snow on the hood!

howdy from ptown!  i'm here just briefly, getting out of a snow storm on mt hood and getting rescued and swooped away with six-toed and jellybean from the scary out of doors by our favorite seamus.  recently got out of a different storm near breitenbush and met my parents for an amazing few days of hot springs and good food.  short end of the story is that oregon is rainy and buggy and i can't wait for a good run of sunny days.  also...my knee is sore and needs a rest because i was doing too many miles and tripped a few times.  but on the incredibly good side of things, pterodactyl caught me!  and although she is now back on the trail hiking to cascade locks, with luck i shall catch her and our friend kelsey tomorrow or the next day.

we have only one month of hiking, and i just hope the weather holds out, and our sleeping bags don't get soaked, and my knee feels dandy, and we will be in Canada so soon!  and please come find us.  we've been dillydallying, so we can't take long breaks, but some breaks and picnics are good.  and if you call our voicemails and say you want to meet up, we can give you our friends phone numbers and mooch off of them and try to call you from the trail.  

see you soon!!

spaceman of the spiff

Yeah, Meet us Soon!

So, I know there are sooooo many of you clambering to come see Spiff and I in Washington, and I highly suggest you pull out a nice big road map, and check out all of these places you could potentailly meet us that my Dad so wonderfully wrote down for yall. What he did not highlight, however, is how VERY close the I-90 crossing is to Seattle. Perhaps 60-90 minutes drive from the middle of the big city.

NOTE: The PCT crosses I-90 at Snoqualmie Pass, which is a 60-90 minute drive from Seattle. This is the easiest place for all you city folk to see us in all our trail glory.

Now that that is clear, I should also mention how very close Steven's Pass is to Seattle. Again, maybe an hour and a half to two hour drive from Seattle. Very close. And these passes are only 75 trail miles apart from eachother, so you could come visit us at Snoqualmie Pass and then three days later come find us at Steven's Pass. Sounds like a lot of fun, eh?

So. About this timing thing. We are DRASTICALLY behind schedule. I'm not too worried about snow yet, but it has been cold the last few nights in Oregon. Currently, I am planning on hitting Cascade Locks on September 2nd. Spiff might be there before me, but hopefully we'll be together again by then. All dates will be moved back accordingly. I'll try to update the itinerary, but I'm running short on computer time at the Sisters Library.

Ways to meet Sye and Alex as they hike in Washington

Sooo, Sye and Alex are coming to Washington!! Alex asked me to write up a few places you can meet them as they hike the PCT. She will post more information on when they will be at these spots.

These ideas that range from easy (drive to meet them) to challenging (hike with them):

A. Easy ways to meet them

There are five easy and close places to meet Sye and Alex along a road:

1. Highway 12 at White Pass (PCT mile 2303) – White Pass is beautiful, and you can combine this with a berry picking outing. Heck, you probably can fall out of the car at White Pass and find good berry spots.

2. Highway 410 at Chinook Pass (PCT mile 2332) – This is east of Mt. Rainier and close to Crystal Mountain Ski Resort. Combine this with a visit to Mt. Rainier National Park, or just drive down for the day. It is about a 3-hour drive from Seattle. Oh, and ditto that line about berry picking.

3. Interstate 90 at Snoqualmie Pass (PCT mile 2402) – It’s Snoqualmie Pass. Need I say anything (except you have to hike or drive a bit to find good berries)?

4. Highway 2 at Stevens Pass (PCT mile 2476) – Everybody knows Stevens Pass.

5. Highway 20 at Rainy Pass (PCT mile 2594) – The North Cascades Highway is a tourist destination all by itself. But by this time of year the tourist buses should be gone and the fall colors should be out. About a 3-hour drive from Seattle.


B. Sort of easy ways to meet them

1. The PCT crosses a lot of logging roads. If you want to meet Sye and Alex along a remote logging road, let me know and I can offer some suggestions.

2. You also can camp overnight close to where they will be hiking. Campgrounds that might be attractive include the White River campground at Mt. Rainier National Park and the Lake Wenatchee Campground near Stevens Pass. Especially up by Lake Wenatchee, there are places you can meet them as they pass by trailheads to interesting day trips.


