Washington Pictures

Here are some of Vince's pictures from Washington and Canada. Enjoy!

Huckleberries and blueberries (red)
Border (and PCT trailmarker)!
Knee-deep snow (okay, he's standing in ankle-deep snow, but it was knee-deep in other places)
Sleeping with lots of snow

Oh Canada!

Canadian Border! It ended up taking me exactly 5 months to hike 2,650 miles from Mexico to Canada, and what an amazing adventure it was! I ended the trip in quite a memorable and dramatic way: hiking through an early season snow storm in the northern Cascades. For the last 100 miles of my journey the temperature never rose above freezing, even during the middle of the day, and my bottle of olive oil remained in solid form the entire time. When I left Stehekin is was raining lightly, and that night the rain froze on my tent. I ended up hiking with 3 other people for the last week, and we ended up camping only a few hundred feet below the snow line. The following day I hiked through 4 inches of snow and had an absolute blast, although running shoes didn't do the best job of keeping the feet warm and dry . . .

A few nights later we basically had to stay awake all night long while camping, knocking the snow off our tents every 20 minutes or so. We all had tarp tents, which utilize a hiking pole as the only tent pole. Needless to say, not meant for snow storms! By morning we found ourselves in a winter wonderland. A few people that I was hiking with didn't have much experience with the snow, and it was great to see how excited they were to play around. While it was ridiculously cold, we all kept in excellent spirits, despite the frozen toes and fingers. As we climbed up a bit in elevation the snow kept getting deeper and deeper, and we ended up having to hike through knee-deep snow for quite a few miles. And all in running shoes! That day none of us sat down even once as it was too chilly to stop, and my lunch consisted entirely of snickers bars. I hope its years before I have to eat another Snickers bar!!! That night I had to deal with some minor frostbite on my toes - felt like pins and needles all night long as they thawed out in my sleeping bag. In the morning I had to bang the insoles to my shoes on a tree to get the ice off of them, and I could barely tie my shoes as the laces were frozen solid. Apparently the same storm dumped more snow a little further south. Hikers just a week or two behind me had to turn around and abruptly end their trip as they encountered chest deep snow and no sign of the trail. I had originally planned on finishing a week or two later than I did - I'm definitely glad that I put in so many 30+ mile days near the end of my trip.

The last day we had only a few miles to go to get to the Canadian border. When we arrived there was seemingly non-stop hooting and hollering, of course complete with drinking celebratory beers (at 9 am!) that some generous people had left there for such an occasion. It was fantastic to have completed the journey that I started 5 months ago, so so so long ago. I feel very lucky to have finished, and it was great to spend time at the border with my friends Monologue, Shadow, and O'dark.

From the border we hiked 8 miles to Manning Provincial Park in Canada, where I happily reunited with Monica and her puppy Toby! We went and joined some other hikers for lunch. I had an appetizer of chicken wings, an enormous bacon cheeseburger with avocado and sauteed onions and mushrooms, a large order of sweet potato fries, and molten lava cake for desert! And of course a few more beers . . .

Now its time to readjust to life in the real world. Despite being able to eat hot food whenever I like and sit on my sofa and watch movies (and hang out with Monica!), I'm incredibly restless. Seems strange not to get up and hike 25 miles, just another "day in the office." Luckily southwest Montana has been blessed with some great early-season snow, and I've been lucky enough to spend the last few days snowboarding in 3 feet of powder!!! Come to think of it, it was snowing on the day when I left in May, and it was snowing in October when I returned.

In summary, the PCT has been an incredible experience, and I feel lucky that I was able to successfully complete such an epic journey. I've always loved the Peace Corps slogan: "The toughest job you will ever love." I believe it applies perfectly to my hike. 20-30 mile days, countless blisters, tons of mosquitoes, freezing water bottles, and 100 degree temps. And I would do it all over again in a heartbeat! I got to see such an amazing array of scenery, from deserts covered with wild flowers, to snow covered passes and dense rain forests. I believe I went through 9 pairs of shoes and over 35 pairs of socks! While the scenery was spectacular, my favorite part of the trip was meeting so many incredible people from so many different walks of life. What an incredible adventure! Thanks to everyone for their support and keeping tuned in, its been a lot of fun to write about it (when I could find internet). And of course many thanks to Monica for keeping me resupplied, and baking me countless loafs of banana bread, chocolate chip cookies, and brownies! Please feel free to contact me anytime at vince.pct@gmail.com. Until my next adventure . . .
A few really cool facts (from pcta.org):

