OUR REINTRODUCTION INTO THE WILD

I have to say I have been procrastinating on writing this last blog about our PCT hike ever since we finished the trail. There seems to be an air of finality in typing out the words and hitting the send button that I have just not been able to make myself do until now. Don't get me wrong I am so happy to be finished with the trail and to be able to wake up in the morning and know that today I don't have to walk 30 miles, but I would be an absolute liar if I said that I didn't miss the absolute simplicity of waking up in the morning surrounded by untouched beauty that cannot be seen without venturing into the wilderness and knowing that for that day all we have to day is head North.
We are sitting in Kristi's favorite place in Downtown Portland, Powell's bookstore, watching the world go by on this busy street corner. The scenery and people are quite a bit different here than on the trail, but I am lucky in that it does not seem that difficult for a long haired dirty male with a scraggly beard to blend in here in Portland. This is our 5th major stop since finishing the trail 11 days ago. I give huge thanks to Kristi's parents Bill "Eagle Eye" Kose (the man can spot a moose from 500yds while driving at 100 kph) and Kay "The Blonde Brownie" (taste one of her delicious desserts and you will understand the trail name) for not just taking us to see Banff, Lake Louise, and Vancouver but also for feeding us (this was no small feat), clothing us which allowed us to burn our soiled hiker clothes, and giving us shelter that we did not have to stake down. You guys are amazing and no doubt the most generous loving trail angels on the PCT.
Kristi and I left Canada a few days ago to head to Seattle for the night and dodge thrown fish at Pike's place and then boarded the longest train ride possible to Portland to reunite with our first trail angel Juli who has taken us for the week.
I am still wandering along shrouded in disbelief that our journey of 160 days and 2,670 miles is now over. We skipped into the scene that is pictured over a week ago to the sound of yells of fellow thru hikers and the worst rendition of the Rocky theme song that I have ever heard as we crossed from the US through the massive clear cut that marks the border into Canada. I think that the elation that encapsulated us at the end of our journey was equal to the feelings of joy that were felt at the beginning. Ever since that moment I have been trying my hardest to look back at the naive person who started walking from CA months ago, and I am in awe at all of the vistas we experienced, all of the truly amazing people we met, and the changes that have taken place in both Kristi and I.  I am sure that some of these changes are realized now and some will take a significant amount of time to surface at least to our eyes. So many lessons have been learned from the trail and my main hope is that they don't fade away into the noise as we are released back into the wild of society.
When we started out walking down that dusty desert path over 5 months ago my main aspiration was that a light that once burned passionately in me would be rekindled as we broke away from the norm and did something that so few wanted to do or thought could be done. Sitting here today I cannot say that a drastic change has swept over me, but I know that I am not the same person that started out walking down that trail. My worries are different and at this point almost non existent, my hopes don't seem to be bridled by any set of rules anymore, and I now have a new place that I know I can go whenever I need to get away from it all.  Believe it or not I think it was an 8 year old who summed up the best reason for doing the trail. He said the reason he liked hiking the PCT was for the freedom. I have to say that I agree with him. The freedom that you feel walking through lands that few have seen with everything you need sitting snuggly on your back looking out at sights that will forever be burned into your mind is something that I believe I will take with me forever. I honestly believe that after that much time in the woods we are now connected. We are one. A part of me longs to be back there, but I am so happy to be able to see our family and friends.
I know that I am going to do a poor job of answering a question we have received several times since coming back to civilization and that is What's next? For now Turtle and I are trying to figure out where to land and I am sure that soon some other adventure will take us away. There is still the Appalachian Trail, the Continental Divide Trail, The Arizona Trail, The Colorado Trail, all of Alaska, and that's only the US. Who knows where it will be. Hopefully it won't be that long until we find out. Anyway thanks for reading, thanks for writing us, and thank you for all the hope you sent our way. Until the next adventure.

Finally, here is the best reason to be off the trail. This is a picture from Rainy Pass which is about 80 miles from the end of the trail. Believe it or not this picture was taken almost a week ago by some friends of ours who are still out there. They had a foot of snow fall in almost a day and another foot is still on the way. Believe it or not there are still about 20 more crazy hikers still out there. There is a saying on the PCT that the last Thru Hiker Wins. I will leave that one up for debate. We are both pretty happy with almost winning.

