The Final Post

Here we go….the FINAL blog!  Appropriately enough, we’re writing this on a laptop while on a flight.  Right back into that #consultantlife – man the transition was quick!  Essentially all of our other posts were penned on our phones (yes, we wrote those behemoth narratives on phones) while hanging out in a dive motel in a trail town, or possibly at the local bar if we were feeling classy.  We’re flying over some mountains right now, and Justin is just about breaking down with sadness that we’re in a metal tube hurtling above them, not walking through them.  Also, last night I booked a work trip to Seattle and the flight time is two hours.  TWO HOURS?!  SF to Seattle is like walking from Yosemite to Snoqualmie Pass.  That's 1,500 trail miles!  That took us over two months!  Two HOURS???!  Modern life is weird.  

Here I am, flying over Mount Shasta.  You remember Mount Shasta... we walked around it for like 400 miles.  Instead, I now zoom over it in 45 seconds. 

So the transition back has been beautiful, awesome, and … awful.  We experienced no mild amount of culture shock upon arriving in Vancouver (I want new clothes so I’m not wearing my long underwear everywhere…but I am overwhelmed by how many options are available…and everything seems so expensive…but everyone else seems so happy in this store…why are they so happy?....why are there no trees?....ok just sell me these jeans and get me out of here….ack this street is so busy….).  Fortunately, this got a bit better once we got to Seattle, where we stayed with friends Barb and Russel (and adorable Izzy!), and then Portland where the good folks of the Westin took care of us.  And then WAY better once we started our road trip down the Oregon coast.  We moved back into the tent, camping at state parks and beaches.  Except we had a car and a cooler!  That meant, we were camping, but with delicious Oregon pinot and cheese straight from the Tillamook factory (which we visited and was awesome).   

 

But enough about the post-trail experience.  You’re here to read about what we learned and how we grew!  Right?  Well, the upshot is: we’re still figuring it out.  But in the meantime, here is a series of lists, because they are fun. 

Most windy night, you may be asking?  Right here.  The fact that the tent is not getting ripped out of the ground is a minor miracle... This is the second spot we tried, the wind was far too vicious at the first spot to not have the tent fly away!

 Editor’s note: this is the first, and only, time that we’re co-writing a blog post.  And by co-writing, I mean that Justin and I will take shifts working on this same post.  We apologize if the fluid narration is confusing.  But now, on to the lists! 

THINGS WE DISCUSSED WHILE HIKING

We ran out of interesting, pithy conversation topics somewhere around May.  Then what to do?  Well, we drew out any new material for as long as humanly possible (Justin: You know what I was just thinking about?  Jenny: Wait, don’t tell me!  Let me guess!  Does it have to do with food?....).  We listened to different podcasts and re-told them to each other.  We listened to the same podcast and used that as a launch pad for a conversation.  We retold the plots of bad movies we saw on TV in town (I love doing this, Justin less so).  We embraced silence (Justin is more OK with this one).  We talked endlessly about food.  And a lot of the time, we discussed really inane things that we probably would never talk about in our normal day-to-day life.  Here’s a small sampling of (non-food) things we discussed while hiking.  These are all from the same 24-hour period, when we wrote these down because, well, we knew we’d be writing this blog eventually:

1.  What is the best cafeteria food you’ve ever had at a school?  (Jenny: Colonial Club at Princeton.  Justin: Stanford in Washington – his “semester abroad”).  Note, this was not a simple Q&A situation.  We discussed all the options, then narrowed in on our top 2-3, then finally each picked one and justified why.  It took at least 2 hours. 

2.  The history of renovations our parents have done on their homes (yes, we actually discussed the details of Carol and Bruce re-doing the bathroom at 710 Broadway and the saga of picking out the perfect backsplash as Sharon and Dave overhauled the kitchen at 3709). 

3.  The backstory of a very nice couple we met who gave us sodas.  All we knew was their names and that they lived in Oakland.  But we imagined that she works in fundraising at a museum, while he’s a lawyer working downtown.  We guessed that they’d met at UC Berkeley, though they were originally Midwesterners.  We supposed that they’d just bought a house in East Oakland, in a gentrifying area.  We actually ran into them again and ran our theories by them.  Unsurprisingly, we were pretty far off.  She works in the music industry, he’s a landscape architect.  He did go to UC Berkeley though! 

4.  Names we would give a dog one day.  We tried to think of trail-inspired names for a future pup.  Here’s what we came up with.  Campo (the border town where the hike starts), Spikes (as in microspikes, which keep us safe on snow and ice), Sarge (short for Kearsarge, a mountain pass in Kings Canyon), Milkshake (because we were always thinking about milkshakes), Miles (as in the thing we thought about nonstop), Cascade (you know, like the mountain range).  Now … don’t steal any of our awesome dog names!

As you can see, we went pretty deep.  Just imagine – this is just in 24 hours!  We talked about innumerable other inane things over the course of 5 months.    

Some highlights from the first 100 miles:

Leaving the Bay on a train!  Thanks for driving us to the train station, Matthew!

At the Southern Terminus.  Trail Angel Barney "Scout" Frank made us take a kissing picture after this.  I won't subject you to that level of cheese.

The first of many, many, many cheese with sriracha and raspberry jam wraps. 

I told the woman at the first hotel (Julian, mile 77) that we didn't need to do laundry, we'd just rinse our socks out in the sink.  Maybe we should have done laundry.....

Our first big milestone... Mile 100!

 

TRAIL METAPHORS FOR REAL LIFE

There are a lot of life lessons on the trail – small experiences or habits that translate broadly into our non-trail life.  We developed a little language around some of these:

1.  Dragging the poles.  Rather than using your trekking poles to propel yourself forward, you’re dragging them behind you.  This means you’re sad or feeling otherwise defeated.  Maybe the trail is hard.  Maybe your beloved hiking partner just teased you.  Maybe you just remembered that you accidentally forgot an amazing snack in your hotel fridge.  Dragging the poles is an appropriate response in all of these situations and more.  Front country usage: “Oh man, the restaurant that we were so excited to try tonight is closed.  I’m dragging my poles.” 

