I thought I’d post this fun little video Adam put together. If you’re following us on Facebook you may have already seen it, but for those that aren’t, I thought I’d add it here, too. It’s a little preview of what it’s like travelling with us in the Pickle Jar. Hope you enjoy!
P.S. My bloggity on California is coming soon – probably tomorrow. We updated our phones and I’m still going through the process of figuring it all out. Good news… so far Verizon rules! :)
I have been trying to find an appropriate time to use this cool photo, but nothing really seemed to fit. It’s a pretty confusing photo… A good dead end? Don’t believe everything you read? Rules are meant to be broken? Go into the mountains and don’t come out? What is the hidden meaning behind gorgeous mountains, waiting to be enjoyed, but sitting behind a sign that tells you that it’s a dead end?
It’s cheesy, but I think I’ve found a way to use it… aaaand that’s why you’re seeing it. Ready for it? Our US Cellular phone service is going to come to a dead end. I know, it’s bad! Haha! We plan to switch over to Verizon, and I can only hope it will be a little better.
From what I’ve been reading from past PCT thru-hikers, Verizon and AT&T are the two best carriers and have the best coverage along the trail. Sounds like Verizon is best in the southern half and AT&T is a little better in the northern half. There’s a few other carriers people have mentioned, but US Cellular was nowhere to be seen. We didn’t do quite enough homework on this part before we left, so… change of plans!
It’s all okay, though. I know that I’m going to be dealing with some technology challenges on the trail, so it’s just preparing my patience. :)
I’m a little behind on blogging at the moment because of these issues, but that’s also okay… it’s forcing me to test different ways of saving drafts so I can post when I have a strong enough connection. So… um… yeah… we meant to do that. It’s just how we prepare!
So anyway, I’ll be posting another entry about our time in California later today or tomorrow. It’s been incredible! And then after that… you’ll be seeing PCT thru-hiking posts! We start hiking in just 4 days!
Our view as I write this. Interstate 405 through LA.
Hike #47
When I decided I was going to thru hike the PCT, I ramped up the obsession stage of planning. It’s an important part of planning because you can learn so much and there are so many resources out there with the interwebs and all. I did a lot of journal and video searches, and one video in partcular really got me excited for the trail. It was this 3-minute video of a guy who took a bunch of self-takes and artistically put them together into a video to a great song. It inspired me to keep working towards this next thru-hike, and if I was having a bad day at work, I’d play it and it would cheer me up… because that’s what I was workin’ towards!
Watch the video HERE. It’s awesome. And be sure to watch until the end!
The guy in that video is Kolby Kirk, or Condor (his trail name). We met him in his hometown of Bend, Oregon and hung out with him! We were a little star struck. Not only is he a PCT hiker with all kinds of advice, he has this sweet video that went viral throughout the hiking community! We talked about the PCT, good beers, and we even had the chance to go for a hike. And since he lives there, he was able to direct us right towards the best spots in the city.
Meeting Kolby at the Northwest Crossing Spring Festival in Bend, OR
His first recommendation for us was the Northwest Crossing Spring Festival. There were food vendors, so we all had a corn dog, of course. We drank some good beer from the local Deschutes brewery, listened to Black Prarie (the Decemberists minus their lead singer) play live on the small stage. And then we hooked up with Kolby and planned to meet him the next day for a hike.
The cool little stage at the festval
Good beer!
Hike #47.
What’s with the number? Well, Kolby is doing this cool project called “100 hikes.” He vows to take 100 hikes in 2013, and he just happened to be on hike 47 when we came through. It was a fun honor to be a part of his project and to see the art behind it. On every one of his hikes he finds something in the surroundings to “draw out” the hike number. We saw a lot of pumice stone, so that’s what we used. It was quite the project to get it just right!
Fun teamwork creating the 47 out of pumice stone
After the number was completed, we hiked on to Dillon Falls further up the Deschutes River. We enjoyed some pretty, light and fluffy snow flurries, great trail, conversation, laughs and views… oh yeah… and a great falls! We ended up hiking about 6-1/4 miles by the time we were done.
Some views from the hike:
Adam, Rachel and Kolby standing near the top of Dillon Falls
Manzanita flowers
Top of Dillon Falls, Deschutes River
After the hike we grabbed dinner at another local brewery and went back to Kolby’s house for a movie. When we woke up in the morning it was snowing. Hard. Even though we were having a great time in Bend, we really needed to get on the road and drive south… away from stinkin’ winter! We made it to Weed, CA where we stopped for the night. It was still pretty cold out, but at least it wasn’t white outside!
We had a really nice time in Oregon, and I hope to get back there again someday to do some more exploring.
Other highlights from our visit in Oregon – through photos:
A stop in at the famous Voo Doo Doughnuts
Yum!