The PCT passes through 3 states (CA, OR, and WA), climbs nearly 60 major mountain passes, descends into 19 major canyons, and goes by more than 1,000 lakes and tarns. It also goes through 3 national monuments, 7 national parks, 24 national forests, and 33 wilderness areas. It passes the 3 deepest lakes in the country: Lake Tahoe, Crater Lake, and Lake Chelan, and goes within a few miles of Mt. Whitney (which most hikers opt to climb).

The highest point is over 13,000' at Forester Pass in the Sierras, and the longest waterless stretch is 35.5 miles, north of Tehachapi, CA.

AND fewer people have thru-hiked the PCT than have climbed Mt. Everest (this one really blew me away!)

Home Stretch!

Vince made it to Stehekin yesterday - a little town that has only one public (satellite) phone and no cell phone service. Cool idea... at least for a vacation. Anyway, he's in the "home stretch" of sorts, but I guess there are good chances for snow the next several days. So, here's to hoping that won't hamper him. He's hiking with a few others - Miles "O'Dark" who I met around Lake Tahoe and a girl (tail)named "Monologue" - so that's good. :)

Anyway, last town before he gets to the border (woo hoo!). It's been a pleasure managing Vince's blog. Be sure to check back for more pictures and more posts on here to come though! Thanks for reading!

Pictures from Oregon are Up

I just uploaded approx 160 of the 500+ photos from Oregon. Here are a few of 'em - visit the Photobucket site for more. Enjoy!

Monica


Brothers

Crater Lake

Almost There!

So I'm half way through Washington now, and only have ~250 miles to go! Washington has been really fun so far - huckleberries are out in full force, so I've spent a lot of time trying to make up for my lack of fresh fruit. Compared to Oregon, Washington has a lot of elevation change, and is relatively slow going. As a headlight is needed by 8 pm at the latest, I've started getting up at 5 am so I have enough time to put in 25 miles by the end of the day. Makes for some really chilly mornings, but the sunrise definitely makes it very worthwhile, and the early morning is such a great time to hike. So far I've had pretty good luck with weather, with only 2 unpleasant days so far. I unfortunately had to hike over "the knife's edge" in the Goat Rocks Wilderness, known as one of the sketchiest sections of the PCT, in a complete whiteout with high winds, which was pretty scary. 15 feet visibility at best. For you Bozmanites, very similar to the Bridger Ridge, but much more narrow and exposed. Today I woke up to rain and had to hike all day in the freezing cold wind. Luckily I ended up at Snoqualmie Pass, and I took advantage of my last opportunity for a hotel. Definitely nice to dry out, and they're calling for sun all week, so I'm excited to head back out. One thing that has really motivated to hike through unpleasant weather is that I see so many locals out hiking at the same time. All seem to make the comment that the bad weather is well worth the amazing scenery. I definitely agree! Coming up is the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, which sounds like heaven to me . . .

Movin' on Up

Vince called from White Pass, WA today. "Only" about 350 more miles left - YAY! He's been doing about 25 mi/day in the Cascades. He said he's had an exciting time the past week -- lots of steep elevation changes have left him worn out... which says a lot for someone who has been hiking almost every day of the past 4 months... And yesterday he hiked through a foggy "white-out" of sorts on a sketchy part of the trail - pretty steep. He also had a run-in with a bee's nest which left him with a couple stings and a lot of nervousness (very luckily no allergic reaction though!). But alas, he got into White Pass today and had a good meal of greasy food and got his resupply boxes, which he had needed as he was out of food by this point.

I also received more pictures from him, which I will post to the Photobucket page in the near future... there are a lot to sift through there, as it's all of Oregon, so it might take me a bit. But for now, thanks for reading and have a great day!

Vince's progress map (click to enlarge) :

One More State!