2.  Waking up on the wrong side of the sleeping pad.  This is just a cute way of saying “waking up on the wrong side of the bed.”  And we all know what that means.  What we don’t often experience though is having your partner wake up on the wrong side of the bed/sleeping pad and then spending all day within 3 feet of you, often without an easy way to reset their mood.  Those days can be tough

3.  Night hiking.  You rarely plan to night hike.  It’s always just a series of mishaps that leads to hiking in the dark.  Maybe you didn’t leave town as early as you’d planned.  Maybe you got to the campsite where you’d planned to camp and it was full of hikers or really exposed or otherwise out of commission.  Maybe you thought there’d be a campsite at the trail junction ahead, but there wasn’t.  Maybe your husband didn’t realize that stream 8 miles back was the last water source for a while and is insisting that he doesn’t have enough water, so you have to night hike all the way into Crater Lake National Park before you can get any more water (not pointing any fingers).  It’s not really your fault, but it’s still a sucky situation. Front country usage: Yeesh, I have to work late tonight.  Nothing specific exactly happened, I’m just … night hiking.   

Night hiking around Crater Lake.... A decision I cannot recommend. 

4.  It’s a resupply.  Resupplies are an annoyingly complex, detail-oriented, time-consuming, decision-heavy affair.  You get to town after hiking 120 miles north (and hitchhiking another 20 east or west to the nearest town) and all you want to do is drink a beer, eat 3 pizzas, and watch the Food Network from a hotel that was last updated in 1984.  But instead, you have to do a resupply.  You need to pick up your box at the post office, inventory what you sent yourself, then look at the section ahead, determine exactly how much time it’s going to take you, try to anticipate what food you’ll want and how much of it, sort through your box, repackage some of it, offer some of the prime leftovers to friends, then go to the grocery store/gas station/hiker box to try to augment the rest.  Also, it’s not just food.  You have to think about batteries, sunblock, purell, insect repellent, toilet paper, advil, and any other consumables you might anticipate needing.  Did I mention that all you want to do is eat pizza from a reclined position?  This is a resupply.  Front country usage: Ooof, we’ve got to finish moving out of our storage unit next weekend.  Total resupply day.  

This is what a resupply looks like.... or at least one stage of it

But sometimes it's great, like when you find the dehydrated leftovers from Lindsay and Neerav's taco night, which was held sometime maybe in January

 5.  Cutting a switchback.  The PCT carves its way up and down mountains through an endless series of switchbacks.  In fact, someone posted a hilarious/relevant meme on the PCT Facebook page a few months ago that read “I’ve got 99 problems…and switchbacks are literally all of them.”  Sometimes, it’s tempting to “cut a switchback” – to just bomb down a hill, rather than walking to the end of each individual switchback.  This violates the principles of leave no trace (one of the dictums is “travel and camp on durable surfaces” – aka, stay on the trail).   Front country usage: In doing this tedious analysis, I’m really tempted to cut a switchback.  But I’ll do it right. 

6.  I’m on strike.  This is the angrier version of dragging the poles.  You demonstrate that you’re on strike by raising a fist in the air, with the elbow at a 90 degree angle.  You can be on strike for all sorts of reasons: the trail dead-ends into a difficult stream crossing that wasn’t even on the map, your hiking partner announces that he thinks we should walk another 8 miles before camping even though there’s a beautiful spot right here, you find out that your hiking partner ate all the Swedish Fish and she isn’t even remorseful (these situations have definitely never, ever happened).  Front country usage:  Seriously, you told our friends we’d meet them for breakfast at 8:30 am on Saturday?!  I’m on strike. 

7.  Big Miles.  Big Miles, as explained in previous blogs, are when you start to post, well, large numbers of miles per day.  Big Miles used to be 22-25 for us.  By Oregon/Washington, we’d consider anything north of 30 to be Big Miles.  Front country usage:  Woah, you wrote all those wedding thank you notes today?  Yeah, it’s a Big Miles kind of day.     

8.  PUDS.  PUDS are “Pointless Ups and Downs.”  PUDS are everywhere on the PCT.  It’s not a PUD if you go through a mountain pass or if you get an epic view.  But if you climb for miles and miles, only to start descending at some seemingly random point with no payoff – well, that’s a PUD.  Front country usage:  Hey, are you reworking those slides again?  Yeah, total PUD.  

 

Eagle Rock...aptly named

This trail angel heard I liked pineapple, so he gave me a GIANT spoon of it.  You can see him straight chillin' in the background.  Not a bad life. 

One million trillion thank yous to the trail angels who stock water caches in the desert!

First snow!  While ascending up San Jacinto, second tallest mountain in Southern California

A San Jacinto still life.  If memory serves, that the classic wrap with the addition of avocado. 

That time we bombed it down 9,000 feet of elevation down Fuller Ridge while trying to escape some very ominous clouds.  #crushedit #kneeshurtsobad

Nothing says party like a beer from a stranger under a highway.

BOOKS WE READ: JEN

One of the best parts of the trail is not having internet.  Seriously, it’s amazing.  We read SO MUCH!  Here’s the list with the 1-sentence reviews. 

Modern Romance (Aziz Ansari and Eric Kline) – Funny, insightful, don’t need to read the whole book to get the point.

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves (Karen Joy Fowler) – Wonderful and complex story of a family who raised a girl and a chimp as twins.  Highly recommend. 

Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy) – Just kidding.  I didn’t read this.  But I’ve been meaning to for 15 years. 

Yellow Crocus (Laila Ibrahim) – Paints an overly charmed story about a black nurse and her child mistress in the era of slavery.  Be very wary of any book whose review uses the phrases “overly charmed” and “the era of slavery” in the same sentence. 

Becoming Odyssa (Jennifer Pharr Davis) – Appalachian Trail memoir written by a one-time speed record holder.  It was a lot of fun to read about another thru hike, I have to say. 

The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey (Rinker Buck) – A story of two men who travel the Oregon trail in a covered wagon … in 2016.  Personally, I loved it.  Be prepared to learn a lot about mules. 

Waiter Rant (Steve Dublanica) – Behind the scenes memoir of working in the restaurant industry.  Fascinating new perspective on how food gets on our plates. 

Purity (Jonathan Franzen) – Absolutely loved it, though nothing can come close to 2001’s The Corrections. 

Eight Hundred Grapes (Laura Dave) – This was “Sweet Home Alabama,” but set in Sonoma County. 

Perfect Match (Jodi Picoult) – What thru hike is complete without a Jodi Picoult page-turner to get you through a boring section? 

The Run of His Life: The People vs. OJ Simpson (Jeffrey Toobin) – I only got halfway through this, then got interrupted by the wedding.  Hoping to finish it.  The one disappointment is its 1996 publication, so it lacks some hindsight and perspective. 

The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace (Jeff Hobbs) – A memoir of a black Yale graduate who grew up in Newark, NJ.  Life is complicated, and Robert Peace’s life illustrates that. 

