A Welcome Respite

Having hiked 1150 miles of the PCT this year, with all the breathtaking views and arduous terrain, with the life giving mountain streams and the verdant abundance of tenacious life, with the quirky trail towns and colorful characters also walking the earth, we humbly decided to rest our weary bodies and head back home to […]

Smokey West Coast

Hiking through Washington has been an interesting challenge. The terrain is tough, though beautiful; cold, wet mornings thaw into steamy afternoons as we crunch out more miles. Then there is all the smoke. As of a few days ago, there were 94 wildfires on the West coast, mostly started by lightning in the abundantly dry […]

Trustworthy Looking SOBO’s

In our research leading up to the PCT we had heard that compared to the AT this trail was logistically tougher. At this juncture I am inclined to say that our research proved correct, and that planning is over-rated! (Okay- that might be my motto for life- but this trail does induce spontaneity!) Washington continued […]

More Washington wonders

We are half way up Washington state, just about 900 trail miles into our journey; so a third of the trail, or over two million steps, have seen our footprints impressed into the dust. We are eager for the northern half of Washington, though we are learning that it promises a remote and rugged environment […]

A good month for Washington state

As we delve deeper into Washington state, almost 800 trail miles in, I think about some of the differences I notice between people on and off trail. Maybe it’s the relative scarcity of passers by, but when passing a stranger on trail, we always make eye contact and say a friendly hello or something. Contrast […]

Washington Wonderland

Leaving Bend after our brief reprieve was trickier than anticipated. With fires in Oregon pushing hikers up the trail buses filled up in record time and trail angels were inundated with requests for shuttles. We eventually snagged a pricey Lyft to get us to a trail head past the Lionshead fire closure, and were able […]

Organic Oregon

Taking a well earned day and a half off from the PCT here in Bend, OR, we are having to weigh all our options while off trail. We have covered 590 glorious miles of California and Oregon terrain and amazingly, neither Iron Maiden nor myself have fallen down yet. We’d fallen at least a dozen […]

Surrounded by sublime beauty

After our ten day healing sessions off trail, it was nice to kick up some more dirt and dust as we plodded south from Ashland, Oregon. Bright cloudless skies greeted us most every morning amid both natural open terrain and previous fire burn areas. Our legs and feet were finally starting to realize that yes, […]

The Trail Provides

Out of all the fascinating terms, slogans and phrases we picked up while hiking the Appalachian Trail- admittedly “the trail provides” is not one I ever used. Even I found it a bit on the hokey side, and I go for more of the hippie dippie stuff than IPA! But I might be coming around […]

It’s all fun and games, till someone loses a bag

As it usually goes, hiking out of Mount Shasta meant a decent climb to get back onto the trail. With it being 100 miles till the traditional hopping off point for the next town our food bags were big. Not knowing if the “hiker hunger” would kick in or how our daily mileage would increase […]