tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-47264925632270616802024-03-05T05:36:45.752-08:00CDT 2012Jetpackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15412243662668911989noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4726492563227061680.post-42414123651226164552012-10-15T08:38:00.001-07:002012-10-15T09:18:55.606-07:00Thank you! We wanted to take the time to thank some of the people who helped us to make this hike possible. Before we left, the awesome Craft Beer Cellar in Belmont, MA where Elaine works had a fundraiser for us. A huge thank you to both Peak Organic Brewing Company and Craft Beer Cellar for doing this and supporting us, we truly appreciate it. Also, my friends Annie and Cap, who helped to fund part of our hike, you are both so generous and kind and I cannot thank you enough for your support, not just for this hike, but for everything else. And of course my family, who helped us along the whole way, thank you!!
Below are some pictures of people we met along the way, and some of the people who helped us to complete our hike- we couldn't have done it without you!
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This is a picture of my family at the beach this summer. We took a week vacation to go the The Outer Banks in NC and had such a great time, plus it was a great break from the trail :)
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Here we are at Craft Beer Cellar, the week before we left, after the final fundraising event with Peak Organic Brewing Company and Craft Beer Cellar. Thank you for helping us to make this trip possible, you guys rock!!
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At the Mexico/New Mexico border!!! Here we are day 1, with the incredible Sam Hughes. Sam is the person who drives hikers to the southern terminus of the trail, a nearly three hour long drive, through some of the bumpiest, roughest dirt 'roads'I have been on. He also caches water for the first 90 miles of the trail, without which we could not get through that stretch. There is basically NO water here. Sam is a fascinating person, we had such a fun drive with him-what a great way to start the trail!
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In order to get to the Outer Banks to meet the family for our beach week, we had to hitch over 160 miles from Ghost Ranch, NM to the Durango airport in CO. It took us seven hitches and these ladies were nice enough to pick us up along the way. They were ride number two!
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This is Ray. We first met Ray when he was hitch number four on the way to Durango airport. BUT, even better was when, over two weeks later, after we came back from the beach we were trying to get a ride back to the trail after coming into Chama to get food, Ray picked us up AGAIN! We'd been waiting for over an hour, and he drove us back to the trail at Cumbres Pass. We had so much fun talking with him, what a great guy!
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Outside one of our favorite hostels on the trail, the new Raven's Rest Hostel in Lake City, CO. Here is Brazil Nut with one of the owners, AmyJo. If anyone reading this plans to do the CDT or the Colorado Trail this is a place you don't want to pass up!
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These are the guys who gave us a ride out of Darby, MT. We had a fun drive with them, and they were so nice to drive way out of their way to get us back to the pass.
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Brazil Nut with our hunter friends, who gave us the best trail magic- a warm place to sleep and FOOD! They were so fun, we stayed us for hours talking with them, and since they had their hunting camp set up right next to the trail, they knew all about hikers and had seen others in previous years. Thanks Jimmy, Carl and Raymond we had a blast with you guys!
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What we thought would be our last hitch-leaving Helena, MT. Dan and his dog gave us a ride out of town. Dan was a hiker himself and we enjoyed telling him about the trail. Thanks for the ride Dan!
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This was our actual last hitch with Dave. When we finished at the Canadian border, the shuttle service had stopped a few days before, so we had to count on some friendly person to give us a ride-and that person was Dave! He gave us a ride from the border all the way back to East Glacier. Dave was a wealth of knowledge, after having worked for Yellowstone for ten years and now working at Glacier National Park for the past two years, we had lots of questions for him and we had great conversations on our ride. Thank you Dave!!
Jetpackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15412243662668911989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4726492563227061680.post-58474774517960909812012-10-01T16:27:00.002-07:002012-10-09T07:55:11.686-07:00Canada!Despite not having posted earlier we arrived at the border last Wednesay morning! Glacier was beyond any beauty that I could have imagined and was a wonderful place to complete our thru hike. We arrived in Glacier a day earlier than expected and met my dad that evening and took the next two days off to enjoy exploring the park with him. It was GREAT to travel like a tourist- by CAR!- for a few days and see other parts of the park which the CDT does not go trough.
After spending Friday night at The Backpacker's Inn, one of the great hostels in East Glacier Park, we headed into the park. For anyone reading this who enjoys hiking and beautiful places, Glacier is a polace you must go! We spent the next four and a half days hiking through the park, taking our time and doing low mile days. It was a beautiful way to end our hike.
Below are some pictures from Glacier. I plan on making this website much more comprehensive, with links to full photos and some videos. Both Brazil Nut and I also want to put a gear list on here and want this website to continue to be a resource for other hikers.
Thank you again to everyone who has supported us and helped us along the way. Thank you for reading and I will keep this posted with updates for futures hikes and adventures!
