Resting up at Tom & Steve's place...

Clean shaven & with a bit more weight back on us, we have been spending some solid quality time on the couch, taking it as easy as possible.





Our joints, feet and muscles are still aching & tired... Possibly worse than before we finished even! But hopefully things will improve with more rest... Taco Bell tonight! Yippee!!
RWK
Resting still...

OK... another Post... Video this time!

Hey Spencer!

As it says in the clip... This one's for you, bud!

Rock on!!

RWK.
DONE.

COMPLETE!

Well, after 4.5 months, over 2600 miles, and each having lost in excess of 30lbs in weight, we have made it to the northern terminus of the Pacific Crest Trail, crossing into Canada on Thursday morning at 0900. After a tired, cold but happy celebration at the monument, with copious amounts of picture taking and video recording, Tom and I had to make the final 8 mile push further north into Canada through Manning park to reach the nearest road... it was either that or a 30-odd mile hike back to Harts Pass in the USA. And obviously, by then, with bodies long beyond knackered, we chose the 8 mile option. That was tough enough!

So after reaching the lodge and hostel at Manning Park and discovering electricity and water was as good as it got, we rested up that day and began to try the weight recovery process with a few hefty meals at the resterant there!

Stacie, Will and Christa joined us there for celebratory dinner too. We did final interviews for their film the next morning before F1 driver Stacie drove us all the way back 5 hours, to Seattle where we are all chilling and internetting like mad. And eating too. Lots!

Once Tom and I get back to MN, I will get busy with an update to the journal with the last sections worth of pix and narrative, and probably follow that up with a "stats" style last entry... but for this 'blog', this will probably be one of the last, if not the last, post.... we'll see!

OK, gonna upload the all-important pic, and then get busy again with some more eating!

Cheers y'all.

RWK.

Accomplished.

A Blast from the Pass't.

After 2 years and 3 months, Tom and I found ourselves back in a familiar place... Rainy Pass.

We'd cycled up the long steep road to Rainy Pass during the Northern Tier bike ride in June 2007, rough-camping on the side of the road in the snow that was still there.

This time we emerged from the forest to cross the road to the now snow-free proper campsite that we couldn't get to those 27 month before.

It was pretty cool to be back there, and during the hike up along the trail, we crossed over the creek that further downstream we'd been camped next to, cold and tired. This time we were in better shape and the weather was much warmer!

From Rainy Pass, it is around a 'mere' 60 miles to the border... so we are almost there!

RWK

Pushin' on!

Berry berry good!

The past 100 to 150 miles have been pretty damn good... The sun has been shining & the trail, for the most part, has been well graded. Some steep slogs, but lots of long flat sections going around the mountains, not over them. Amazingly, lining the trail as much as 6 feet deep, there has been a massive abundance of wild blueberries & huckleberries. Fantastic! I have been stopping every so often, especially when I spot some fat juicy ones, and picking a handful to snack on. It's these little things that make this what it should be...

RWK
Berried up!

Mount Rainier

After the misery & near zero misty visibility of the low clouds & rain, when the weather cleared & the sun came out, we were treated to some fantastic views of the surrounding snow covered mountains... Especially Mt Adams & Mt Rainier... & just cos I can, here's some info I copy n pasted from Wikipedia;

Mount Rainier is an active[7] stratovolcano (also known as a composite volcano) in Pierce County, Washington, located 54 miles (87 km) southeast of Seattle. It towers over the Cascade Range as the most prominent mountain in the contiguous United States and Cascade Volcanic Arc at 14,411 feet (4,392 m).[1][2]
The mountain and the surrounding area are protected within Mount Rainier National Park. With 26 major glaciers and 35 square miles (91 km2) of permanent snowfields and glaciers, Mount Rainier is the most heavily glaciated peak in the lower 48 states. The summit is topped by two volcanic craters, each over 1,000 feet (300 m) in diameter with the larger east crater overlapping the west crater. Geothermal heat from the volcano keeps areas of both crater rims free of snow and ice, and has formed the world's largest volcanic glacier cave network within the ice-filled craters.[8] A small crater lake about 130 by 30 feet (40 m × 9.1 m) in size and 16 feet (5 m) deep, the highest in North America with a surface elevation of 14,203 feet (4,329 m), occupies the lowest portion of the west crater below more than 100 feet (30 m) of ice and is accessible only via the caves.[9] [10]
Mount Rainier has a topographic prominence of 13,210 feet (4,030 m), greater than that of K2 (13,189 feet (4,020 m)).[4] On clear days it dominates the southeastern horizon in most of the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metropolitan area to such an extent that residents sometimes refer to it simply as "the Mountain."[11] On days of exceptional clarity, it can also be seen from as far away as Portland, Oregon, and Victoria, British Columbia.

Cheers!
RWK.
Out.

I love Arby's!

When we had our near-o & zero in Cascade Locks, we took a 50 mile gear resupply to Portland with Christa & Will. A big, very important part of that trip was gorging ourselves at Arby's, home of the roast beef n cheese sandwich... & I had 2 meals, plus 4 more roast beef sandwiches to go! Awesome!!

Welcome to Washington... Have a wet day!

Misery. Complete, total & utter misery...

Frostbitten, sodden & chafed to hell, we spent 3 days walking through almost constant torrential rain & hail. It was not fun.

After leaving Oregon at Cascade Locks, filming & being filmed, we crossed the Columbia River on the Bridge of the Gods & by 0830, began the climb into Washington.
The weather was a bit overcast, but dry & cool, great for hiking in. Although there were some steep straight climbs (it seems the trail-makers in WA haven't heard of switchbacks!) we made a good start & got 26 miles in before setting up our tents on a flat unused dirt road high on a ridge as the light left the day. We'd just got them set up as the first fat drops of rain started to drum on the silnylon, so we each climbed in & tried to get some sleep.

