Author: margomikepctadventure

The journey ends

On September 10, 2018 we finished the PCT.

During the last 5 months we lived in nature, slept in our tent somewhere along the trail, everyday somewhere new, but always under the stars. (One time under a bridge).

The PCT was our home.

The last few weeks were hard, emotionally. We were ready to be done, however we knew our freedom will be over. We had some days when it was raining all day and we were wet and cold.

After all it was really hard to walk off the trail for good after we reached the end at the monument. As we walked to Canada, we both felt happy that we did it and we felt sad to say Goodbye.

It’s absolutely amazing that you can walk from Mexico to Canada on a beautiful trail. Who wouldn’t do that?

Thanks for our family and friends to supporting us and thinking of us.

If trail angels are reading my blog, I want to say special thanks to them. We remember all of you very well. Thank you for taking care of us.

It’s hard to believe that it’s over now, we will cherish this memory forever!

At the Oregon-Washington border

The picture above was taken at Timberline Lodge, by Mt. Hood, which is the highest mountain in Oregon.

Today is August 14. I’m writing from our hotel room in Cascade Locks, which is a small town at the border of Oregon and Washington. Today we are going to cross the Bridge of Gods on the Columbia river and start our final section of our journey; Washington to Canada. We are little over 80% done with the PCT.

It has been 8 days since my last post in Bend, OR. During these last 8 days we finished the Oregon section of the PCT and we got to see the pretty sides of this state. North Oregon was more enjoyable than South Oregon for many reasons: prettier views, see-through mountain lakes, view of the Cascades, way less mosquitoes and the best part (for me) was unlimited, delicious blueberries and huckleberries.

Finally we learned how much food we need to carry and we barley hungry these days.

NoBo vs. SoBo: We meet many South-bounders these days. They start at the Canadian border around mid July. Their hike starts later and ends later due to the weather in Washington, also South-bounding is a bit harder as there are less trail angel support and they need to get to the Sierras before the snow starts. Regardless we call them Newbies, they just started the hike and they will thin out by California. When they say they are SoBos, some also say that we are still good people. One of our fellow NoBo hiker blamed the SoBos when chubby chipmunks surrounded him during lunch time and he blamed the SoBos to make them persistent around our food.

All North-bound PCT hikers feel the end now, we all are fast-walking or sometimes running on the trail, like we are invincible. We need to remind ourselves to look up and see the surroundings. It’s easy to miss a 1000 feet mountain or a pretty lake when you’re just looking down on the trail and listening to an engaging audiobook.

It is time now to enjoy the last weeks in Washington and finish this hike.

Mt Jefferson

Mike’s dad, uncle, and cousin joined us for a great day of hiking near Mt Hood.

Here we come Oregon and mile 2000

It’s been a while since I wrote. Today is August 5th.

Finally we have great internet connection so I’ll summarize our PCT adventures since we returned to the trail after our vacation in Wyoming.

First day back on the trail in Oregon.

We decided to start back at the California-Oregon border, due to wildfires and smoke in Nor-Cal, hot temperature, also we were getting quite tired of the Nor-Cal scenery. Ohh and the snakes again.

So we skipped 300 miles and started back close to Ashland, OR. We might do the remainder part of CA after reaching Canada, at least that’s the plan.

Oregon: After the Uber driver took us back to the trail, (close to Ashland), we felt a bit out of shape as we walked the first few miles. I guess being off the trail for 10 days and eating ton and food will do that. The curvy Uber ride even made me car sick. I just felt soft, a little heavy and way too clean. Anyway we needed to get back to our normal PCT shape ASAP, and the only way to do that is to just keep walking. So that’s what we did.

Luckily our fellow PCT hikers didn’t change a bit while we were gone, and they reminded us who we really are and where we belong. We were back to being dirty, hungry and stress free in just a few days.

However these PCT hikers are a bit faster than our bubble (bubble means: fellow hikers that you are with from the beginning, as your speed and hiking style is similar). By skipping 300 miles resulted to get mixed with super fast hikers. These guys have perfected trail hiking, and they do 30-40 miles a day. They hike from sunrise to sunset with a very tiny backpack. Some hikers do the Oregon challenge and try to get this state done in 2 weeks. Oregon is well known for being the fastest section, because it’s relatively flat and by this time your body is a hike-machine.

We do between 23-27 miles and it makes Oregon quite fast for us as well.

The scenery is mainly endless pine trees with old man’s beard moss on it and volcanic rocks. There are some burned out forests as well.

On July 27 we celebrated my birthday in a resort by Diamond Lake with a nice dinner and chocolate cupcake. I appreciated that I was able to take a shower and had a great meal. It was a special day. Thanks Sweetie!

We are in Bend (30 miles from the PCT) with our friends Laura & Gary, and resting today. They are taking care of us big time!

We both bought our fourth pairs of shoes and needless to say, we are eating a lot. We didn’t loose anymore weight in this last stretch. Mike actually gained 3 lbs. We learned to carry more food.

Before Bend we reached 2000 mile.

We see the end of the tunnel now.

There is a chance that we will finish this great hike!

Halway to Canada

On July 8, we crossed the midpoint of the Pacific Crest Trail in California.

A day later we got off from the trail at Chester and started a 10 day vacation with Mike’s family in Utah and Wyoming.

We have been waiting and counting down the days for this vacation.

We had a wonderful time with the family, we ate a lots of fruits and veggies and more.

End of the Sierras and Lake Tahoe. North California section.

Today is 3rd of July and we are resting in a hotel. We are in Sierra City, and did almost 1200 miles. We are getting closer to half way!

We are doing well. It’s been almost 3 months now since we touched the Mexican border.

After the Sierras, many PCT hikers quit or got injured, so we are clearly thinning out. It’s more like a mental challenge now than physical. We are still in California, but getting closer to Oregon, getting closer to half way.

I’m always optimistic but I can see why people say that Northern California is the hardest. The scenery changed, still pretty but not spectacular and the lower elevation and July brought the heat as well. We have to start carrying more water again. We are doing at least 20 miles per day and we will need to do more and more if we want to get to Canada.

We have been listening to audiobooks, podcasts and lots of music. Probably 4 hours each day. I got to learn about a lot of cool things through Great Courses on Audible.

We are carrying more food now and hopefully stopped losing more weight.

In 10 days we will take more than a week vacation and spend time with Mike’s family in Utah and Wyoming. We are really looking forward to spend some time with family and took a long break.

Before that we have one big stretch and then we get to rest.

Life of a PCT hiker – Special Post

I’d like to designate this post to describing a PCT hiker and our everyday life on the trail.

An average PCT hiker is a white male in his early 30’s. He could easily remind you a Jesus- looking homeless person. To be more accurate a healthy and happy homeless person, and actually that’s what we are.

Homeless guy or PCT hiker?

A PCT hiker is always the fastest hiker on the trail. We stood out from the day hikers or any other backpackers in many ways. We are not here to spend a fun weekend or go fishing by a lake or hike a leisurely 10 miles, we are hiking to Canada, therefore a PCT hiker (when they hike) always looks determined, in a rush and hungry. We always recognize a PCT hiker, we just all look alike.

The average PCT hiker is skinny, dirty and most definitely stinky. No exceptions!

They wear a baseball cap or a small sombrero for sun protection. All thru-hikers have a full grown beard, unless they are female or too young to grow it or their ethnicity is Asian. The clothes that they are wearing are faded by the sun, has dirt on it from mud, bugs, food etc.., salt lines from sweating and it’s always the same shirt and shorts. Day and night.

A PCT hiker is normally a stress free individual, unless crossing a strong stream or mosquitos are attacking.

Mosquito invasion. We all wear head nets and made fire to have a break from the blood suckers. Bears are no problem, the mosquitos are.

Most PCT hikers have the same gear, backpack, tent, sleeping pads ….. All gear are light or ultralight. For water we use SMART water bottles with a Sawyer filter. Our most important gear is our shoes. They are always trail running shoes, never heavy hiking boots. For camping and easy river crossings we we wear Crocs or barefoot.

We don’t have information about the news or anything in the real world, since most of the time we don’t have cell service. We all go to bed as the sun goes down or before, around 7:45 pm (currently) and sleep 10 hours and wake up at 6 am. We cook oatmeal and make coffee in the morning, pack our gear and start hiking. We’ll take 2-3 breaks until lunch, then during lunch time we kick off our hiking shoes and rest an hour or more in the shade. Then we start hiking again and around 5:30pm we are putting up our tent. Cook dinner, eat, make fire and go to sleep. The next day, repeat.

A PCT hiker always has peanut butter, ramen noodles, tortillas, oatmeal, dehydrated potato powder, nuts and tuna. We are constantly trying to get different ideas from different hikers to mix up the repertoire, but the options are limited.

The fresh air and the pine tree scented forests always bring comfort even on hard days.

A PCT hiker in towns and civilization feels a bit lost, at least for the first few hours. Might feel like an outsider or a wild animal. A bit scared and annoyed by big vehicles and noises. I tell Mike when we get close to civilization that I smell humans, I really do.

We have been only living in the nature for 2 and a half months and we changed, we had to.

Where do we belong now? Do we want to be in the noisy civilization where we can easily access food and water, or do we want to survive in the wilderness where there is peace and freedom?

1000 milestone

Through Yosemite National Park until South Lake Tahoe. 1000 milestone on the PCT.

Today is June 26. We did so far 1096 miles.

We are taking a well deserved rest day in South Lake Tahoe in a lovely Airbnb.

This is how we look now. And look at the sign above us.

We feel great and very healthy. We do 20 miles each day although we could even do more, but we like to take long lunch breaks and get to camp early.

Total weight loss is 47 pounds. Mike lost 35 and I did 12. I think I’m done losing weight but Mike got to eat more calories! We bought a ton of food and as we got rid off the heavy bear cans and micro spikes after Yosemite by Sonora Pass, now we can supplement the weight with carrying extra food.

