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Cuba to Ghost Ranch

Posted on: Friday May 19, 2017 Continental Divide Trail

I roll into Cuba with Tennesteve. It doesn’t take long before other hikers follow. Everyone was right behind me the whole time! I go to dinner with Tennesteve, Hurricane, Thunder and Snow. Snow is a woman, and as always I am super excited to hang out with other ladies!

Grants to Cuba

Posted on: Monday May 15, 2017 Continental Divide Trail

I stay in Grants for far too long. A months worth of phone and internet chores, including replacing a bank card that my bank decided to replace two days after I left, keeps me occupied for a day and a half. By that point, a storm is rolling in. I sit in my motel room watching tornado warnings roll across my screen.

Pie Town to Grants

Posted on: Saturday May 6, 2017 Continental Divide Trail SouthWest Travel

Pie Town is full of characters. We’re sitting on the porch of the Toaster House drinking beer when a man stops by. He tells us his wife is cooking stir fry and we should come over. Ten people have trickled into town by now, and we round them up and head over. Jeremy and Jennifer cook us dinner and play guitar and sing for us. Nita, the Toaster House owner stops by and says hello. For some reason, trail angel interactions on the CDT feel much more genuine. Maybe they are less burned out by the sheer number of hikers.

You can't cross the same river twice - Silver City to Pie Town

Posted on: Tuesday May 2, 2017 Continental Divide Trail

We road walk out of Silver City in the heat. At a campground, Shake’nBake Yogi’s water at a children’s birthday party. We climb and drop, watching the landscape change. Sandstone hoodoos, like the ones at Bryce Canyon, rise out of the scrub. It’s not quite time to stop yet, but we can’t resist the view. We scramble up a spire and sit, watching the sunset.

Lordsburg to Silver City

Posted on: Friday April 21, 2017 Continental Divide Trail

We’re out of the hotel by 8am, which has to be a record for us. Shake’nBake repeatedly tries to “snooze” me in the morning, but I’ve been awake since 5am and I’m ready to hike! We road walk out of town and then cut cross country. There are signs warning us to stay within ten feet of the trail. It’s funny because there’s no real trail and the only way I think I could stick that close to the trail in this section is if I check my GPS every five seconds.

Back to the start.

Posted on: Tuesday April 18, 2017 Continental Divide Trail

The first 80 miles of desert are brutal. There’s no water. No shade. Half the time, there’s no trail and we connect posts cross country. Everything has spikes. By day two, a thousand tiny cuts crisscross my legs. Everything hurts.

Before.

Posted on: Tuesday March 14, 2017 Continental Divide Trail

Getting ready for a thru hike seems easier the second time around. Mostly since I know how little any of my plans will matter when I hit the trail in April. I book plane and train tickets, buy gear and start my resupply boxes.

After.

Posted on: Saturday November 19, 2016 Pacific Crest Trail Travel

The bus from Manning Park leaves at 2am. We arrive, groggy and disorientated in Vancouver. We sit at a Tim Hortons, drinking awful coffee, waiting for the city to wake up. And then it is a whirlwind of activity. We buy deodorant, clothes, and then before I know it, I’m waving goodbye to Shake’nBake as he gets into a taxi for the airport. Suddenly, I am alone on a busy city street, my last connection to the trail gone.

The end (Snoqualmie to Canada)

Posted on: Tuesday October 18, 2016 Pacific Crest Trail

We are all ready to leave Snoqualmie, when we go to get breakfast. On the way to the restaurant, we look out of the window- driving rain. All my stuff just dried out. Should we stay another day? In the end, we can’t make ourselves leave, even though it is one day later to Canada, one day closer to snow.

Cascade Locks to Snoqualmie Pass

Posted on: Tuesday September 27, 2016 Pacific Crest Trail

Crossing the Bridge of the Gods is emotional. There are a few places on the trail that you have heard about for so long and this is one of them.