Waking to a steady drizzle we got packed, hoping to air & dry out the wet tents later. But it was not to be, as the drizzle increased to a steady downpour throughout the day. Luckily, by late afternoon, it finally let up & we began to dry out as we walked. A great surprise was finding a huge bucket of trail magic containing chocolate & cookies of many descriptions. Suitably choco-fixed, we set off again, looking for a spot to stop got the night. Very shortly after, ( about 200 yards!!) we stumbled across an unmarked National Forest campground complete with toilet, so the evening was looking much better. It didn't last though. We were fortunate enough to have managed to set up & wipe down our tents, plus have dinner before the rain began again, this time in earnest! All night it lashed down & continued like that for another 36 hours.
We spent all of our 3rd day saturated, both of us building a painful collection of chafe points (feet, shoulders, hips, backs...) as well as numb fingers & aching joints. My knee, which was improving, really didn't like being cold & wet at all, swelling & stiffening painfully. It dried up a bit by the end of the day, but then rained noisily all night... Aggh!
Pleasantly, the morning was brightened by some fresh wonderful organic trail magic from the local Zen Buddists, but our choco-fix joy was short lived as the rain came back even harder again... "Gore-Tex" is a fancy & expensive was of staying dry for a while, but it doesn't last!
At the end of the day, shivering & miserable, we set up our still soaking tents again, wrung out wet towels & tried to wipe the tents down on the inside as best as possible, heated up our water for my noodles & Toms potatoes, then squelched inside our meagre shelters to change into our only set of dry clothes, (carefully kept inside double dry-bags) before eating our welcome hot food laying in our sleeping bags. That was a nice feeling, but having to put on wet clothes again the next morning was bloody horrible. Especially shaking the ice off from my socks before putting them on!!
Thank goodness the 5th day was clear, & at lunchtime, we had all our gear spread out over the mountainside drying in the gloriously hot rays of the sun!
Needless to say, we didn't get any video or pictures... Our electronic gear was well packed away in double plastic bags as well... Not only would it not work so well had we exposed it to the downpour, but neither of us had very much inclination to take pictures..! We were too busy slipping & slopping along, hooded heads bowed to the onslaught...

We've had no cell coverage at all, hence this late update, (& the next updates I'm about to write...) So sorry about that to y'all... But the next entries will have pix!
Cheers.
RWK.
Dry at last!

My knee vs the Tree.

What started off as a proactive good idea certainly went pear-shaped... Big fat swollen pear-shaped to be exact.
To explain...
Often, after leaving our chosen campsite the next morning, within 10 minutes or so we may pass another, even better, spot & both think, "Damn, if only we'd found this last night..!".
With that in mind, the other evening, not finding anything all that great, Tom & I had ended up pushing on another 3 or so miles. Eventually, admitting defeat, we came up off the trail and started to clear off a couple of level looking areas to make our own.
After 10 minutes of effort, I was pretty happy with my patch of moss, having gotten rid of pretty much every stick, log, twig & pinecone that had been on it.
Next came the "checking of the levelness", where I put down my groundsheet & lay on it to see how it feels. Laying there, feeling happy that I was flat, level & not going to slide anywhere in the night, I gazed up at the canopy above me, & realized unfortunately there was a rather large dead pine tree at 45 degrees right overhead. It had died & been blown over some time ago, but the top was caught in another not-so-well-looking tree, so was potentially able to come crashing down at any time. Given that the previous nights had seen the wind pick up a bit, I didn't want to chance it coming loose, fall, & land on me in the night, most likely wrecking my tent & doing me dome serious damage too.

I decided to see if I could aid it in it's completion of hitting the ground, so started to give it a shake near the base of the 10 inch trunk. About 40 feet long, it wasn't huge, but it "weren't no sapling" either. I was just about to give up trying solo & ask Tom for a hand when the brittle dead tip finally snapped & it started to fall the remaining 45 degrees. Quickly!
I wasn't under it, but it must have slid slightly towards me... & as I backstepped further away, I caught my right heel in the soft moss... & the damn thing caught me real good, spang right across the top of my right knee!!
Lots of rolling around, swearing & cold water later I finally got up, able to walk OK, but throbbing & sore. Yanking the damn timber off my tent site, I finally got my tent up, loaded my self up on "Vitamin-I" (Ibuprofen) & actually slept pretty good.

The next morning I felt surprisingly good, & we got going fine, although I was a bit swollen & stiff in the thigh & knee... Untll we stopped for 2nd breakfast when I took a look & noticed my leg was by then like a melon!
Strangely, it was then I went into delayed shock. I was sitting on a log when I suddenly lost all taste of my pop-tart, all sound went away, & my vision went like that of a thermal imaging camera, only in shades of grey.
"Aah crap! I'm bloody going into shock!" I said to Tom, who was wondering why the hell I was deciding to lay on the cold ground... Man, that sucked, but after 5 minutes of laying there, everything went back to normal, & I could enjoy the rest of my frosted blueberry pastry!
4 days of walking later, my knee is a good shade of blueberry itself, but has gone down & the near-o & zero we are taking here in Cascade Locks has done a lot of good.
Next... Washinton! 500 miles to go!!
Hopefully smoothly & injury free too!
RWK
Recuperating!

A good day...

After our near-o rest day in Bend, which was more of a shopping day than anything, we hit the trail again on Thursday morning (the 27th) having again been kindly given a ride back to the trailhead by Stacie & Chad.

