Link to track our progress on the trail.

Below you will see a link to track us on the trail. You probably won't be seeing it move much as we are only aiming for 15 miles a day and we are hoping to take an easier day around day 5, but the little dot should be moving North over the mountains at a slow pace. We usually only send up a signal 1 or 2 times a day.

http://share.delorme.com/?MapId=0d390722955c4f3389b7049074450ccf

Sometimes on the trail you just get a nap wherever you can.

We have been in town for a little under 24 hours now and we are headed out to find a ride back to Onion Valley and Kearsarge Pass. Hopefully we can make it over the pass tonight and back to the trail. Our packs are heavy with over 9 days of food and our stomachs are full of town food. We hope to be in Evolution Valley, one of the most isolated spots on the trail, in 4 days and Mammoth Lakes in 9 days. Time to go try our luck finding a ride. Luckily Kristi looks much more presentable than I do, but that always seems to be the case.

Bristle Cone is the Trail Angel who gave us a ride into Independence which is behind us. Bristle hopes to be the oldest man to hike the trail by hiking it next year after his 74th birthday. Many thanks to Bristle and Uber Bitch (It's ok, that's her trail name.) for the ride and the blueberry walnut pancakes this morning. You guys are amazing.

So now we sit in our hotel room eating a gallon of ice cream in the sleepy town of Independence. The Sierras surround us on one side and the high desert on the other. Our hopes are to hitch a ride back to the trail in the afternoon and camp near Kearsarge Lakes if we can make it. We have 8 or 9 days of hiking before we make it to Mammoth Lakes which will put us behind schedule, but there is just no way we can rush through the Sierras. This is without question one of the most beautiful sections on the trail and to rush through it would be as insane as trying to walk from Mexico to Canada so we are going to take our time and hike longer days once we pass Mammoth. Keep us in your thoughts we will try to post again when we can.

Our campsite last night. We are so spoiled. I am not sure how we will ever camp again.

This picture shows how far away from civilization we have been. This was taken from the top of Kearsarge Pass which is what we had to go over in order to resupply after 8 days. Kearsarge Pinnacles are in the center with the Kearsarge Lakes in front and Bullfrog Lake is to the right.

We started the day a few miles beyond the mountain on the right and hiked to the top of this pass and then descended a few thousand feet into the valley below to hitch a ride with a trail angel 13 miles to the nearest town which was Independence, CA so that we could pick up our resupply box.

We saw this spot below Forester and I truly felt bad for setting up camp here as it felt like we were walking on holy ground. This spot sat in a bowl with a 270 degee view of snow mountains around us a mountain stream behind us and two crystal clear glacier blue lakes in front of us. Beyond the lakes was a drop off into Viddette's Valley a few thousand feet below us and King's Canyon.

This spot made me understand everything John Muir ever wrote. I have never been anywhere so pristine and so untouched by man. I woke up at 5am this morning to go wander around the bowl while the sun fought to climb ovwr the suroumding mountaind. There were countless waterfalls from the snow melt and the grass was green and plush from the streams. I have never experienced a contrast so great from the desert to these surroundings.

Snow Turtle at a snow fed mountain stream with Forester in the background.

The view from Forester Pass was somewhat obstructed by smoke from nearby forest fires in Sequoia, but it was absolutely breathtaking.

A picture at the top of Forester Pass which is the highest point on the PCT.

A view of one of the valleys before Forester.

One of the mountain lakes on the way to Forester Pass.

The view from Whitney with the "Safety Shelter" which was full of snow in the distance.

The sun breaking over the mountains as finished the climb of Mt. Whitney. I am not going to go into this story now for two reasons. First my cell phone battery is almost dead and second my mother reads this blog and this was more hair raising than the bear cub incident.

All I will say is a group of 12 of us thought it would be a great idea to climb Whitney in the dark so that we could be on the top for the sunrise so we left camp at 1:15am and climbed the mountain for 4 straight hours through snow, ice, altitude sickness, and a pitch black night with no moon but we all made it to the top and more importantly we all made it back to the bottom. If you want to hear more on this we can chat, but lets do it when my mom is not around.