Thank you all so much for coming with us on this journey. Your support and encouragement was much needed and appreciated. I guess it's time to say goodbye to this adventure. Though needed, closure isn't always easy and going from the trail to civilized life certainly has its challenges....and perks as well. Hot showers, beds, and food that I do not have to carry on my back are my favorite things now. But I will miss our solitude, the amazing scenery, those incredibly generous people called angels, and our new "family" of fellow hikers. Mostly, though, I'll miss what hiking the PCT has come to mean to me- doing and believing something much larger than myself. So.... I guess it really isn't just walking after all. Love and gratitude,
Kristi aka Snow Turtle

The view from our last lunch spot on the trail. Hell yes that was Canada we were looking at.

One of our water sources in the last couple weeks. Everything began freezing as the temps started dropping to the 20s at night in Northern Washington.

Hart's Pass

Turtle leaving Glacier Pass. She is the small do in the left hand corner of the picture.

The Northern Cascades after Rainy Pass.

Stehekin was the only possible town stop for the last couple hundred miles in Washington. The only way to get to Stehekin was by foot, horse, boat, or Sea Plane. Even though it was truly in the middle of nowhere it had everything a growing hiker needs.

Turtle with Glacier Peak in the distance.

Surrounded by the blood red leaves of huckleberry bushes in Glacier Peak Wilderness.

One of my favorite pictures from the trail. This is sunrise with the full moon in the Glacier Peak Wilderness.

Walking through a boulder field in Washington.

So what did it look like whenever we started hiking in the morning? This is a picture of Turtle behind me. What you can't see her. That white light is her headlamp on the side of the mountain we were climbing.

Leaving Steven's Pass

Oops-- meant to attach this pic of the Monument at the Northern Terminus of the PCT. Oh Wow!!! We're done!!

After 5 months, 7 days, 2660 plus miles, 5 pair of shoes, 15 to 20 lbs lost, and more life experience than can be remembered, we found the finish line. Ending on October 7 th, I apologize for the delay in wrapping up our adventure as we have only just made it back to the States. A huge huge Thank You to my parents for the whirlwind tour of BC and for coming out to celebrate. You are better than the best and I love you the most! More pics of our final days and final thoughts coming soon...

Ok who is taking bets on how many miles we do today? We just ate a late breakfast at noon and now we are eating an entire pecan pie sent straight from my mom. This is a great Friday!

I have to send out a huge thank you to my mom, the best mom in the world. We picked up our packages today and we saw how big they were and questioned what in the world could be in there? We opened it up and there were cookies, brownies, cheese straws, and a whole Pecan Pie!!! There is no doubt this will fuel us for the next 190+ miles. Thank you so much mom from me and Turtle. I love you!

My favorite times to hike are early in the morning right before sunrise and then late in then at sunset and luckily since we are aiming for 25+ miles per day over this rugged Washington terrain we are able to hike at both times each day. This was the view from our campsite at Deception Lakes. We wandered in just as the sun turned everything purple the sky, the mountains, and the water. There is no doubt these will be the times we miss most. How can you beat having this view while you rest your weary body and dine on the best ramen in the world? All for free. I am not sure you can.

Joe Lake

When you have walked over 2,000 miles through almost every environment that exists on this planet in a matter of 5 months it truly takes something amazing to grab your attention from the trail and make you stop and stare in awe. This scene did it for us. We entered the Alpine Lakes Wilderness right outside of Snoqualmie, WA last week. My words cannot describe the scenes we saw and these pictures don't even come close to capturing the moments of awe this sunrise created. We awoke this morning with howling winds and clouds, yes clouds blowing by our tent at Ridge Lake.

The Northern Cascades. What lies between us and Canada.

Then we did this. We crossed 2400 miles and made it to Snoqualamie Pass in Washington this afternoon. We are halfway through Washington now with only 265 miles before we make it to Manning Park, Canada. I have to throw a request out there now. We need all the love, prayers, and positive energy that you have got available. 265 miles now seems like a small number but there are a ton of mountains in between us and that border. We also received a weather forecast that projected we could start receiving a lot of rain and freezing temperatures by 9/28. That means snow at higher elevations and that is where we will be spending most of our time as the trail goes up and down between 3k - 7k repeatedly over the next couple hundred miles. We are now hoping to finish up around 10/7 and we will keep everyone posted as much as possible though we have been traveling through extremely isolated terrain
and will continue to for the next couple of weeks. Thank you everyone for reading. We will be talking to all of you soon and we will even be seeing some of you soon. I don't think either of us can wait. Let's go team Turgassi! Canada 2012!