My experiment: Each night I place a wood stick or pine cone on the top of our bear cans to see if a bear comes over while we are sleeping. No bears so far.

We are done with 40% of the PCT. We finished the High Sierras. From Mammoth we walked to Yosemite and then to South Lake Tahoe.

As the elevation is now around 7000-8000 feet and less snow, we can do more miles per day. As usual we go up and down all day. It’s still 3000 – 4000 feet uphill throughout a day, but our legs are trained to do it easier than before. It’s time to pick up more miles each day. All PCT hikers are hiking more miles now.

The scenery is still beautiful. Less high mountains, but more wild flowered covered landscape, lakes, rivers and mixed volcanic and granites mountains.

The High Sierras – Margo’s version

I’m going to add a few more things.

The scenery was absolutely beautiful, it was like in the Lord of the Rings, the endless snow covered mountains, the waterfalls, the wild forests and lush green meadows, and two very hungry hikers.

Previously in Kennedy Meadows (the end of the desert), there were a lots of fear talks between the PCT hikers about the snow and dangerous high passes. It made me worry a bit as well. Some hikers packed ice axes, some decided to wait a week until the snow melts more, some decided to skip this part entirely and return later.

We knew there will be lots of snow, but hoped for the best, so we decided to just start with micro-spikes only.

We started our hike with Spyglass (Tommy). Previously we hiked with him big sections in the desert and he wanted to stick with us, because Solid (Mike) is quite experienced in the High Sierras and we also enjoyed his company. The last 2 weeks in the desert Spyglass had experienced some pain in his right knee, and unfortunately it got worse. He tried everything to make it better, but eventually he had to quit the PCT and went home to Denmark. He is a great hiker, and it was devastating for him as well as for us that he had to leave.

After Tommy left, we saw another great hiker got injured and it really made us feel lucky and appreciate that we are still in this game.

I will have to write about Forrester Pass and Glen Pass.

Forrester Pass: After we climbed Mt. Whitney, we were back on the PCT and we were heading towards Forrester Pass. It’s the highest point of the entire PCT.

Mike is showing below where Forrester Pass is.

A night before crossing Forrester we camped at 12000 feet, 1 mile before the pass. We woke up with an alarm at 4:30 am. We didn’t sleep to well and we were awake before the alarm went off. Other PCT hikers were coming as well as the sun rose. One woman said that all she was dreaming about, how she’ll fell off Forrester Pass. All PCT hikers looked a bit scared but ready and determined. We must do this, we can’t quit now.

As we started climbing up on the snow covered south side of the mountain, we put our micro-spikes on. The snow was icy and our spikes worked great on the surface. Things are going well so far. I felt like I’m part of an Everest expedition. We were going slow and watched all our steps carefully, watching out for each other. We did a few switch backs and getting close to that famous most feared snow chute.

First Mike went, then I did. The danger zone was only about 35 steps, but one wrong move and next thing you know, you are back to base camp. I didn’t look down, I just looked ahead, left foot, right foot, left foot…

We survived. At the very top there was one more sketchy spot, but we did it!

The north face of the mountain had even more snow, and it’s always like that. It’s time to go down.

As the air is warming up and the sun is hitting the snow, the snow starts to melt. Our micro spikes will work less and we could post-hole. We made it down safely with a few post holes.

A small mustard yellow plane was cruising between the white mountain peaks and flew close to us. We waived at each other and I thought the view is just breathtaking.

Glen Pass:

Glen Pass made Forrester Pass a piece of cake. Going up was easy, but coming down was frightening. The north face was covered with snow and it was the steepest high pass that we crossed. I thought my leg will not get sore after 800 miles, but it did. We went down fast but we constantly had to focus and put the breaks on.

The scenery after was spectacular.

The High Sierras is one of the most beautiful place on Earth. The John Muir Trail and the PCT overlap each other here. During this 2 weeks we experienced one of the most prestigious hike in the whole world!

Chapter 2 – Sierras

We are still at Kennedy Meadows, waiting for a package with my micro spikes and an extra battery for Mike, so we can watch TV shows at night.

We are ready. Mike is antsy to go! We carb loaded with pancakes, pizza, beer, banana-split, sundaes, hamburgers etc.

The weather conditions look okay, could be better. There will be snow and our shoes will get wet, but we are excited to see the beautiful Sierras and know that the desert has been accomplished.

We got our bear canisters, ton of food. Thanks to Mike’s Mom to send us our next 8 day dehydrated food supply. She even baked us special cookies and put a heart shaped post-it note on it. It made us very happy, I took pictures of it with Mike, which I’m not able to attach, but I will once I can.

Mike exchanged his backpack as the old one was used up.

I took 2 showers in 3 days for $6, money well spent.

Again we might won’t have cell service for days.

This is a rattle snake on Grumpy Bear’s wall. They put a little alligator head on it, but still it’s a big one. Hopefully we won’t see more for a while.