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San Jacinto Massif – Highway 74 to Interstate 10
Mt. San Jacinto is the first major obstacle of the PCT. Over 60 miles, we climb more than 11,000 feet and descend 14,000 feet. The peak stands at 10,834 feet, taking us from exposed, dry desert to subalpine, snowy mountains. Talk of San Jacinto dominated conversions between hikers for the first two weeks. Snow conditions,…
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The First Century – San Felipe Mountains to Idyllwild
Day 7 – 15 miles/94 Unspectacular scenery most of the day. It seems we left most of the week 1 bubble in Julian, we only saw about 6 other hikers we didn’t recognize. We had a long steady climb up the San Felipe ridge. This is a particularly dry segment, so water is provided by…
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Week 1 – Mexican Border to Julian
Day 2 – 13 miles/28 After the rain ordeal, Maggie and I slept in, even though our tent was poorly pitched and slowly sinking under the weight of all the moisture. We ate a light breakfast and commiserated with our camp neighbors about the unreasonable amount of water that fell from the sky overnight, our…
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A “Warm” Welcome to the PCT
Day 1 – 15 miles Looking at the forecast for day 1, we were worried. An inch or more of rain was predicted to fall most of the day. That concerned us to say the least… Morning came with mostly sunny skies, which made us optimistic the weather would be better than predicted. Jane made…
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Journey to the Adventure
At last, Maggie and I are free from life at a fixed address. Transient. Getting to this point initially filled me with anxiety, but the closer we got to moving out, the more I felt ready to get on the road. We finished out ski season with a lovely warm day at Taos, sampling some…
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Training and Preparing
The PCT will surely be a test of physical endurance. In between all the fun we’ve been having over the last six weeks of funmeployment, Maggie and I are trying our best to stay in shape and build up some baseline strength. We typically run a few miles a few days a week. This helps…
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The Shakedown
With a warm weather window, we wandered… Maggie and I have acquired a fair amount of new gear in preparation for the PCT. New tent, backpack, water filter, shoes, hat, sleep system, various clothing.. While we are confident backpackers, learning the quirks of new gear is something we want to avoid when we set off…
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Road Trippin’ Part 2
As much fun as it was with the big group, it was time for us to take the reigns on our own adventure. Maggie and I split off from the big crew while the rest made their way back to Santa Fe. My sister, Jena, and brother in law, Chris, run a cattle ranch 45…
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Road Trippin’ Part 1
After many months of planning and anticipation, Maggie and I embarked on a rambunctious road trip with 11 friends from New Mexico. In search of better snow, we did the reverse snow bird migration to Big Sky Montana. Spoiler: the snow wasn’t any better… but the trip was a blast! With the car loaded up…
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‘Tis the Skison
What a simple joy, sliding on snow. One of the few activities where adults get to “play,” yipping and hollering, grinning ear to ear all the way down the mountain. All thanks to that magical fairy dust that falls from the sky every winter. Today, it’s easy to take alpine skiing for granted. There are…
Boldly going nowhere in particular