After walking in clouds and tree drip for half a day we came upon the most beautiful sight I have seen this trip and that was a green tarp right on the trail that contained a Norwegian who yelled at me and called me Hiker Trash as soon as I came into view I saw the Thru Hiker bandannas hanging like Tibetan prayer flags from a nearby guy line. It was trail magic and some of the most beautiful trail magic, unexpected trail magic. It was even better than that it was unexpected trail magic that included hamburgers, cheese sausage, pickled herring (don't knock it till you've tried it), they even had homemade coffee drinks. Turtle and I were the third hikers here and by the end of the day there were more than a dozen of us who stayed the entire night. Apparently we broke a record. Thank you Stumbling Norwegian and Honeybee. You guys are amazing. Your generosity is unmatched.

I do want to add that despite the "challenging" trail along Goat Rocks, the view was astounding when we were brave enough to look around. Mt Rainier's peak is visible just above the smoke haze. Don't tell Drew but I think a return trip is in order to actually enjoy the views. Just magical.

We soon descended into those clouds after Blowout Mountain and spent the day in Tree Drip, not rain, but tree drip. We were later told by a local that tree drip is the proper term for the condensation that builds up on trees and falls on you like rain. He also let us know that they called the sun that yellow cloud in this part of the country due to the fact that they see it so little at this time of year.

Here is proof that yes, in fact he did hike Knife' s Edge and the ridge beyond.

Hiking literally just above the clouds near Pyramid Peak.

Moving on from the Goat Rocks Mt. Ranier follows you for 100s of miles. This is the view of Ranier at sunset a few days ago.

The trail leaving the Goat Rocks.

The view of the knife's edge from the Coyote trail. Old Snowy is the highest mountain on the far left and that was where we began the 3 mile 3+ hour trek.

One mile after the Coyote trail we stumbled into this site. We hiked 14 miles by sunset and we were both as tired as the first day we started this journey. I can say this though after that walk on the knifes edge food tasted better we ate the best ramen ever created that night along with our last ration of mint chocolate fudge. We saw the most beautiful sunset of the trip that night as pink light washed over Mt. Ranier in the distance. Everything was as it should be and nothing could be better. I understood the look of contentment that I saw on the other few south bounders that passed us as we headed to the Goat Rocks. It was as if we were granted a few more days to live and now the world was more beautiful than ever before. Thank you Goat Rocks for that ecstasy. I will never see that side of you again, but I may hike your other trails so long as I don't have to follow in the footsteps
of goats.

You can see Turtle at the base of Old Snowy in this picture. This is where the trail begins to change from loose shale to eroding dirt and loose gravel. If you zoom in, you can follow the trail as it continues to climb peaks and fall down them as quickly as it climbs.

Around this time we met a Southbound PCT hiker on the trail who was kind enough to let us know that theres a spot up there where the trail fades away and all that is left is a deadly fall and that was all he said.

Why thank you sir. That was so informative and helpful. Do tell me more. I truly feel prepared now. Do you have any more useful facts like water is wet. Ice is cold. Please continue to bathe us in your knowledge. We spent the next few hours wondering is this the spot? Did we pass it? Then we saw it. You see erosion on steep trail is normal especially with the amount of snow and rain these areas receive, but this 3 foot section of trail had been washed away completely. There was trail, then a fall literally of a few 1000 feet, and then trail. At this point I put on my fourth pair of underwear for the section and did what you do you go North at all costs. I put one trekking pole on the other side and leaned on it and then jumped. I stopped breathing. There goes my life. How would they even get a helicopter here? Then I hit solid ground and my reward 2 more miles of this insanity. Turtle
later relayed a similar story except she had to fight her backpack which wanted to use gravity to pull her back into the gap.

