Looks like we made it! I finally passed in to the state of Oregon on Friday and it was very rewarding. I had a real sense of accomplishment after completing the California section of my journey.....I now have about 950 miles to Canada. