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

Kennedy Meadows and the Beginning of the high Sierras!

From Vince:

The last 150 miles have been a blast. Had another stretch of desert mountains, then climbed up into the foothills of the Sierras via the Tehachapi Mountains. It was the rainshadow of the southern sierras, so very dry. I had to carry water for my longest dry stretch yet - 35 miles. I carried 10 liters of water - 22 pounds, plus this was near the beginning of a 6 day stretch, so I also had a lot of food. At Walker Pass (mile 650), my great buddy Joey B. from high school (who also just got his ph.d.) drove out from Flagstaff, AZ for a few days. I got to swim in the Kern River - my first real river of the entire trip! Joey then accompanied me for 8 miles on the PCT. The following day I hiked 32 miles, which incorporated 3 climbs over 1500'. Hitting 30 miles in one day is a goal for all hikers, so I'm very excited to have made it.

I'm now in Kennedy Meadows, which is the starting point of the High Sierras! This is what we've all been working towards for the last 700 miles, so it feels great to be here. No more worrying about water! I'll only need to carry 1-2 liters. There were just a series of big late season snowstorms that deposited 2-3 feet of snow. I know a lot of hikers got stranded, and many had to turn around, so I'm glad I made it here a bit late. I'm at 6,000' now, but will soon be hiking for the most part at over 10,000' for a few hundred miles. Over the next 90 miles I'll get to climb Mt. Whitney (weather dependent) and climb over Forester Pass, the highest point of the trail at over 13,000'. I was lucky enough to find a ride a few hours away to stash food at a trailhead 90 miles from here to avoid a very tough hitch hike into town to resupply in a week. Thus, I won't be in civilization for 230 miles (until Mammoth Mountain), then from there it'll be another 200 miles off the grid (until South Lake Tahoe)! Bring it on!

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There are also new pictures up on the Photobucket page (as of last week), so check those out! Also, just to alert you, Vince will be out of contact for about 2 weeks, so I probably won't get updates for you til July. But, I'll keep you posted if I hear anything. Thanks for reading!

Trail Names

Trail names. On thru-hikes such as the PCT, everyone gets a trail name - you may have noticed this if looking at my pictures. You don't get to pick it yourself, it generally just falls in place. I recently acquired the name "Gravitron." Has a few levels of meaning, but it originated after taking a series of tumbles on some tight switchbacks in front of a large group of people, then landing on my feet. Hence, I defied gravity. It's pretty funny to introduce yourself to other hikers with your trail name, particularly when in town. Makes for some very interesting glances in coffee shops or restaurants. I don't know the real names of nearly all of the people I've met so far on the trail. Being called Gravitron everyday on the trail, I often introduce myself as Gravitron when talking to non-hikers in town, or day hikers on the trail, which makes for some pretty funny (and sometimes awkward) experiences. There are some great names out there. Recently I've been hiking on and off with Whiskey Jet, Rocketman, Northern Strider, "V", Canadoug, and Skywalker. I know there is a guy named Vagisil out there, but I've yet to meet him. I'm glad that one didn't fall into place for me!

Tehachapi Is Cool With Me...

From Vince:

Made it through the Mojave! The 100 mile section that I just completed is known as one of the toughest on the trail. Notoriously hot and waterless - very few natural water sources on the trail. Temps of 110 to 120 are the norm. Incredibly, it never even got into the 80s when I hiked through!!! Lucky, very very lucky! It even rained at night, and I had to wear a fleece and gloves while hiking one of the mornings. Wind gusts were pretty crazy, often over 40 mph, but I'll take that any day over hot temps in the desert. Even with the cooler temps, I tried to put in some long days to get through this section as quickly as possible, just in case the hot weather returned. I put in 24, 28, then 27 mile days in a row, my longest days yet.

I've been hanging out in the very cool town of Tehachapi the last few days. Very hiker friendly. It's a bit spread out, so the owner of a local coffee shop rounded up a lot of people from the community. They gathered a bunch of bikes that hikers can take any time day or night to ride around town. You can call the coffee shop, and they'll send someone to pick you up or take you back to the trail. There's even a list at the trailhead of "trail angels" you can call to get a ride when the coffee shop is closed. The incredible generousity of people in these towns close to the trail still blows my mind away. I only hope that I'm lucky enough to give back to the trail one day!
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And some pictures (check out the Photobucket page for more!)