~Jetpack
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Jetpackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15412243662668911989noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4726492563227061680.post-10430395796384152752012-09-11T07:34:00.000-07:002012-09-11T07:34:46.227-07:00Tales from the trailsWhile trying to hitch out of our last town we were called ' drunk highschool teeny boppers' by some lady on the side of the road. Seriously? Was this lady nuts?.... We had walked a little way out of town to hitch and were standing near some small houses. Two people were working on one of the houses and saw us standing by the side of the road. They came over and proceeded to ask us what the heck we were doing there. We explained that we were hiking the continental divide trail from Mexico to Canada and had just come into their town to get food. "The continental what?" she asked us. As we explained again she stared to tell us what we were doing was not safe and that she had lived here for over 25 years and the mountains here were not safe. "There are wolves and grizzlies up there, you have no idea what you're getting into." We told her we had been hiking in these mountains for weeks already and we were in fact aware of what was around us but she didn't understand. Where was our gun she asked us and my instant thought was, that based on the camo suit she was wearing her only interest in those "wolves and grizzlies up there" was for her to shoot them. After being told again that what we were doing wasn't safe etc etc we had truly had enough of them and decided to get away-bad karma we said, so we walked a quarter mile up the road to hitch again and the next vehicle that came around the corner stopped right away: meet Jerry, Rick and Lee. We hopped in the cab of the truck and took the thirty mile ride up to the pass with them. Two of these guys were from Darby, the other was a cousin visiting from Colorado. Well they'd been out fishin for the past few days and saw us and wanted to help us out... These guys were great and drive over 45 miles out of their way to bring us back to the trail. They knew about the trail and even knew where the trailhead was. When we got to the trailhead they chatted a little more with us, and offered us some drinks- we explained that it was late and we still had a long was to hike, so they kept the drinks for themselves and we hiked off.
The previous day as we were coming into town, we met two loggers very early in he morning who drove by us as we were packing up our tent. They were friendly, asked what we were doing and we explained a little about the CDT to them. Fast forward twenty miles later that afternoon, Brazil nut and I are standing on the side of the road trying to get a hitch into town. It had been over fifteen minutes so i was starting to get annoyed. Them we saw the loggers from that morning drive by and they didn't stop! But, five minutes later a big truck with three ladies stops for us! They were as friendly as could be, we were chit chatting away and they told us they had been out for the day visiting their husband/ uncle who were loggers." As a matter of fact," the woman who was driving told us, " they said they passed two girls this morning who were hiking the CDT." That was us we told them- what a small world, we ran into the guys that morning and without knowing it their wives picked us up later that day to give us a ride in to town! " Just wait til we tell them we picked you guys up, then I'm gonna ask them why in the world they didn't pick you girls up first!'' It was certainly a great town for hitching with memorable experiences for us!
But I think we both agree that the best part of our day came that evening. As we were about to stop and camp we saw some RV's ahead near the side of the trail and we decided to see if anyone was there. Meet Jimmy, Carl and Raymond, three guys from Darby who come and camp out at the same place at the same time each year and spend two weeks hunting. Well they couldn't have been any different than the two of us, but they offered us a drink and asked if we wanted to stay for the night and we spent the next four hours talking, eating, drinking and laughing with them. They had come to know hikers over the years since they were set up right along the trail. We talked and laughed and I kept thinking what a great surprise it was to have run in to them. We slept inside the huge canvas tent and in the morning woke to the smell of coffee. We stayed and chatted over coffee and breakfast and finally had to force ourselves to leave- after all we had miles to hike and they we headed out to hunt. But we both agreed that it was the best trail magic and one of the best encounters so far on the trail.
The last story I want to share was from back in WY, again as we were hitching out of town. It was Sunday morning about ten o'clock, neither of us thought much of it, or realized that we were hitching just beyond, ( and certainly in view of) a church for Jehovah's witnesses. As we were standing there a woman starts to walk over to us. She is your typical middle aged woman you'd expect to find at church: short, heavy set, long black skirt, and carrying what appears to be a ten pound bible. She asked us what we were doing and if we were homeless. We proceeded to explain about the trail but she still didn't seem to understand. What were two young beautiful girls doing wandering around and hitching around the country? Didn't we have parents who were worried about us, and weren't we scared being all alone? Oh, and while she has us there, what did we know about Jehovah's Witnesses? Well, after conversing with this woman and tryin to explain that we had chosen to do this and were in fact enjoying ourselves she looked at us again and with the most serious expression asked, "Do you carry the holy bible with you in your travels?".........I looked at her, and with as straight a face as possible said "NO."......I wanted to add that that would be extra weight for a hiker, among other things I wanted to say, but I just smiled and left it at 'no' to which she responded that she supposed everyone gets guidance from different sources. Yes, like the maps and guide book and GPS I'm carrying I thought. "Well if you need anything you can come join us inside" she concluded. I think she meant 'we can save your souls' if you come inside. We thanked her and in another five minutes we had a ride back to the trail.
Speaking of the trail we are currently in Helena, MT and leaving shortly to go back to the trail. We have a 10 day, 250 mile stretch ending in East Glacier Park, where we are meeting my dad next Thursday! He is coming out to Glacier for a few days and we will spend a couple days with him next week- I can't wait to see him!
The bear count is up to six- all black bears and we saw two more moose yesterday- a gigantic bull and cow. We're loving the wildlife sightings we're having. We are both really looking forward to the next stretch, from what everyone ahead tells us Montana just continues to get more and more beautiful.
I need to finish packing, then it's time for our last hitch out of town!