Pretty mountains in Oregon!
Snowy, slushy drive out of Bend.
Hiking with my hubby. So happy!
Adam and Kolby being regal.
Wahington is amazing!
Welcome to the photo blog of my Washington experience! I really enjoyed the crap out of Washington, and I took A LOT of pictures! I’m going to share quite a few below.
On Wednesday morning we woke up in an Idaho rest area, had breakfast and drove a short distance into Washington. It started out pretty flat with lots of crop fields. Signs on the fence-line read what was growing there: potatoes, wheat, alfalfa, and timothy (a spice?).
Then the hills started and Adam pulled off at a scenic overlook – what a good choice! It was a great view of the Columbia River gorge. We climbed around and enjoyed the expansive view!
Flowers at the overlook.
Columbia River gorge.
We crossed the huge river on a bridge and drove on. It wasn’t too much later when we started getting views of mountains. The Pickle Jar revved and climbed up the steep grades. It was raining, and the foggy, misty clouds rolled across the mountainsides like smoke. We were heading towards Snoqualamie Pass in the Cascade mountain range.
Rainy and pretty mountains.
Snoqualamie Pass. Significant! Why? Because the PCT crosses here! I felt butterflies of excitement in my belly as I looked around at the towering, steep, snowy and freakin beautiful hills around us… and thinking that I’d be backpacking IN those mountains in 5 months. Wow.
We were so close to the PCT we saw this sign at a gas station! Just a cool little thing.
As we started back down from the pass the sun came out! We rolled into the super-cute town of North Bend and visited with Bob Woods from the PCTA. We chit-chatted all things PCT and got even more excited! Bob is a really great guy… pretty much every trail person we meet is pretty awesome. We really love the PCT trail community, and we haven’t even started hiking yet!
Seattle!
And then we drove to Seattle. Adam has been wanting to visit here forever, so he was pretty darned excited. We head right downtown and visited the Pike Place Fish market and watched the guys throw a couple fish around. I first heard of Pike Place when I started working at 4imprint 10 years ago… they held “Fish Camp” for all new hires, and focused on having fun at work… which I did all the years I worked there! It’s a great philosophy and it was neat to see where it all started.
Pike's Place Fish Co.
Fresh fish on ice
After Pike’s we head out to meet up with another PCT connection – trail angel Magic Man! He handed us tickets to the ferry for Vashon, which is on an island in Seattle… also where he was putting us up for the night – in the upstairs of his garage! Thanks again, Mike!
Dinner in Vashon
The view!
Mike came up to talk with us a bit as we fired up our Jetboil dinners. He enjoys trail-angeling for PCT hikers (his daughter Boo Boo is thru-hiking this year, too!). He looked at Adam with a big smile and said, “You’ve got the best job!” I think Adam is getting pretty pumped about spoiling us and other hikers. He’s probably gonna’ be a pretty popular dude!
We woke up early and caught the ferry off the island and worked ourselves towards Olympic National Park. I was overwhelmed. It was really cool. The mountains were awesome, of course, moss hung off of branches and trees would be entirely covered in a darker-green, thick, fuzzy moss. We were heading towards rainforest! I’d never been in a rainforest before!
Mossy mossy!
It started to mist. A pretty bluish-turquoise lake appeared to our right, and the mountains on the other side were exposing themselves under spotty, rolling fog-clouds. It was so pretty. And then we saw a rainbow… we pulled over on one of the scenic pull-offs and Rachel and I practically dove out of the car and started to snap photos. It’s hard to catch a good photo of a rainbow, but we did manage to get a few. It was incredible. That rainbow was so close that it seemed like we could have reached right out and touched it. I think we were getting a little tease of heaven right there.
Rainbow, mountain, lake, and mist... so much pretty at once!
We took a side road to the Hoh Rainforest and took a ton more photos of all the different shades of green and types of moss as it rained… appropriately!
Big, huge, ginormous spruce tree!
We weren’t done yet, either! We drove on and enjoyed a lot more pretty hills!
We then made our way to Hwy 101 on the coast… and to the Pacific Ocean!
Pacific Ocean!
What a full two days of great Washington fun! In conclusion… I LOVE this state! There is so much to see! And so much more! Yes, I definitely think I’ll be back more than once.
We crossed into Oregon over a huge bridge where the Columbia River flows into the ocean, and we camped at a great state park on an ocean peninsula. We had a great fire, Adam saw an elk on his way to get firewood, we played some cribbage (I won!), and we all slept great. The park had showers, too! Bonus!
Another new state!
10 more days until we start hiking!
“Walk with the dreamers, the believers, the courageous, the cheerful, the planners, the doers, the successful people with their heads in the clouds and their feet on the ground.”