For the Right Reasons (Sean Lowe) – Yes, I read the memoir of a former contestant on The Bachelor.  What can I say, I love that show.

Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End (Atul Gowande) – Probably my favorite book of the summer.  A must read, if you haven’t yet. 

I didn’t Come Here to Make Friends (Courtney Robertson) – Yes, then I read a second memoir from a contestant on The Bachelor.  This one is juicier. 

When Breath Becomes Air (Paul Kalanithi) – Beautiful little book by a Stanford neurosurgeon who passed away from cancer.  Grapples with many of the same issues as “Being Mortal,” but in his own life.  Should a man who loves his job but is dying of cancer apply for a fellowship?  Should he try to have a child with his wife?  Get those tissues ready. 

A Head Full of Ghosts (Paul Tremblay) – This was the book that I accidentally read, which turned out to be about an exorcism.  Don’t recommend. 

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith) – A childhood favorite, an adult favorite.  1912 Brooklyn, what a place!

A Little Princess (Frances Hodgson Burnett) – Also part of my “reliving the childhood classics” phase.  A delightful little read, if depressing on a social mobility front. 

The Underground Railroad (Colson Whitehead) – Another favorite book of the summer, and something that feels like a must-read.  Gripping page turner, searing social commentary.  

Big Bear Lake... first wet scene in the desert

A little standard desert footcare - lots of threading, popping, and peeling

My favorite of the desert critters: the HORNY TOAD

Homemade tacos and beer at the most incredible trail magic provided by San Diego hiking club, the Outdoor Adventurers!

That time I ate four consecutive cans of mandarin oranges while sitting on the floor of a hotel last updated sometime before my birth.  This kind of encapsulates everything about "town."

Snowy sunrise climb up Mount Baden Powell

Golden hour, the greatest

BOOKS WE READ: JUSTIN

Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS (Joby Warrick) – Incisive and well-written account of Zarqawi and the rise of ISIS by a Washington Post reporter. Incredibly topical and easy to read.

The King of California: JG Boswell and the Making of a Secret American Empire (Mark Araz and Rick Wartzman) – Admittedly this one won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but it tells an important story of the creation of the largest cotton empire in the world right here in California. It’s a combination of business history, biography, social and environmental history and political commentary.

Shantaram (Gregory David Roberts) – I’d been meaning to read this one for a while. It’s an unbelievably fascinating and surprisingly earnest tale.

Red Sparrow (Jason Matthews) – An entertaining spy novel that makes great reading on a mountain pass.

The Book of Jonah (Joshua Max Feldman) – A novel about a young, non-observant Jew in New York who ends up torn about love, professional success and his place in the world after a vision. Get ready for some anxiety.

The Sheltering Sky (Paul Bowles) – Somehow I’d never read this while traveling in Morocco or Tunisia, but walking through 700 miles of desert in California felt like the right time. It’s a tough book. It’s not uplifting or fun. It’s at once a tale of tourists traveling around North Africa near the end of WWII, and a larger moral journey about civilization and the desert. Yes, it’s deep, dark, scary and reminiscent of Camus and Gide.

Natural Born Heroes (Christopher McDougall) – Interesting book that jumps back and forth between tales of Greek resistance fighters during WWII and natural fitness practices embraced by our ancestors. I found the story of the Greek resistance compelling, even if I’m not about to start bounding over buildings in downtown SF… yet.   

The Name of the Wind (Patrick Rothfuss) – A highly engrossing coming of age story about a magician. If you like Game of Thrones or Harry Potter, you like me will likely find yourself happily reading while taking the 

bus the extra-long way around Big Bear Lake

The Wise Man’s Fear (Patrick Rothfuss) – The second book in this trilogy began to get a little weird for me, but it was still entertaining.

Comfort Me with Apples (Ruth Reichl) – Wonderful memoir of life and love as a restaurant critic in Berkeley in the late 70s and 80s.

The New Jim Crow (Michelle Alexander) – This should be required reading for all adult Americans. This is a searing indictment of the criminal justice system in historical context that we would be remiss to ignore. 

 

Always worth wandering for another 5 minutes to find the truly epic campsite.  We had a great sunset from this cozy little desert spot

Sometimes, you just really need cell reception for a minute

Lemonade doing his break-time thing

The scene in the backyard of the Sauffley's house - unbelievable trail angel generosity

The Sauffley's "mail room"

And then, 24 miles later, the other amazing trail angels... the Andersons!

After the Anderson's, you cross the Mojave Floor, complete with one million windmills.  It's one of the most memorable parts of the first 700 miles. 

 

PODCASTS: JEN

Many people have asked us for our podcast recommendations.  And man, do we have them!  Nothing earth shattering here, but perhaps some new gems.  I’ll put them in rough order of preference.  Keep in mind – this is preference for a long-distance hike.  The podcasts I’d want to listen to while on a run around the city or while boarding a flight might be different.  

NPR Politics – Our favorite.  Kept us up to date on everything about the election, in a humorous and extremely well-produced way.  Ron Elving is a national treasure. 

Invisibilia – The best storytelling and most incredible insights.  I liked Season 2 even better than Season 1. 

Reply All – PJ and Alex, though I still can’t tell their voices apart, have awesome chemistry and senses of humor. 

This American Life – The original. 

Serial – Season 2, also great! 

Radiolab – Some episodes are a bit too science-y for me, but on the whole, they’re compelling and beautifully produced.

The Run-Up – Great political analysis from the NYT in the (wait for it) “run-up” to the election. 

Another Round – Wonderful podcast hosted by two charismatic women that focuses on race, gender, pop culture, and more.  Some incredible guests (Hillary Clinton, Lin-Manuel Miranda, etc). 

Modern Love – My favorite part is the second half, where we get the update on the stories. 

Sampler – Totally pleasant listening while the miles slip away. 

StartUp – Gimlet’s original

Embedded – A new one from NPR, that goes “behind the stories.”  I’m still thinking about the one on opioid addiction in Indiana. 

State of the Re:Union – This radio show was cancelled, but all the episodes still exist online in podcast form. Kind of like This American Life, but each episode focuses on a different community in America.  

Here to Make Friends – This is a podcast that recaps episodes of The Bachelor, with a fairly strong feminist bent.  Did I mention my love for this show? 

StoryCorps – Get those tissues out. 

Politically Re-Active – Sassy take on the news.  Guests can be a mixed bag. 

99% Invisible – Short episodes, nominally about design.  Very well done. 

The Longest Shortest Time – All about parenthood, but in a way even non-parents can relate.  The four-part series “The Accidental Gay Parents” is quite compelling.  