Thanks for reading,
-JetpackJetpackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15412243662668911989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4726492563227061680.post-37108794523722367092012-08-28T12:25:00.001-07:002012-08-28T12:27:20.382-07:00Picture upload!It's been a while since I've posted, but we are in Leadore, Idaho and I am at the library, which means I can upload pictures! The last stretch from Lima, MT to here I think is meant to remind a hiker that they are on the CONTINENTAL DIVIDE trail. We left Lima Friday, and climbed straight up to the actual divide and have been rolling along it-up and down, ever since. The divide here happens to be the Montana/Idaho state border andI believe we will stay along the border for another five days or so until we turn north east and stay in Montana for the rest of the trail.<br />
Like I said the divide is up high and the terrain has been difficult. I feel like we've been on a steep roller-coaster. I like riding roller coasters, but feeling like you're hiking on one for over twelve hours a day is exhausting. But we got a ride into town this morning at nine thirty and are taking the remainder of the day to rest before returning to the trail in the morning.<br />
Even though the last stretch was somewhat difficult, this area is beautiful. We've been seeing lots of deer, elk and some moose. Yesterday as we were hiking we saw some sheep coming over the hill towards us and for over ten minutes we watched them, thousands of them, walking by us down hill to new vegetation. We were told that they use this area for the sheep to graze, but I had no idea the numbers that were in one area! <br />
We've been passing a lot of sobo (southbound hikers) in the last week or two. I think we've counted fifteen who are headed south so far. These hikers start in Glacier in mid June to early July and will not reach Mexico until probably November. It's been great to meet them on the trail, hear their stories and swap trail info anout water, terrain etc.<br />
The pictures below are from the Wind River Range in Wyoming, until now. Enjoy, the Winds were beautiful and there are some neat pictures from Yellowstone too.<br />
-Jetpack<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Heading into the Winds- Little Sandy Lake<br />
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Day 1 in the Winds<br />
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Bull moose by Lonesome Lake<br />
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Near Cirque of the Towers<br />
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Leaving the Winds</div>
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The Green river-appropriately named</div>
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BIG CDT sign!</div>
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The cabin we stayed in at Lava Mtn Lodge<br />
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Welcome to Yellowstone<br />
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This creek was fed by geysers and hot pools so the water was really warm. Perfect spot for morning coffee!<br />
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How to eat like a thru hiker!! InYellowstone at Old Faithful Village<br />
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The famous Old Faithful geyser<br />
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Welcome to Idaho!</div>
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Just another grizzly print-next to size 11 mens shoes!</div>
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Hiking along the divide- ID/MT border<br />
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Lots of sheep near the divide</div>
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Jetpackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15412243662668911989noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4726492563227061680.post-15674483671238961422012-08-19T10:02:00.003-07:002012-08-19T10:02:45.462-07:00The Winds, bears and YellowstoneIt seems like yesterday we were just entering Wyoming and in the blink of an eye we have already left and are now in Idaho. Wyoming has been quite the state and is certainly the definition of extremes! We entered the state in the hot, dry and flat Great Divide Basin which was followed by the most beautiful mountains I have hiked through; The Wind River range. Yesterday, after three days in Yellowstone National Park we left Wyoming. Wow, what a place it has been!<br />
Going back to the Winds... This place is any hikers or rock climbers paradise. There are no roads through the mountains and it requires at least ten miles of hiking to reach the true Wind River range. It is such a unique place with absolutely stunning peaks, lakes, glaciers and trails. I want to go back and explore it even more, it is such a large area and we went through such a small potion of it. One could easily spend a few weeks hiking through it and never go to the same place. We were exhausted though after seven days through there as the terrain is difficult with lots of steep climbs so we took a day off at Lava Mountain Lodge near Dubois.<br />
One thing I haven't mentioned is that we have been in bear country for the last few weeks. Since we entered the Winds we have been hanging our food every night and we cook in the middle of the day instead of at night so there is no smell of food near the tent. Unlike the AT, there are not just black bears here, I'm talking about grizzly bears and they are HUGE! We haven't seem any yet but have seen a LOT of footprints and enormous piles of scat. Some of the prints are as big as Brazil Nut's feet and most are as wide as both of my feet together! It's truly scary to imagine how big these animals are!!<br />
Earlier this week we entered Yellowstone. I had been there many years ago, and went through the park by car, so I definitely feel like we saw more of the park this time. We entered from the south and followed the Snake river for about the ten miles. This area, and in fact much of the park is full of dead forest and tons of fallen dead trees as a result of the 1988 wildfire that destroyed so much of the park. It was amazing to see the destruction and that it has taken so long to grow back and that so much of it never grew back. The trail we took through back country also took us past lots of geysers and beautiful lakes. On Friday we walked right into Old Faithful village to eat and resupply. It was great to have lots of food but we both agreed that it was an extremely overwhelming place, there were SO many people!! Everyone was moving so quickly, there were so many cars and so much noise that we were ready to get out of there after just a little while. We followed a great trail next to a number of pools and geysers for the next two miles before leaving the masses of people and returning to the solitude of the woods. We camped one more night in the park and got up early yesterday and hiked 30 miles to get to Island Park, ID and are taking today off. Did I mention we are in Idaho?! State number four! We are only in Idaho for a few days, then we cross into Montana- the final and longest state!<br />
It's time for us to go resupply and clean some of our gear! Thanks for following and thanks for reading!<br />
-JetpackJetpackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15412243662668911989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4726492563227061680.post-56278817377683386032012-08-03T13:19:00.004-07:002012-08-03T13:22:43.112-07:00Pictures!I am keeping my promise to upload pictures from the last weeks. We are currently in Lander, WY after having completed the last 120 miles through the Great Divide Basin. Enjoy!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In Colorado near Silverthorne</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tasting some great beer in Leadville, CO</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There were tons of Marmots in Colorado, they're so cute!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A day in Rocky Mountain National Park!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We made it to WY!!</td></tr>
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The Great Divide Basin:<br />
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<br />Jetpackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15412243662668911989noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4726492563227061680.post-30520636103162895412012-07-29T17:37:00.002-07:002012-07-29T17:37:53.930-07:00Welcome to WyomingWe are officially in Wyoming!! We crossed the border Tuesday evening after a few last heavy storms that we couldn't leave Colorado without! It's hard to believe we're already into state number three. Southern WY is certainly a different place than Colorado- its hot, flat and DRY!! (sounds like New Mexico to me!) Coming into town yesterday there was a 30 mile stretch without drinkable water. I say drinkable because there was some water in that stretch but all of it was saline/ alkaline so we were not able to drink it which was torture to have to walk by as we were thirsty and hot. But we made it into Rawlins yesterday and are taking today off to relax after six days of hiking and before a five day stretch starting tomorrow. I will admit to being completely lazy today and have spent most of the day watching the Olympics- its the only time I truly want to sit down and watch tv!