At the Washington border! Crazy to think that I only have a little over 500 miles to go. Oregon was a really fun state to hike through. It was unbelievably hot for the first week, with temps over 100 degrees. But it soon cooled down, and the terrain was really mellow (smooth trail, no rocks), so very fun to hike. My bother Daniel and his buddy Adam came out and hiked with me for 5 days near Bend. Despite bad blisters, they both seemed to have a great time overall. The scenery was spectacular, and evidence of volcanic activity was everywhere. We even got to hike through some massive lava fields, which made for one of my favorite days of my hike thus far.

Compared to the rest of the trail, Oregon is very flat, so I was able to put in some big mileage days. Twice I hiked nearly 200 miles in about 6 days. There's one section of trail that is one of the flattest of the whole PCT, and where many hikers try to put in their longest day of hiking. I decided to try for 40 miles! I started hiking at 5 am (after hiking 25 miles the previous day), and put in 20 miles by noon. After an hour and a half lunch break, I was able to reach 30 miles by 4 pm, and actually made it to 40 miles just after 8 pm. Other than my lunch break, I only took four 15-minute breaks throughout the day. As expected, I was absolutely exhausted, and incredibly hungry. All I needed was a place to camp. Easier said than done! The vegetation is so dense in Oregon, and the terrain somewhat hilly, so it can be really hard to find places to camp. I have no problem whatsoever cowboy camping on the trail (sleeping under the stars, no tent), but they were calling for rain, so I needed to find a spot where I could set up my tent. I had to hike 8 more miles to find a spot, and didn't get to camp until 11:00, and still hadn't cooked dinner. So I ended up hiking 48 miles in 18 hours, breaks included! I seriously considered hiking 2 more miles so I would hit 50 miles for the day, but I was worried about finding a camp spot soon after. I'm glad I stopped, as I found the following day that there wasn't a spot for another 5 miles beyond the 50-mile mark. 48 is good enough for me! The following day I didn't leave camp until noon, and ended up hiking only 9 miles that day. While certainly sore, I felt good, and didn't even get any blisters from my long day.

For the last 50 miles I got to hike through areas of what I expected Oregon to be like: dense, lush forests, moss-covered trees, and tons of waterfalls (the earlier sections of Oregon were much drier). Yesterday I hiked along Eagle Creek, which made for another of my favorite days of the trip. Tons of waterfalls! I even got to hike through Tunnel Falls, where you actually get to hike behind a huge waterfall! However, it rained non-stop for the last 2 days. Incredibly, this was the first time that I hiked through rain all day long. I actually enjoyed hiking through the rain, as it just added on to the excitement of hiking through such lush scenery. But, all my stuff got soaked while setting up camp, and I woke up soaking wet from the condensation inside my tent. Luckily I didn't have to camp again last night as I made it into the town of Cascade Locks, on the Washington border. I can't imagine having to camp multiple days in the rain, especially with a soaking wet down sleeping bag. It's very likely it'll happen in Washington, but as my fried Brian said (who hiked the trail last summer), it'll just add on the experience of the PCT!

Progress Report and Pictures

New photos are up on Photobucket (a sampling of which are below). And Vince is meeting up with his brother and his buddy around Willamette Pass to hike ~80 miles! He's pretty excited about this - for good reason. :)
Well, without further ado:
Progress report:

Fire detour leads to this:
Still saw fires though:


Pitcher Plants?

Mt Shasta?

Donovan attempts the pancake challenge in Seiad Valley, CA (I believe there are 5 - 1lb pancakes)


If you could read the sign, it would say Vince made it to Oregon. :)

Oregon Trail... well, PCT in Oregon...

Made it to Oregon!!! After 1700 miles (minus that which I had to skip because of the fires), I've made it through California and am about 2/3 of the way done. Very exciting! I've never been to OR before, so I'm stoked to see some new scenery. I'm in Ashland, OR now, getting my fill of ethnic food. From here, I have to send myself food for the rest of OR, as there aren't any resupply options along the trail. The next few hundred miles are supposed to be relatively flat and low in elevation, though really hot (it will be over 100 degrees this week . . .). I do hear it's very beautiful though, and includes a section along Crater Lake.