Planet Money – One of my faves in the front country, but not as good for backpacking (episodes are too short).  I’d saved something like 50 back episodes, but didn’t end up getting through too many. 

Revisionist History – Want to hear Malcolm Gladwell go on some clever and provocative rants?  This is the place. 

Freakonomics Radio – If the topic of the episode looks interesting, it will be time well-spent.  If it looks boring, it will be. 

Surprisingly Awesome – Surprisingly not high on my list, though I enjoy it in the front country. 

The Dirtbag Diaries – All about outdoor adventures.  Some of the stories are engaging and really well produced, others less so. 

Hidden Brain – Great behavioral economics podcast, but not a perfect fit for hiking. 

The New Yorker Radio Hour – Some stories within each episode are great, but there’s a wide range.  Kind of similar to, I don’t know, reading the New Yorker cover to cover. 

Code Switch – NPR’s podcast all about issues of race in America.  I love the premise of this podcast, and the description of each episode sounded fantastic.  However, I often found the stories to be a bit under-produced and/or lacking in depth. 

Science Vs. – The host is incredibly charismatic, but I always get the feeling she’s talking to a few friends and not necessarily doing the most in-depth survey of available research. 

Still Processing – New culture podcast from NYTimes.  Some topics are really interesting, others less so. 

Savage Lovecast – Don’t listen to this one with your Mom.  Unless she’s super cool. 

Song Exploder – When it’s about a song you know, it’s awesome.   

Fresh Air – Terri Gross is the boss.  Especially with interesting guests. 

FiveThirtyEight Elections – At the beginning of the hike, this was one of my favorites.  Then, I realized NPR Politics covers the same content, but with dramatically better hosts/production. 

Happier with Gretchen Rubin – Great podcast for regular life.  This one frustrated me on the trail though because it’s full of tips and tricks, most of which weren’t applicable to hikers.  It made me want to go home and clean my closets. 

Sounds of the Trail – New podcast all about thru hiking.  Relevant to thru hikers, not much else. 

Sometimes, the mosquitoes were real bad.  Occasionally, we'd cover ourselves with deet, wear mosquito nets, and still have to dive into our tent at the end of the night and eat bars from inside our tent because it was too mosquito-y to even cook in the vestibule. 

North of Tehachapi, the wildflowers were bonkers. 

The Pineapple Express burger at Kennedy Meadows.  Very few foods can satisfy you quite as much as a veggie burger with grilled onions, grilled pineapple, and cheese...after walking 700 miles to get it. 

Kennedy Meadows.  In 2014, I declared I loved this place so much, I'd spend my honeymoon here.  In 2016, I did.  Prophecy?  Hell yes. 

A stomach bug zipped through the hiker community at Kennedy Meadows and I was totally knocked out for a day.  Unfortunately, we still had to hike 22 miles that day.  It was s-l-o-w going, because all I wanted to do was this.  Also, I like how tan/dusty my legs are in this picture, especially relative to the rest of my body. 

Then Timmy/Breakfast Sandwich joined the hike for 100 miles!

Bighorn Sheep plateau, one of my favorite spots!

Bighorn Sheep plateau

Sometimes, it's good to set up the tent from a seated position

PODCASTS: JUSTIN

My order was fairly similar to Jenny’s with a few additions:

Radiolab’s More Perfect – Super cool new podcast series about the US Supreme Court.

Politico’s 2016 Nerdcast – As advertised, it’s nerdy and delightful. NPR Politics gets the edge for being better polished, but if you have time this one gets a little deeper into the numbers and tactics.

The Axe Files with David Axelrod – Obama’s strategist interviewing political figures from Jon Stewart to Mitt Romney.

The Ezra Klein Show – Political journalist wunderkind going deep on policy and issues with political figures.

Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History – Three or four hour podcasts on historical periods. It’s great for long, long walks or runs.

Breakfast Sando crossing the extremely terrifying snowfield at the top of Forester Pass.  We were so glad to have ice axes, I cannot thank Barrel Roll enough for mailing us his!

At the top of Forester Pass and trying to look hard. 

Glissading down!

The Giant Beard: Who Wore it Best?  (answer: John Muir)

Great sky, great hang. 

Then we got to Bishop and ordered EVERYTHING

MUSIC

We made a few playlists on Spotify during our trip: KM or Bust (for the first 700 miles), Reception – Mellow and Reception – Dance Dance (created for our wedding, these lasted for most of the trail), and What’s another 650 miles? (made for the last 650 miles of the trail). You can listen on Spotify if you’re interested.

Song of the summer

“Ophelia” by the Lumineers

KM or Bust Highlights

“Sorry” by Justin Bieber

“The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” by the Band

“One More Time” by Daft Punk

“I Took A Pill In Ibiza” by Mike Posner

“Roses” by The Chainsmokers

Reception – Mellow Highlights

“Girl from the North Country” by Bob Dylan

“Fire and the Flood” by Vance Joy

“Lost in My Mind” by The Head and the Heart

“Truckin’” by the Grateful Dead

“Cold is the Night” by the Oh Hellos

Reception – Dance Dance Highlights

“Ignition (Remix)” by R. Kelly

“For Once In My Life” by Stevie Wonder

“Timber” by Pitbull (it’s our song – true romance)

“Chop my Money” by P-Square

 “The Nights” by Avicii

What’s another 650 miles? Highlights

“Big Country” by Edgar Meyer

“Fanfare for the Common Man” by Aaron Copland (great to listen to while admiring the beauty of America’s National Parks)

“Fool in the Rain” by Led Zepplin

“Sinnerman” by Nina Simone

“As We Enter” by Nas & Damian Marley

“Classic Man” by Jidenna

We also got REALLY into Barack Obama’s Summer 2016 playlist, which is available on Spotify (“Obama’s Summer Playlist”) – highly recommend checking this one out!

Bishop Pass (I think? They all are epic and beautiful and similar looking after a while)

One of the more badass pictures from the summer

The Sierra made me super sleepy - I took so many naps!  Altitude?  Waking up at 5 am every day to go over the a pass before the snow got melty?  Hard to say, but there was a nap almost every afternoon.  In this one, I'm using the lid of the bear canister as an eye mask.  It's an obvious choice. 

One of my favorite campsites of the hike!  It snowed a ton while we were in the town of Bishop, and we couldn't find a dry place to set up our (decidedly 3-season) tent that night.  After looking for a while (and losing the trail in deep snow several times!), we finally found this little notch in a tree where we were protected and dry!  #thecoziest

Justin eating chili cheese bread from Schaat's Bakery in the cozy tent night!