One of the more beautiful meadows we wandered through Crabtree Meadows serves somewhat as the gateway to Mt. Whitney and the John Muir Trail/Pacific Crest Trail. Kristi and I have somewhat agreed to stop trying to describe the beauty that we see on a daily basis due to the fact that we ran out of adjectives a week ago. I have taken well over 1500 photos now on just my camera which means I am averaging almost 2 per mile. I would guesstimate that over 2/3 of those we taken in the last two weeks.

There is no doubt that walking through the desert off and on for 700 miles will make you grateful for many things. At the top of that list are water, grass, and living creatures that don't want to kill you. Walking this section of the trail is similar to being in a Disney movie 24 hours a day. I am already working on a plan where we set up a tent near here and go into town every two weeks to resupply. Snow Turtle needs some convincing on this point so if you talk to her please only mention the positives.

One of the many of Alpine Meadows that we have seen.

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This used to be our favorite campsite of the trip. The first alpine lake on the trail, Chicken Springs Lake, required that we all swim. This lake is filled completely by snow melt. One word...shrinkage.

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Cottonwood Pass

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Leaving Kennedy Meadows and the desert behind headed into the mountains.

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After over 2 weeks in the wild without cell phone service we have resurfaced in civilization in Independence, CA. We have been wandering through John Muir's land in the Sierras for the past 8 days. I have no words for the sights we have seen other than they seem like they are from some fantasy land that remains untouched by man. We have completely changed our pace to 15 miles or less per day so that we can linger in the Sierras as long as possible.
The picture above is one of my favorites from the trip so far. This is a rare opportunity to see a group of hikers "preparing" for the Sierras at the Kennedy Meadows General Store. As you can see we are like well trained athletes eating and drinking nothing but health food and smoothies.

The Olympians you see pictured above are Snow Turtle, Agassi, Waffles (from Belgium), Gator, Safari, Cheesecake aka Caveman, Snowflake, Shutterburst, Navi, Bolt, and last but not least Natty.

It took must of us nearly 3 days of peforming this ritual to properly prepare our bodies for the trip into the Sierras, but all of the 10,000 calorie days (yes that is a fact) paid off and to my knowledge we all came out of the mountains or are well on our way to the next resupply.

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The Mt Whitney Sunrise Summit Team. We made it up the tallest peak in the lower 48 in the dark on the summer solstice!

Joshua Tree right before sunset.

 Kristi overlooking the desert right before we found the bear cub.

 Over 25% complete!

 Mile 700 right before Kennedy Meadows.

Where we will be moving once we complete the trail.  This town has been amazing.  Last night after our dinner of chili dogs, mexican and shrimp we settled down in a valley at Tom's place on one of the many couches to chill out and watch Tombstone on a the big screen with surround sound with the mountains in the distance and the millions of stars in view due to no moon.  How do you beat that?  We are debating whether we will buy a cabin or just live in a tent out here. You can even take 5 minute showers for only 3 bucks.  Kristi has run up a $500 shower tab. Addiction to cleanliness is a beast. I prefer to spend my money on Ben and Jerry's.  If you have not had Chocolate Therapy yet, go get some.  It is unbelievable.  We are still planning on heading out tonight and may not be able to post anything again for a few weeks as we are in the Sierras.  If we come upon some cell service we will try get something on the blog.  Talk to everyone soon.

We have survived so far!  We have now made it over 25% of the way and we just passed 700 miles a few days ago.  We are now in Kennedy Meadows, CA which is basically the gateway to the Sierras.  There is absolutely no cell phone coverage here and only an internet cafe that is run out of a trailer in the mountains, so please understand if we do not respond to many messages.  It has been quite a hike to get here, but we are now almost completely through the desert.  Our 8 day hike here went pretty smoothly compared to our last hike but as soon as we arrived I had to speak with the Sheriffs from 3 different counties.  This was after eating 2 double Rambler cheeseburgers.  You must have your priorities in order.

The beginning of that story goes a little like this, Snow Turtle and I made it to Walker Pass which was about 5 days into our current hike and at the bottom of the pass we saw the most amazing thing waiting on us, a blue tent full of fresh food and the most wonderful people in the world, Jackelope and Okie, cooking for us hikers as we made it off of the trail.  We downed a healthy amount of eggs and oreos and then headed out to the trail. 