New Photos are Up on Photobucket

Vince is back on trail as of Friday afternoon and will hopefully get to Oregon around next weekend (14-17 August).

I've posted some new pictures (Truckee to Chester- the half-way point) on photobucket and will post more as I receive them - probably in a week and a half-ish. Enjoy!

(here are a few) :

Smokey Bear Says Only YOU Can Prevent Forest Fires

From Gravitron:

Fires on the trail! Trail closed! Just as I was getting ready to hitch hike back to the trail from Chester, a few other hikers stopped me and told me the trail was closed due to numerous forest fires, started by recent lightning strikes. Even if I was able to make it through, the roads leading into my next resupply town were closed, thus making hitching impossible. Apparently the Forest Service doesn't expect some of the fires to be contained anytime soon. Sadly, I had no other option than to skip ahead past the fires (losing about 150 miles of trail). Definitely not an easy thing to do . . .

At 2 pm, I was able to hitchhike from Chester to Red Bluff, an hour away. There, I tried to hitchhike farther, but to no avail. After hanging out at a convenience store for over 8 hours (trying to hitchhike most of the time), I took a greyhound bus to Redding, and arrived there around 11 pm. Then, I had to take a two hour train ride to get to a town near the trail, Dunsmuir. Of course, the train only runs between the two towns once a day, from 3 to 5 am. The waiting room at the Amtrak station was locked, so I had to wait outside all night, in a very shady area of town. Lots of homeless people nearby, though luckily no problems at all. Dunsmuir is super tiny, and only had a few places to stay, which were very pricey. I went to the park, and tried to sleep for a little while under the children's playground (the sprinklers on the lawn had just come on) - the diner and coffee shops didn't open until 8 am (seems very late for a coffee shop to open to me). I finally caught the first bus to the town of Mt. Shasta at 7:30. I was hoping to find a hotel that would let me check in early, but to no avail, so after a night of no sleep, I had to walk around town for a tortuous 6 hours, then finally made it to a bed a little while after lunch.

Best yet, the maps that I need for the upcoming section were sitting in a post office that I would have stopped at had the trail been open. Plus, there were more maps at home that I needed, and as I skipped ahead, they hadn't been sent out yet. So, I've been hanging out for a few days waiting for things to be shipped to me here in town, and should (hopefully!) be ready to go tomorrow (friday) morning. Can't wait to get back to the trail! And while this has all been a pain, and I REALLY hate to skip a section of the trail (I consider myself a "purist" at heart), it'll make for a good story to tell, and give me a good reason to come back sometime. Gotta look for the positives! AND, I've gotten to eat a lot of chinese food and ice cream . . .

Whoooaaa Ooohh Half Way There! Chester, CA!

From Gravitron:

HALFWAY POINT!!! Passed mile 1325 early this morning! Very exciting. I'm in Chester now and plan on treating myself to an expenisive dinner (and drinks!).

I had an excellent time with Monica, Toby, and my parents in Tahoe, and the time off was nice. Monica wrote all about it below. Thanks for all the food Mom and Dad!

I hiked ~170 miles over the last week through some gorgeous terrain. I'm officially out of the Sierras, which I hiked through for about 700 miles. I just entered the southern end of the Cascades, and the "Northern CA" section of the hike, and am just outside of Lassen Volcanic National Park. I'm now on a fast-paced schedule to reach Canada before the snow falls. It took me 93 days to get to the halfway point (including time off in Tahoe), and I now have approximately 60 days to reach Canada by the 2nd week of October. Most say you should be there by the 1st, and the 15th should be the very last day you should expect to get through the Cascades before the snow becomes too deep - though it could be later). My necessary plan: alternate between 25 and 30 mile days 6 days each week, which allows for 1 shorter day each week to resupply. And no more, or very few, zero's (entire day off without hiking - requires 2 nights spent in a town). Luckily, there are very few towns near the trail with cheap enough lodging for the rest of the trail, so I won't be tempted by pizza and beer. But I'm loving every minute of being on the trail, and am certainly up for the challenge! Well, maybe not every minute . . . ah mosquitos. AND I'm unfortunately back in rattle snake country - came within 2 feet of a snake b/f it rattled twice the other day.

Until the next town with internet . . .

