I’ve caught up to a small group of hikers, so it’s been a few days since I spent any time alone – a nice change. Today I walked with Brian and a young couple named Toby and Natalie for a pleasant 22 miles, gently descending from the San Bernardino Mountains back into desert foothills, past […]
This morning I ordered “The Mess” at a trendy breakfast cafe in Big Bear City – which turned out to be a heaping plate of eggs, hash browns, meaty stuff, veggies, and just about everything else a hungry hiker could ever wish for. Then Brian and I managed to hitch a ride to the post […]
This morning I calculated it would be possible to reach Big Bear City, my next resupply point, via a 28-mile hike to Highway 18 and a subsequent 4.5-mile hitchhike into town. All right – civilization! I caught up to another hiker named Brian in late morning, but not before taking in a bizarre sight. Right […]
It was an uphill battle today as I climbed 5,000 feet (a vertical mile) into the San Bernardino Wilderness, following an idyllic Mission Creek through an endless gorge lined with cottonwoods, with pines at the upper end. I caught up to another hiker named Todd in late morning and we leapfrogged each other for the […]
After another rough morning breaking camp in extreme wind high on Fuller Ridge, this time with a cold mist thrown in, I fled down the trail in search of warmer climes. And down it went – 15 miles of continuous switchbacks dropped 6,000 feet, all the way to San Gorgonio Pass and the lowest point […]
40 mph winds had me wide awake at 3am this morning, and by dawn had scattered my stuff all over my campsite – even my pack had been blown 30 feet from where I set it down. Tonight is no different; if anything, the wind is even stronger! I spent the day hauling myself over […]
I started the morning in desert chaparral at 4900′ and ended near snowdrifts at 8250′. Add in an extra couple thousand feet up and down, including a bonus two miles down a spur trail to get water, and I ended up hiking 25.7 miles with about five thousand feet of elevation gain today – yikes! […]
After some quick calculations this morning, I realized it would be possible to make it to a famed burger joint, the Paradise Cafe, just in time for dinner. It took a 25-mile day through the desert, including 2 miles off-trail, but I just arrived along with another hiker, Adam, who has been keeping pace the […]
After breakfast in Warner Springs, I started hiking late and said goodbye to my dad, who has met me at several points after seeing me off one week ago. He’s got a long drive back to Oregon, and I’ve got an even longer walk to Canada. Today’s 19 miles were uneventful except for a crazy […]
I spent most of the last two days contouring through the San Felipe Hills, a 24-mile section of windy, steep, and rocky desert with no water. The wind was strong enough to blow another hiker’s sun visor off his head and over a cliff (never to be seen again), my snot kept whipping up on […]
By far my hardest day yet. The trail twisted through barren foothills inside the massive Anza-Borrego State Park, winding and roller-coasting ever deeper into unrelenting desert. I didn’t see another person or even a tree until mid-afternoon, by which time the baking sun was like a sledgehammer dangling above my morale; the hammer fell somewhere […]
I eased off to a late start this morning after a stack of blueberry pancakes in Mount Laguna (per the waitress: “you want to lick the plate?”). I have one more rendezvous with my dad at Warner Springs, 68 miles farther on, in four days. That means the pressure’s off, so I can take the […]
I had to haul myself 23 miles and up 3,000 feet today to reach an enticing goal: a room at the Mount Laguna Lodge, where I’m spending tonight in style with my dad – a bed, bath, and burger for dinner! Most days, I’ll be sleeping in my tiny tent by the trail, but a […]
At nine this morning my dad and I stood at the Pacific Crest Trail monument along the Mexican border, all alone except for two Border Patrol vehicles, a helicopter overhead, and a Sage Sparrow perched on the gigantic fence (head in one nation, tail in the other). After a couple photos and well-wishes, I hefted […]
This morning I jumped out of bed at six am, amped to start hiking. My pack was packed, my dad just had to drop me at the Mexican border – I couldn’t wait to get going! But then I looked out the window. It was absolutely, depressingly pouring. The weather forecast called for a 100% […]
I’m sitting in a San Diego Best Western hotel after driving more than a thousand miles with my dad, who is delivering me to the southern end of the Pacific Crest Trail first thing tomorrow morning. We toured L.A. yesterday on our way down from Oregon, and it was odd to spend the afternoon among […]
Just 19 days until I start hiking for real. I dreamed the other night that a Bengal Tiger was terrorizing hikers in southern California, while my mom apparently dreamed that I had shrunk to two inches tall and was drowning in a bowl of water. Sure hope neither of those happen this summer, makes a […]
During a training hike this morning, I found a Turkey Vulture sitting on two eggs inside a cave on Spencer Butte. Vulture nests are actually quite hard to find; these birds are incredibly secretive for how common they are. Their main defense is to vomit on any intruder at the nest, so I didn’t get […]
Less than a month until I start the Pacific Crest Trail, and I’ve got to get in shape! This month I’m doing a series of 15 to 20 mile hikes near home. On the most recent outing, a 17-mile transect over Bear Mountain near my house in Creswell, I discovered a new appreciation for the […]
It’s official: I’m going to hike the entire Pacific Crest Trail this summer. A new adventure is afoot! The backcountry trail catapults north from Mexico through the deserts and mountains of California, Oregon, and Washington, ending at the Canadian border 2,665 miles later. To cover the distance in one season, I’ll have to do it […]
This week, Japan’s Prince Akishino visited our bird banding site at INBio park in San Jose – in somewhat bizarre style. He arrived with a princess and an army of bodyguards to take a tour of the park – which is kind of like the Smithsonian. Our supervisor, who pointed out birds to the visiting […]
It’s been an awesome couple of days in northeast Costa Rica. The skies are clear, and Ed and I have been able to admire the Southern Cross as Ivan, our boatman, ferries us along the canal to our banding sites before sunrise each morning. Finally, we’re heading into the dry season. Mid-morning today, we were […]
Ed and I were watching the latest Warren Miller ski flick on my laptop when Indira, who staffs our visitor center, stepped into the room, saying: “Alguien llamo, y dijo que hay un buo en la iglesia” — someone called, and said there’s an owl at the church! Ed and I were out the door […]
At 4:05 am this morning, while getting breakfast, I stepped barefoot and bleary-eyed on a Bullet Ant that had wandered into our kitchen. More than an inch long, this species is known for having the most painful sting of any ant or wasp in the world, akin to being shot (hence the name), which can […]
Just back from four days at about 9,000 feet in Costa Rica’s highlands. Ed and I banded birds with two local volunteers, stayed at our supervisor’s family’s weekend house, shivered in the 50-degree mist, and saw some cool stuff. Unfortunately, it looks like the quetzals have moved to lower elevations this time of year, so […]