Tomorrow we head ino the Great Divide Basin, a 115 mile stretch of flat, dry, hot desert-like terrain. Time for us to carry more water and crank out the miles! We were doing over 25 miles a day coming in here and are hoping to do the same through the week. Starting next week we will be entering The Wind River Range, which we have heard from everyone ahead is the most spectacular part of the trail so far. It is supposed to be a beautiful area that I have heard so much about and wanted to hike for a long time, so I am really looking forward to getting there!
If anyone would like to send a mail drop I will write our next location below. We plan to be there Friday August 10th, so make sure if you send something it's there by the 10th. Also, note this place ONLY accepts UPS- no FedEx or USPS. The address is :
Kaitlin Allen & Elaine Bissonho
C/O Lava Mountain Lodge
3577 US Hwy 26-287
Dubois, WY 82513
Thank you to Eileen and Elaine for the mail magic last week and to Brandi for the cookies in Salida- we love getting mail drops and don't have too many stops left, so this is a great time to send something our way! Just remember to send it through UPS :)
I apologize for the lack of pictures, I have had trouble doing it through my phone and lately we've been in town on the weekend so the library has been closed. I will try to get pictures posted when I can.
Tomorrow we will be back on the trail and headed for the hot and dry Great Divide Basin!
Thanks for reading, happy trails!
-JetpackJetpackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15412243662668911989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4726492563227061680.post-19360144327315435592012-07-12T07:59:00.002-07:002012-07-12T07:59:28.642-07:00I believe the last time I wrote it hadn't rained in weeks & I was nervous about the wildfires...well since then the weather has certainly changed! From the time we left Lake City nearly two weeks ago until two days ago there has been rain, hail, thunder & or lightning every day. I don't mind a little rain, we definitely need it, but it's the abundance of lightning and black clouds rolling over head as we hike that make me nervous. I feel like I've become a pro at telling what will fall from oncoming clouds just by their shape, size, color and way they're traveling. It has become a game as we're climbing uphill if we know we will be above tree line soon, to try and predict what the dark clouds above are going to do. If we've recently heard thunder or dark clouds are quickly moving our way, we stop and wait so we will hopefully avoid lightning. But this doesn't always work and we aren't always right. The most frightening day for boh of us was our third day out of Salida last week. After the second storm of the day we were starting a big climb over 12,000 feet and the sky was clear as we started up. By the time we got to tree line there were storm clouds to our west and it was raining hard, but it was all far away. So we decided to go ahead, we had less than half an hour to the pass then it was downhill for a while. Half way up the clouds shifted our way and we started to hear thunder. I kicked it into a new gear and headed for the top as fast as I could. I got over the pass but Brazil Nut was still a little way behind me. I descended a little so I wasn't completely exposed and waited for her to come over the top above me. No sooner did she come into view then here was a huge boom of thunder over head.... At this point I just wanted to be far below beneath the trees but we had at least a mile of steep exposed and now slippery rock to descend since it had started to rain. We both hiked as fast as we could given the terrain, but the rain had turned to hail amd we were now dodging lightning bolts, so we could only go so fast....anyway, we made it down safely, but this has been the course of the last week and it's both mentally and physically exhausting. But a phrase that is well known among CDT hikers is "Embrace the brutality" coined by a former hiker of the trail. This trail is different than others in part due to the extremes we encounter-extreme weather, terrain, beauty, challenges, solitude... The list goes on. So, as we're hiking along and we're getting pelted by hail or dodging lightnig bolts, it usually ends with us yelling "embrace the brutality!" to one another.
So it's back to the trail soon and there are clear blue skies that I hope will stay for at least a few days. We will be in Grand Lake next which borders on Rockie Moumtain National Park and if the weather is nice we're planning to do an optional 27 mile loop through the park when we get there. After that there is only one trail town left in Colorado, them it's on to Wyoming!