Whenever we talk about "cooking in the vestibule, this is what that looked like.

Justin at the top of Muir Pass!  Not as steep/dramatic as some, but rather marked by miles and miles of snowfields in either direction.  And that awesome hut at the top!

BEST TOWNS

Trail towns are a unique thing.  You want them to be a lot of things: compact enough that you can walk everywhere, big enough that they have an actual sized grocery store, close enough to the trail so that you don’t have to hitch super-far, far enough from the trail so that you get cell service, charming enough that you feel like you’re on a mini-vacation, cheap enough that you can afford to spend the night at a hotel.  With those criteria in mind, we now share our favorite trail towns!

Southern California: Idyllwild.  Adorable little town, extremely walkable, boasts both a natural foods store and a standard grocery store.  Plenty of cute “cabin” type places to stay, all for less than $100/night.  Sweet mountains right outside of town, felt like we were in the Northern Sierra.  LA people – you should check it out!  Also, home to the 2012 winning statue of the “World’s Best Use of Gorilla Glue” contest – it’s a statue of an eagle, bear, mountain lion, and other woodland creatures, all held together via Gorilla Glue.  

Central California: Bishop.  No question.  Ever since I (Jenny) got stranded in Bishop for 3 days back in 2005 while waiting for a car repair while on a road trip with Breakfast Sandwich, Kyle, and Brent, I’ve loved this town.  You’ve got the highest peaks in the South Sierra looming over you, you’ve got the saloon, you’ve got the train museum, you’ve got the brewery, you’ve got the original Schaat’s bakery.  What more could you want?!

Northern California: Sierra City.  Not much here, except for a lot of love and good memories from our wedding!  Oh, and some good old fashioned Gold Rush charm.

Now is as good time as any to throw in a few wedding photos:

At Sardine Lake

Hikertrash at the wedding!  We were so happy that Amber, Adam, Skywalker, and Boy Drogo could join the big weekend!!  Also, big love to Shaggerty for lending Skywalker an outfit. 

The greatest night!

Here's my wedding pedicure like two days after getting back on trail. That was fast. 

And now back to trail towns...

Oregon: Ashland.  Compact, epic food co-op, great culture (annual summer Shakespeare festival), wonderful outdoors stores, and delicious smoothies and veggie Reuben’s at Ruby’s Café.  This was the first “real” town we hit after our wedding, so we also treated ourselves to a nice night in a hotel and a massage.   Perhaps that is why our memories are so fond. 

Washington: Skykomish.  Only 90 minutes from Seattle is a tiny mountain town with a set of train tracks right through the middle, one adorable bar that serves no vegetarian food, and one tiny, charming hotel.  Everyone there is the friendliest, there’s an old west vibe, and both times we’ve been there, the sun has been shining bright.  It’s the Pacific Northwest equivalent of Sierra City, and we don’t quite know why, but we love it. 

BEST HITCHES

Hitchhiking is a part of trail life.  There’s no way around it – to resupply, you have to get to a town, and towns are often 10-50 miles from the trail.  It can be a little scary, but it can also turn into some great memories.  Here are our four favorite hitches from the hike:

1.  Julian to trail.  The guy who picked us up did so because if he went straight home, he’d have to do laundry.  Anyone who drives out of their way with smelly strangers to avoid laundry gets my vote.  

2.  Trail to Tehachapi.  A small, new car pulled over and waved us up.  As we put our belongings into the trunk, we realized it was a rental car and looked with wide-eyes at each other.  The majority of hitches are local folks – folks in old, beat up trucks who have been picking up hikers for decades.  Getting into a rental car felt weird, and possibly off.  We poked our heads in the car and quickly sized the guy up, seemed nice enough.  Once we started driving and chatting with him, we learned that he’s a big backpacker from Denver, here in the Mojave area for his work in … consulting.  He’s not scary, he’s just like us!  We ended up meeting up with him again that night for a beer. 

3.  Trail to Lee Vining.  Not a necessary trip, but we desperately wanted to get to Lee Vining (at the Eastern entrance to Yosemite) for lunch at the famous Whoa Nellie Deli.  We tried to hitch for 90 minutes with little success.  All these supposedly outdoorsy people in their Subarus and Patagonia gear just whizzed right by us (for the record, if you drive by hitchhiking backpackers in a National Park without stopping, you need to return your “outdoorsy” card).  But then, Mark in an epically-outfitted van stopped by.  His van had storage space for his surfboards, bikes, a kegerator, a murphy bed, and lord knows what else.  It was the coolest vehicle I’ve ever been in.  We spent the entire ride asking him how he’d outfitted it.  Jerry Moxley, take note.    

Lemonade trying, unsuccessfully, to get a hitch in Yosemite.  Hey you Prius full of supposedly outdoorsy people from the Bay Area.... pick up a hitch, would'ya?

Marc and his dope van to the rescue!

 4.  Lee Vining to Trail.  Probably our favorite hitch of the whole trip.  Two 19-year olds from New Jersey who drove to California on a dare.  It was their first time out of the Eastern Time Zone and they were LOVING IT.  They’d made their way cross country sleeping in their car in WalMart parking lots and were simply dazzled by everything in the West.  It was a blast to be in the car with them and seeing Yosemite through their eyes.  We gave them $20 for pizza and they were overjoyed… but really, their joy was infectious and still makes us smile.  Best $20 we ever spent. 

PLACES WE’D RETURN TO

I’m not going to include a bunch of description here, because it would essentially be “beautiful, epic views, awesome terrain.”  But these are all places that we’d love to go camping with you.  Let’s plan a trip!

Southern California: Mount San Jacinto, Tehachapi to Kennedy Meadows (in late May to see all the desert wildflowers).

  

Central California: All of it.  But especially: Kings Canyon, Emigrant Wilderness, Tuolumne Meadows, and Desolation Wilderness.  Also Tahoe National Forest between Barker Pass and Donner Pass.  

 

Northern California: Marble Mountain Wilderness, Russian Wilderness, and the Trinity Alps.

Oregon: Sisters, around Timberline Lodge (ok fine, we really just want an excuse to drink Moscow Mules at the Lodge again), Eagle Creek (not technically on the PCT, but unbelievably lush and beautiful).

Washington: Goats Rocks Wilderness, Mount Rainier National Park, the Goldmyer Alternate (difficult trail but incredible payoff, especially Lake Ivanhoe), Lake Chelan, North Cascades National Park (the PCT section is actually not super-scenic, but the rest of the park is supposed to be), and the section of trail north of Rainy Pass (just perfect perfect perfect).

