2000 miles!!!

We never thought we'd get this far. Back in February, when Neil's plantar fasciitis was giving him hell, and I couldn't even walk across the road without spasms of pain down my back, we didn't think we'd make it to mile 100. But - here we are, 2000 miles in, three quarters of the way from Mexico to Canada. Chuffed? Definitely. Smug? No chance, we've still got 660 miles to go, and we daren't count our chickens before they've hatched.

It's been a great week of hiking since Crater Lake. Some easy hiking through forest - gentle gradients, soft underfoot but limited views. But we've also had some stunning panoramas of volcanoes and lava flows. We even went up one of the volcanoes, Mount Thielsen, as a side trip - possibly the pointiest mountain we've ever been up, with a short section of rock climbing at the top which was great fun. Whereas walking across the lava flows was just hard work!

On the Oregon Trail

At last! After 1700 miles of hiking in California, we have now crossed over into Oregon. The walking is easier so we've been doing good miles - we've covered 100 miles in four days since leaving Ashland. It's taken its toll on our feet though, so today we're aiming for just 10 miles and enjoying the stunning scenery at Crater Lake, an incredibly deep and amazingly blue caldera lake.

Crater Lake

A really great thing which has happened in the last few hundred miles has been hiking with Tom and Greg. Tom is from Liverpool, and we previously met him just as we were all finishing the Pyrenean Haute Route two years ago. We had a very rushed conversation at Banyuls-sur-Mer train station just as Tom was about to catch a train home, and we discovered that he was also planning to do the Pacific Crest Trail. We failed to exchange contact details though, and we did wonder if his plans to do the PCT had come to pass. Then purely by chance, we bumped into him and his hiking partner Greg just after leaving Mount Etna. They're great company, and we're hoping to catch up with them again soon.



Tom



Greg

Nearer to Canada than Mexico

We are very happy to announce: we are now closer to Canada than Mexico! Last Wednesday we passed the half way marker, and right now we have 1506 miles behind us and 1154 to go. (For the pedantically minded, the trail has grown from 2650 to 2660 miles since they erected the half way post.)

I wondered how I would feel being in the middle of so long a trail, with both beginning and end so distant - would it seem depressingly endless, a day-after-day routine of slogging away the miles? In fact I love it, the trail continues to amaze me, and it's always good to meet folks we've got to know on the trail. And the length of time we have to spend hiking - it's a wonderful luxury to have.

The trail has continued to surprise us over the last couple of weeks. We're in the land of volcanoes, and the fumeroles, lava tubes and odd coloured lakes near Mount Lassen were all really interesting. Then there was the 30 mile stretch along Hat Creek Rim with no water sources, followed by the most lushly vegetated forest we've seen yet.

A less pleasant surprise has been the problems we've been having with our feet - me with blisters, Neil with plantar fascitis. The fact is, on a hike this long your feet keep changing. A combination of boots and insoles that worked earlier in the hike may give problems later on. So we came here to Mount Shasta City, took some expert advice, spent some money, rested for two days, and tomorrow we go back on the trail hoping for the best. But taking a good supply of ibuprofen with us just in case!

After the Goldrush

Hello from Sierra City, an old Californian gold mining town dating from the 1850's. The population is about 225, plus dozens of grateful hikers enjoying the hospitality of Bill and Margaret at the Red Moose Inn. We were only going to stay one night, but it's turned into a full rest day. The combination of burgers, spare ribs, milkshakes and a huge range of Ben and Jerry's ice cream in the local store (and the large spectrum of microbrewery beers at the inn) was too hard to leave behind. So we'll head back to the trail tomorrow morning.

The weather is getting hotter, the terrain becoming rolling hills rather than mountains, and water sources are few and far between - so we'll be carrying more weight in water than we were in the Sierras. We've been getting in some longer days - 22 to 26 miles - but both having  some problems as a result: Tanya with blisters, Neil with foot pain, so we'll cut back down again to a steady 20 miles a day until our new boots arrive 150 miles along the trail.

In the meantime, here are some photos of our last few days of hiking and relaxing.

Neil at Echo Lake

Tanya at Aloha Lake

Neil on Tahoe Rim

Red Moose Inn, Sierra City

Monster Burger, Sierra Country Store

Into four figures

Apologies for the long delay since our last posting! We've walked 220 miles since then, and passed the momentous (for us) 1000 mile mark. After doing the eight 11,000 foot high passes of the Sierra Nevada, we thought life would get easier north of Tuolumne Meadows, but it wasn't to be. The footpaths got rougher, twisting and turning, ascending and descending in quick succession through more beautiful scenery. Even though we got rid of our ice axes (posting them to ourselves further along the trail as they weren't needed), we were still carrying our 2lb 9oz bear-proof food canisters, as well as 7 days of food to start with. It was hard work keeping to our usual 20 miles a day, but we made it.

