5 days through the mountains, but on a bike this time.

I'm just finishing packing for my next little trip. I've been looking at different cross country routes to get me from Calgary down to my Parents place at Baynes Lake and I finally settled on a good looking plan. First part of the bike trip isn't biking at all, it's hitching out to Banff with a perfectly good bicycle, hopefully fully assembled in the back of someones truck. The winds always blow from the west, and being the lazy type of cycle tourer I am, I'd rather just catch a ride instead of fighting the headwind on the side of the busy transcanada highway all day.

From Banff I take a cross country ski trail along goat creek until I get up above Canmore, then the Smith Dorien gravel road takes me 80 km to Kananaskis Lakes. From there it's another cross country ski trail up over Elk Pass and into Elk Lakes Provincial Park, 70something km of gravel road to Elkford, and then I'll ride the paved highway until Sparwood. If time permits I'm hoping to take a side trip 25km out to Crowsnest Mountain where I'll hide my bike in the trees while I scramble up - I've always wanted to climb Crowsnest Mountain, what better time than while on a cycle tour? Then it's back into BC and up Corbin Creek into the Flathead for another 160 or so backcountry km. I could never find a route through there that I liked, but the other night I found out that there is a foot trial joining two forest service roads that get within a few km of each other. That lets me take backroads right up to the Canadian/US border at Rooseville, just south of Baynes Lake and what will probably be my first cold beer and shower all week. The hardest part of the whole trip seems like the hitch out to Banff... best get going, I still need to pickup extra spokes!

Here's pictures of the route:




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Doing all the things I missed while on the trail.

The last few weeks went something like this:

-Bus / Hitchhike from the coast to Greenwood. ($20 bus ride to get out of the tough hitching in the fraser valley).

-One week visiting my Grandparents, helping on the farm, getting firewood, and eating ALL of grandma's wonderful cooking nonstop (I gained 6 pounds that week!).

-4 day roadtrip through the Okanagan with Sarah and her Mom.

-Weekend at Koocanusa / Baynes Lake visiting my Parents and Sarah again.

-Week of reading/relaxing/hiking/biking/eating/working/planning/not updating the blog in Calgary.

Sandra is in Calgary now from Switzerland, and Brian gets in this weekend, so we'll have lots more adventure into September. Confirmed is a 3 day 2 night trip across the Rockwall Trail in Kootenay National Park, another week in Greenwood visiting and helping on the farm, a week visiting in Baynes Lake, probable another 3 or 4 day hike, and mixed in somewhere I'll be riding my bike half across BC. I'm still figuring out where that one fits in though...

Vancouver

Hi all, forgot to post that I'm safe and sound in Vancouver. I've been staying with my friends Matt and Rachel and a couple other friends in town staying with them, Jim and Dan. Yesterday and the day before went as follows: sleep in, eat some amazing food with everyone, go eat some more somewhere else while everyone waits for me, ride bikes around, lay on the beach, eat more, eat again, see sights, go to bed. Pretty fun. Unfortunately Jim broke his wrist at a skatepark the other day, but I managed to ride a bmx for the first time in a long time and didn't hurt my self seriously. My stomach is great now, despite the gallon of icecream Jim and I tried to finish last night. It made a good breakfast too, and should be about finished by lunch time. 

And now for something a little different...

''Can I just bring this bag on with me?'', I ask him. ''Aw HELL no, that's a lot a shit ya got there!'' .... I got a great bus driver. ''anyone on here gotta make that train in Sacramento?''. A couple people raised thier hands. ''aight, there's this train leaving at 5:40, which means we gotta be there by 5:20, which means I gotta drive like CRAZY to get ya'll on that train, so ya'll best put on you seatbelts!'' ... ''Seatbelts!?''.....confused silence as we look to find the missing seatbelts... ''Yup, that's right. Y'all ain't got no seatbelts. But I got one, so y'all best hold on so I can get these folks on that train!'' My adventure is changed up a bit for now while I take a hiking break. Bus to Sacramento, train to Seattle, bus to Vancouver, falafel eating binge at my beloved Falafel House, and then, well, well I'm not really planning things much past falafel #7. I'll have to keep you posted.

What happens when you walk all day, almost everyday, for about 7 weeks?

Well, like most things you get a bit tired of it. Or maybe just plain tired? Either way, I decided to hitch back into South Lake Tahoe for some R&R, TLC, and a triple S. Well, it was more one of the S's lots, then another one once, and one not at all... still getting over that stomach bug...