That's it for now, happy hiking!
-JetpackJetpackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15412243662668911989noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4726492563227061680.post-73558804996328032512012-06-28T15:35:00.003-07:002012-06-28T15:35:18.961-07:00The other side of Beauty- By Brazil Nut<br />
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After hiking almost 700 miles through New Mexico we slowly started
seeing the far away green mountains and they looked very high from the
desert, although we were already over 6,000 feet to begin with. The
colors of the landscape changed dramatically from orange, red and brown
to blue and green , not to mention the amount of fresh water coming down
from everywhere, an amazing change right in front of our eyes,
every day, every hour, every step we took heading north getting one
step closer to our goal of accomplishing a CDT thru-hike. <br /> The beauty
we see is immense and covers 360 degrees from everywhere we stand, but
we were also e hit with the other side of nature or perhaps consequences
from us humans changing so much to fit the constant evolution of our
species. <br />We entered Colorado climbing up to the magnificent beauty of
the San Juan mountains which have been compared to the Alps. I must say it takes your breath away to look at them, and for us it was even
more incredible because we were living in those mountains. Many times
we stopped to catch our breathing from the altitude and the hard work
our bodies were going through climbing up to those peaks. We also took
the time to be grateful to be there doing what we love and loving what
we are doing, respectfully appreciating our journey and the
companionship we are sharing with one another. I keep telling JP I am
super happy to have a partner who is enjoying this as much as I am. I
have had my share of solitude thru-hiking the AT and the PCT.<br /> As our journey progressed and we entered deeper into the forest we started to see the other side of beauty. <br />First I realized the ground was moving funny, little brown and yellow hairy
things moving by the billions-they were caterpillars!!! I thought to
myself it means change, they will soon be flying in a different
format. They kept multiplying as we kept hiking and every time we stopped to look at our maps they would start crawling up
our legs, on our packs, clothing, every where. Our eating brakes
became kind of a stressed moment as Jetpack had zero tolerance for
those little creatures. Well when you put billions of them together
things become a little out of control. I kept laughing harder and
harder everytime she took one off herself, all we could do was keep
hiking hoping that eventually it would come to an end, and it did but it
took a few days going through caterpillar world. <br /> I guess it truly hit
me how massive the infestation was when we climbed up to one of the mesas and could see for miles and miles how bare the trees were. I have
never seen anything like that before on such a gigantic scale. We were
happy when we could finally sit down on the ground to take a peaceful
break without things crawling all over us. <br /> The forest became green
again but not for too long, this time we were confused by what was
happening. All around us the hardy pine trees were completely dead, like
something sucked the life out of those trees with a needle and left
them standing still without any life left. We hiked day after day, mile after mile and kept seeing the same damaged forest, only
the new growth was still alive, the older ones were all dead and we
were still not sure from what. <br /> We went down to this little town of Pagosa
Springs and learned about another infestation from some sort of beetle
taking over thousands of acres , killing all the trees. It was hard
to believe how much and how fast the forest is changing from green to
brown, and the dead trees are still standing which is the best fuel for wild fires...
oh yes, let me say this again wildfires.<br /> We are suffering some catastrophic results from all the fires around the country. Colorado is truly taking it's share to the fullest I must say. For
few days we were high above 10,000 feet elevation getting all the smoke
from one of the wildfires around Pagosa Springs, our visibility of the
San Juan's got lost in the midst of all the smoke blowing our way by the
high velocity of the wind. Breathing became more difficult with the
high elevation combined with the heavy smoke , and we both hiked without
much to say. <br /> We kept hiking ironically straight towards the fire as
the CDT took us west instead of north for couple of days thought the San
Juans. All we could do was keep going and paying attention to everything
around us. <br />One of those days it was certainly very difficult for
us, my partner JP lost herself to fear. We sat down to eat lunch looking
at the smoke around us after 12 miles into our day and she tells me she
is not hungry. Well hungry is one of the things a thru- hiker is
constantly, I worried instantly after that statement. I ate, packed up
and said we had to go and she was still sitting on the ground by a little
running spring on the side of the mountain. I could see she was not doing well. She finally got up and I moved towards her embracing her with a comforting hug ans she finally says, " This fire is scaring the crap out of
me...my stomach feels very nauseous..." <br /> I had no words at the
moment to comfort her because I knew they were very realistic. I finally replied " I need you, please focus, we are
in this together, we can do it..." <br /> We hiked the rest of the day
step by step a couple feet from one another, camped by a beautiful river,
woke up the next day with superb beautiful blue skies and had one of
the most amazing days on the trail. The smoke was low as was the wind and
the terrain was open with beautiful views of the San Juan's.
