Leaving (again)

Posted by Jenna.

So, here we go: hiking the PCT 2.0. Tonight at 7, Tom and I are leaving on a Greyhound bus. We will arrive in Medford, Oregon around 6am, then take a regional transit bus to Ashland, Oregon. We are hoping to get to the trail head and be able to put in a few miles before crashing for the night. But this is the re-beginning of our journey, and we are really psyched. We just bought an AM/FM radio to help pass the time. We were kind of blown away by it though- we figured since they have the technology to make an IPod so tiny, an AM/FM radio should be about the size of an eraser. In reality, it is about the size of a deck of cards. I am still very pleased and excited.

We have been checking snow reports and it is looking good. Most areas, according to snowtel and the Pacific Crest Trail Association website are snow free, but there still seems to be a bit of snow above 7000 feet. We are carrying our ice axes and instep crampons for the beginning of the trip, until we get our bearings and are comfortable with the conditions.

We have all of our resupply boxes packed- about 2 for each resupply point, and they are all stacked and organized in Tom's garage, ready for his mom to ship to us along the way (thanks Betsy!).

We have been able to get our pack weights down with a little work, as well. Our base weights are now 15 pounds, which feels pretty good. Right now we are loaded up with 6 days worth of food, though, and 2 liters of water each...so they are resting around 30 pounds at the moment (but that will go down as soon as we eat our first snack!)

Wish us luck, and we will see you all in September. We will have sporadic internet along the trail, so I will post updates and photos whenever possible. Thanks for all of your support!!

our new itinerary.

JENNA & TOM HIKE THE PCT- RESUPPLY ITINERARY

ARRIVAL DATE	RESUPPLY POINT	MILES/DAYS FROM LAST	ADDRESS (C/O General Delivery, unless otherwise stated)
7.7 (weds)	Ashland, Oregon		Ashland, Oregon 97520
7.12 (mon)	Crater Lake	105.4/6	C/O Mazama Village Store PO Box 158 Crater Lake, OR 97604
7.18 (sun)	Shelter Cove Resort/Cascade Summit	79.6/4.3	UPS ONLY C/O Shelter Cove Resort West Odell Lake Rd Highway 58 Crescent Lake, OR 97425
7.24 (sat)	Big Lake Youth Camp	77.1/4.8	C/O Big Lake Youth Camp 13100 Highway 20 Sisters, OR 97759
8.1 (sun)	Cascade Locks	155.7/7.	Cascade Locks, OR 97014
8.8 (sun)	Trout Lake, Washington	82.9/5.5	Trout Lake, WA 98650
8.8 (sun)	Mount Adams Zen Center
8.13 (fri)	White Pass (Naches)	65.2/4	C/O White Pass Rural Branch PO, Kracker Barrel Store 48851 US HW 12 Naches, WA 98937
8.20 (fri)	Snoqualmie Pass	98.6/5.5
8.26 (thurs)	Skykomish (Stevens Pass)	74.5/5	Skykomish, WA 98288
9.2 (thurs)	Stehekin	97.8/6	Stehekin, WA 98852
9.9 (thurs)	Manning Park, Canada	88.8/5.1

everything is bigger in the west.

The view from Cape Alava

The view from Sand Point.

Tom and I just got back from a whirlwind road trip around the Olympic Peninsula. We took a ferry from Seattle onto the peninsula, then drove the northern section to Port Angeles, where we got a camping permit for the Olympic National Park. Then we headed west to Lake Ozette where we hiked on a nice trail to the shore- Cape Alava, the western-most point in the contiguous United States. It was absolutely gorgeous. We walked the beach, set up camp, made some dinner and sat on driftwood, watching the tide come in and listening to tons of sea lions on a nearby island. The next day we hiked down the shore to Sand Point. It was a slow hike, in some pretty soft sand and over some pretty big fallen trees.

It was really sunny, and we got pretty burned faces (woops). We set up camp at Sand Point, did some beach walks, and encountered perhaps the largest bird I have ever seen in my life (I maintain that we dont have these huge, mystery, mutant birds on the east coast). The next day we hiked out early (completing the equalateral triangle), and stopped at a little diner in a nearby town for breakfast (during our few days in the national park we saw otters, elk, deer, eagles, and many sea creatures). Then we headed back into the Olympic National Park, to see the Hoh Rainforest (a temperate rainforest). We did some hikes and explored the mossy area, then continued our trip down the western coast, eventually heading back inland.

We got to drive through the town of Forks, as well. A small, rather economically depressed old logging town, it has recently been rocketed to fame by its inclusion in the highly popular Twilight book series. It has turned into a tourist destination for teenage girls the world over- and aparently there are more than 200 visitors each day (what they do there, I still dont quite grasp). But the whole town has taken advantage of this monetary oportunity (even things that dont make sense...like a small handwritten sign on the side of the road advertising "Twilight Firewood").

The view from Tom's beach house in Lakebay, Washington. A gorgeous day with a great view of Mount Rainier.

It was a great trip though, and we just got back to Lakebay, Washington...where Tom has a beach house on the Puget Sound. Today we took the kayaks out, and enjoyed the first day we have been above 75 degrees since we have been out here (actually, the first day above 75 degrees since September 23rd, 2009).

I'm sure it was the right decision, but that doesn't mean it doesn't totally suck.