C. Challenging ways to spend time with them

You can hike with Sye and Alex for a few miles. Here are a few ideas. These are all really nice day hikes.

1. Sand Lake: Join them at White Pass on Hwy 12 and hike north 2.8 miles to Sand Lake. Say goodbye to them and hike back to the car (5.6 miles round trip).

2. Dewey Lake: Drive to Chinook Pass on Hwy 410 and hike south 3.2 miles to Dewey Lake, to meet Sye and Alex as they hike north. Then hike with them north back to your car at Chinook Pass (6.4 miles round trip.)

3. Ridge Lake: Join them at Snoqualmie Pass and hike north about 6 miles to Ridge Lake. Say goodbye and return to Snoqualmie Pass (12 miles round trip).

4. Hope, Mig, and Josephine Lakes: Hike 1.6 miles up trail #1061 (near Stevens Pass) to intersect the PCT at Hope Lake. Meet Sye and Alex there, and hike with them for 8 miles past Mig and Josephine Lakes to Stevens Pass (10 miles loop trip). You will need a ride back to your car (about 4 miles down from Stevens Pass along Hwy 2).

5. Valhalla Lake: Join them at Stevens Pass and hike north 5 miles to Valhalla Lake. Say goodbye and return to Stevens Pass (10 miles round trip.) Or, if you want, go an extra couple miles to Janus Lake. You will be tempted to keep going north as the crest trail really does follow the top of a gorgeous crest north of Janus Lake.

6. Cutthroat Pass: Join them at Rainy Pass on Highway 20 and hike north 3.6 miles to Cutthroat Pass. No lakes (although you look down on one), but high and open country surrounded by rugged peaks. (7.2 miles round trip.)

This is just the tip of the iceberg. There are many, many other hiking opportunities if you are willing to meet them at other spots. I list these because they start or end where the PCT intersects a major highway. If you want more information please email me at jon@pscs.org.

i love oregon, and i love new outfits

yes, i too have made it to oregon! and i was fortunate to hike the last 4 days with seamus into oregon. (he, by the way, has hiked probably 80 miles over the past 5 days. that, for a hiker or not, is very impressive). now i'm getting ready to fly through oregon so i can take it easy in WA and beat the snow. i'll send more if i get the chance. and here are our outfits!

OREGON!

We did it folks. We hiked ALL off California. All 1,699 miles of it. Fires and bees and endless stretches without lakes could not stop us!

Actually, I should not be using "we." I made it. I have no idea if Spiff made it. He's back there somewhere on the trail with Shoe, and they were "taking their time."

Anyhow. OREGON!!!! I'm soooooo excited! I was convinced that I was going to break my leg or head or something right before the border and have to be helicoptered out and then I would never be able to say I'd hiked all of California. Of course I could still break something and leave the trail but at least I'll be able to say I hiked from some arbitrary political boundray to another arbitrary political boundray. YAY!

And let me tell ya, Oregon is lovely. On one side of the border there were bees chasing us and cows mucking up our water supplies, and brush obscuring the trail, and then we crossed over and there were no cows (okay, there were footprints) and no bees (perhaps because it was 7pm at night) and the trail was newly cleared. And there was NO SMOKE! It's sunny and clear and beautiful here and I love Oregon. Now I'm going to see how fast I can blast through it. I'm thinking 426 miles in 15 or 16 days. Washington here I come! Who's gonna meet me there, huh?

Dear everyone -- here is the latest blog entry from the great adventurous duo of Alex and Sye, typed by their faithful friend Alison. The little scribbles on pieces of onion paper came accompanied by a beautiful picture of these two grinning like eejits above a lovely rockfall. Below is from Spiff/Sye [some cap letters snuck in, but those are me, not Sye].