We kept hiking and being grateful to be thru-hiking the CDT
and to have one another.<br />
-Brazil NutJetpackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15412243662668911989noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4726492563227061680.post-84025112166393376962012-06-28T14:56:00.001-07:002012-08-03T12:49:52.649-07:00Colorado Heat, dryness, wildfires, strong winds....these are the things that have been going through my head the last week on the trail. We left Pagosa Springs last Friday morning to head into one of the most difficult stretches of the trail: the San Juan mountains. The San Juan's stand mostly between ten and fourteen thousand feet, so at any given time it is not an easy area to hike in. Most hikers choose to wait to enter this area until some time in June because of the snow. This year was a very low snow year, so the hiking was not nearly as difficult as it would have been in previous years. But as many of you know it has been extremely dry here and there are a number of wildfires burning in Colorado right now and we are seeing their effects as we hike. For two days we hiked through fairly thick smoke, smelling fire all day long. For over a week now we have still been able to see the smoke as we hike even though we are miles away. But the forests here are so dry, there has been so little rain and the wind has been very strong. Yesterday as we got to Spring Creek Pass to hitch into town, we finally got our first storm and torrential down pour complete with hail! But the rain lasted no more than twenty minutes then it was back to blue sky. We are taking the day off today, resting in town and it has finally rained some more today, but we need more.<br />
But back to the trail, Colorado has been absolutely beautiful. I have never hiked in an area like this, it is so different from anywhere back east. I was talking with someone a few weeks ago when we were in New Mexico and she was telling me about Colorado, as she had done a lot of hiking here in years past. In speaking about it, she said that Colorado has a beauty that adjectives cannot describe, and her words have stuck with me and it is exactly what I would say about this state.<br />
We have had some great wildlife sightings- I lost count weeks ago of the number of elk we have seen. They are so fun to watch and they have a very neat call that they make. We saw our first moose of the trip, I think I startled it as much as it startled me when I came around the corner. It was a bull and he was not quite full grown, but I always enjoy seeing moose and I'm sure we will be seeing many more as we head north. We see tons of marmots everyday and we even saw some coyotes our last day in NM.<br />
We are spending the day in Lake City at a new hostel that just opened this summer called the Ravens Rest hostel. It is a wonderfully relaxing place run by a former CDT hiker as his wife. If anyone is ever looking for a place to stay here I would highly recommend The Ravens Rest hostel :)
Tomorrow we head back to the trail and will begin to head north again ( the last six days has been a loop to the west and now turning back east to hike through the San Juan's).
Below are pictures from the beginning of Colorado and I have updated the mail drop info in the post below for anyone who wishes to send us something!
Thanks for reading, happy hiking.<br />
-Jetpack<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Welcome to Colorado!</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First day in CO!</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The South San Juan mountains</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There's still some snow left!</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thunderstorm & hail as we reached the pass yesterday</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Jetpackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15412243662668911989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4726492563227061680.post-43562264416925712342012-06-21T18:29:00.000-07:002012-06-28T14:39:54.298-07:00Mail DropsI know I said that I would post information here about mail drops if anyone is wanting to send us something. So, here are our next two stops. The first one we will be at next Thursay, so it may not give you enough time to put something in the mail, but the next ones we will be at the first week in July.
The first place is Lake City, CO. If you would like to send us something, please send to this address ( USPS only, no FedEx or UPS).<br />
Kaitlin Allen & Elaine Bissonho<br />
C/O The Ravens Rest Hostel<br />
PO Box 1172
Lake City, CO 81235<br />
"Please hold for CDT thru hiker, ETA 6/28/12"<br />
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The next stop is:<br />
Kaitlin Allen & Elaine Bissonho<br />
C/O Simple Lodge and Hostel<br />
224 First Street
Salida, CO 81201<br />
"Please hold for CDT thru hiker- ETA 7/3/12"<br />
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**NEW June 28th**<br />
Ok folks, this gives you enough time to send us something. We will be stopping in Leadville, CO and the address there is (note USPS only):<br />
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Kaitlin Allen & Elaine Bissonho<br />
C/O General delivery<br />
Leadville, CO 80461<br />
"Please hoild for CDT thru hikers- ETA 7/8/12"<br />
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If you are unfamiliar with sending care packages or goodies please read this: the ETA date I have below each address is the date your package must arrive by, otherwise we may not get it. Also, please remember there are only two of us and not a lot of other hikers for us to share with, so if you send something, don't send too much. Whatever you send we have to eat or carry with us and we don't like to waste :) Things we like: baked goods, chocolate, Starbucks via... We would love to get a mail drop or a care package from you!
-JetpackJetpackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15412243662668911989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4726492563227061680.post-29941595930057973352012-06-17T08:03:00.000-07:002012-06-17T08:03:05.773-07:00Back to the trail!Well, after quite some time off the trail we are finally back, and a great time off we had! The Outer Banks is a beautiful place and I would highly recommend a trip there, especially if you are thru-hiking and want a place to relax!! It was so nice to see my family and spend time with them, and a huge thank you to Dad and Mom for putting this trip together. It was one of the best vacations I've been on and an awesome change of pace from the trail! Thank you! <br />
We extended our trip a few days before we flew out of DC by staying with some friends of Brazil Nut. Thanks to Heather and Elizabeth for letting us stay with you, we had a great time! Next we flew back to Durango and made a stop to see my friend Hannah in Taos, NM. We had such a great time, I wish we could have stayed longer and explored the town more. Hannah, thank you for letting us stay with you and for the ride back to the trail, I love your whole set up in Taos! <br />
We have now been back to he trail for four days, and we both agree that it's great to be back. We crossed into Colorado yesterday and Im excited to be in a new state! From what we've heard there is still snow ahead but its melting quickly. I believe we are also going to be staying above 10,000 feet for a while now, Colorado is supposed to be spectacular and Im looking forward to hiking through the state. <br />
We came into Chama last night to get food and are headed out shortly. We'll hitch up to Cumbress Pass at over 10,000 feet then continue north! Thank you for reading, happy hiking!<br />
-Jetpack<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Colorado!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Northern NM</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sunset from our camping spot two nights ago<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Outer Banks vacation with the family!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beach sunrise<br />
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Fun at the beach! <br />
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</tbody></table>Jetpackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15412243662668911989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4726492563227061680.post-20281662256697107612012-06-05T08:24:00.000-07:002012-06-05T08:24:23.484-07:00Break time! I am writing this post far away from the trail on the beach in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Last fall my family planned a vacation here so when we were planning our hike we factored in a flight back east. It's been a very relaxing few days so far; swimming, walking and relaxing at the beach- the perfect break from the trail! But it was no easy deal to get to the beach. This winter when we booked our flight we booked it from Durango, Colorado and we were not as far north as we thought we'd be last week when we were getting off the trail. So we had 165 miles to travel to Durango, and we did it by hitch hiking! We started at 9:00 am and seven rides later we found ourselves in Durango! Needless to say it was an eventful day, we met lots of very interesting characters and had a beautiful drive across northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado.<br />
Since I last wrote in Grants, the trail has been absolutely beautiful. We have been hiking through beautiful pine forests at the top of 10,000 foot mountains with an aboundance of springs and mountain streams, then hiking through the dry desert again and over and across beautiful mesas. The landscape has been phenomenal, with amazing rock formations everywhere. Before our hitch hike, we got to Ghost Ranch near Abiquiu, NM and spent a day there relaxing. The ranch is a presbyterian retreat center set on beautiful land with a farm, campground, cabins, cottages, museums, hiking trails, a dining hall and a variety of other buildings...it is a very peaceful place.<br />
When we return to the trail next week we will be just about four days away Colorado. From the reports we've gathered from other hikers there is still a lot of snow in Southern Colorado, so our time off the trailbreak from the trail was timed well! I am looking forward to Colorado, we got a small taste of it on out hitch hike, and the mountains there are enormous and breath taking.<br />
Below are some more photos from the last section, and I will write again soon.<br />
Happy trails!<br />
-Jetpack<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hike up Mt. Taylor</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mt. Taylor</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Summit</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Near 10,000 ft, still snow around</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mesas near Cuba, NM</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Near Ghost Ranch<br />
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<br /></div>Jetpackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15412243662668911989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4726492563227061680.post-15527442678626438752012-05-22T16:22:00.002-07:002012-05-22T16:22:21.276-07:00Grants, NM Greetings from Grants, NM! We are taking a little extra time in town because my feet have been suffering from a lot of painful blisters. My old shoes are worn out and I just revceived a new pair today and Im hoping they will help my feet. I opted to walk in my flip flops the other day when we got to a long road walk because my feet were so sore. Many hikers feet swell after all the miles we put in and it is not uncommon for us to need to get a larger size shoe. The shoes I started in were a half size too big and are now too small, but the new ones fit and I'm hoping my feet will stay the same size :)<br />
It has only been a few days since we left Pie Town, and the trail has mostly been on roads, both paved and dirt. The day we left town we hiked 30 miles and here is a picture of the road we were following. This was taken in the evening about 28 miles in.<br />
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Tonight we are staying with the wonderful trail angels in town, Carole and Hugo, and a number of other hikers are coming over soon for dinner. Our plan is to hike out tomorrow morning, and by mid day we will be on top of Mount Taylor, the highest mountain in New Mexico at over 11,000 feet, the highest I have hiked before!<br />
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Here are a few more pictures from over the past week or so that I hope you will enjoy.<br />
-Jetpack<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View of the Gila cliff dwellings</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Inside the Cliff dwellings</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Near the Gila cliff dwellings</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eating some delicious PIE in Pie Town!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A great water source</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crossing the Gila river</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Near the Middle Fork of the Gila River</td></tr>
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<br />Jetpackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15412243662668911989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4726492563227061680.post-18487640207421295282012-05-18T18:09:00.001-07:002012-05-22T15:57:01.154-07:00Pie Town, NM<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Greetings from Pie Town, NM! We arrived yesterday just in time to get some food and eat some delicious pie. Pie Town is not so much a town as it is an area with a few churches, two restaurants famous for their pie and an awesome hostel for hikers, bikers and anyone traveling. We took our first zero today ( day off-hiked zero miles) which felt great! We have been doing big miles the past week and our bodies need the rest.
It has been an amazing last ten days since Silver City, the trail has been so varied and early this week we went through what had been my favorite part of the trail so far; the Gila River. After a week in the dry desert the river was a welcomed change. But we did not just walk along the river, we crossed it (waded through it) for five days. On Monday alone, we counted 75 river crossings! The water was extremely refreshing as it was still very hot during the day, but quite the way to start the day when it's only in the 40's-brrrr! None the less the Gila river is a beautiful place, in a deep canyon, winding along for miles and miles.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The beautiful Gila river</td></tr>
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Another one of our favorite things about the Gila is that there are a number of natural hot springs along the river which felt really good so soak in!
