Completed 2 sections: southern California, 700 miles; northern California. 300 miles. To Do: Sierras, Oregon, Washington.
Our second hitch gave us a good tour of the town, as well as recommendation of where to stay. We settled into the Black Forest Lodge, complete with fireplace and more importantly, shower. It only took about three rounds of shower apiece to finally feel like we wouldn't get the white towels dirty while drying [...]
Wow, what a week of wind! We last left off with us leaving behind the idle lifestyle in Idyllwild. We were finally back on trail! Since we were practically restarting as far as conditioning and fitness, we took the shorter access trail to get back to the PCT, rather than the ridiculously steep and longer [...]
It's amazing how you can spend months of planning and thousands of dollars on gear to have a good leg up on your upcoming thru-hike, only to have the whole event compromised by a $30 pair of insoles. Steve's foot perils all began when his standard insoles began to bunch up while hiking. No problem, [...]
Our Easter morning started out as any other day on trail. We'd camped at a lovely flat overlook of the Tule Creek Valley, large enough for our whole family and more. We only had 6 miles until the water cache, with another well maintained water cache 2 miles from there. So our 14 mile day [...]
The fabeled Hiker Feed was indeed an event, but after meeting the trail angel host, Fruit Bowl, we learned the 18th annual dinner was beginning the following afternoon, well after the time we'd be passing the mile marker. Such is life. We had a lovely evening at mile 26 at Boulder Oak Campground for the [...]
First report to you live from the trail! Uncle Kevin & Humberto hosted us for 2 nights at their home in Escondido and saw us off at the Southern terminus at the Mexico border at Campo, CA. It was wonderful to have time to spend with them for the night before we started. Having family [...]
We were about two weeks out from our proposed start date for the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail) and we still had a few things to tidy up. Our plan at that point was to have her father act as our bounce box, shipping us gear as needed. We meticulously went through all our guide gear [...]
I've received a ton of questions as of late, about food. What to eat? Where to buy? How much should it cost? Nutrition is a big part of long-distance hiking - you need that energy to put down big miles. Hiker Hunger is a real thing and it can be devastating to your emotional outlook. [...]
We have researched and purchased the best options for us on the trail. Some new additions to our arsenal are: Zpacks Duomid tent, Thermarest Xlite sleeping pad, Bear Vault 500 bear can, Loco Libre Ghostpepper topquilt, Osprey Exos 58 Pack, SOG Traction Tanto, and a Gerber BG Scout. Some of these items were purchased back [...]
We have made a few new purchases in between Alaska and our potential start date of the PCT (March 20). First, we upgraded our sleep system: sleeping pads and sleeping bags/quilts. I actually dove into YouTube and looked up a few DIY (Do It Yourself) ideas for a summer quilt and made one. We then [...]
The Gypsy Itch - Travel Blog 