Cool Days in Tehachapi

Heard from a very tired Vince this afternoon -- I believe he hiked ~55 mi on ~2 hrs of sleep the past couple of days, so hopefully it's nap time for him. I'll give a better update once he's rested, but for now, here's a map (I found a better one) of where he is -- mi 555!

A taste of more PCT

Our boy...

So, I just realized (with the help of Vince) that I forgot to post some of the most recent pics he sent back -- sorry about that! Here's a taste of 'em, and check out the photobucket page for lots more. :)

So pretty:
Mmm, nice refreshing water... thank goodness for Aquamura!
Cool wind farm Vince went by:
Go see more on photobucket! There are a lot of cool ones I can't overload the blog with!! :) Enjoy-sees!

Skinny-Boy...

From the good doctor:

Weight: I'm a pretty skinny guy to begin with, and I have already lost 10 pounds! Started the trail at 130 pounds, and down to 120. And this is with eating a ridiculous amount of high fat, high calorie foods, and eating like crazy when in towns. I just had breakfast in town before getting ready to return to the trail, and I had two huge blueberry pancakes, bacon, and eggs. Just wasn't enough, so I ordered round two of the same! I paid attention recently, and I'm eating at least 5,000 calories a day (the nutrition labels on food products are based upon a 2,000 calorie diet). Even after eating an enormous dinner (over twice the portion I would normally eat while backpacking), I often go to bed hungry. Bring on the Snickers!!!

A note about photos

You may be wondering, what did Monica do with the old pictures?? ...well, in an attempt to organize, I am putting pictures into photo albums as I get new ones in the mail. So, the ones displayed on the photobucket main page are the most recent I have from Vince, but to access older pictures, go to the albums (which are organized by place). There's a diagram below with a yellow arrow pointing to these album hyperlinks. Sorry for the confusion! If you have a better method, let me know - I'm new to photobucket and learning as I go...

(oh yeah - this is a thumbnail, so you can click on it to make it bigger)

Water (and Life) is Sweet in Agua Dulce!

let's see...

It's been another 100 miles, 450 total, and I just finished my first month of hiking! From the town of Wrightwood, I remained high in the San Gorgonio Wilderness for a few days, then started the long descent back towards the desert. On two mornings I woke up above the clouds, which is an incredible thing to witness. My upcoming section is supposed to be one of the toughest of the trip. It's basically 100 miles of very hot hiking, 40 miles of which pass through/near the Mojave Desert. Even so, I'm excited to see some more desert flora and fauna - though am hoping it will be the last time I see a rattlesnake for a while. But, I believe this is the last section of true desert on the PCT, and then its into the Sierras!

I'm in Agua Dulce now, a very small town - the trail actually follows Main Street for a while. This town has a very high concentration of "trail angels" - people who go out of their way to help out hikers. I've come across many caches of water in the middle of unbelievably hot sections, and on the lucky days, even find a cooler filled with cold fruit and water (and even beer a few times). In town, there is an amazing couple - the Saufleys - who have become famous trail angels due to their incredible generousity. They have 6-8 wall tents set up with a total of 50 cots. Donna does your laundry for you, and they welcome you to use their shower. And lots and lots and lots of shade! Two computers, a TV with a few hundred movies,and a fridge to use. Every day they arrange for a neighbor to come by to drive hikers to the REI and Albertsons 45 minutes away. It really amazes me how willing they are to let hoards of complete strangers into their house - and how thankful the hikers are for the break. Today is the 13th aniversary of when they offered their house to 5 PCT hikers they met in town. They had so much fun they decided to keep it going, and have hosted over 3500 hikers over the years (only 300 hikers finish the PCT each year. so 3500 is quite a lot). We all decided to make a surprise dinner for them, so it should be a fun night!

I think Monica just posted some new pics, so check 'em out!