Hardest sections

The two most physically challenging sections were: Tuolumne (Yosemite) to Sonora Pass and Skykomish to Stehekin.  The first one was a surprise to us.  We’d done that section before and didn’t remember it being notably hard.  And we’d already come through all the highest passes of the Sierra – once we got to Yosemite, we figured it would be smooth sailing as far as dealing with snow, ice axes, route finding, all that jazz.  We were wrong.  There was still tons of snow on the ground – or worse, a mix of snow and mud.  The hikers ahead of us clearly found it equally difficult, as their footprints dispersed in any number of directions, making route-finding even more challenging.  There were endless roaring streams that required taking off our shoes and putting them back on and huge flooded meadows that we had to navigate.  And perhaps most difficult of all was our mindset: we just weren’t prepared for this section to be so tough, and so had set some ambitious goals (25+ mile days).  Feeling like we couldn’t hit those goals was emotionally hard.  We were pretty demoralized.  When we look back on this section, we call it “Bad Yosemite.”  Never would we have guessed that there’d be a bad Yosemite.  But there is.  

Good Yosemite!

Good Yosemite!

Good Yosemite!

Medium Yosemite!  (at least there's a log.. usually these were freezing cold fords!)

Bad Yosemite!  (fall to the left - break your leg in that big crack.  fall to the right - get swept away in that rushing snowmelt creek)

Bad Yosemite!  (that creek?  That's the trail). 

The second section wasn’t a surprise – we knew this section of screaming ascents and descents would be challenging.  Going up 8,000 feet (and then back down another 8,000 feet) in a single day is tough.   But by Northern Washington, you know what else was tough?  US.  We crushed it.   

Most annoying sections

The honor here goes to Central Oregon, around Elk Lake.  Hundreds of blow-downs (Justin counted, it was north of 400 in a 24-hour period), mosquitos everywhere (walking in a headnet is annoying – it filters the light weird and you bump into things), hot temperatures, and no views.  When I find myself missing the trail desperately in my daily life, I just try to channel this section. 

Hottest times on the trail

Here is a picture of Justin stress eating a pound of gummy life savers because he was so hot.  This was somewhere south of Seiad Valley in far Northern California.  I can attest to the fact: it was hot.  Like north of 100 degrees every day hot.  It was pretty hot sometimes in the desert too, but I think Northern California was when we were least happy about it. 

Justin having a heat meltdown

THE FOOD SECTION

Walking up and down mountains entails burning almost endless calories. The PCT 2016 Facebook page is currently littered with before and after pictures of people losing tons of body weight and amongst the gents gaining tons of hair. (Yes, there is an extremely active group that feels like one part excitement and community, one part exceedingly judgmental former thruhikers who excoriate nearly everything, and one part really helpful information about what lays ahead.) It is impossible to overstate how much we craved, dreamed about, and delighted in food and drink over this adventure. Food provided structure to our days, fuel to our bodies and motivation to our minds. This section is a set of lists of some of our favorites.

Foods we craved that still sound delicious

In hot weather:

1. I had a powerful craving for lemonade and citrus that never went away, hence my trail name: Lemonade. I had a mint lemonade with crushed ice in Agua Dulce that remains my platonic ideal of lemonade on a hot day.

2. Sushi. Fresh raw fish, crunchy cucumber, cooling ginger. Sushi never sounded bad, even when it was. Vancouver delivered wonderful sushi at the end of the hike.

3. Arugula salads maintained a prize of place in our minds throughout the desert. Arugula salad with: watermelon, feta and mint; strawberries, goat cheese and balsamic; garlic, lemon and olive oil; grilled peaches, buratta, and balsamic. You get the picture. We talked a lot about arugula. 

In cold weather:

1. Butter. There hit a point in Washington when we realized that all the food we were talking about was really a vehicle for butter.

2. Creamy cheeses. We nearly always had cheese with us, especially in cold weather, but almost never had any soft, creamy cheeses, which probably wouldn’t survive the hike (or be found in town). Imagine a day where you wake up in a cold, misty cloud, walk 16 miles climbing 5,000 feet to a ridgeline and voila Cowgirl Creamery Red Hawk on fresh-baked bread for lunch. This is what a normal backpacking trip could look like… with substantially easier miles.

3. Avocado. We packed out avocados from time to time. Generally, we did this when we knew we’d hit a trashcan within the first day or two of a section. They were amazing. We often ate them sliced into our classic lunch of wraps with cheese and sauce packet, or simply with a spoon after sprinkling some spices on top.

4. Hearty soups and stews. When it was cold and we were regularly burning 6,000 or more calories a day, nothing sounded better to us than huge pots filled with our favorite soups and stews: Garlicky tomato, white bean and kale soup. Trumpet mushroom cioppino. Carrot ginger. Corn chowder. Veselka’s mushroom barley soup. Chili. Alex Blair’s black beans.

Foods we craved that no longer sound so delicious

1. Maple donuts. No trip to a grocery store or gas station was complete without thoroughly raiding their baked goods section (hence Jenny’s trailname, Bear Claw). We would often buy 2-4 donuts each, not including the one we’d eat while shopping. While we may have eaten a box of Voodoo donuts in Portland, it’s less a necessity and more an early trip to the grave these days.

2. Soda. While we may have each gotten a coke slurplee at a 711 en route to Muir Beach recently, our love of soda has almost completely disappeared. In hot weather, a cooler filled with sodas on the side of the trail would send us into ecstasy. We haven’t had a soda since we got off trail.

3. Cheesecake Factory. One night in Skykomish Jenny waxed reverently about the wonders of the enormous portions at the Cheesecake Factory of her adolescence. Recently, she had the opportunity to eat at one in Seattle for dinner while there for work. First of all, eating by yourself at a Cheesecake Factory on a work day is always a sad situation. Second, the portions don’t make up for the quality when you’re not hiking 30 miles a day and running a 5,000 calorie deficiency. However, if anyone’s up for a reprise of the pre-prom excursion to the Cheesecake Factory, Jenny’s all in.

4. Deep fried cheese, in any form. Delightful on the trail, disgusting off of it. Jenny realized this one day on the Oregon coast when she didn’t finish her deep fried cheese curds. (I did.)