We left around 10am and it was a sweltering day for us.  The temp was supposed to climb over 100 and as soon as we hit the trail, we were greeted with a climb over well over 1500 feet and the majority of the climb took place on a tightrope trail that was made out of fallen slate and granite.  We had to stop several times as it took us well over 5 hours to climb the slope.  I went around one of the turns watching my footing as the trail was made completely out of fallen rock to my left was the mountain side and to my right was a fall into the desert of over 1000 feet.  When you are walking on trail like that your eyes stay continuously glued to the trail so that you don't wander off.  In the distance the mountain looked as if it was bleeding some sort of white powder.  I assumed it was some mineral and headed up the trail to investigate.  Once I reached a small cutout in the trail I followed the powder into the bushes and there it was staring at me.  It was brown and looking down as if it was ashamed.  What was it?  I looked harder into the bushes only to realize that it was a bear cub that had busted open a bag of someone's food.  Where was the mother?  The trail was so narrow.  The mountainside was so steep.  She could only be in the bushes or below us.  We had to get out of here.  Kristi was roughly 1-3 minutes behind me.  I passed the cub and surveyed the area.  I could not see the mother anywhere.  I started yelling to Kristi.  No response.  Where was she? She rounded the corner. 

I yelled out, "Kristi there's a bear !"

Kristi responded, "What?"  "Where?"

"Bear....next to you...come on!"


She peered into the bushes and saw the bear and started moving my way.  That is when I noticed the rest of the scene.  There was a pile of clothes and someones shoes.  What the hell happened here?  No one leaves their shoes for any reason in this country.  We often take them off for breaks but who would run off without their shoes, clothes, or pack?  This was no good.  We moved up the trail as fast as we could.  The mother had to be around somewhere.  There was no way that she would leave a cub that young for too long.  We made it up the trail in record time clocking over 3 miles an hour with a heavy ascent.  No signs of the bear though we did not get the best sleep that night.

We just met a hiker named Sprinkles before leaving the tent with the food.  Where was Sprinkles?  We haven't seen him in days?

We made it into Kennedy Meadows a few day later only to meet up with another hiker who had come upon the same scene and came away with the eeriest of photographs of the cub and the clothes and the food.  The police were called and a search and rescue team has been sent.  We haven't heard anything yet and probably won't for some time as we have no cell coverage whatsoever and probably won't for the next few weeks, but it is a reality check for where we are. The good news is we found Sprinkles and he is ok.  There is no telling what happened on that mountain, but we obviously went through at the right time.

We now have our bear canisters and will be heading out into the Sierras either tomorrow or the next day.  The reality of where we are is now hitting.  The desert section is now over.  There are no more concerns for water or at least for the lack of it.  Now all we have to do is worry about too much of it.  It is bittersweet leaving the desert, because it was a new land something that neither of us have ever explored much less lived in for days, but we both have so much excitement about where we are headed.  We are going to be climbing mountains almost double the size of anything we have done so far and will be attempting an ascent of  Mt. Whitney in a few days which is the highest mountain in the lower 48.

We are both in good spirits as we move on as I think we both feel like children on the most beautiful playground on earth and it is open to us.  At the moment there is a non stop feast and hospitality abounds.  The locals here just put together an amazing table of food from chili dogs to shrimp to Mexican.  We are going to try to pull ourselves away from this place tomorrow, but I already told Kristi I want to buy a house here and purchase the general store which would bring the population to 202, but first we have to finish this trail, so onward we go. 

I will try to post some pictures and answer some emails tomorrow.  If we are unable to get to anyone, please understand the connection time for the internet is limited.  Thank you all for your thoughts, we will talk to you soon.

"The mountains are calling and I must go." John Muir

Our tent poles pictured above.

...blocked the wind. We were exhausted we had been fighting the wind for hours. This was the spot. This was where we were waiting out the storm. We rolled out our sleeping bags and collapsed. We wrapped ourselves in our rain fly for protection from the possible rain and tried to sleep. I watched the clouds flying by overhead for hours as it is hard to sleep when the wind is shaking you and as crazy as it may seem it was one of the most beautiful scenes I have ever been able to witness. The clouds danced above us all night as the wind played puppet master of the sky. I will never forget that night.