Our packs were well loaded up, both of is just able to cinch the tops down due to the 6 days worth of food we were packing. On the past few resupply missons & subsequent trail-times, we'd both been a bit conservative with the food selections & amounts, & both of us had often been feeling unfulfilled & hungry, so this time we said sod the weight & were loaded up with extra snacks & meals.

The start was a rough one, having to slog our way 2+ miles over the rough uneven & unforgiving volcanic rock that was once a red hot lava flow. Once we'd managed to get through that, we were back into more familiar & favorable terrain amongst the pines... Well, the terrain underfoot was similar, but the pines around us were slightly worse for wear having been scorched to death in a huge forest fire in 2003. New growth was beginning to show, & the lack of forest canopy meant the wildflowers & grasses could florish, so there was still a lot of beauty in the otherwise harsh landscape.

There were a lot of day-hikers & section hikers out that day. One in particular gave Tom & I a chuckle. Striding towards us with what appeared to be an out of breath grandpa behind was a young, very happy hiker of about 12, his oversized pack almost as big as he was bouncing away on his skinny shoulders.
" Where'd ya start?" he asked loudly, grinning away.
"The Mexican border" I replied.
"Goin' all the way?" he fired back...
"Planning to" I said.
"Good on ya! Australia?"... Again, sharp as a tack.
"New Zealand" I managed to reply...
"Aaah, KIWI! Cool... Well, have a good one!"
And with that, he had blown past us... Grandpa gave us a weary knowing nod as he slogged by leaving Tom and I somewhat bemused, although grinning at the brief but rapid-fire exchange.

Just as we were nearing lunchtime, around 1200, another large milestone was reached as we hit the 2000 mile mark. Obviously, pix were taken & then we sat in the sun enjoying lunch & revelling in our acheivement so far.
Later in the afternoon, the slight disappointment of finding an empty trail-magic cooler was quickly remedied 400 yards later by funding some still cold Mountain Dews left by fellow hiker Stumbling Norweigen. Very nice!
The sunset that evening was stunning, rounding off a great first day back out on some tough terrain.
The 6 days out would have been very easy had I not had an accident with a tree... But the details of that will be posted shortly!
I have just finished the big pix update to the main journal too, so for images of the sunsets and the other things described above, go to
http://www.roadwarriorsnews.com/PCT%20Journal/Page%205/PCT%20Journal%20P5.html

Ok. More soon!
Cheers...
RWK.
Out.

Yeah Pepsi!!

What a surprise..! There, on the side if the trail right at the crossroads of the PCT & the trailhead to Charlton Lake was a big fat 2L bottle of Toms favorite beverage.

Unsure as to exactly why it was there (although the obvious was that it was a kind of trail magic) Tom went over to the nearby carpark & trailhead & met a fellow hiker called 'Yogi Beer'. It turned out whilst trying to hitch a ride to town, Yogi had earlier been given the Pepsi & 3 beers by a car-camper who was leaving. With a trail-name like Yogi Beer, it was easy to guess what happened to the brewskis... & as he wasn't about to wash them down with a soda, he'd left the bottle where it would be found... Just like we did!

Dinner at the lake was made all the much better for the cola, even if it was slightly less than chilled.

RWK.
Burp!

800 miles.

Old shoes & insoles compared to new after having knocked out 800 miles of dirt, sand, rocks, pine needles & some pavement!

Volcanic views.

Similar to Tongariro NP in NZ, we are making our way through a rough abrasive volcanic wasteland towards the mountains in the pic above, Mt Washington on the left, & Mt Jefferson to the right.
I'm glad I just got new boots too, as my old ones, although looking good for having done over 800 miles, were getting a bit thin & I was really beginning to feel the trail. New & old pix coming shortly....
RWK.
Out.

Sunset at South Matthiue Lake.

We camped on the pine covered shores of this small lake the other night in the volcanic wilderness of the 3 Sisters mountains... It was a fantastic night... Warm & silent. Perfect.
RWK.
Peaceful easy feeling.

Crater Lake.

Lots & lots of water... But none of it when we needed it.
As I mentioned in the post earlier, water was hard to find & the previous days hiketowards Mazama Village had been as dry as an Irish bar the day after St Patricks day... & so we were having to plan our water resupply carefully.
Once we'd made the 4.5 mile climb (& what a climb! It was near vertical at the end!!) to the Rim Village, we stopped at the gift shop there, but decided against paying $3 for a can of soda. Carrying on, we got our first look at the awesome sight of a water-filled volcano crater.

We'd wondered why the data book had given a 'Water Alert' for the next 16 miles (as in, there was none on or near the trail) given that we were passing a HUGE body of water... But when we reached the crater rim, we understood why it wasn't listed as available... It was around 1000 feet below us down a very steep slope.
We took lots of pix and video, had a great lunch overlooking the lake, then made our way further north through nicely graded slopes of pines before stopping for the night near Hwy 58.
Since then, we have rolled on about 5 days to where we are now... Bend, OR.
We have taken a near-o here to recharge ourselves& our devices & will be back on the trail in the morning. I've not been able to upload any updates mostly due to the lack of coverage... We have been hiking towards & through Sisters Wilderness area which has been awesome, but very volcanic, rough & isolated. More pix will come soon, whilst I have some solid WiFi... Hope y'all like!
Cheers.
RWK.
Updatin'!

Feeling like a scolded teenage girl...

No, by feeling, I don't mean I feel like I need to get one... I meant my inner self was experiencing the emotions of one. What the hell am I on about? Well, when teenagers, particularly girls, get scolded by their parents, I am told the removal of cell phone use is one effective punishment... Yes, i reckon it is...So yeah, I had no phone, that's what I'm waffling on about! Well, no iPhone to be precise! Yeah, I know! Shock, horror!!
And that is why there is a gap in the update regularity to this blog..