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hot Springs :)</td></tr>
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At the moment I'm sitting in the only place in town where I can get any service, and there is not enough for me to upload pictures, so apologies but I will post more when I'm in town next week.
Thanks for reading, happy trails!
-JetpackJetpackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15412243662668911989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4726492563227061680.post-24831595491812235202012-05-08T11:12:00.003-07:002012-05-22T15:52:42.611-07:00One week on the trail!Greetings from Silver City, New Mexico! We made it into town this morning and are taking a break for the day. Wow, we have been on the trail for a week already and what a week it has been!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ready to hike north! (At the border)</td></tr>
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We spent the first five days in the very hot and dry desert- what a place to hike through. Here, the trail switches between sandy/gravel road, and traveling cross country, where there is no trail and we area walking from one trail marker to the next, making our own path. One surprising thing is that there are trail markers, something I was not expecting. Sometimes they are very far apart and you cannot see from one to the next, but they are there if you look. Traveling cross country means LOTS and lots of thorns and prickers. I truly think that over 95% of every plant we saw in the desert has some type of sharp thorns growing from it, ready to stick into our shoes, socks or pants.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The desert</td></tr>
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None the less, the desert is beautiful. It is so open, we can look back for days and see where we have come. We've had beautiful blue skies every day, but with that, very little shade. We hike all day with long sleeves and hats and bandanas to protect ourselves from the sun but are still not able to completely avoid it.<br />
One thing we have had to be very careful about is water. We have not seen a single natural water source yet, so in the beginning we had to rely on water caches (water that trail angels leave for us at road crossings). After that, we were on our own to get water from the only other source available- water tanks used for the cattle. We've gotten very good at getting water from these sources, and the water has been surprisingly good so far, but we still treat it just to be safe. Here are some of the more interesting water sources we have found:<br />
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On Sunday afternoon the landscape changed and we finally headed up into the mountains of the Gila National Forest. We were finally hiking among trees!! There has been an abundance of shade, fewer cattle and a wonderful breeze. Yesterday we were up at over 8,000 feet and had beautiful views all around. This picture, taken Sunday afternoon was a wonderful change of scenery from the flat, hot, open desert.<br />
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We have seen some very interesting wildlife so far; lots of snakes (mostly rattlers), lizards, jack rabbits, deer, a wild boar and yesterday morning as we started hiking, we saw bear tracks in the sand. Bears in New Mexico??! So I looked it up online and read that in fact the Gila National forest does have black bear! Who would have thought! <br />
One thing I was a bit unsure of when we left was navigation. I had heard the trail was not well marked and it was very easy to get lost. So far, I have not found that to be true. There have been lots of markers and when we started into the Gila National Forest two days ago, for the first time we were following a well worn path! We still have our maps and GPS which have proven extremely helpful many times.<br />
I have very limited time on a library computer at the moment, but we will keep you posted on our progress. Thank you for reading and happy hiking!<br />
-JetpackJetpackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15412243662668911989noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4726492563227061680.post-56781134937870318812012-04-30T22:11:00.001-07:002012-05-08T11:13:32.940-07:00PCT Kickoff weekendI am writing this post from Lordsburg, NM after arriving to town this morning after a ten hour Greyhound bus ride from San Diego. We had a great weekend at the kickoff party, we spent a lot of time with Brazil Nut's friends from her PCT hike in 2010. The kickoff party is a wonderful reunion for former hikers and a great way for this years hikers to get together and meet one another. Throughout the weekend there are vendors, speakers, demonstrations and lots of food, all located at Lake Morena park, 20 trail miles into the PCT. All around it was a great time but now we are getting ready for our journey which begins tomorrow morning!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lake Morena County Park</td></tr>
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There is a trail angel in town who we are meeting at 7 am who will drive us to the boarder and from there we will begin our hike. We met some other hikers over the weekend who are also on the CDT, just a few weeks ahead of us. They gave us some very helpful information about water on the trail, as it is very dry and hot here so water sources are few and far between.
It is late and I am still trying to figure out how to upload pictures onto here, but I will update this as often as possible, but for now it's off to bed for some rest before hitting the trail in the morning!!Jetpackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15412243662668911989noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4726492563227061680.post-76149524707489286622012-04-25T19:43:00.000-07:002012-04-25T19:43:40.310-07:00Welcome!Hello everyone! Welcome to our blog for our up coming CDT thru-hike!! As you will notice, at this point the blog is bare and very minimal- I'm still working to get it set up. But I plan to blog and put pictures on here as we hike. <br />
Tomorrow morning we fly to San Diego, where we will spend the weekend at PCT kickoff party, and make our way to NM at the end of the weekend, arriving there Monday morning. We have a ride to the Mexico/New Mexico border lined up for first thing Tuesday morning, May 1st!! :) From the border, we will begin our hike north, nearly 3,000 miles!!<br />
The CDT is a whole different world from the AT, and I am so excited for the new challenges and excitement that is ahead for us. That bring said, as you can see, I'm writing this at 11pm before a 7 am flight and have been a bit disorganized in preparing for this trip and have had lots of last minute details to put together.<br />
I look forward to sharing our journey here and hope you will enjoy following our progress.<br />
Happy trails and thank you for reading, <br />
-Jetpack (Happy to be using m trail name again!)Jetpackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15412243662668911989noreply@blogger.com2