Bend, Oregon

Five days until Burning Man begins, I will most likely be getting there on the Tuesday the 31st. After reading about Burning Man in Rolling Stones magazine about 10 years ago, I will finally see the man burn.

So, I want to give a shout out to Seamus at Sport Kilt. They hooked me up with a new hiking kilt, which is working great. http://www.sportkilt.com/category/52/Hiking-Kilt.html

Oregon

I am in it! 1726 miles

I am not a playa, I just crush a lot...

So loyal followers...

I am still alive, I am sitting here in Aetna, CA, 1605 miles completed. I have been trying to type my proposal to Surly, but I am so easily distracted. I recently called them after relying on postcards and magazine clippings. Apparently they commented on my letters on there blog: http://surlybikes.com/blog/P5/

*Its half way down the page...

So here are some pictures from the past few weeks:

Green Mile, Yours truly, Sneezes, and Hot Mess at Burney Falls

Mt. Lassen

Me as the Peruvian Dog at High Sierra, notice the nice fanny on stilts...

Simply put:

I am having the time of my life...

I can't explain it, but the last few weeks have been some of the best. I hit the Kate Wolf music festival, got back on trail after a crazy hitch, hiked for 2.5 days, and got off in Mammoth Lakes. I then proceeded to hitch to the High Sierra Music Festival, which took me off the trail for almost eight days. Again, well worth the side trip. I am currently in Truckee, CA, mile marker 1155. I will be at the half way point in a few days, so someday I will finish this trail (sadly). So many stories to tell, but I must get some sleep.

Mt. Whitney

Forester Pass

Another look at the pass from a distance

856 Miles and hours from the trail

Hey Hey!

So I have completed 865 PCT miles! I jumped off the trail near Florence Lake to attend the Kate Wolf Music festival with Liz and Zoe. It is so exciting to be road tripping with some familiar faces. I am 8-10 hours away from the trail right now, and have no idea how I am getting back to Fresno/Mono Hot Springs, but I pray the trail gods will smile on me. I have summited Whitney, climbed over Forester, Kearsarege (2x), Glenn, Pinchot, Mather, and Muir Passes. These were not such easy tasks considering the snow. I have had some gear failures, one dead compass (silva=garbage), a treking pole, solar charger, and top it off with some pack failures. Fail. Anyhow, all is well in my life, look forward to putting in some miles when I get back to the trail.

Someone needs to help me find a ride for the Baja Ha Ha. I have heard nothing, even though I put up an ad on the website. No pictures this time, I left my camera at the campground, but you know the pics would blow your mind.

Screw the power of books, the power of the L.C.

Kennedy Meadows

This has been the destination for quite some time, (we all know that Canada is the ultimate destination) but this is what i have been waiting for. The high Sierras. Snow, Ice axes, bear canisters, and Mt. Whitney. I have been traveling quite slow for entire trip because it has been a high snow year. If I had hiked the pace I wanted, I would have been here 3 weeks ago. So it has been short days and hanging out at different trail angel stops.

Chance and I spent Memorial day and the following week in Las Vegas killing time. I unfortantly caught a bug right before Mojave, so thankfully Lisa picked us up. I returned the favor by vomiting on the side of her truck....sorry Lisa. We spent six days cooking food out of the Moosewood cook book, relaxing, hiking at Red Rocks, and finally a night on the strip. The night on the strip was bittersweet, but we did get heckled by the comedian Gordie Brown. It was our fault, Chance and I moved up to the $100 front row seats half way through the show, and half pissed on Budwiser tall boys. :)

Anyhow, we pushed close to 30 mile days since Mojave, and just got into Kennedy Meadows yesterday afternoon. Chance and I had two bear incounters in two days. The night before Walker pass, we camped at an established camp site. I woke up in the morning, after a horrible nights rest, and see that Chance roll over in his sleep. I wasn't in a rush, so I roll back over and drift into sleep. About 10 minutes later I hear: "Shit, Fuck, BEARRRR". So I roll back over and I see a black bear charging off into the woods, and Chance is as white as a sheet. He started babbling, breathing heavy, about how the bear was chewing on his sleeping bag, right by his feet. He said he was sleeping on his stomach, and all of a sudden his feet started to lift up. He thought it was me trying to wake him up, and he looked over and saw me in my sleeping bag. Back to the F, Shit, Bear.

The following day, we were at Spanish Needle creek, and I hear rustling. I look up and see a brown bear staring down at me, about 10 feet away. Yet again, F, shit, bear. We get up and the bear is just staring us down, a cute little guy, and not very big. Anyhow, Chance starts filming and the bear continues to creep closer. We eventually had to start throwing rocks, so the bear wouldn't come closer. The bear had no fear of humans, which is disturbing.

Anyhow, I have to run. It is loud in the Cyber Cafe Trailer in Kennedy Meadows. I can't type when people are blabbing, very distracting. Keep in touch.

Aqua Dulce

Me and Chance just made it to Aqua Dulce yesterday afternoon, the 454.9 mile mark. We made it up Baden Powell, which was supposed to be difficult, but it proved to be challenging, but not as dangerous as people made it out to be. Anyhow, we have been rolling with Roo, Happy Feet, and Kara-boo for a few days, they are a great group. We lost them yesterday in Little Rock, at the station detour, because we walked/hitched on PearBlossum Road.

This area is beautiful, the devils punch bowl was amazing, especially the swimming hole. Life is good, especially since we are working our way to Mojave. I am a bit scared of the Sierras, I still have to research my resupplies.

Anyhow, I am signing off, but I will update soon.