Little Package Blog

Trees eat rocks
2015.07.20
Latergram, Sierra High Route
The Sierra High Route wasn’t all rocks and alpine lakes – it was also rocks and trees! Trees eating rocks! And a good chunk of this section was on well-established trail. I struggled with my feelings about this. The trails bring civilization back far into the woods, though they do definitely make walking easier. As I got closer and closer to Tuolumne Meadows, hitting Vogelsang High Sierra Camp along the way, I started to really miss being off trail and making my own way. It’s so hard but so… charming. (Like being a kid in the Alaska woods again, just setting off and exploring, climbing on things, getting whimsical and finding oneself.) The pack trails leading up over Vogelsang Pass and back to Tuolumne got wider and […]

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What Trail?
2015.07.17
Latergram, Sierra High Route
Trail? What trail? The Sierra High Route involves many miles of navigating fields of boulder fields and talus much like this, which explains how I’ve already destroyed two pairs of socks and a brand new pair of shoes in only 75 miles. Thank goodness for strong ankles a keen sense of balance, but let’s get real, sometimes I think: “fuck this shit!” It hurts. It’s scary and quite dangerous. Some of these stones are bigger than cars, many of them bigger than shopping carts, and at least half of them are sharp and unstable, and can send you stumbling when you step on them and they tip. I already have had a few bloody scrapes. But the views are so worth it. How lucky and wonderful to […]

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Ziggy and The Bear
2015.07.11
Latergram, Pacific Crest Trail
And off I go, leaving my adopted grandparents and the sweetest Pacific Crest Trail trail angels ever behind for the year. Ziggy and The Bear! They took incredible care of me and about 1500 PCT 2015 hikers this year. I’ll miss them so much. And it’s possible that due to the Lake Fire, many more future hikers will miss them, too. Look at a map, think about it. You can retrospectively support these guys by paypal’ing funds to whitewatertrailhouse@gmail.com. They’ve done tons for PCT hikers over the past 15 years and deserve big thanks (and help paying for those porta-potties!) Also, if you haven’t picked up your box there, get in touch. One of them smells really bad. 😜

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2015.07.03
Latergram
Prize shot. About twenty miles of climbing gets you to Crow Pass next to Raven Glacier from Eagle Creek. That’s the pass first notch from the right. There’s nothing gradual about the last half; this trail does huge elevation gains in spurts! You can see the trail cutting through a snow patch at high right in this photograph. But you won’t find Alaskans wearing microspikes! These wacky Alaskans – they’re hardcore! 😉 This route was part of the original Iditarod route and this pass was its highest point. There used to be a lot of traffic through here – I just can’t imagine what that would have been like – people worked so, so hard to move the mail and other goods!!!

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Ziggy & The Bear’s Hot Spot
2015.06.25
Latergram, Pacific Crest Trail
Remember at Ziggy and the Bear’s place how you thought it was so hot? Well, you know nothing. It’s like an infernal ghost town here, white hot and screaming windy, right here below the Lake Fire, which is going to change the Pacific Crest Trail as we knew it. Maybe you also remember “the rules.” No smoking, no alcohol, no drugs, no cussing, no arguing, no fun, etc. etc! So many of the hikers complained about the rules, seeming to forget they were staying at someone’s home as a guest. Using the shower, using the water, the wifi, getting a nice dinner and rides… I was always puzzled about that attitude, since it did usually end up being pretty fun inside the fence! I volunteered here two […]

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Latergram, Pacific Crest Trail
Throwback to two years ago to the hour – atop Selden Pass (10,800ft) looking down at Marie Lake. That morning I had a nice dip in Blayney Hot Springs, spooked two black bears out of a tree and nearly shat myself, and left a large group of entangled hikers in my dust despite a hugely overloaded pack – having just resupplied at Muir Trail Ranch – in order to get these views to myself. Unfortunately the other side of the pass was a mosquito NIGHTMARE, and found me hiking all day in my rain gear. I was still in absolute heaven.

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