~Wilferd Peterson
I didn’t know what to title this post, so I chose “tater tots.” Story to follow…
Horse rider and his pooch
Anyway, we’re still on the road and still having a lot of fun. Yesterday we were in Montana, tonight we’re in Idaho, and tomorrow we’ll be in Washington. From there we work our way down the coast… towards San Diego and Campo and the Peeeee Ceeeee Teeeeee! 12 days till GO time!
These past few days since my last post have been good. Saturday night after leaving Sarah’s in Colorado, we drove to Wyoming and camped – for free since it was off-season – at Lake De Smet. Apparently it is the largest natural body of water in the state. It was kind of big… and still covered in ice. I guess a swim was out of the question! It got a little chilly overnight, but we woke up to a great sunrise!
Our camp at Lake De Smet in WY
On Sunday we drove to Bozeman and stayed at the C’mon Inn for two nights. We got relaxed even more. We soaked in hot tubs, ate fun food at funky restaurants, walked around downtown, had some drinks, and even played some cribbage and Jefferson Starship/Old Man Jim/Uncle Tom’s Cabin (a card game). Before saying good-bye to Bozeman, on our way out we did laundry, took care of some logisticals, ate pizza at Tarantino’s (a fun little local place downtown) and hit the road again. We love Bozeman… and we’ll be back!
We ♥ Bozeman!
Mmmm. Huckleberry pie ala mode!
As I write this, we are parked at a rest area that has 24-hr surveillance, I am in my sleeping bag sitting in the driver’s seat of te Pickle Jar. The seat is just slightly reclined so I don’t squish Rachel, who is snuggled in her sleeping bag in the back seat, and Adam’s making himself tired (and probably frustrated) playing Candy Crush. Tomorrow we wake up to see Lake Couer d’Alene, and we’re pretty excited about that, because a few people have told us that it’s freakin’ gorgeous.
Brushin' at a rest stop in IDAHO!
The scenery… the mountains out here are amazing. I plaster my face up against the window as Adam drives, and I look up into those big, wooded hills just wishing I was in there somewhere with my backpack on my back, looking down at all the traffic, wondering where they’re all off to in a 70 mph rush… and hoping it’s somewhere fun. Kind of like we are! I feel so ultimately blessed to be where I am right now!
And before signing off here tonight, I’ll share my title-inspired fun conversation from today:
As we drove by some sort of huge mining operation just a couple of miles into Idaho, I asked, “what do you suppose they’re mining there?”
Without skipping a beat, Rachel responds, “tater tots.”
In 16 days we’ll start hiking on the Pacific Crest Trail… and then we’ll keep hiking. And then we’ll hike some more. We won’t be saying, “Aww, man! I wish I didn’t have to go back to work on Monday.” Nope! Instead we’ll say, “Let’s get a shower, pack a few more day’s worth of food and get back on that trail!”
Anticipation. It’s tough sometimes because you just wanna go, but I keep reminding myself how this anticipation is actually a really fun part of the trip… and I’m enjoying the crap out of it!
Adam driving
Adam and I enjoyed the western part of Texas, and were happily surprised by the pretty hills and buttes. New Mexico got even better. We took US 285 through and made a stop in Roswell. We strolled through the museum and learned about the UFO crash-landing that occurred near there in 1947. It was kinda weird, but interesting!
Aliens!
We camped at 8600′ near Santa Fe at the Hyde Memorial State Park. From there we continued on to Colorado, and we made a stop at Pagosa Springs… our first hotel room.
We went for a walk and stopped in a local bar for a drink, then head back and soaked in the sulfur hot springs. I think we really needed that stop. We both felt very rejuvenated afterwards.
Next on our trip was the Colorado Springs area. After a night sleeping in our car at a Walmart, Adam and I head to Garden of the Gods where we used their bathroom, got a coffee and brushed our teeth. Then I attempted a trail run.
I couldn’t. My right calf has been hurting a little bit, and when I tried running it felt like something was going to snap… so I had to walk. I was so freakin bummed out! BUT… at least I can walk!
Siamese Twins
Playing on the rocks.
THEN! We picked up Rachel! The Disco Pickle Team was all together! YIPPEE!
Disco Pickle Team!
Our next stop was our friend Sarah’s in Silverthorne. It was SO good to see her! We hung out Thursday night and got silly like we do. I don’t think we scared Adam too bad. :)
On Friday we head to some hot springs and soaked for a few hours, and when we got back to Sarah’s we continued relaxing with pizza and a movie.
Thanks for the AWESOME stay Sarah!
We feel spoiled right now!
At this very moment the three of us are on the road and about to stp in at a brewery in Loveland!
It’s a rough life, I tell ya! :)
So Many Miles 