To properly explain... With low-on-power devices, Tom & I reached the trailhead, 1.2 miles from Mazama Village & were met by Stacie, who gave us a ride to the store & campsite. Unfortunately, our resupply parcel hadn't arrived, plus the campsite was $30-odd a night, so we ended up not staying there, but back at the nice, peaceful & free but powerless trailhead.
Stacie offered to charge up our devices the next morning as we hiked up & around Crater Lake, then meet us along the way to pass them back. That was the plan anyway... Somehow we kept missing each other, so I had to resign myself to the fall-back plan of meeting up at the end of the day, where we were going to camp, just past the trailhead at Hwy 58. That ALSO was the plan... But that went pear-shaped too;
The PCT carpark & camping area (where Stacie, Will & Christa were set up waiting for us) was not where the actual trail crosses the highway, so the info they got from a poorly knowledged ranger, saying it was, was not so good.

Tom & I headed off from our campsite the next morning not realizing the other guys were probably less than 300 yards away from us through the forest... We hiked on for a few hours emerging at another trailhead to find a note from Stacie pinned to a signboard... So we were pleased to know they were all ok...
Leaving a note in return we hiked on for another day finally meeting up with her at another highway the following morning... 2 days without my iPhone was hard, but I survived!

I didn't get to take any pix of Crater Lake on my iPhone but Stacie did, so she has emailed them to me... I stitched them & the panoramic pic will be posted shortly...

Cheers!
RWK
BACK IN COMMUNICATION.

Cranking to Crater Lake.

Well, today was going to be a long cranking day... & it was, although not as bad as expected. We made good time, covering 27 miles in less than 10 hours of moving.
Due to a lack of water on the trail, we pushed harder to make the miles to Crater Lake, and have got here Wednesday night, not Thursday morning, as planned. Having water only for the first few miles, we faced being dry the rest of the day. Rather than carry 4+ liters for most of the day (to have enough to cook with & drink in the evening, as well as for the next morning), we felt it better to carry enough for lunch & enough to drink whilst walking, & end the day at Mazama Village campsite near Crater Lake.

After a great warm night high on a ridge, complete with gorgeous sunset, we got going early by 6.30 in the morning with a rough rocky climb up to 7200 feet, the high point for the day. Cresting a gap in the ridge, we turned to face north & had a great view of the mountains in the early morning mist ahead of us... So plenty of pix were taken, one of which is posted above.

Crater Lake is supposed to be fantastic too, so I will be posting more from the trail soon, I'm sure. It's now the end of the day, around 5.30 pm & we are stopped at the roadside at the moment, waiting for our awesome friend Stacy to meet us and run us the 1.2 miles off trail down to the campsite. Tomorrow, having collected our resupply box from the store there, we'll hit the trail up and around the lake.
Cheers for now..!
RWK.
Out.

The MONDO MAGIC cache..!

Now that's what I called a well stocked & full of choice cache... & that's just the first cooler!

Welcome to Oregon!!

Yes, we have finally made it to our second state... We crossed into Oregon at around 0900 this morning at about the 1700 mile mark. There was some trail magic just beforehand, but unfortunately, the cache was about 3 weeks old and long gone... Bummer. However, 15 miles or so later, we found the cache to end all caches... MONDO MAGIC!!
So Tom & I sat & thoroughly enjoyed a cold soda before heading on towards Ashland, where we will be taking a near-o & a zero, & I will be uploading a full web update for y'all soon!
Cheers!
RWK.
Refreshed.

Mountains in the mist

This was the view we got this morning as we crested a ridge... Awesome!

Cool campsite sunset.

After the wet first day, we have been luckier with the weather & the trail. Our second day started a bit damp but by 10 am we had enough sun that we were back walking in shorts & by lunchtime, we were sat eating with all our gear spread out around us drying out in the suns warm rays.
As we've experienced a few times already, finding a flat spot to camp for the night has been a challenge... The 2nd night took an extra miles of walking & some peering through the pines, but we found a sweet level patch big enough for both of us... Last night though, it was easy with a good saddle giving us both good spots to pitch, & a great view over the mountains, valleys & the sunset... And another bug-free dinner to boot. Sweet!

Cranking the Crags...

It was quite a wet day... We left our resupply & near-o stop of Dunsmuir & were back on the trail by 0900, climbing all the way from 2000 ft up to 6800. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't the best we've had so far and although the first 4 miles or so weren't too bad, as we got higher, we entered the low clouds that were rumbling. Not long after that, the fine mist became a steady rain so lunch was a 20 minute hurried affair under a giant pine before we carried on upwards into more wet.
The views of Castle Crags through the must were pretty cool, and I managed to get a few pix without soaking my camera.
Once we were high up above the tree line, the rain eventually stopped, but the trail was choked with saturated bushes so we actually got even wetter as we pushed through!
After what seemed like an age, tired wet feet pounding along not so fun rocky trails, we crossed the Trinity Divide and began dropping down towards Gumboot Lake where we stopped for the night. Our tents were barely up and taut when it decided to rain on us again, but luckily for only 20 minutes or so.
Sitting down for dinner on our foam sit-pads on a rock each, although everything around us was wet, it was a good feed as the cold wet snap we'd been walking through all day had killed off all the bugs! Thank goodness for small mercies!!
RWK
Out!

Chocolate at the creek...

Here's Tom enjoying his favourite chocolatey treat as we relaxed for lunch at a great cold creek.

Billowing forest fires.

After the previous thunderstorms, the lighting had left it's mark!

The past few days...