Nonetheless this had to be the part the man had talked about so we trekked on. Now sunset was closing in. You see we averaged 1 mph for this section and that is coming from now decently experienced hikers who can knock 30 miles in a day a 3 mph. After 3 miles and 3 hours of sliding up and down saying more prayers releasing more expletives and even creating new terms we hit the Coyote trail and more solid ground.

This is where reality begins to hit you. We made it near the summit of Old Snowy and this is the platform before you begin the descent. You see you climb 1000 feet in less than a mile to reach this point and then just as quickly as you climb, you drop. The trail drops close to 1000 feet in less than a mile as you slide down shale and lava rock. At times there was a drop to the glaciers below you on the left and then the right sometimes the walls faded away on both sides and all that was left was you, 18 inches of trail, and the wind. How do you like impersonating a mountain goat now? As I told Kristi I hope you are taking a lot of pictures because we will never see this damn place again.

And this is where it all began...the Goat Rocks Wilderness. This section of the PCT is known to be one of the most beautiful sections of trail in WA and on the entire trail for that matter. Some people call it the beginning of the WA Sierras. It has been rumored to have fallen from the Heavens. All of that sounds wonderful right? Who wants to sign up to go? Hell I couldn't wait to get there until I made the mistake of reading the guidebook. The first few lines discussed the sheer beauty of the surroundings and the ever present snowfields and glaciers. Still sounds great right? The next few lines tell a different story. They discuss the 3 mile section of the PCT affectionately known as the Knife's Edge. You see the Goat Rocks were named for the rocky terrain of the mountains and the mountain goats that live in them. This is the southernmost region of the US that mountain goats live and
they chose to live here because they can climb terrain other creatures (like humans) cannot. Well this section of the trail is supposed to give one the feeling of being a mountain goat. I don't know about you but I want that feeling about as much as I would like the feeling of having leprosy. The guidebook goes on to say that many have compared walking the knife's edge to walking along a beam at the top of the Empire State Building as it was being constructed. It also said that many people have been known to get Vertigo as they walk it due to the steep sheer drop offs on BOTH sides of the trail. This sounds like the last place I want to be and why in the hell would they include this on a trail that people have hiked for thousands of miles at this point and must cross for completion? There must be some mistake.

I pondered this for days as we walked because you see when you do nothing but hike all day every day that is all you can do is think. We have climbed huge mountains, the tallest in the lower 48. I have been up crazy steep passes and some were covered in snow. This can't be that bad I reasoned. My line of logic was working until we met a disheveled south bound hiker a few days from the rocks. She told stories people near death on the rocks, how she almost died, a woman was blown over, a mountaineer cried for his mother. It was horrible. She said you slid down shale, lava rock, and gravel for miles near an edge that fell into nothing. Turtle and I did all we could do, we dismissed her as a crazy solo hiker who had lost her mind as she hiked. That was the only way to make sense of it. There were no way her stories could be true. Right? We continued North towards the rocks.

After days of walking under the thick forest canopy we came to a clearing and Mt Adams and the fires were close to consuming it came into view. You will notice the fires are all along the eastern flank of the mountain. Luckily for us the PCT was along the western flank. At this time though the fires were only 3 miles from the PCT and they threatened closure withing 24hrs so we did what any good PCT'er would do and raced towards the fire so that we could hike the section before it was closed. We made it and apparently we just barely made it as they closed the trail 24hrs after we passed. Thats what you call good fortune for the slightly demented.

Snow Turtle dwarfed by Washington Old Growth forest.

For days after entering WA we hiked deep in the woods. Within the first 5 miles of hiking I interrupted a black bear eating huckleberries which he did not seem to appreciate. He let me know this be running around and making a series of noises I will be happy with not hearing again.

For a few days after that encounter it was quiet and we did not complain.

And then there was Washington. Not too long after our last post, we headed over the Bridge of the Gods and into the woods. Before leaving Oregon we were told to get ready that WA was the hardest state and so far it is living up to that statement. In the first 150 miles of trail it gained 29,000 feet and lost 24,000 feet. For those first 6 days we averaged almost 10k feet of elevation change per day while averaging 25+ miles a day.

