What a weird feeling to still be at home on Ray Day instead of heading off into the Sierras.  But we are excited that at least one group of hikers has made it to Mammoth!  Shay Blackley (the paddle guy) and his friends have gotten through.  I hope they post more details of what it was like.   From what I can tell on the California water resources data pages,  the snow is melting down fast.   There was a photo from June 7 on the Tuolemne Meadows website showing extensive flooding there.   The snow looked patchy, and there was a comment that all the creeks in the Tuolemne area were very deep and dangerous to cross.  That was a bit unsettling,  but conditions do change very quickly–hopefully for the better!

We have decided to head back to the PCT in 2-3 days, depending on when we get done with some projects here at home.  I am very glad to be headed back, but I admit to being scared at the same time, thinking about the Sierras, especially the creek crossings.  Bill, who does the John Muir trail every year right in the middle of June, says not to worry, he knows the best places to cross. 

I also decided that even though it means carrying 12 more oz. of weight, to bring along a pair of Microspike crampons for myself, to use on the steep snow near the tops of passes.  On Fuller Ridge,  my shoes just would not grip the snow and as a result I fell a lot, and had to go slowly.   At ADZPCTKO,  there were snow travel experts who strenuously disagreed about whether crampons were a good idea.   But after talking to other hikers,  I have decided that having that bit of extra traction would be a big help.  

So cheers to all the PCT hikers on Ray Day!   We’ll be rejoining you soon!

Yesterday White Beard and I put on our packs and went “hiking” along the San Francisco Bay Trail, which follows the waterfront in the area of the Golden Gate Bridge.   It was a very warm day (unusual for San Francisco in June!!) and I wanted to hike where I could enjoy the sea breezes and watch all the sailboats and ships.  There were a couple of sailboat races on, and it was gorgeous.

After about an hour of walking, we began to see a very long line of people up ahead, who were carrying green banners and placards.  “Some sort of save-the-environment folks?” we wondered.   But not at all.  Turned out it was a LOT (at least a couple of hundred)  of Iranian folks who were calling for FREEDOM for political prisoners in Iran, and not just the prisoners, but all the people of Iran.  The green banners were filled with hundreds of signatures of people who agree with the cry “Set the prisoners free!”.   

We started thinking about how grateful we are for the freedom we have–freedom to hike the PCT through 3 states plus Canada,  freedom to post stuff on this blog about what we think,  freedom for the women who want to hike the PCT to be able to do it,  freedom to talk to other hikers, trail angels, etc. about why knowing God is so awesome,  freedom even to take the risks of the trail without being told “you can’t do this!”    There are a lot of people out there who make noise about freedom, but when the rubber meets the road, suddenly they want lots of government control and restrictions.   Look at the 16 year old gal who was trying to sail around the world alone–some people are saying her parents should be accused of child endangerment for letting her go.   We say, “Go, gal, go!  We wish ALL 16 year olds had the guts and maturity to do what you did!”    (Hey, maybe she could try hiking the PCT next!)

We owe a BIG thankyou to all those who sacrifice to make our freedom possible!

For two thruhikers who wish they were back hiking the PCT,  waiting for the snow to melt down is like watching paint dry.  But White Beard Bill has found a solution.   Instead of tearing his hair out and being frustrated, he has instead started tearing out WINDOWS!

Since we both feel fine now and the only thing that’s keeping us from heading back to Tehachapi is the amount of snow in the Sierras, Bill decided to tear out and replace a couple of windows on our house.   Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, our winter storms and winds come from the south,  and of course in summer,  the south side of the house takes a huge beating from the hot sun, so he is doing the windows on that side.   

When he tried phoning around to get a good price on the windows, he discovered to his amusement that all the window companies are set up to sell you window PLUS installation.  When he tried to make them understand that he just wanted the window and would install it himself,  he got a lot of  “Huh?” and the salespeople had no idea how much it would be just for the window.   In the end he gave up on the window companies and went himself to Home Depot.

So if nothing else,  we will get a couple of new windows out of this enforced time off the trail!

Yesterday we optimistically made a run to REI to get some gear–a couple of titanium tarp stakes, and some sort of chemical water treatment for “iffy” water.   But they had no titanium stakes.   Bummer!   I looked and looked at the water treatment stuff and finally decided to go with the chlorine based one, since it said it DOES kill giardia and crypto, whereas iodine might not.   The only problem is the mysterious business in the directions about how the “iffy” water should be in an opaque bottle, or in the dark.  What is with that?   I decided that probably burying the bottle deep in my pack for the 4 hours it takes to “work” should do the trick.   I hope.

The stakes were another matter.   We had to go home and order some online.   So now we are waiting for them to arrive.   Somehow, despite Bill’s best efforts to keep track of our tarp stakes, he kept losing them.   In 2005, we made it the whole way without losing a stake.   I don’t know what is going on here this time???   But I did decide that from this point on, whenever we set up the tarp, I am personally going to be keeping track of stakes!   We have a sort of “division of labor” when it comes to setting up and taking down our camp, and the tarp has always been Bill’s responsibility.

I was also worried about our resupply boxes that had already been sent to Mammoth Lakes and Tuolemne Meadows and Echo Lake.   So I called to find out if they will hold the boxes even if we don’t show up before the 30-day hold limit.   The guy at the post office in Mammoth Lake was a total kick!   “Don’t worry about your box,” he said.  “If it says PCT HIKER on it, we will hold it till you get here–UNLESS it starts to smell.   Then we send it back!”   Whew, that was good news!   And the lady at Echo Lake said “Don’t worry about your box–we will hold it till we close after Labor Day.”   So that just leaves Tuolemne Meadows.   They are not answering their phone, so I’m guessing they are not open yet??

We cannot wait to get back to the PCT!

Bill “White Beard” went through the colonoscopy thing this morning, and they didn’t find any real problems.   Whew!   Seems that the bleeding problem he was dealing with was not caused by giardia/whatever, but was a couple of hemorrhoids (which he already knew about).   So he has decided to get those fixed up, then we’ll return to the PCT.   Hooray!   Can’t wait to get back!  We are also stuffing ourselves with anything “probiotic” to try to get our poor messed-over innards back to normal.

Yesterday I went on a 2 1/2 hour hike with “half weight” in my pack, and walking at full speed.   I was fine.  Man, does it feel good to be well again!    Meanwhile, I have been able to read other hiker’s journals.  When we are at a resupply or trail angel’s place,  we try to be very polite and not hog the computers/Internet, so we keep any computer use very brief.   It is fun to be able to just read and not feel rude about being a computer hog.

We also have concluded that starting at the kickoff was not a good idea.   It was totally fun to be there and see everybody, but it was WAY, WAY too early.   It is a better idea to first figure out which day you want to depart from Kennedy Meadows, then based on an average daily mileage, calculate backwards from there to find the ideal start date.   Actually, when we hiked the PCT in 2005,  we had not yet even reached Tehachapi at this point in June.

We sometimes speculate as to “why?” we’ve had this temporary setback, and it could be many, many different reasons.    I’m the kind of person who LIKES “spoilers”.   I want to know what happens in the end, so I can enjoy the process of getting there.   (Yes, I know that’s weird, OK, but that’s me!)   So I am out of my comfort zone on this delay,  but Bill, who enjoys adventures and NOT knowing what will happen, is having fun with it.    Well, eventually, we will know what’s going on…..in the meantime,  the sun is shining in the Sierras, the snow is melting, hikers are starting to get through (hopefully!) and soon we will be back there, too!