We awoke that morning to freezing temperatures and constant wind gusts grateful to be alive. We escaped to the small town of Mojave and waited for our new tent poles to arrive. We have them and now we will be headed out soon our bellies full of pastrami, chili, and cheese. We don't know everything but we know never to trust a man named after a wizard who drives without headlights at night and never underestimate the power of Mother Nature. She will do with you what she likes all you can do is try to prepare. So we trudge on into sand. Maybe we are crazy. In fact I am sure we are a 60 year old lady just came to our table to tell us that, but this is more fun than I have ever had in my life. How can you compete with that. Now it is time to suit up like Don Quixote and go battle more windmills. We are supposed to be surrounded by them for days. Don't worry this time we won't set up the
tent.

The picture above shows the ridge where we camped with the trail. The storm continued to move into the valley.

Continued...Snow Turtle arrived at the site that I found and expressed some concern about being blown over the side of the mountain. I quickly let her know there was no way wind could blow 400+ pounds of hikers and gear over the mountain. She again said I'm not so sure about this. Pride goes before a fall. If you don't know Kristi, she is quite possibly the sweetest human on the planet. She has put up with me for over a month out here, she rarely complains, and she does not rock the boat. This was here way of saying are you @$%#&%@$ crazy? This is a bad idea. I can be stubborn from time to time. We proceeded to set up our tent.

This was quite an ordeal to say the least it involved Kristi laying on the ground cloth while I staked it down then Kristi laid on the tent while I staked it down. The entire time the wind roared over the ridge blowing up sand and debris. I saw our rain fly blowing away in the distance and ran to catch it just before it became a kite and flew off into the distance. Every few minutes you would hear a noise like a ship scraping into an iceberg followed by a gunshot which was our tent stakes shooting off into the horizon. This was not good.

After 30 minutes in the dark we assembled the poles to our tent and threw our loaded packs into to weight it down while we completes the final step fitting the rain fly for the approaching storm.

We both ran out of the tent and grabbed the fly careful not to lose an eye as the wind shook the fly violently in the wind. I attached half of the fly and was about to finish and then it happened. I don't know how to describe this next part it happened so fast. Kristi and I held the tent by the poles. The wind picked it up and threw it around almost all of the stakes were gone. The sand was striking our fail like hail and then a wind came from the sky with the force of an angered thousand pound gorilla and destroyed our tent. All of the poles were broken our packs were wrapped inside like an unlucky paratrooper in malfunctioning parachute. I will not repeat what I said because everyone, but it is very close to the profanity I have invented for when biting flies are feeding on me.

We dug into the tent and grabbed our packs. The fear and shock was owhelming. The facts were we were on top of a mountain. We were in the middle of a horrible wind/sand/rain storm. It was now pitch black outside and our shelter was just destroyed. We could now go back down into the valley which was now being digested by this storm or we could continue into the mountains. We moved forward up the switchbacks. We stopped every 5 minutes to stay near each other. The wind made it difficult to move. The moon was blazing orange in the distance and we continued up the mountain. There was no where flat in sight. We were on a steep ridge with only trail visible. We moved on until I found a tree that somewhat...

Picture from our next campsite over looking the wind farm with the storm continuing to move through.

After our night with Merlin we continued moving through the desert and into the first of two wind farms we would encounter this stretch. We made it to water by 4pm that night and ate with a horde of hikers that we are now hiking with. As we ate dark black clouds settled in the mountains above us. Around 6 or 7 Kristi and I decided to move on and knock out a few miles before we slept so that when we woke up we would be that much closer to Mojave. The gypsies we were hiking with yelled out are you sure you don't want to stay here? Those clouds look pretty bad. I responded, " No we are moving on this is where good stories come from." Pride absolutely goes before a fall.

We left the camp and began climbing into the high desert. As we inched forward the clouds turned darker and darker. What is happening? We are in the Mojave. It doesn't rain here what care those clouds doing here. Soon we couldn't see the mountains behind us. They were engulfed by the clouds. Kristi and I ran on talking about how exciting it was to be racing the storm. The wind was growing angry and began sending blasts out that knocked you off the trail. We trudged on always a mile or so ahead. By 7:30 we reached a picturesque canyon that was totally protected from the wind due to mountains on each side and it showed an enormous amount of flat land which was rare real estate for where we were. We could stay here or we could move on. If we stayed, we would have to start the morning with a 5000 ft climb. If we pushed on, we could be in Mojave by early morning. We agreed, this fact is key,
we both agreed to move on and climb the mountain.

We did not know this but this mountain divides the land which houses two wind farms. There is a reason they put wind farms where they are, because of the vortex that leads the apocalyptic force winds into the wind mills. We were uknnowingly traveling into this vortex.

We began our ascent as the sun was setting. We climbed switchback after switchback. As the wind was at our back we could run with our packs on with little energy output, but as we turned the other direction on the switch back you could barely move. The wind literally held you in place.

The sun left the horizon. Darkness now settled in. We pushed on up the mountain. We felt rain or sleet at our backs now. What is happening this is the desert. One key point much of our clothes are down. Our sleeping bags are down and down and moisture do not play well together. We had to seek shelter soon. Then I spotted it. A flat spot on a ridge where we could set up our tent for the night. It was windy, but we had set up our tent in a similar spot with similar conditions in Apache Springs. This could work...To be continued

The storm that chased us into the mountains.

Kristi walking through the wind farms in the desert.

Continued...he even offered us drinks which I am sure were perfectly legit and were not laced withhorse tranquilizers. We politely turned these down and let Merlin we had to go find the shooting range we were headed to so that we could try out the new hollow points that we recently purchased. After trying one more time to get us in the car he went on his way into the night headlights off beer in hand. This is the reason we picked the campsite that was surrounded by Joshua Trees. If you have never seen one up close they will protect you better than barbed wire. I am not sure how they hold up to people with super powers like Indian Vision, but we made it through the night to walk another day. Thank you sweet sweet Joshua Tree.

It seems like so long ago, but this is a picture of the sunrising over the Joshua Trees at our first camp in the Mojave. There was a reason we chose this site, which I will go into briefly now, but not full detail due to the fact my mother reads this blog and she is already worried enough about me playing Frogger with shopping carts on busy highways.

There are many things to be aware of in the desert. A few of these things you have probably thought of such as extreme heat, lack of water, rattlesnakes. The Mojave even has its own special rattler the Mojave Green. Mom don't look this one up. There are other desert inhabitants that you should be aware of that you may not be aware of such as Merlin.

I am going to try to make this story short as I am texting, but being Southern sometimes inhibits my ability to tell a short story so please be patient. Snow Turtle and I left Hikertown a few days ago and wandered along the LA aquaduct at sunset which was amazing. You actually follow the aquaduct for about 17 miles. It is one of the most ironic stretches of the PCT due to the fact that you are walking on top of concrete that covers a man made river full of water in the middle of the desert and the one thing that you need access to more than anything else, water, you are denied. It is totally cruel.

Nonetheless, we wandered along this stretch into the night to avoid heat. The only light present was from the full moon above which outlined the Joshua Trees that surrounded us and the flat landscape that ran away into forever. After a few hours of walking, we met another hiker named Gut Feeling who continued on with us. She let us know about a man who has apparently been stalking the aquaduct looking for single women. Hiker lore right? There is no way this could be true. Only sane people live in the desert right?

Not five minutes after that conversation a car shows up behind us with its lights off. Keep in mind we are now 7 miles outside of civilization on a dirt road surrounded by only sand and cacti.

The car flashes his lights and pulls up beside us. I quickly scan the car which looks like somone has recently unleashed a Molotov cocktail on the interior and I see the driver politely but his beer between his legs. He proceeds to tell us his name is Merlin and he lives somewhere out here. Somewhere out here you say? Hmmmm so thats a little fishy. My trust is now shaky for Merlin. His next comment sets my heart at ease though. He let us know we didn't need to be scared about his headlights being out when he rode up on us. There was a reason. He did not know how to use them. Don't worry about this though he said he was using his Indian Senses which helped him to drive at night (Please note Merlin was very Caucasian). I let him know this did make me feel better about the situation that at first I thought he was just some meth addict driving through the desert looking for hikers to harass
. Merlin continued to question our new found friend Gut Feeling and...