7/8/08
I think it's been a very long time since I wrote anything for the blog...have I told you about the Sierras? Ah yes, I mentioned our visitors. How bout the stream crossings? Those were one of my favorite parts of the high Sierras. We have such minimal route finding on the trail, so stream crossings are the biggest mental puzzle so far, and I loved them. Looking for the best rocks to hop across, hoping that gap isn't too big, with several feet of rushing water thundering underneath. Often we had logs and sometimes we just broke down and took off the shoes. Sometimes our pants on the deep ones. And in the mornings especially, that water was ice cold. Numbing. The guide book mentioned several times that 'with one slip this crossing would be fatal." I don't think that was really true this year. A slip would only mean soggy gear and a cold day or night.

7/15/08
The moon is SO bright here (well, has been this entire time), and I swear it's brighter than in the northwest, but I have no idea why. Sure makes nightwalking east, and I can almost read by it, and it definitely wakes me up at night.
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Although I haven't spent nearly as much time studying mosquitoes as I have ants, I have noticed a thing or two. And while my bite tolerance has improved (I often don't find evidence of bites) they are still *extremely* annoying. This is the most mosquitoes I think I've been around, though Jon got to see the worst of it. While I'm not a fan of killing bugs, these ones are very satisfying and easy) to squash. But I haven't found any method to their location. I thought maybe they were bad at 9000 feet, but now we're at 6000 and they're still here. And they disappeared completely for a few days, but tonight they came back. The only reason I can figure for that one is that they're spooked by Donner Pass. Yes, of the Donner Party. We passed it today, and no mosquitoes the entire day before, or for a few miles after. hmm.
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7/25/08 Just past Old Station
Hiking with a sixpack of people just doesn't do much good for my writing. There's people around constantly while hiking, eating, sleeping -- we might have to instigate a quiet time in this crew, right before story time, so we can read and write. But I'm not complaining about the people. We've hiked with others before -- Doug in the desert, Tex and Karen in the desert and snow, shaken'bake and lo-rider in towns, jellybean often [not sure about this word], vic, nick, and mr. potatohead through the sierras. But this crew has a name. That says a lot, doesn't it? As well as a call. And it's certainly the first time I've felt really at ease on the trail. So while we may hike a little slower with so many people, and write less, maybe even sleep less, it's certainly worth it. And I definitely can't give up story time -- books at bed and this american life podcasts while filing asleep is just too good to be true. And the fact that I can say -- the 80 mile road walk was great! -- doesn't just happen any old day.
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Tonight, we hiked up the first part of the half creek rim, and where Mt. Shasta was supposed to be, we saw thick white smoke. I was told we'd be looking at Shasta for a month -- we shall see if we see the mountain at all!

new outfits, roadwalks, and bees

well, i have tried very hard to post a few pictures, but perhaps this computer won't do it. so you'll just have to imagine our new outfits: a flouncy bright orange/pink skirt for the pteradactyl underneath a turquoise lacey short backless lingere dress. and for spiff, a metallic silver and light pink one piece that we don't know the use of. half swimsuit, half football suit. and a pink and brown tie.

since we're heading out on our second long road walk, we thought we needed to spice it up a bit. and the etna thrift shop has it all (except what i expressly went there looking for). we'll try to give you a visual soon.

this road walk will be partly supported by jellybean's support team (a friend in a truck), and we'll head to seiad valley on the road to be there by thursday. and sooo soon...we will be in ashland oregon.

still hiking with parts of the six pack. missing a few key members, but we're holding it together. i did a few days of solo hiking out of castella, and boy was it different that hiking with a dramatic six-pack. the quiet, the one-person decision making, the secluded solo lake swimming, the long stints of reading by the lake...i'll probably have to do more of that in oregon. but the six-pack caught me after a few days, and a bee sting, and i'm sure glad to have the company for the road walk.

yes, i did get stung by a bee! don't know what kind or why because it came out of no where, but guess what? no hives, no excessive swelling, no swollen neck, armpits or scalps. immuno-therapy must really work because all that happened was a bit of local swelling. so i stopped hiking for the day, jumped in a lake, took a little benadryl, and walked 28 miles the next day. not bad, eh? my epi-pen is complete, unused, and very happy.