New Photos are Up on Photobucket

Okay, I posted the new photos from Yosemite to Truckee on the photobucket page. Also be sure to check out his photos from the High Sierras (a selection of which I have posted below). You can find them in this album (note this album link is different from the newest photos).

Enjoy! :)

Vince's favorite type of campsite - high mountain near a lake...

Forester Pass - highest point on the PCT:
Snow trekking:
Atop Mt. Whitney (I think):

Dances with Wolves... or with Puppy Dogs Named Toby...

Well, Toby (my pup) and I just got home (yesterday evening) from hiking with Vince around Lake Tahoe. It was an extraordinarily beautiful hike and I was extremely happy to have gotten to spend a bit over a week with Gravitron as well as meet his parents. Yes yes, I know this is not my blog, so I'll keep try to keep this part short. Vince hasn't had internet access in weeks and probably won't until at least Chester (the town closest to the halfway point), which he's aiming to reach early next week.

The Adventures of Vince, Monica, and Toby the dog:
Here's what I know from the last week or so of the hike... Vince met his parents on Thu evening (16 July) and, after a long (overdue?) shower, they enjoyed a Chinese buffet dinner in South Lake Tahoe. I arrived late in the morning on Saturday after a 17-hr drive from MT - well worth it and Toby, Vince, and I were happily reunited at last! Vince and I enjoyed more time with his parents and got to preparing for the trail, which we started at Echo Lake (south lake Tahoe) on that Monday (20 July). Toby seemed unsure of the plan to hike the 65 mi up to Donner Pass (he had heard some things about that pass) from the get-go and his fears came to fruition as he was "forced" to hike 8-10 mi days with periods of no shade and the torture of embarrassment from having to wear doggie booties and a pack. He acquired two trail names, not sure which one is better -- Tobitron (he idolizes Vince) or Shade-Seeker - which he was quite good at. Toby started off well, still energized from seeing Vince again (who his mama "accidentally left in the desert 2.5 mo before") and happy to see so many lakes to swim in. He did just that, enjoying a nice swim after a 6 mi hike into Lake Aloha where our first campsite was. We next hiked about 10 mi over Dick's Pass to Dick's Lake to spend night two. Toby wasn't so happy about the sun-exposure and long day for this hike and was quite ready to call it quits several times under the shade of a tree. He was reluctant to search for a campsite near the lake that evening and even more reluctant to move after the campsite was found... Next morning we put in another ~10 mi day to Richardson Lake. Again, Toby was none too happy about the hike and ready for a campsite as soon as possible. This site was equipped with an abandoned canoe (which Vince and I subjected Toby to a ride in) and swarms of mosquitoes (which meant lots of quality time playing cards in the tent). The following day we again set off for another ~10 mi hike to a campsite near a creek where I had the pleasure of meeting Canadoug, Gravy, Gino, Lionheart, and Chopper and Savior's sister, who had just begun hiking. The hike was beautiful and wound through dense forest broken by fields of yellow flowers and grass - very random... and very very neat! Toby was again past-due to reach camp. :)

The following day we did another ~10 mi to a forested campsite - we had hoped to make it another 4 mi, but Toby began limping and was just not a happy camper. So we called it a night early and my poor pup did nothing but lay down (and eat when the bowl was placed in front of his face and roll over for a belly rub). Vince and I checked the maps and he found that the following day we could hike 5 mi together then I could take a road down to Squaw Valley ski resort while he hiked the 14 mi to my car, saving the dog 10 mi of hiking. So that we did -- Toby was none too happy about momma going the opposite way of Vince again and cried, whimpered, and hollered for ~20 min near the junction where we split up and all the way down to Squaw Valley. While I am bummed I missed the last bit of the hike, I am happy to have gotten Toby down since he wouldn't budge the entire 5 hrs it took for Vince to hike and come get us... nor for the entire rest of that evening.

That night Vince and I enjoyed the same Chinese buffet I mentioned earlier (and Toby still wonders where his sweet and sour chicken is). We spent a couple more nights in South Lake Tahoe (the only place that had hotel rooms available for under $200/night that allowed dogs -- there were a couple festivals/events in town that weekend) before I dropped him off once again at the trailhead near I-80/Truckee on Monday afternoon - Toby was reluctant to get out of the car at this point for fear he'd once again have to hike. Vince called today from Sierra City (about 40 mi north of where I dropped him off) and sounded well. Water becomes scarce in this part of the hike once again so he had to carry water for the last 17 mi and will again have a 20-some mile waterless stretch coming up.