Our favorite view in Cascade Locks. This is taken from OUR table at Charburger overlooking the Columbia River Gorge and the Bridge of the Gods. We are heading back out today and once we cross that bridge we will be in Washington. 500 miles to go. We are hoping it will take us roughly 20 days of hiking and around 25 total days to complete, but only time and the weather will tell. Thank you everyone for your support. We need it now more than ever as we wander into Washington. This is supposed to be a real challenging state and Winter is upon. Please continue to send your love, thoughts, and prayers our way.

Before we get back on the trail I wanted to send out two birthday wishes. First happy birthday to my Cousin Luke who has been a huge supporter of this trip so much that he has donated his first born to help us with the next pancake challenge we join so that we actually have a chance. Happy Birthday Luke I hope you have a great one!

The second birthday wish goes to my Dad. Happy Birthday Pops! Thank you so much for all that you have done for us on this trip the countless packages you have sent, weather updates, and most importantly the love and encouragement that you have sent our way. I wouldn't have made it this far on the trail or in life without you. You are an amazing man and I am forever grateful to have you in my life. I love you and I hope you have a wonderful birthday.

We will talk to everyone soon. This next stint is 150 miles but we are expecting our mileage to drop as the terrain gets more rugged and steep. We look forward to talking to everyone soon.

He view of Cascade Locks from the trail.

The rain brings the woods to life as these 6+ inch slugs littered the trail. That slug is next to my shoe, a size 13.

We walked out onto an exposed ridge line near Indian Springs with clouds twisting and twirling around us in the wind. Normally from this spot you have a panoramic view of Mt. Saint Helens, Adams, and Ranier but on this day all we could make out is Mt. Saint Helens. You can see her on the right of the screen through the clouds. She is the Mountain with the flat top as her summit was blown off in her last eruption.

Cliff Bar number 300!

Our last day hiking in OR and the state decided to finally let us have a little rain. We woke up to freezing weather, rain, and wind. Normally when you are camping you make the decision not to go out in weather like this but when you are thru hiking you have to keep on walking no matter what Mother Nature sends your way. If you are wondering why you can hardly see Turtle in the picture it is because we were completely engulfed by clouds along this ridge line.

Finally river crossings. This picture shows Turtle crossing the Sandy river at the base of Mt. Hood. We did not make it to this river until around 11am and as you can see water levels were rising due to increased snow melt. Normally that wouldn't be that big of a deal,but this is a "milky" river meaning that as the ice and snow from the glaciers melt at the top of Mt. Hood the water carries away rock flour and the water truly looks milky and unfortunately that means you cannot tell the depth of the water or where the rocks are beneath the surface. We were very lucky on this and someone had constructed a makeshift bridge to help in our travels. Someone even donated a pair of boots to mark the poles. I am not sure of the reasoning on this one, but you can waste a lot of time looking for the reason in a man's thoughts who has spent several months alone in the wild.

This was a momentous day not just because we were standing 4000 feet below the summit of Mt. Hood but also because we passed up a chance to eat at an amazing all you can eat breakfast buffet at Timberline. That was the first buffet that has been passed on this expedition. The meat sweats were already overwhelming my system. If you are unfamiliar with this condition then you clearly do not eat enough meat. As the sign states we are a long way from Mexico and only 550 miles from Canada. How in the world did 550 miles become only?

Punch Bowl Falls along the Eagle Creek Trail.

On the Eagle Creek trail, the path winds behind Tunnel Falls through a tunnel cut in the rock. Very amazing!

The alternate route to Cascade Locks follows the Eagle Creek Trail for about 15 miles. Drew chose to remain on the official PCT but I was enticed by the promise of waterfalls, easy terrain, and 2 miles less than the PCT route. I think I made the better choice.

To all that were wondering we made it to the buffet and had 1.5 hours to eat. I was even able to restrain myself from running into the lobby and yelling for assorted meats. You would believe how much brisket and peanut butter squares can be ingested in that amount of time. Today was a great day. There was no room at the inn for us but we were able to take a shower and wash our clothes and even snag this table with a view of Hood for sunset. We have now returned to the trail to sleep 500yds from the Lodge and the $200 a night rooms, but tomorrow we will wake up with a better view than most. Then we will do what we do best and walk on. We have around 50 miles of Oregon left and only about 560 miles of trail before Canada. How in the world did 560 turn into such a small number. It is amazing what changes after four months.