So, we are back in Seattle, and it has started to sink in that we are not going to thru-hike the PCT this season. Which is a total bummer. We have been thinking about it and planning for it for such a long time, and while no one could have foreseen this crazy, horrible spring weather, we still cant help but feel like failures. At this point, however, we are just excited to get back onto the trail, and walk. We have our new itinerary mostly finished, and today we packed our new resupply boxes (now we have about twice as much food as we need, though). And while its nice to be in Seattle, its not where we want to be right now; so we are a bit irritable, waiting for the snow to melt so we can head out again.

It is really turning into quite an adventure though- and I guess we have never been known to do things traditionally and by the book, so this was probably expected. We are thinking of hiking around Mount Rainier and then on the Olympic Peninsula once we get back from this trek. We will see how everything pans out, but God knows we have enough food to hole up in the woods for quite a few months before we go hungry.

Rainy Pass, Washington.

Pizza on the trail!

Stehekin, Washington, on Lake Chelan (the 3rd deepend lake in the country)

Entertaining ourselves in camp.

The PCT trail register, at the Stehekin Post Office

Tom, taking a dip in Lake Chelan, off the coast of the city of Chelan, Washington.

bad news & major change of plans

We are not even a week into our trip, and its already an adventure.

"Heavy late spring snowfall last week combined with expected sunshine and warm weather at high elevations will create the very dangerous conditions this weekend, especially in terrain above 8,000 feet on volcanoes. Hikers should particularly avoid Mt. Hood, Mt. Rainier, Mt. Adams, Mt. St. Helens, Glacier Peak and Mt. Baker. “It is dangerous now, but we expect it to get worse this weekend with the warm temperatures and highest freezing levels since last summer,” said Kenny Kramer, avalanche meteorologis"

We have hit an impass: less than 5 days in we have had to pull out and reconsider our plans. When we got this news about the impending weather, we decided it would be foolish to endanger ourselves and try to push through. Our other choices were to wait a week (or more) in Stehekin until the snow level went down, but we really didn't have enough food and that would cut a few weeks from our itinerary, making us have to hustle to get through the Sierra before more snow. After a day of public transportation and getting acquainted with eastern Washington, we are back in Seattle. We are really bummed that we have had to abandon our thru-hiking goals, but we are going to salvage as much of this trip, and the hiking season, as possible. Our current idea is to bus south to Northern California, and then hike north to Canada. This has a few positive aspects: we will get to read the guide books as they are written (for northbounders), we will get to see Washington in its prime season, and hopefully we will avoid a lot of the snow.

Our first few days on the trail were really great, though- we headed out from Rainy Pass on Saturday morning, on a beautiful, sunny day. We started out in a bit of snow, but after about a mile we were hiking on solid ground. We hiked 15 miles to the Bridge Creek Campground and it was a luxurious first night: bear box, outhouse, river and picnic table! Then we coasted the 5 miles into Stehekin on Sunday, catching a ride into the Landing with some nice National Park workers. They warned us of the high snow levels around the Hemlock Camp region (where we were heading the next day), but we shrugged it off. Then we caught a glimpse of the weather report: snow for the next three days above 5000 feet. We were slotted to spend the next week hiking around 6000 feet, so this really made us worry. After some serious talks and phone calls, we decided to pull out and reconsider. While we are starting to feel better about our decision to re-plan, we are also feeling rather foolish.

These recent events mean we will need to re-do our itinerary, and our resupply boxes. Hopefully it will be a bit easier the second time around, hah.

Would you like to send us something on the trail?

Posted by Jenna

We are really excited about this hike- we cant wait to walk for long hours, sleep in our tent, and eat our vegan, gluten-free camp food. But the truth is, not all of it is going to be fantastic. There are going to be some days where we would much rather be sitting on our couch and watching a movie, than trekking 20 miles in the driving rain. I am sure that a few weeks into this adventure, even the little luxuries in life (like toilet paper and sour patch kids) will seem fantastic. If you want to make our lives a little better, you can send us a care package on the trail. Quite honestly, it would be so wonderful. If you are interested, here are a few guidelines (because mailing things can be confusing, and we really want to make sure we get your treats!):

• Check our itinerary for the dates we will be hitting each town. The addresses are located on the itinerary as well (send it C/O General Delivery, unless otherwise stated).
• Here is the proper format for mailing us a package:
  
  

  Tom Wheeler & Jenna Catsos
  C/O General Delivery
  Post Office
  Town, State
  Zip Code
  
  PLEASE HOLD FOR PACIFIC CREST TRAIL HIKER
  Pick-Up Date: _______

• Check with the post office about how long it will take an item to get to us. General delivery is pretty great- they will hold something for 10 days. Make sure it gets to us by the date on the itinerary, or else we will hike away without your goodies.
• Please send anything via Priority Mail- according to all of our sources, it is the most reliable way to send things.
• The best places to send some goodies would be to trail angels- they have personal addresses, and they will hold it indefinitely. These would be to:
• The Dinsmores- in Skykomish
• The Saufleys- in Agua Dulce

• You should probably avoid sending anything to Vermillion Valley Ranch (they have too many rules for packages)
• By now you are probably so discouraged- even if you were considering sending something, you have totally changed your mind. Just take a deep breath...and picture our smiling faces when we open your package : )
• Please keep in mind: anything you send us, we will have to carry. We would definitely appreciate a nice letter, or some little edible treats (at least we can carry those in our tummies, instead of on our backs).

Thank you so much everyone for all of your support. We will be in touch.