Now we are enjoying a good rest in South Lake Tahoe, posting some food resupply parcels to ourselves at addresses  further along the trail where we can't buy food, and catching up with emails from home. We've also posted on our bear-proof canisters as they are no longer required by national park regulations; from now on we'll be hanging our food from tree branches, out of reach of hungry critters (we hope).

Also enjoying the chance to eat good fresh food - although after our belly-busting experience at the all-you-can-eat buffet at Harrah's Casino (along with several other hungry hikers) we're looking forward to getting back on the trail, and back to our usual diet of Power Bars, tortillas and dehydrated rice meals!

Neil on Mather Pass

Neil, Collector and Knut on Muir Pass

Tanya near Sonora Pass

Unknown hiker and Oops near Sonora Pass

Truly awesome

"Awesome" is possibly the most overused and abused word in American English, but for the last week we've been hiking through scenery which would be hard to describe any other way!

After Neil's comment on our last blog entry about no more rattlesnakes, it was inevitable that we had one last rattler ambush the next day, but since then we'e climbed up and out of the desert and into the high mountains of the Sierra Nevada. Awesome, amazing, gobsmacking - we're loving it.

On Monday we went up Mount Whitney, at 14,505 feet the highest mountain in the U.S. outside of Alaska. On Tuesday we walked over Forester Pass, which is the highest point on the trail at 13,153 feet. Words cannot describe how great this place is, so please, enjoy the photos.



Sequoia National Park



Timberline Lake on way up Mt Whitney

Pinnacles on Mt Whitney



Summit shot at 14,505 feet



View from summit of Mt Whitney

Forester Pass

View from Kings Canyon back to Forester Pass

Bullfrog Lake

Kennedy Meadows - Mile 700!

Glad to have made it as far as Kennedy Meadows! We are now 702 miles from the Mexican border, which means we are over a quarter of the way to Canada. Nearly through with deserts, water shortages and rattle snakes (maybe), and we are about to enter the Sierra Nevada and the Yosemite National Park. Mountains, snow, river crossings and bears. Just picked up our bear canisters (for storing food) and our ice axes so our packs are now several pounds heavier, but feeling excited about setting off tomorrow. Apologies for the short, rushed entry but internet access is very limited, hence no photos. Hopefully when we get to Bishop in about a week we will get a chance to upload some photos and post another blog entry.

Poodle dog and detours

Now enjoying a rest day in the shade, at Agua Dulce (mile 454.5) on the western edge of the Mojave Desert. We're staying with trail angels again, the Saufleys, at what they call "Hiker Heaven" - and it really is. They host up to 50 hikers in tents and trailers in their yard - we're sleeping in a horse box. Last night we stayed up really late (10.30pm!!) drinking beer with other hikers around a campfire. It was really wonderful to get clean, and relax and enjoy the evening - it's been a tough section.

Hotel California

For the most part, the PCT is a proper footpath with clear waymarking, following mountain ridges and offering great views. But since we left Big Bear City 10 days ago, we've had four detours to contend with.

The first one, the 2-day Deep Creek Detour, was because of landslides wiping out sections of trail in a narrow canyon. As far as we knew, the detour was still in effect, so off we went down a hot and dusty dirt road - and before long noticed there were no other hiker footprints. It turned out that everyone else knew that Deep Creek was still passable. We decided to carry on anyway, then the dirt road gradually turned into an off road vehicle racetrack, with a massive camber on every bend - great fun to drive I'm sure, but walking ...

Next up was the Endangered Species detour, to avoid disturbing some rare toads, 5 miles on tarmac then a side trail, not too bad; then the Station Fire Detour along dirt roads to avoid a huge area destroyed by wildfire.

And then, longest of all, the Poodle Dog Bush Detour. Poodle dog bush is a horrible plant which flourishes in burnt out areas, which causes severe blistering rashes which last for weeks. Some sections of trail are covered in it, necessitating the Poodle Dog Dance as hikers try to get past without touching it.

Neil and poodle dog bush

But it hasn't been all bad. There have been some great views (going up Mount Baden-Powell at 9399 feet was a highlight), some great people (we finally got to meet Lumbar and ChooChoo - Lumbar hiked the PCT with our friend Jim "Milky" Bispham from Kendal in 2007), and a really good stop at Wrightwood. An unexpected bonus of the trail is getting to visit some great little towns, and some really outstanding cafes. Breakfast at the Evergreen Cafe in Wrightwood immoblised us for hours!

Lumbar, ChooChoo, Neil and Tanya

Tanya and Neil on Mt Baden-Powell

Planning to leave this oasis of shade at 4.30am tomorrow - there's a hot dry desert crossing of 24 miles coming up, and we want to make the most of the cool morning hours!

