It felt very freeing to walk as far as I could go in a day, drop down, and sleep out in the open, ready to get up and start walking as soon as I awoke. That's one of the advantages of cowboy camping, or camping without a tent. The cons were the anxiety that spiders …
Continue reading PCT Update 33: I Would Walk 500 Miles and 500 More and 500 More and 500 More
Leaving Shelter Cove, the trail led past an overlook, where I saw a woman on her phone. I was excited because that meant there was service! I called home and talked to my mom and sister while I hiked, which really brightened my day. I'd definitely felt lonely hiking without a group. Over the next …
Immediately upon leaving Tinkle and Daisy Dukes, I hopped on a bus to go to an outfitter's shop. Looking through my cash, my lowest bill was a $5, so the driver yelled back, "Anyone got change for a five?" An older man with an "I ♥ Kush" shirt kindly pulled out a big wad of …
Oregon continued to bless Tinkle and I with a free beer at Callahan's Lodge before we got a ride into Ashland. Tinkle and I had joined with Dish, Jetpack, and Aurora after the border and we planned to share a hotel room together. Jetpack had worked as a chef and said he'd make us food …
California is a long ass state. I know, because I walked the length of it. Google tells me that Alaska is longer, but it also says that there's no permanent route that crosses it. So I walked the longest available distance across a state. As Tinkle and I neared the end of California, we hit …
On another hot day in NorCal, Tinkle and I were taking a break and filtering water when a couple of guys came up to us and asked if either of us was Madelyn. Apparently my wallet had been found without me realizing it was missing. A guy called Chill Bill had asked these guys, who …
Continue reading PCT Update 28: Paying it Forward. And Back. And Forward Again.
If you're grossed out easily, number one, you probably wouldn't have liked hanging out with me on trail, dirty, sweaty, and unshowered. Secondly, skip to the next paragraph. On a normal day in NorCal (read: 4:45 wake up, 2 hours of great hiking, then very hot and dry 10 hours of hiking), I stopped to …
Our day started early, in order to get walking at six in the morning to pound out the last 18 miles before Burney. Even with trying to get ahead, the heat was already beginning. The trail underfoot was rough and volcanic, cutting through fields of tall, dry, yellow grass until Tinkle and I reached mile …
We had come up on Tinkle's birthday, which started eventfully with a bear sighting! I learned a lot about bears over the course of the trail, coming from an area that doesn't really see them outside of zoos. I knew there were grizzlies and black bears, but not blonde black bears or brown black bears. …
Continue reading PCT Update 25: Bears, Boiling Lakes, Devil Caves, and Root Beer Floats
The next day, we passed Butt Mountain, a disappointingly normal-shaped mountain from our standpoint. Earlier, there was a mountain called "The Nipple," which was very aptly named. More significantly, we hit the halfway point soon after! I repeat, HALFWAY. It was mile 1,325, which meant that we had 1,325 to go. No matter how you …
Continue reading PCT Update 24: A Butt Mountain-load of Walking and Learning: The Halfway Point!
MountainMaddy 