The hiking has gotten a bit monotonous lately, partly the terrain, partly me being a bit burnt out on doing it everyday, and probably partly me being sick a bit. For now I'm hanging out in South Lake Tahoe, eating lots, and laying on the beach. Tough life, eh? I might catch a dinner buffet at a casino tonight. MMMmmmmmm!

Echo Lake to Donner Pass Photos

Trail beside one of many many lakes in the Desolation Wilderness.

View north from Dick's Pass, overlooking the desolation wilderness and Dick's Lake. This pass was only around 9000 feet, about 4000 feet lower than Forester Pass a few weeks ago.

At Richardson Lake I walked in at dark with 'Drifter' and found 'Love Shots', 'Party Foul', and 'Taco' camped out. They found a canoe at the lake and spent the afternoon trying to fish and relaxing. I took the canoe out for a little splash in the morning. FUN!

The guys camped out had eaten 16 Crayfish that afternoon. They were everywhere! I couldn't resist picking this little guy out for a quick photo.

Lots and lots of tree walking in this section. Now that we are at lower elevations there is a lot of green stuff growing, whereas at higher elevations the forest floor is mostly bare.

Trail Magic! 'Why Not' had a friend from Sacramento dayhiking with her and 'Why Wait' and she treated us to beer, cheese and crackers. MMMMMMmmmmmm! Just before they showed up, Party Foul had resorted to asking passing cars if they had beer he could buy from them....
he was getting desparate.

Ridge view with Lake Tahoe in the distance.

We passed through 3 ski resorts on the last day of the section.

For Sarah... dayhiker dogs.

Another ridge we followed a ways. That's Tiller Knob in the far end of the ridge.

Duct tape a couple weeks ago helped, but there's only so much you can do for the poor socks stuck on a thruhikers foot... I used to wash my socks at the beginning, but now I just shake them out a couple times a day. Gotta be careful, washing might remove the 'patches'.

My feet pretty much hate me lately.

I got into South Lake and used the bathroom... it turns out I'm now that homeless person using the public bathrooms and internet... You can't tell well from the picture, but my nose is peeling for I think the 3rd time (4th maybe?) and I'm DIRTY! I'm surprised I got the 3 rides into town so easy. I probably wouldn't pick me up.

South Lake Tahoe is on the California / Nevada state line. That's one of 4 or 5 casinos just across into the Nevada side.

It's been feeling like my hitchhiking trip a few years ago... camping in town isn't much different than camping in the bush. You just have to be a bit more careful of spots, and are rewarded by having an extra $45 to spend on food instead of a bed! What was that I said 'looking' like that homeless person....?

Sonora Pass to Echo Lake

Oops...

Where's the best place in the world to get the shits?

Anybody? I'm not sure either, but up in Granite Chief Wilderness high on a long waterless ridge probably won't make my top ten list... I guess it's probably time to start treating my drinking water again. I'm overlooking Lake Tahoe again with good cell service, which is probably a bad thing as it allows me to post all the stuff nobody really wants to know... Thanks for posting up the photos Sarah!

last two photos

These must be some of Danny's hiking buddies. I noticed he has started referring to many of them as 'friends' so he must be spending quite a bit of time with some of the same people.

More photos...these ones are more recent!

I thinkthe person on the right is Danny waving.
I think these photos are recent- the change in scenery compared to the last bunch is quite remarkable. Beautiful!


This photo of rugged Danny goes with the last bunch...what does everyone think of his new look? I must admit- I like it.

Photos from Danny- Some old, some new

Danny sent these along the other day from his phone. Unfortunately, we will have to wait for him to put some details up about each one because I'm not sure when or where these were taken!

There's even internet in the 'Desolation Wilderness'...

It's strange to be using the internet in what feels like such a remote place... I can see part of Lake Tahoe (lots of development all around) and it seems there is service whenever civilization is within view. Nothing important to report, I just wanted to give a quick 'I'm alright' since I needed an excuse for another break anyways. I'm about 18 miles into my day and have passed through some beautiful places today - granite ridges, many lakes, and enough wind to keep me watching for which tree might be the one to land on me. It's been windy for a week, and combined with mostly porous volcanic rock lately (doesn't hold water) the mosquitos haven't had much of a chance to setup camp around here. Phew! I'll finish my day with another swim (bath) in a couple miles and then make camp in 4 miles or so, just in time to be in bed before dark because tomorrow starts at dawn again. I hope everyone is well back at home! I'll try making some calls from my resupply inSierra City around next weekend

1000 km!

