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 […]

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 […]

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, […]

Views abound

Week two on the PCT offered boundless views and exposed elevated landscapes. The heat returned with a fury and we are thankful to have brought a good sun hat and a long sleeve Sun shirt with hood. Our cool damp bandannas are never bored. We strive to hike in the cooler mornings, often waking up […]

We’re Not At Sea Level Anymore

After an assortment of flights, buses, and Lyfts we made our way from bright and sunny (and flat) Florida to bright and sunny Burney, California. While not exactly the mid-point of the trail it was close, and just past where the Dixie Fire had closed off sections of the PCT last year. This made it […]

And, we’re off!

We’re finally on the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), after years of reading about it and researching gear and logistics, we are soaking in this awesome beauty. We deviated slightly from our original plans by starting two days early, on Alyssa’s birthday June 11th, and also starting eight miles south as a nice guy named Rick […]