Okay, now that I've written entirely too much, I'll leave you with this -- I will post more pictures on the Photobucket page (http://photobucket.com/vince_pct) - probably tomorrow evening and above you'll find a map of where Vince was as of this morning. He reaches the halfway point of the trail in Chester early next week (woo hoo!) and hopefully I will have a better update for you then.
And now back to your regularly scheduled programming... :) Take care and thanks for reading!

A sampling of photos - check out Photobucket tomorrow evening for more from the Tuolumene section as well as the Tahoe section...

The Pacific parents and their namesake trail:

The boys:Toby reflects on the wonders of water at Lake Aloha:

Toby finds snow with Vince:
"Okay guys, I found a good shady camp spot" :
Vince and I on the ridge overlooking Lake Tahoe and a ski resort just south of Squaw Valley:

"Seriously guys, I think this is a great place for a nap or just to camp" :

Donde Esta Senor Pacific?

I realized it's been a while since I included a map of his progress, so here ya go...

Woo Hoo - An Update from the High Sierras!

So it's been 3 weeks and a few hundred amazingly scenic miles in the high Sierras since I've last been at a computer (I'm in Mammoth Lakes now - mile 900). Over the last 200 miles I've hiked nearly all of the John Muir Trail (which shares the PCT), climbed Mt. Whitney, and hiked over Forester Pass (13,000'+, the highest point on the PCT). While many try to pass through this section pretty quick, I decided to carry a lot of extra food (I was only able to resupply once) and take my time - though I essentially had to starve myself for the last few days. The terrain is spectacular, but tough going. They say that a 25 mile day before getting to the Sierras is the same as a 15 mile day in the Sierras - lots of elevation change, and snow, rocks, and boulders cover a lot of the trail.

Over the course of 19 nights, I camped at least 10 nights over 11,000' in elevation, and crossed quite a few snowy and icy passes. At the last minute I decided not to carry an ice axe and crampons, and there were definately quite a few times that I was cursing myself for not having them. Crossing the passes took quite a bit of planning. It was always a tradeoff between getting to the pass too early and having the steep sections at the top being a sheet of ice, or getting to lower, but still snow-covered, areas too late. Even by mid-morning, the snow gets really soft and you can spend hours post-holing (punching through the snow up to your thighs with every step). I usually opted for hitting the pass while icy, though it definately made for some very scary early mornings! One pass in particular (Muir Pass) had about 6 miles of nothing but snow to cross! I also took a 15 mile detour to Iva Bell Hot Springs that few on the trail know about. It's a series of hot pools up a steep hillside, with beautiful views of the valley below - PERFECT, as it had been over 2 weeks since I last showered. The best part is that its 13 miles from any trailhead, so not very crowded, and all very fun people.

I'm still having lots of trouble keeping on weight, despite eating tons of food high in fat and calories. I've started going through lots of olive oil and peanut butter, which apparently have the highest calorie:weight ratio out there, and I always have at least 3 snickers bar/day. That's right - I ate over 50 snickers bars through the high Sierra section! I'm still loving the early mornings - I wake up naturally at 5 am every day to the first chirping of birds, and am generally asleep by 9 pm. The early mornings are my favorite, crisp cool air, beautiful sunrise, and I pretty much have the trail to myself.

Next, I hike through a large section of Yosemite National Park, and then I get to meet up with Monica and my parents for a few days in Tahoe - then Monica is going to hike 60 miles with me. Needless to say - I'm VERY excited!!!

And a Few From Joey

Thanks to Joey B. for sharing his photos! Here are a few, and the last 11 on the photobucket site are also courtesy of Joey. Enjoy!

A few pictures

Here are a few pictures I got from Vince - they're from between Tehachapi and Kennedy Meadows - if you want to see more, see the photobucket page. :)

Vince's friend Joey

Food and candy for the colder mountains coming up