Hot Siesta 2013.06.08 Latergram, Pacific Crest Trail Siesta at mile 660.7 with a view of Bert’s Canyon, 7045 feet up just north of Walker Pass in California. “Realfeel” is 106 degrees. First thing to do whenever I stop walking is take off the shoes. That helps cool things down really fast. Read more
1000km PCT marker 2013.06.06 Latergram, Pacific Crest Trail I passed the 1000km mark on Tuesday – it was nice to see hikers using a measurement that makes sense! At mile 621.37119 😉 Read more
Mary Brings Water Latergram, Pacific Crest Trail Wonderful Mary at Bird Springs Pass, mile 630.8. I woke up to the sound of her truck. I was ecstatic to get to meet her since she’d saved my ass two days in a row with her water caches. I hauled 72 gallons of water from her truck in my pajamas. Since her son doesn’t want her doing water trail angeling and her truck and well are faltering, 2013 will be her last year after “many” years saving lives in the Mojave. She turns 78 this week – happy birthday, Mary! Read more
Pop Tart 2013.06.05 Latergram, Pacific Crest Trail Hiker Pop Tart, my own personal trail angel for the day. Resting a moment at the creepy cool cabin at dry McIvers Spring, mile 644. She just showed up at 8am like a sprite and helped me through a rough day. Both of us hobbled along, ill. Super hot day, 20 miles, NO WATER at this “spring” – aggggghhhhh! Read more
Joshua Tree Shade 2013.06.04 Latergram, Pacific Crest Trail Mile 615.9. Hikers Games, unk, Reason, Willy Makeit, and Spark desperate for shade under a Joshua Tree. HOT. Read more
2013.06.03 Latergram, Pacific Crest Trail June 3, mile 589. Much of the forest has burned. Trying to find the beauty in it. Read more
Wild 2013.06.02 Latergram, Pacific Crest Trail You Go, Girl! Back on the trail with a cold; snotty nose, cough and all. Mile 566 of the Pacific Crest Trail, west of Mojave, CA, is where the PCT started for Cheryl Strayed (author of the book Wild). It’s a brutal, waterless stretch. I personally thought I was going to die of thirst when I ran out of water before reaching the roundworm-infested Golden Oak Spring, and it started some ongoing water neuroses for me all the way to Canada. Water is king. This tower was actually in the Wild movie, which I thought was much better than the book. Read more
Need For The Bike 2013.05.29 Latergram, Pacific Crest Trail Hundreds of DH MTB trail up here, DRIVING ME CRAZY. Need for the bike. Mile 547, 5668 ft elevation. Read more
Mile 546 Latergram, Pacific Crest Trail Lots of ups and downs, but I still wish you could be here. You’d love it. 😉 Read more
Lighthouse Latergram, Pacific Crest Trail Hiker Lighthouse, the Scottish ginger with the amazing impromptu mohawk, showing off his crib. Quite literally “hikertrash.” Luv this kid! Read more
Mile 535 Latergram, Pacific Crest Trail Damn headwind. 24 miles to go today, over a mountain to my hotel bed. Worth it! Read more
Tumbleweeds 2013.05.28 Latergram, Pacific Crest Trail Tumbleweed stacked up next to the Los Angeles Aquaduct. This part of the hike is supposed to be brutal with blazing sun and heat, but all I’m dealing with is a nasty cold, and of course — it’s raining. Read more
Hiker Town Latergram, Pacific Crest Trail Bye bye Hiker Town. You were windier than Cabezon, and I didn’t think that was possible. The hosts and owner actually let me stay in the owner’s trailer, separate from everyone else, I was so sick. It was so windy that night I swore the roof was going to get sucked off the trailer and I’d be caught in a tornado of the owner’s strange costumes and film memorabilia. The next morning I crawled to a public space and lay helplessly on the floor. Somehow I still hiked out, and made it to Tehachapi, where I stayed in a hotel several nights. I also stayed in a hotel a couple nights in Lake Isabella. By the time I hit the Sierra, I was feeling better. That is, […] Read more
Mile 506 2013.05.27 Latergram, Pacific Crest Trail It happens to be a perfect day for hiking. Mile 506 (I’m actually very sick, laying down in the middle of the trail, and barely able to move. There are deer. Some MTBers roll up and I send them packing. “You’re on the wrong trail.” “We are?” “Yes, you are.”) Read more
Hawaii Shirt 2013.05.26 Latergram, Pacific Crest Trail I accidentally stole one of the Anderson’s Hippy Daycare Hawaii shirts. Plus side is it’s stylin’. Downside is an extra 7 ounces. Will get returned! (I returned it by mail and later found The Grad wearing it in 2014. I had many hikers sign it in 2013. Their signatures were still there, though faint.) Little did I know I had also picked up a righteous flu at the Andersons. I was about to have my ass kicked with fevers, coughs and malaise for three weeks up trail… Plus I was just about to encounter a mountain lion on trail during my first — and last — night hike. Read more