections in the metatarsal joint and the nerve to reduce inflammation and pain or to try metatarsal pads and see what happens. To my surprise he did not advise me to not hike, but if the pain increases that I should seek further treatment to avoid further damage.

Rapid River Trail with Matt and Michael + Doggie 911

My friend Matt as well as Mariah's brother Michael were in town for a Memorial Day weekend backpack trip on on one of our favorites - the Rapid River Trail in the Hells Canyon area near Riggins, ID.

The crew: Matt, Michael, Mariah, and Ford

Woah, look at that river!

Mariah and Michael

We got to a bit of a late start and arrived at the trail head on Saturday around 3 or 4 pm. The hike it self was awesome as always. The river was swollen with snow melt and so loud that it was hard to talk at times! The hike in is about 5.5 miles to a flat area known as Potters Place where we were planning to camp. However, when we arrived we found a metropolis of tents belonging to graduates of the Spokane Mountaineers beginning backpacking class. After about 20 minutes of searching we found a small campsite hidden in the shrubbery near near the river. It was near dark at this point so Matt and I made a fire and we started prepping our dinner - sauteed andouille sausage and jalapenos with some Uncle Ben's red beans and rice. Yum! 

Ford and Matt

Our quaint little fire

After a few hours of sitting around the fire Matt and I set out to hang our bear bag in the dark and then we went to sleep. No one bothered with a shelter since the sky was really clear.

Mariah and I slept very warm in our bivy/sleeping bag, but there was a bunch of condensation on the the surface of the sleeping bag. I wonder if the 1.1 oz uncoated nylon I used for the bivy top is not breathable enough or if we just keep sleeping in really humid clearings.

Michael wanted to get back to Utah on Monday so we decided to camp only one night instead of two. Because of this decision, we decided to do a short day hike up the canyon (about 1 mile probably) then headed back towards the trail head. Just out of Potter's Place we ran into a man coming out of the Spokane Mountaineering group's camp. He warned us that there was a rattlesnake on the trail and that the dog they were hiking with had been bitten. When we arrived there a big black dog with two women calming the dog. We could the hear the rattlesnake hiding behind some tree roots but couldn't see it. We asked the group if we could help, but they said they would be alright so we continued towards the trail head.

After hiking for about 1.5 miles we saw the the guy who warned us about the rattlesnake hurriedly coming down the trail. He said that the dog was doing okay for the time being but he was headed down to Riggins to get a stretcher. We let him know that Michael, Matt, and I were all Eagle Scouts and could probably fashion a stretcher out of camping materials and branches. 

Makeshift stretcher

So we speed-hiked back to the dog where Matt and Mariah had already collected two long sticks for the stretcher. I sat and lashed two smaller sticks to the larger ones to make a frame while Mariah and Matt  managed to a get blue tarp from the Spokane Mountaineering group. Matt and I wrapped tarp tied to wood frame to finish the stretcher

Mariah carrying 3 packs. Pays to be ultralight!

Matt, Mariah, Michael, the two ladies (Becky, Trisha), and Bruce took turns carrying the 70 lb dog (Ellie) while I hiked in the rear. After much tiredness and soreness we made it to the trail head! We managed to get Ellie into their SUV and they took off for Riggins.

Ellie made it to the trailhead!

Crap. We realized that we didn't have Michael's iphone. Matt and Mariah ran back up the trail to look, but came back about 45 minutes later unsuccessful. Fortunately, it turned out his phone was in Mariah's hipbelt pocket the whole time. Starving we went to our favorite restaurant, Back Eddy Grill, for some much deserved nourishment. Best burgers ever! And the milkshakes and fish tacos are awesome too!. We then drove home.

Update on Ellie: So the next day we found out the Ellie had to be taken 60 miles to a town outside of Riggins for antivenom and antibiotics. The vet said that she had  50% chance of living. However, two days later we received news that Ellie made a full recovery!

Lessons learned: 

1) Don't camp in clearings if possible; too much condensation. 

2) Rattlesnakes are a real threat on the trail. Apparently, there is no effective treatment in the wild and antivenom is needed to treat bites. 

3) Skills learned in Boy Scouts are actually useful. Lashing and fancy knots are not just for building forts and trebuchets!

4) When someone may need help but refuses, perhaps stick around for a while. Especially if you know that you can help.