We have reclaimed our base camp in Mojave at Primo burgers. I am now awaiting my pastrami chili cheese fries to give me fuel to get up the upcoming ascent which includes a few thousand feet in a few miles with 7 days of food and 6 liters of water for this 25 mile dry stretch. The Mojave has seen a great temperature swing of roughly 30 degrees today and things are back to normal. When we came in a few days ago it was 60 ° with 60+ mph winds and now it is 90° with hardly any wind. That explains why we are eating the nectar of the God's, pastrami chili cheese fries, and waiting until at least 4pm to head out. I can't say that I am going to miss this place which is rapidly turning into a ghost town as more businesses are closed than open, but I am not 100% ready to go climbing. We have to leave though or I will gain close to 100 lbs a week and I am sure I will become infected with the Mojave daze (the 10 seconds that it appears to take locals to process your questions due massive brain inflamation from heat and high wind exposure) so right after these 5000 calories are ingested we are getting back on the road.

Hoping to write about our adventures coming to Mojave, but this had to be posted during our lunch. We just spent 2 hours in the grocery store purchasing 23 days of food for the next few hundred miles because there is nowhere to resupply. We checked out and received a few questions and stares since we bought over 100 of both snickers bars, power bars, and granola bars. The receipt was over 6 feet long. Once the groceries were purchased Kristi acted as my spotter as I pushed the cart out into the middle of a 4 lane highway and proceeded to push it up the turn lane for a quarter of a mile as 18 wheelers raced by on either side. Once safely in our hotel parking lot it was maneuvered to our hotel room with no questions from the management. Now all we have to do is break it into 3 shipments and soak our feet in ice water while we eat the sampler platter of mac n cheese, hot wings, tamales,
and bag o' salad for lunch. L-i-v-i-n the dream in Mojave.

Leaving Lancaster walking along the Aquaduct at sunset. If only it was always this temperature.

Ok so we have not left yet. We are working on eating dinner number two in order to take down my pack weight and any excuse is a good excuse not to go walk into the 100 degree heat in this wind swept valley.

At this very moment though it is very good to be just another piece Hiker Trash on this trail. I am again amazed as Bob the Trail Angel who owns this place just lets us hikers come in in droves and use his showers, guest rooms, and pretty much everything else on the premises. I cannot describe this blessing to you as we are truly in the absolute middle of no where and there is no shade for miles. Most people come in beat down from the trail and the overwhelming heat and are totally welcomed here no matter how bad they look or smell. These overwhelming acts of kindness are something I have never seen before and I am not sure if I will ever see so many again in such a small amount of time. All there is to do now is be grateful and put on my hiking shoes and start walking.

And the road goes on forever. Our reward for crossing 500 miles: we get to crawl down into the desert near Lancaster, CA. I thought that I knew hot but this is going to be unreal. We are currently at Hiker Town a place run by trail angels where you can wash your clothes, do some laundry, and eat some food while we wait on the sun to set over Antelope Valley. We are entering the valley which is one of the hottest sections that we will encounter and we are hoping to turn nocturnal. We have 16 miles to our next water source and for the moment we are clean, we have clean clothes, and we are heading out soon. Next stop the vacation paradise also known as Mojave, CA.

We just passed mile 500! Woohoo! It is unbelievable that we have been backpacking now for over a month. We have seen more absolutely breathtaking sights than I will be able to remember and met more amazing people than I can forget. Thank you all for all the support, love, and thoughts you are sending our way. We couldn't have done it without you guys.

This guy rolled down the embankment of the trail to come say hello within 3 hours of being back on the trail. Who can see the Timber Rattler? I am guesstimating that he was about 3 feet long. Nice welcome back to the trail.

We broke free from the Vortex at Casa de Luna after only 2 nights which I think is pretty good for us especially since some people have been there almost a week. I can post no stories here as what happens at Casa de Luna stays at Casa de Luna, but I do want to give a huge thank you to the Andersons. Your generosity is unparalleled. Thank you so much for the food, clothing, and excellent place to rest. It was much needed. Now lets see if we can remember how to do this hiking thing.