After leaving our campsite in Burney Falls SP, we had an easy morning, winding through the pines along wide flat trails. As I mentioned at the time, the smells were great as we hiked through!
The latter part of the morning through into the afternoon was a bit more of a challenge as we crossed Britten Dam and made a good climb up through another very dense pine forest. We stopped for lunch at a nice cold creek before more climbing took us up and out of the pines and onto a bush covered ridge from where we could see for about 40 miles.

The previous nights thunder & lightning had left it's mark, not just with the dampness from the rain, but also with a small forest fire that was sending dense white smoke into the sky. Luckily, it was about 20 miles away & downwind of us, so we pushed on unworried.

The next day however, we could smell smoke a lot closer, & whilst taking a break, saw 2 fire-trucks grinding their gears as they bounced up a rutted logging road nearby. Shortly after, as we were hiking along our trail, 2 firemen in heavy yellow firesuits came towards us from further up the hill. It turned out there'd been another small fire down the side of the hill from us, but it was all out & they were just checking around whilst their colleagues finished some clearing.
It had been a few miles away again, but it was closer. Good to know the fireies were all over it though & were fast to respond. They said the green trees and lack of dry dead wood made it pretty unlikely for it to be hard to handle, & we were fine to hike on & shouldn't be concerned.

Stopping at a rocky outcrop, we had our first good, un-hazy look at Mt Shasta, rising alone and impressive out if the pine covered hills right before us... So multiple pix were taken both on my camera as well as Toms, & on this iPhone!

As we made our way up and around Grizzly Peak, the biggest fire yet was billowing white smoke high into the sky ( pic above this post). We were again glad it was a long way away from us.
Walking further along, we could see the trail was being maintained by a volunteer crew, their tools stacked up here & there along the trail. We walked along enjoying the nice newly-made trail & it wasn't long before we dropped down the other side of the hill & came across all the crew in camp. They were as pleased to see us, as we were them! Over a cold soda & some cookies, we told a few yarns before thanking them kindly, & full of sugar, trucking on down the hill looking for Butcher Knife Creek, & our camp for the night.

Things didn't go quite as planned, mostly due to the (this time) innacurate & vague info in Toms data book. We managed to get water at a small spring, but the main big creek was a few hundred feet off trail, straight down a steep bank. After some GPS consulting followed by some bush-whacking, I found us the only likely area we might fit our tents on. We managed to do so, but they were not the most level, so both of is had a slipping, sliding, somewhat restless nights sleep.

After breaking camp today, we had a pretty good day of it, as posted earlier. The views of Shasta were great again, & after a great lunch a a crisp cold creek, ( Tom & his M&M's pictured in another post above) we soldiered on for another pretty big day of 28 odd miles. Camp was looking to be another unlevel bushwhack, so I had a good look along the trail on the GPS & found what I hoped was a good spot another mile along... & it was perfect. 2 spots, already leveled amongst the pines, right on the trail. So this is where I am now, laying in my tent after a hearty dinner of noodles, cheese & tuna, tapping away on my iPhone.
Time to save this I think, upload it, as I seem to have a good signal ( yee- har!) then upload the other pix for y'all.
Cheers!
RWK.
Out.

Panoramic views of Mt Shasta.

We have made some good miles today, so as we should be in camp plenty early, we decided to stop here on the ridge & just sit & enjoy the view of Mt Shasta. Using the great stitching app in my iPhone, I can recreate the experience for you too... Well, kinda!
Hope you like.
Cheers.
RWK.
Viewing.

Another '14-er'

We got our first really good look at another '14-er' today... Mount Shasta. Pretty impressive as it is by far the largest thing around for miles!

Burney Falls State Park.

GeoTagged, [N40.98204, E121.61793]

What a difference a day makes...
Yesterday, we were getting royally toasted as we dropped down through the volcanic scrub of Lassen State Forest along the Hat Creek Rim Trail... But today, after a spectacular lightning & thunder storm last night, the air is cool and crisp, the forest is quiet, and the smells are amazing. Waves of olefactory nostalgia are washing over me as I try to recollect the memories of when and where I have experinced the smells before... It's awesome! Plus, the trail is wide and smooth, and as opposed to yesterdays dry upper 90's heat, the trekking is easy in this cool 60 F we have now.
We just stopped for second breakfast, and are overlooking a huge lake... In another 3 miles we will hit the falls of the park where maybe we'll have 3rd breakfast!
RWK
Smellin'!

I can almost smell the bacon...

Well, at around 1400 hrs today, we officially crossed the half-way point on the trail! 1325 miles done, 1325 to go.
Going by the data books Tom has, we knew we were roughly going to cross the half-way point sometime in the afternoon, but it was pretty sweet to find a proper marker.

As we have passed various milestones along the way, we have seen some clever ways of indicating the miles: 400 & 500 were both written in pine cones, 900 was big sticks and 1000 nicely done in large stones. My favourite though, was 600. The '6' was made up of a few sticks, but the two '0's were two big fat round dry cow-pats! Classic!!
So now, at roughy 1335 miles done, we are stopped for the night, ensconsed in our tents to avoid the bugs, & waiting to see if the rumbling overhead actually yeilds any rain tonight. We did get a bit of a downpour earlier as we stopped for lunch (lousy timing!), but since then it has been dry. Cooler too, which made the afternoons hike a bit easier.
Ok, time to upload then sleep!
Half-way! Yer-har!!
Cheers.
RWK.
Out.

A great Roadwarriors tradition...

OK, so this post isn't coming from my iPhone, but from my Eee PC... We are in Quincy, taking a planned rest day and I am doing the big web-update and picture/video back-up.

The reason I am "blogging" (ugh!) from the Eee PC is so I can upload a VIDEO clip... something different for a change! And I know it is rough and unedited... if I had my Mac, it'd be Speilberg-worthy... but I don't. Though I will gladly accept a donation of a nice light Macbook Air if anyone wants to send me one... hahaha.