5. Milkshakes. On the trail we wanted milkshakes all the time. We’d get them whenever we could. Cold, caloric, deliciousness. Honestly, we’d probably get them all the time now too if we could. Unfortunately, we cannot justify them in our normal lives, and certainly not at the frequency we’d have wished we could have them on the trail.  One time Jenny, who is not known for her financial splurges, willingly spent $9 on a milkshake.  That’s saying something.  

Sometimes I dropped my cheese in the dirt.  I always ate it, because #leavenotrace.  Also, what has Ashwin taught me if not to love dirty cheese?

After a certain point, we always carried a bag of chips out of town in our backpacks.  Sometimes, we each carried one.  Sometimes, a bag of popcorn too.  What can I say, we we had hiker hunger!

A classic BearClaw and Lemonade selection of cheese.  You're not officially hiking the PCT if you're not eating Tillamook. 

They called me BearClaw for a reason.  These are from the Ashland Grocery co-op...straight out of Portlandia. 

The hiker gourmet treat "cheese in avocado with red pepper flakes"

After a while, I tired of tortillas and we temporarily moved to crackers as our base.  Also, please note how dirty my hands were.  That was pretty standard in certain sections. 

Restaurants we talked about non-stop

(you’ll notice an Asian theme…. It wasn’t a day of hiking if we didn’t spend at least 10 minutes talking about Asian food)

1. House of Pancakes. A hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurant in the Sunset, House of Pancakes specializes in scallion pancakes and hand-pulled noodles. Ian first took me here years ago when he lived in SF, and it’s been a favorite of mine for a while. Jenny had never been, but that didn’t stop me from talking about it for 2,650 miles. We went there for one of our first meals back, and ordered nearly everything on the menu. Jenny says that it was her favorite Chinese food, ever.

2. Nom Wah Tea Parlor. A lovingly renovated tea parlor and original dim sum spot in New York City, Nom Wah has been a favorite of my parents for the last decade. (Their favorite dim sum spots typically last 5-10 years.) Sunday dim sum was a core part of my upbringing, and I missed it horribly on the trail. Unsurprisingly trail towns do not do dim sum particularly well.

3. Rua. A Vietnamese food truck in Portland where Jenny ate 3 consecutive meals in Portland a few years ago. Banh mi with an iced Vietnamese coffee. Nothing better.

4. Caffe Fiore. A neighborhood staple between Noe and the Mission in SF, this was a favorite of Jenny’s for breakfast with Dre and just a general go to. She missed the food, but more so the ritual of a cup of tea with a friend. 

5. Ethiopian food. Yeah, I know, it’s not a restaurant. But still, we craved Ethiopian hard during the summer. Anyone interested in exploring the Ethiopian restaurant scene in the Bay Area, we are in. Special ful. Tibs. Lots of tej.

Favorite snacks

Bobos oat bars. Jenny discovered them in a crunchy natural food store in Mt. Shasta, fell in love and bought them whenever she could from there on out.

Trader Joe’s sweet and spicy pecans. These are a delicious calorie-bomb we discovered a few years ago that we began including in all of our resupply boxes.  Perfect snack at 5 pm when you still have 10 miles to go. 

Barnanas.  A late addition to the trail repertoire.  Jay sent us these in a box in Skykomish.  We inhaled them and have been looking for a reliable source ever since.  Jenny’s favorite are the coconut Barnanas.  Justin favors the chocolate. 

GU.  Ok, we ate so many Gu packets on the trail, we consider ourselves Gu experts.  We’ve eaten all the flavors, we know all the cute sayings on the bottom, we understand exactly how much energy a Gu will give us and how many miles it will translate into.  We never tired of Gu.  I might want to go work for them.  Gu, are you hiring? 

SPK – Sour Patch Kids.  A complete treat that we never tired of.  Perfect to eat while walking, savoring every juicy bite.  Sometimes you eat one color at a time, sometimes you just pop in a handful.   

Somewhere north of Yosemite, where we started doing Big Miles for the first time

Can't go past a sign without reading it in all it's depth.  Signs build community! 

At Donner Pass

Justin doing an interview with the New York Times wedding section from an RV park about 200 miles north of Tahoe.  Note hikertrash lounging in background. 

"Help!"

Justin getting eaten by the trail

I took so many variations on this picture by accident over the course of the summer, typically as I was trying to check how many more miles until dinner. 

Running from the rain as we approached the California/Oregon border

 

Made it to the Oregon border!  Yeah!

Those legs propelled me to walk the length of California!  Now, on to Oregon!

THE GEAR SECTION

Gear favorites

We were lucky to love our gear from 2014, and kept most of it in place this time around.

Jenny’s:

1.  Buff. A magical piece of fabric that does overtime as a headband, bandana, handkerchief, hat, and so much more.   Most importantly, the Buff functions to keep all the wispy hair off your face.  And then, when it’s insanely hot outside, dipping your Buff into a cold, mountain stream and then putting it back on as a headband… the best.  When it’s cold, you pull it down over you ears to stay warmer.  It’s perfect for cleaning smudged sunglasses.  There is nothing it can’t do. 
2. Windshirt. We both have Marmot Ether Dryclime Hoodies, and it’s simply the best layer for staying warm while you’re hiking.
3. Down jacket. My old Patagonia down sweater went by the wayside heading into the Sierras, and I replaced it with a Mountain Hardwear Ghost Whisperer Down Hooded Jacket. At 8oz this puppy kept me warm at night without adding much weight. Also, I freaking loved the hood.  And I loved that it made me look like a gnome because obviously I bought the sale color and that happened to be seafoam green. 
4. Big, warm down mittens. I love these. They keep me warm. They are otherwise completely impractical. But damn if I wasn’t glad to have them when the temperature plummeted after Bishop in the Sierra.
5. Crocs. Super lightweight off-brand Crocs, doubled as comfy camp shoes that worked well with socks or allowed my feet to air out, and excellent stream crossing footwear.
6. Sleep socks. As I may have mentioned, my feet destroy socks very quickly. This made sleep socks a priority: dry, clean, full of warmth, getting into my sleep socks was a favorite part of every day.  

   

   Like I said.... I was hard on socks.  This would start happening a few days after breaking in a new pair.  I'd also punch through the toes. 

7. Lexan spoon. Why not? Spoons are the best. My Lexan spoon is indestructible, and can always be found in the same spot (something Justin cannot say… he is king of “have you seen my spoon?”). Good thing I carry two, because it’s impossible to say where Justin’s was at any point in time.