Living by the water report

100 miles further along the trail, and enjoying a very welcome rest day at Big Bear City (mile 265 from the Mexican border). We had been in town for about 5 minutes when a lady recognised us as PCT hikers, and introduced herself as a trail angel - one of an amazing bunch of people who go to great lengths to help out PCT hikers. Her name is Bobbie, and we're now staying in her and her husband John's home for 2 nights. She has driven us everywhere we needed to go, fed us, entertained us and mothered us - it's been lovely!

We've had a tough stretch of hiking since leaving Idyllwild (mile 160), with the best scenery and most enjoyable walking of the trail so far. The traverse of the San Jacinto mountains took 3 days and it was hard. We had a long hot ascent, with both of us noticing the effects of altitude as we reached 7300 feet. We have a copy of the water report http://www.4jeffrey.net/pct/ which lists springs, caches and other water sources along the way, with updates from hikers on their reliability. Unfortunately the water source we were relying on for this stretch turned out to be a rusty cattle trough filled with yellowy water with worms swimming in it. Foolishly Tanya turned her nose up at it (Neil had more faith in our filters and water treatment tablets!) and we ended up getting horribly thirsty - the next water source being 10 miles further on and about 500 feet below the trail!

Bonnie and Tanya in the San Jacinto Mountains

So the next day, when we got to a good water source, we stocked up with 5 litres of water each, adding 5kg to each of our backpack weights - and then passed lots of flowing springs along the trail. Oh well. We also had added entertainment along the way from traversing steep patches of snow - we had taken ice axes and crampons just in case, but the only hazard was falling through the snow into voids below (postholing).

Then we had a long 13 mile descent back down into the desert to the San Gorgonio Pass, another thirsty day where we got our water from a pool in a dry creek bed, and a reedy pool under a rock - now having decided we were thirsty enough not to be fussy! It was a great moment as we walked through the underpass below the interstate highway, and found that the local trail angels, Ziggy and the Bear, had left cool boxes full of cans of pop and bottled beers for thirsty hikers to help themselves! This is known as 'trail magic'.

Filtering water in creek bed

Mt San Jacinto from San Bernardino Wilderness

The following day, after staying with Ziggy and the Bear, we headed up into the San Bernardino Wilderness - not as spectacular as San Jacinto, but with some really great walking, and some great company too. There is a bunch of us who walk at about the same pace and keep meeting up at rest breaks and camping spots. There's Georgia from Portland, Oregon, who is about 5 foot nothing, and has had a bad knee since about day 2, but is tough as anything and just keeps going and going. There's Rabbit from Florida, who has a pet mouse called Ella with her on the trail, and very much believes in doing things her own way. And there's John, trail name Lone Wolf, and Gail, aka Nightingale, who are calm, steady, experienced hikers who are great company and also full of good helpful information.

Neil, Lone Wolf and Georgia taking a break

It was great to go out last night with Rabbit and Lone Wolf for some locally brewed beer at the Big Mountain Brewery - looking forward to getting back onto the trail tomorrow though!

Hot feet & rattlesnakes

Us at the PCT Southern Terminus

 Set off north from Campo by the Mexican border fence last Monday. It's been a very hard 10 days! and a steep learning curve too. It's our first experience of hiking in a desert, and its been HOT, damn hot! We've been told it's been 100 degrees Fahrenheit and it certainly felt it. We made the big mistake of wearing our tried and tested Scarpa boots for the first 100 miles, with boiled and blistered feet as a result. They have now been swapped for lighter boots (Patagonia Drifters) and our feet are starting to recover.

We've been amazed at how diverse the scenery has been - from hot dry desert with cacti and snakes, to tall pine forest with snow patches and cool clean mountain air, and back again in a day! Also lush meadows, huge old oak trees, leafy canyons, sun baked chaparral, and granite boulder fields. The trail is brilliantly constructed, mostly very good underfoot and with a good even gradient, which makes for good steady walking.

Neil at Mount Laguna

 Not too many wildlife encounters so far, thank goodness. Though our first meeting with a rattlesnake was a way-too-close encounter for my liking! I was walking about 10 metres behind Neil as usual, when I heard a shout, looked up and saw a load of coils tumbling down the slope above the trail towards Neil. Neil leaped forward as the snake fell on the path between us, rattling away. After whipping out my camera for some photos, I then had the problem of how to get past it! Shouting and stamping made no impression, so Neil started throwing rocks towards it. Still no result, just lots more rattling, until a rock actually fell on to it and it retreated behind a rock about 2 metres off the trail, and I sprinted past and away.

Sadly the snake didn't accept its defeat graciously, and rattled at the next 3 hikers who walked past, as we found out later that day. We had to apologise for putting him in such a foul mood.

Pissed off rattlesnake

Other hikers out on the trail at night have reported sighting big cats on the prowl along the trail, but we've not seen one yet - and we're quite happy for it to stay that way!

Currently having a couple of days off in Idyllwild waiting for a storm to pass, before heading up into the San Jacinto mountains with our ice axes and crampons - looking forward to it.