Made it to Ecko Lake today, and passed my 1000 km marker yesterday. It's 1000 on trail km, but actually about 1100 km total with my side trips into yosemite valley, halfdome, and up Whitney. Now I'm deciding whether I should resupply from the little expensive store here or head into South Lake Tahoe to cheap stores and all you can eat buffets in the Nevada Casinos.... Hhhmmmmmmmm....

Quick resupply in Bridgeport from Sonora Pass part 1

Last night I counted up my food I had left to do the 90 miles remaining to Echo Lake. Hhhhhmmmmmmmm.... I guess I have been eating more than hiking lately.... 3 Days of food.... well, 3 hungry days anyway.... 3 back to back 30 mile days... hungry days that is... guess I best deal with the tough hitch and get more food. So here I sit in little Bridgeport, fresh out of the grocery store with double what I needed and with a belly full of burger and fries - my first lunch - I'll hit up the Mexican joint next. Hitching the 35 miles took about 4 hours... eventually Trashman and myself got a ride down the mountain in the back of a truck, ducking down twice as we passed highway patrol. The next ride was harder to get, but luckily Tigger and Chuck Norris' hiker support van came by and picked us up. It's not THE Chuck Norris, but their trail magic seems about as super human. They hike about half the time while others drive the van around helping others and running hiker errands.

Resupply part 2

Trashman is spending the night in town, but my limited money disappears too quick around mealtime so I'm heading out asap. Hiking has been good and bad lately. Today was the best 10 miles of the trip in my opinion - a long ridge traverse high above treeline walking on vocanic rubble (the granite left a day ago for volcanic mountains), looking down on frozen lakes and distant green hills, crossing the last of the snowfields and deep suncups in the melting snow. I slid on my ass (intentionally!) down about 400 feet of snow and made about the quickest mountain decent possible. The terrain has been rugged but nice, the only downside, A HUGE DOWNSIDE, being the little fucking bloodsuckers that have clouded me for a week. I told Sarah on the phone about finding the worst bugs of my life in a Yosemite meadow and swearing to get on the first bus I saw and get as far away as possible... that turned out to be less of an exception and more the start of the buggy hell that's been my life for days.

Resupply part 3

I've seen a lot of bugs, but this is crazy out here. Clouds of the most vicious bloodthirsty vampires I've ever seen. I crossed a lot of beautiful country but couldn't stop to soak it in. Instead I caught glimpses in between swats and curses, looking through a bug net and plotting escape routes. I'm definitely no rugged mountain man... the way I get spooked by bugs really is pathetic, and I don't think a day has passed since VVR that I didn't swear to leave the trail in a bug induced fury... Luckily I make it to a windy spot or eventually my bug net for the night and cool down and come to my senses. Two nights ago gives a good example: I decided to push hard and make it down to the valley and up and down the next pass just before dark. As usual, The bugs didn't notice I had bathed in deet so I had to rush for 2 and a half hours to keep ahead of them. Finally I made it to the lake I planned to stop at... the lake was more of a big swamp which means a huge hatchery of biteys...

Resupply part 4

I pushed on, knowing the trail followed a long meadow full of bugs but not having a better option. I tried running, but how do you run away from a never ending cloud? I hit a creek ford, and not thinking straight because of my rage I stopped to take my shoes off instead of just drowning myself then and there, or atleast just charging through in my shoes. Now yelling my curses outloud to the world I started across the thigh deep water. It was too far across to throw my shoes, so now I'm defensless with one hand holding shoes, one hand holding hiking poles and the rest of my body above water holding a carpet of mosquitos... could it get any more fun you ask? In between curses I inhale a lung full of bugs and start choking and coughing my way across this creek in the middle of nowhere... GGGGAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH! Luckily it was all too much and I broke down in laughter - ah yes, hard to find much more wilderness adventure than that... Anyways, hopefully you all can have a laugh on me...

All is well at Tuolumne Meadows

Hello everyone,

This is Sarah posting and I'm happy to report that after 500 miles of wandering through the mountains, Danny is still doing great. It was actually Friday July 3rd when I last heard from him - he was in Tolumne Meadows after a long trek down the Yosemite Valley. It is a huge, deep valley and to get from top to bottom it is a 50km trek. So, of course, Danny decided to do it in one day (all the campsites along the way were full) and camp at the bottom. He had heard alot about this cliff-thing called "Half Dome"at the bottom and he was pretty excited to see it. While I would like to tell you more about what Half Dome was like, the connection got fuzzy during that part of the phone call.

