I’m awake early and Yazhi lazes on my chest. I think he knows. I don my familiar hiking clothes, dump my pack and resupply box in the car. My mom clutches the oh shit handle as we bounce down the rough road into town. Amtrak bus departure is 40 minutes late but I get a … More How Do You Make Antifreeze?
Spring is in the air. The black-headed grosbeaks, acorn woodpeckers, and hummingbirds are just returning. Madrone blossoms rain down, looking like patches of snow. Allergy goo flows from the nose. The newborn black-tailed fawns prance through the front yard following their cautious mother. The garden weeds are joyfully excommunicated. Evasive maneuvers are used dodging the numerous … More 2016 PCT Section Hiker Gear List
My foot is hurt and now I will crawl into a corner and cry. If I were Anne of Green Gables, I would be in the “depths of despair.” Is this what happens when you’ve hiked 6,000 miles and tied your shoes too tight? During all those miles, I’ve never had an injury bump me … More My Next Career Is Toe Wrestling – A Thru-Hike That Ends Before It Starts
Story originally written in 2016 for Thyroid Cancer Survivors’ Association (ThyCa). Updated 2024. It’s Thyroid Awareness Month! If you have cold intolerance, stiff joints, fatigue, thin hair, and have gained weight, get your thyroid hormone checked! It was the Spring of 2006 and I was studying geology at Humboldt State University in Arcata, California. I … More The Jeopardy Question – My Thyroid Story
A planned thru-hike turned into a section hike. That’s just the way it goes sometimes. There are always things beyond your control whether it’s Mother Nature, or family or even injury. They get their say too. So here’s a review of gear that I used for 700 miles on the Continental Divide Trail in 2015. … More A CDT Section Hiker Gear Review
As posted for Appalachian Trials. I’m from Northern California. Where the weather is always perfect and the ground sometimes shakes. Pansy you might say. I thru-hiked the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) in 2009 and 2013, where I experienced maybe a total of 25 rainy days. Then I started the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) in 2015, … More Got RAIN? – A Preliminary AT Gear List
August 13 – 20 No joke. Building trail is hard work. It’s an adventure in finding those oft unused muscles. It took 9 people a full 5 days to build .78 miles of trail. The project was the Noble Canyon Realignment where we took trail perpendicular to contours and made it nice. The Noble Canyon … More Trail Building Is Hard Work
“Why is thru-hiking so admired? Why is it so addicting? The trail is such that once you start walking, you never want to stop. And when you do stop, your goals and dreams suddenly revolve around getting back on the trail. I don’t have any answers as to why, but I do know that thru-hiking … More All Good Things Come To An End
July 7 Arrive in Truckee. Get hugs from friends. Plan the next step. July 8 Rent car and drive to Ashland, OR. July 9 Zero Medford REI Ashland Co-op salad July 10 Zero Ashland Co-op salad Giants baseball July 11 7 miles of toasty pine smelling Pacific Crest Trail. Camp at 5pm July 12 Green … More The Unplannable
July 6 California Zephyr Amtrak I got fidgety fucker in front of me. I got sings-out-loud across the aisle to my right. I got the Colorado River to my left. And I got random quote maker behind me. Seeing a bald eagle makes my day. And now for the quotes: “I had a bad flash.” … More Quotes Heard ‘Round The Train
Journey Return 