Anyway, since we started our adventures, Tom and I have developed some... well, many, odd habits, sayings and traditions. Quite a few of these have been happily shared and passed on to some of the fellow travelers that we have met along the way, and especially adopted by the friends we have made... Ryan and Spencer in particular.
So, in honour of those 2 cray-zee guys, Tom and I followed one of our favourite traditions of the Throwing of the Rock!
Check it out..

Cheers,
RWK.
Throwin'!

Sierra City rest stop.

Well, we are back on the trail again after an unplanned rest stop in Sierra City.
We intended dropping into town, resupplying, & being back on the trail by lunchtime... But that didn't happen.
2 days after leaving Tahoe, Tom's new shoes had a blow-out... Well, the heel fell off of one of them. So we needed to get back to Reno to swap them out.
As always, our great trail-angel Stacie was there to give us a ride. A 4 hour round trip too, so we really appreciated her help.
Once the shoes were swapped, we got some shopping in the bigger city, then headed back to Sierra City... Well ' city' because lovely as it is, the population is just over 200.

Toms feet have been giving him some of the same sore blister problems I'd been suffering earlier, so we ended up deciding to spend the night camping at the church with some other thru-hikers, as well as provide some patronage to the great store there ( cold sodas... Aaah! ) & the bar, where a damn good BBQ chicken was on the menu.
This morning, feet rested & taped up to Egyptian mummy proportions, Tom & I hit the trail beginning with a 2500 ft climb out of the valley and up to the Sierra Buttes. From there we have mostly enjoyed fairly level ' ridge-running' ( not that we are running..) following the ridge-tops along through the pines.
Stopping for a short break just now, I took a few pix with my iPhone & used a great stitching app to create a panoramic of the view before me... Seeing as i also had a signal, i thought I'd get busy typing this too...So I hope it uploads & displays ok!
Catcha again soon.
RWK
Out.

The climb from Granite Chief.

GeoTagged, [N39.20313, E120.22071]

After a good nights sleep down at 5 Lakes Creek, we made our way up & over Granite Chief, dropped back down to a green valley, and have just made the second climb of the day to Tinkers Knob, & the junction along the Northern Ridge.
The views are great & the trail is pretty smooth, do we hope it keeps up as we head along this afternoon!
Onward!
RWK.
Out.

Ok, so a full signal was no surprise!

Yeah, that's a bloody great cell tower behind me... But still, good to be able to upload stuff for the readers out there...
Well, we are almost done for the day... 23 miles done. The Mosquitos were awful this morning as we packed up camp, & they stayed that way until almost lunchtime. Hiking in a headnet is hard work.., it not only restricts your vision, but I find it harder to breath too, so the morning was a bit rough. Thank goodness the trail was nicely graded and surfaced.
After a nice bug-free lunch by a cold stream, the afternoon was much better with a good breeze and although we had some climbs, they were all smooth & gradual.
Now we are about to drop down about 1000 ft over the next 2 miles to a creek, where we'll make camp for the night...
Catch y'all later!
Cheers.

RWK.

Full 3G signal in the mountains!

As you can see from the screen shot of my iPhone, even up here in the mountains, I have a full signal... So I can post an update! Sweet!!

Ice cold!

Well, whilst we are sat here taking 5 at the top of Dicks Pass, & I have a full phone signal, I might as well upload a few blog entries!
This is me thoroughly enjoying a freshly filtered ice cold mountain stream water bottle of Tang! TANGTASTIC!!
Cheers!
RWK
Hydrated.

Juggling snowballs at Dicks Pass.

What more can I say?

New Tips!

After 700 miles of being driven in & out of the dirt, rocks & sand that made up the trail, my hiking pole tips were somewhat worn down... So whilst we were resupplying in South Lake Tahoe, Tom & I also took a 90 minute drive to Reno in Nevada to get some more gear at the REI there... New pole tips being on my list, ad well as new shoes for us both.
So now we are hiking along in greater ease and comfort than the last weeks efforts...
Sweet!
More to come soon, cell coverage depending!
Cheers...
RWK.

Mountain Lake campsite.

The day was a good one, & although the afternoons climb was quite a slog, especially the last few hundred feet as it got quite steep, once we were over the pass, we dropped back down about 500 ft to a large clear mountain lake, where we have pitched tents for the night. The breeze is nice, but not quite strong enough to blow away the billions of mosquitos that are swarming all around us... We both suited up in head-nets to cook dinner & have now retreated to our tents to rest for a while... Usually by around 2030 to 2100, it gets cold enough that the mozzies all sod off, so once that happens, it'll be a quick bathroom break (find a tree, dig a hole!), then get some sleep.
More to come... Once I get a signal & can upload this anyway!
Cheers.
RWK.

The view from my tent...

Not too shabby, eh?

Donohue Pass.

When the wind doesn't blow, it's quite warm up at here at 11,056 feet!!
We just completed the 3.5 climb from our nights campsite at the pretty but mozzie-infested Rush Creek.
Now we are about to start the long downhill to Tuolumne Meadows... & no, we still don't know for sure how to pronounce the name, but we think it's " Too-ollah-me".
Onward to a cold soda!!
RWK.
Downward.

Many ascents made...

After 6 days out in the mountains, we have made it to Mammoth Lakes.

The past week has been quite the workout... Every day we have had a pass to climb over, often being over a 3000 foot ascent...
( Muir Pass was an 11 mile climb going from the valley bottom at 8000 feet to the pass at 11,900, through a LOT of snow & ice...) but yesterday was the triple-humper!