So, the next 'civilized' stop for Danny will be at Echo Lake which is about 2 days south of Lake Tahoe. He hopes that there will be a phone and some email there but if not, he will have to go to another town 1-2 days further along. It is another long stretch with the distance from Tuolumne to Echo lake being approx. 150 miles. Dan expects this to take 8-9 days but, because he might get sidetracked by a trail angel or need to go further to find a phone, we are to wait patiently and not worry for 12 days (from friday.) Don't worry- I'll keep count (I'm getting good at it) and let you know as soon as I hear from him. Ha ha...I'm sure I'm not the only one finding this whole "Danny wandering the wilderness away from phones" thing challenging. That being said, he assured me (again) that there are LOTS of people ar0und and that he spends at least a part of each day hiking in someone's company. I find this reassuring...hopefully the other worriers in the bunch (Delcie!) will find it reassuring too.

In the meantime, to keep us distracted, Dan has sent two cd's full of wonderful photos and I will be posting the best ones over the next couple days for all to enjoy. I hope everyone is well! For those of you who are wondering how I'm doing, well, I have to say that I'm enjoying the bittersweet-ness of it all, mostly because I get to remember the million reasons that I love this wanderer so much.

Until next time,
Sarah

Made it out of the (big) Mountains

Found some service here in Red's Meadows near Mammoth Lakes so I'll send a quick update. My Heineken beer can cook pot sprung a few leaks during this last stretch, so I'm enjoying 710ml of heaven in the name of 'equipment repairs'. Tough life.... This last stretch has been big in every way. Big elevation gains, big views, big snow fields, big days. Really really truly beautiful country out here. I spent a few days nearly all above 11000 feet and above treeline, complete with countless creek fords, epic views, and high mountain passes with snow - the longest being Muir Pass with about 6 Miles all walking on the snow. So great.

Into "the best stretch of hiking in the country"

Didn't enjoy rushing yesterday so I spent another night and took my time sorting gear and food. Pack feels a lot heavier an ice axe, cold weather gear, a bear resistant food canister and 9 days of food... I managed to fit in all inside though and it doesn't feel tooooo bad. Once a couple of days of food is gone I won't notice it anymore. New shoes are feeling pretty good, I replaced a twice broken pole, got snow baskets, and found a free waterproof stuff sack in a hiker box! I wouldn't let myself buy the stuff sack because I dropped to much money on the other shit I needed, and as soon as I got back to check for free food hikers left behind at the hostel there was the exact thing I wanted to buy in perfect shape.

It rained in Lone Pine this morning and it looks like a bit of snow above about 10,000 feet, but overall the weather isn't looking too bad for the next little while: http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?site=rev&smap=1&textField1=36.55&textField2=-118.35&TextType=2 I'll probably take my time getting to Crabtree Meadows where the report is from, then climb up Whitney early Thursday before heading on up the trial. This is going to be a 135 mile stretch (plus 16 for Whitney) before my resupply at Vermillion Valley Resort. Lots of snowy passes to cross, so going will be a little slower than usual but I'm planning to do some big days. It's tough to fit enough food into a bear can, and I don't want to pack two, so I guess I'd better just walk lots or go hungry when my 9 days of food runs out... If needed I can hike off trial 2 days before my resupply for about 9 miles to a trailhead, so if I'm short on food there is an easy bailout option.

I'm just backing up some photos at an Internet Cafe now, then I'll try the difficult hitch up to the trailhead waaaaay up there. Lone Pine is at 3700 feet elevation, and we look immediately up to multiple 14,000 foot peaks. The Trail Pass Trailhead is around 10,000 feet. Can't wait!

Oh, the DVD just popped out finished. Off I go!

Lone Pine California

Well, turns out the hype from Kennedy Meadows was waaay blown out of proportion... I did the 44 miles into the high sierra and out trail pass to Lone Pine in two beautiful days - no snow, no rain - just some good climbing and fun walking. It did get down to -3 celcius, but I stayed warm and happy. There is a cheap hostel full of hikers here, so I hitched in and spent last night here to get some gear and get my food drop from the post office. I bought some new shoes, but I think I'll bring them in and try different sizes today. It's hard to know what to buy when your feet are swollen from a 24 mile day in the mountains... I'm don't think my feet are more 'normal' today though... Probably won't be a normal for a few months... I'll enter the real mountains later today or tomorrow and climb 14500 foot whitney wednesday probably. No snow up to 10700 feet so far, but there will be on the passes for the next week now. Whoohoo! Internet will be n/a for while now - hope you all are well!