 Justin’s:

1. Osprey Exos 58 Backpack – Lightweight, sexy, shoulder straps have pockets for stashing snacks so you never, ever have to stop. Jenny is partial to the older model that has helpful pockets on the front for organizing your stuff.  Perhaps this is why she could always find her spoon. 
2. Merrill Mid Moab Ventilators – These are all I ever hike in these days. Each pair lasted me about 900 trail miles, though with Superfeet you can get even more miles out of them.
3. My knife – super sharp, light and exceedingly well designed, this bad boy cut cheese for 2,658 miles and remains good as new. Thank you Tim Albinson for this epic piece of gear.

 

Gaiters, with some tag alongs

The amazing lunch at "Le Bistro" where trail friends from 2014 surprised us with a multi-course meal and champagne in celebration of our wedding! 

Hell yes we're drinking Arizona Ice Tea tall boys...  It's like it's 1994 and we just got paid our allowance.  

Lunch nap with gatorade bottles and cheese.  Note we've both elevated our feet - we were so abusive to them throughout the day, whenever we stopped we had to elevate them pretty quick. 

Scenes from a 7-11 - Slurpee and chocolate milk time!

Learnings about each other

No matter how much you think you know someone, when you hike together for 2,658 miles over 4.5 months, you learn some things about each other.

A few things I learned about Jenny:

“Buy the fuel.” This originated in Washington, where we weren’t sure we’d be able to find fuel (compressed gas canisters for our JetBoil) at our resupply spots in the north of the state.  Jenny didn’t want us to run out of fuel and be stuck eating cold food for the last few sections of the hike.  While understandable on its face, given that the vast majority of hikers carry compressed gas for their hikes, I was pretty confident we’d be fine.  Nonetheless, it wasn’t worth Jenny angsting about whether or not we’d find fuel.  So, I bought extra fuel for us to carry.  Even though there was plenty of fuel at our resupply spots, we were still right to have just bought the fuel.  “Buying the fuel” has wider application to our normal lives from booking flights early to bringing a layer.  Just take care of your business, so you can relax and enjoy. 

She hates being cold and wet.  Jenny was made for the desert with its dry heat.  When the temperature drops, she better have some warm layers ASAP.  End of day stream crossings do not figure high on her list of fun things to do.  Neither does walking through a frigid morning rain storm.  You can pretty much count on her becoming nonverbal.  It’s not personal.  She just doesn’t like being cold and wet.  Needless to say, surfing in San Francisco is not a high priority.

Her energy falls off a cliff around 7pm.  It’s not just that Jenny is a morning person, she’s also just not a night person.  Her hiking speed will start to decrease slowly starting around 6 or 7pm nightly almost without fail.  This is no mistake.  It’s clockwork.  Plan accordingly.

Foot rubs make everything better.  Even after a 32 mile day through rain and over blown downs that ended after dark in a makeshift campsite, Jenny always becomes a happy camper with a little foot rub. The simple things in life.

And a few things I learned about Justin:

Keep the humors in balance.  Justin is a simple man.  To be happy, he merely needs the right ratio of caffeine, dumplings, attention, and chocolate.  We started calling these his “humors,” straight out of ancient medicine.  Once I figured out his humors, our days got a lot easier.  Get a snappy response from Justin?  Tick through the humors and make sure he’s gotten enough of each.  Dumplings was a tough one on trail. 

I think we can make this work.  Give me a minute.  We had a long conversation with Matthew while off-trail for the wedding about our “house words.”  Apparently this is a Game of Thrones reference?  I’ve never seen the show, so I don’t know.  Anyway, we determined Justin’s house words are “I think we can make this work.  Give me a minute.”  He’s an inveterate tinkerer and an incredible optimist.  This applies to everything from my broken trekking poles (which he fixed without the benefit of a screwdriver) to figuring out how to fly us to New Zealand for free using a patchwork of airline miles.  He can make it work.  He just needs a minute. 

Stuffing the sleeping bag.  As has been previously covered on this blog, Justin is not much of a morning person.  My responsibility is to wake up first, to get out of my sleeping bag, get my hiking clothes on, and then start stuffing my sleeping bag.  When Justin hears the stuffing happening, he knows he has no more “snoozing time” left – it’s time to get going (in large part because the mornings were always cold and once I was out of my sleeping bag, we had to hustle to start walking so we didn’t freeze).  Now I just need to find the equivalent of the “you actually have to get up now” mechanism in the front country….

Stopping in the sun.  Sometimes we’d hit a beautiful view and I wanted to take a picture.  Sometimes I’d be really thirsty and want some water.  Sometimes, I’d need to tie my shoe.  Those are all reasonable things, but I learned to not stop until Justin was under a tree.  Stopping in the sun on a hot (or even merely warm) day is something that quickly brings Lemonade to a meltdown.  This was a tough one to apply in the desert. 

Going through Tunnel Falls

Tunnel Falls

The Korean Film crew!  They have the only known video footage of our wedding.

Mount Rainier!

Cispus Pass before Goat Rocks

Two of the 5 pairs of shoes I went through during the hike.  Lemonade went through 3. 

The best toilet of the hike.  Just look at 'er!  That view!  That lid!  That design!

Thanks for the care package, Mom!

If it's a silty river, you know you're in Washington!

The Five Dollar Foot Log!

Riding the Stehekin Bus with Toe Touch.  We are so excited because we're almost to the STEHEKIN BAKERY!

Riding back on the Stehekin bus with a weekender who had the same pack as me... man, my pack has seen some better days!

The big takeaway

As Jenny would say, “nature is the bomb.com.” For two stereotypical city kids, we sure do love the mountains. They bring us peace, tranquility, joy, and wonder.  Our days are infinitely better when we can get outside, even if only for a run through the city – and especially if we get to fully immerse ourselves in nature.  We’re also pretty committed to keeping nature around, and to that front, we welcome you to join us in donating to any of our favorites:

Pacific Crest Trail Association: https://www.pcta.org/donate/#donate

Nature Conservancy: http://www.nature.org/membership-giving/donation/

Sierra Club: https://vault.sierraclub.org/ways-to-give/

National Parks Foundation: https://www.nationalparks.org/support

Huge, huge, huge thanks to everyone who helped support this journey – from sending us a package to a well-timed email to a funny comment on an Instagram post – you all kept our spirits high, our bellies full, and our feet moving.  We are so lucky to be surrounded by such wonderful family and friends – something we realize now more than ever.  You’re the best!

And to close out, some beautiful pictures of the last 50 miles and our arrival at the Northern Terminus!

Starting to hike on our last day on the trail!  This is before it started pouring. 

Getting to the Northern Terminus!  Photo credit: Big Bear

#awwww

We did it!  2,658 miles from Mexico to Canada!