We left our campsite at around 8500 ft, climbed to 10,000 ft within 5 miles, then in 4 miles, dropped steeply down a series of switchbacks to a creek at 9000 ft, crossed that & began the big climb to Silver Pass, topping out at almost 11,000 ft, 6.5 miles later... Where I took the above pic.
If that wasn't enough, we then had one more climb to do... So over 3 miles, we knee-bustingly went down to 9500 ft, then spent another 3 miles zig-zagging back up to 10,650 ft.
Luckily, as we were almost at the end of our food supplies, our packs weren't as heavy as they had been.
So now we are taking 5 in town, going to resupply & get laundry done, collect the bounce-box, & once I have my Eee PC, I will upload some of the latest pix to the main website journal.
More to come soon...
Cheers!
RWK.

Forester Pass.

Over 13,000 ft... The highest point on the Pacific Crest Trail. Snow, switchbacks & brilliant sunshine... What a climb!!

Surviving the Sierra.

Wow, what a week... Snow, mountains & steep climbs... And the most isolated, amazing scenery. We have certainly had our most challenging but rewarding week yet.

Since we left Kennedy Meadows and began the ascent into the Sierra, we have been crossing decent sized streams and rivers, sometimes so many in a day, we have not bothered to removed our shoes. The water is chilly to say the least, but pretty refreshing! Also, as it is so plentiful, we haven't had to carry much at any given time though, so we have enjoyed that bonus.

Climbing Mount Whitney was a tough day, but incredibly rewarding. At 14,340 odd feet, it is the highest mountain in the lower 48 states. Mt McKinley is the highest in the USA, but that's up in Alaska.
We have had the most amazing weather. Clear blue skies, no wind, upper 20's (celcius)... Perfect!
Whitney was actually a side trip 8 miles off the trail, so although it was our highest climb, it wasn't until we crossed Forester Pass that we reached the highest point on the PCT.
Reaching the pass was quite a mission, as we went from around 9500 feet from our campsite, up to just over 13,000 feet in 12 miles. It involved sloshing through a lot of snow melt & then carefully, gingerly making our way over hundreds of yards of deep snow to the bottom of the switchbacks that took us up the near vertical rockface to the steep pass... Where Spencer took my pic, above.

Coming down to Kings Canyon on the northern side of the pass was even harder as the snowfields were much broader & more softer in places, having us often 'post-hole', sinking up to mid thigh, sometimes up to our waists in the cold, sharp icy snow.
Once we cleared the snow-line & the pine trees got thicker again, the trail got easier to navigate & we dropped back down to under 10,000 feet.
The mozzies at the campsite were swarming thick and fast, so dinner was a hurried affair before we all dived for cover in our tents.

Now, we are resupplying in Bishop, having had to make a steep 9 mile side hike out over Kearsage Pass. Our trail-friend Stacie was kind enough to meet us at the trailhead & run us the 40 more miles to town.
We have gorged ourselves on Taco Bell as usual, and soaked until prune-like in the (damn) hot spa... So we should be ready to get back on the trail tomorrow.
None of us are looking forward to the steep climb to get back to the trail, especially with full packs, but that's just how it's gonna have to be!
We should reach Mammoth Lakes in a week where we will collect our bounce box, and I will update my website. Keep watching for some great pix!!
Cheers...
RWK.
Out.

High in the Sierra.

After our first day hiking up into the Sierra Nevada, we are feeling pretty good.
The trail was well graded for the most part making the climb out of Kennedy Meadows, at 6300 feet to our campsite above Cow Creek at 9160 feet, a pretty nice climb.
Spencer has warped ahead, so we were a little disappointed we didn't get to catch up with him this evening, but Tom & I have had the pleasure of hiking with another trail buddy, Ryan, who is stopping with us tonight.
So far, there have been no bear sightings, but we know they're around... So we have made a point of putting all our food & smell-ables in our bear-proof cannisters, and placing them 100 yards away or so.
So now, even though it'll still be light until almost 9pm, it's 7:45, & time for bed!
We did around 21 miles today, the scenery was great, but tiredness is creeping in.
I expect it to get down to near-freezing tonight, so we are all in our tents for the extra warmth they give..!
Ok... Signing off...

RWK.
Out.

Relaxing in Kennedy Meadows.

Hi all... and Hi to my wonderful 3 followers... Spencer (well, he's sat right next to me at the moment, but...), to Leigh-Ann, Tom's Scuba friend and to Todd, my good bro from Singapore...

Well, we are up at the start of the Sierra Nevada, resting up at the wonderful hikers rest-stop haven that is Tom Figueroa's place up here in Kennedy Meadows.

No pix this time as (not meaning to sound ungrateful) it is a bit of a mission to upload pictures from my camera to this slow PC... and to upload on the slow internet conection. However, having free use of a PC and internet is fantastic, so we are all taking the chance to do some updating.

So after the last post... the lonely highway got less lonely about 20 minutes after I posted, as we (Spencer and I) got a ride back up to Walker Pass from a good guy named Doug Rossback... Once we were up at the pass, we re-stuck out our thumbs and quickly got another ride from there down to the junction at Highway 14, where there were a few roads going off in different directions across the desert.
Just as we were figuring out which road to go and stick our thumbs out on next, a State Trooper pulled up in his shiny black patrol car.
Learning from my past experiences with John Q Law, I turned, waved, smiled, and gave my broadest Aussie "G'Day Mate!"... instant problem-situation avoider!!
He grinned back, and after chatting as to what we were doing, he gave us a ride 15 odd miles up the highway to the junction to Kennedy Meadows road. Sweet!
Blasting up the highway at 100mph in a patrol car complete with Remington 12-gauge shotgun and CAR-15 Armalite Rifle strapped next to us was a blast! If he'd have gone with the lights and sirens too, it'd have been complete!

