These days of transition from trail to town are always the strangest. They are always the longest as well. When I think back to where we woke up, it seems like a different world. There are four people in this roadside gas and shop speaking a language I can’t identify. It makes me feel even…

From Walker Pass 8.3 miles to the Owens Peak Mount Jenkens saddle is the only stretch of the PCT I had previously hiked. There are a few vivid memories from that day. Coming on a saddle, just before crossing to the east side of the ridge for a view of town, I noticed a small…

Day, or evening rather, thirty four finds us finally in the Sierra Nevada mountains. We are camped on the saddle between Morris Peak and Mount Jenkins. A little to the south east you can see Ridgecrest. Since moving away, I have never really considered the place my home. Nevertheless, this truly feels like a homecoming.…

The fest of gluttony last night paid off. Our packs have dropped to a reasonable weight. It started me off in good spirits. Two factors, however, soon made me think that the seven day struggle was going to continue to be an appropriate title. A soft sandy trail and wind. There is nothing quite as…

Oh what a long tiring day. The stomach just thought it was king in Mojave. At this point the feet, and deservedly so, are demanding equal rights. The legs and shoulders are backing the feet. The stomach’s brash usurpation of power has even caught the attention of the head office upstairs. My whole body is…

The amount of walking we have done is almost incomprehensible to me. We set out on our first full day with the ridiculously heavy load. It didn’t seem to slow us down so much. The miles that we did do were just painful. My feet are like the archetypal two kids in the back seat,…

After Dylan briefly fell asleep on the sidewalk in front of the closed supermarket, we settled down in a large blowing trash scrub bush wasteland between the grocery and a dead airplane holding facility. Trains passed throughout the night making every sort of racket. I dreamed of train hopping and concluded, on waking, that it…

It is night. We are in the town of Mojave, a place I have been to many times. It’s lonely here. Being out in nature by yourself with nothing to do can be wonderful. Being in a dusty little highway town in such a situation is lonely. Dyl’s here of coarse. It has come to…

After siesta yesterday we trudged along through endless ridge contours of chemise lined sandy trail. The sun dipped lower and lower. Our pace became consciously quick in an effort to reach the desert floor by dark. For awhile the trail crossed over the ridge to the slope away from the valley. Vegetation drastically changed for…

After siesta yesterday we trudged along through endless ridge contours of chemise lined sandy trail. The sun dipped lower and lower. Our pace became consciously quick in an effort to reach the desert floor by dark. For awhile the trail crossed over the ridge to the slope away from the valley. Vegetation drastically changed for…