Karma was still with us too, as no less than 5 minutes after being dropped off by the kind officer (to protect and SERVE..! which he did...) we got our final 30 minute ride up to Kennedy Meadows by a chap called Randy, another hiker, although due to injury he's resting up a bit at the moment.

Pulling in to the General Store we spotted some trail mates, so it was time for more swapping of stories and swilling of cold sodas.
The "Dynamite" couple that is Tom n Tori (TNT... dynamite... geddit?) who we have been seeing along the trail quite a bit, gave us the low-down on where to stay and what to do, and by late afternoon, Spencer and I were comfortably accomodated in Tom F's great hiker haven.

The next morning, whilst waiting to get our laundry in the machine, our Tom came bookin' on in, a good 3 to 5 hours earlier than we expected him!
So after collecting our supplies from the store (they accept postal deliveries for hikers) we have re-sorted some gear, packed food into our new bear cannisters, got stuff ready to send back, and have done our best to rest up.

The weather has been gorgeous, and the smell of the pines everywhere is fantastic. We hear the forecast is for more of the same for the whole week too, so we are pumped for a good weeks hiking through some of the most amazing scenery on the trail.

We will re-supply in about a weeks time in the town of Independance... unfortunately, it is a 9 mile side trail off the PCT to get to a road, and then a 15 mile road walk, (or hopefully a hitch!!), to get to town. It's either that, or we have to carry 12+ days of food to get us to Vermillion Valley Resort, which doesn't have much... but, that's too much to carry.
From Independence I am sure I will have cell-phone coverae, so will update again if I haven't managed to do so sooner.

Until then,
RWK.
Out.

Hitching the dry lonely highway.

GeoTagged, [N35.64276, E118.37820]

Hoping for a ride north-east on highway 178...

A tough decision...

Well, figuring out the whole discretion, valour, & the better part thereof, I had to make a somewhat tough choice and pull off the trail for a couple of days.
My feet were not getting all that much better, and I had even more sore deep blisters that were really hurting. I have since done some web research and it looks like I may also be suffering Tarpal Tunnel Syndrome... Easily summed up by saying a squashed nerve casing severe pain!

Figuring I could live with 'losing' 50 trail miles, especially given that the previous 100 from Mojave had been spent mostly as an exercise in pain tolerance, I didn't feel too bad about taking the break.

Anyone who feels this is not true through-hiking can bite me! Unless you are doing this, or have done this, you would hve no idea how tough it can be, plus I figure walking for the past 3 odd weeks, sucking up a fair amount of foot pain has earned me a few passes!

Tom, who other than a sore shoulder from his pack, is fine. His feet have given him almost no trouble, so he has kept on truckin', and should walk into Kennedy Meadows Sunday lunchtime. Hopefully, i will be there to meet him.

Our trail buddy Spencer was also feeling in need of a bit of a break as well as a shower, so he was waiting at Walker Pass for us, where he and I hitched into Lake Isabella together.

After a good wash and rest in a less than wonderful motel, a good feed at a decent Taco joint & a small resupply at the supermarket, we are now trying to make our way an hour north to Kennedy Meadows.
Finger crossed the good karma we have been trying to keep and spread pays off in return, and we get a ride...
We'll see!
More to come.
Cheers.
RWK.

Mojave.

After 2 days of dry dusty desert walking, we slogged our way up and over another set of mountains to look down on the further vast expanses of sage brush & Joshua tree filled sand, the massive wind farm, and over to the small town of Mojave.

The level ground walking wasn't bad, especially given the unseasonably cool weather we are experiencing, but the soft sandy slopes of the mountain trails made for some tough climbing.

My feet are sore from a few new blisters, but hopefully after the rest here in town, all should be good as we push on north to Kennedy Meadows, and the start of the Sierra Nevada.
Keep watching!
RWK.

Desert view.

We were sat on the trail taking a 5 minute break the other day, & I noticed I had a decent phone signal... So took a pic, typed this post, & uploaded it! We were looking out over the start of the Mojave desert, and looking forward to the soda break we were going to be taking at Hikertown, about 4 more miles later. And hot-damn, that soda was good!!!

Rest day in Agua Dulce

GeoTagged, [N34.49666, E118.34314]

A much-needed rest day was taken here in Agua Dulce today. After arriving at Hiker Heaven yesterday lunchtime, Tom & I got to enjoy the wonderful hospitality of the legendary L-Rod, or Donna, as she is also known. All our clothes were washed & dried to near-new condition before we were kindly driven 30 minutes into a larger town by another Trail Angel, Bill, where we got to do a much needed gear shop at REI.
I'm hoping the new boots I picked up, with some fancy insoles, will prevent the near-crippling agony of collapsed arches I was experiencing for the previous few days.

Today, after a good sleep, we went down the road to the Sweetwater (Agua Dulce) café for a hearty breakfast with our trail-buddy Spencer (AKA Warpzilla). He was due to head out today, but decided he'd miss us too much, so ended up chilling with us the rest of the day, all of us judt sat watching movies in the trailer!!

So now, after a food resupply at the local supermarket, we are all packed up & ready to roll tomorrow at 0700.
More to come from the trail soon...
RWK.
Out.

View over the San Bernadino Valley.

We stopped along the trail for a sunny-spot-break... & it was glorious! The view was great too... After 3 days of unseasonably cold cloudy windy weather, complete with stinging hail, the sun was a very welcolme change.

Big Pine Cones!

GeoTagged, [N34.49666, E118.34314]

Up here in the Angeles Mountains, the pine cones get pretty damn big n heavy!! About 2.5kgs at least.
More updates to follow...

Test upload.

Just the initial test to make sure this works!!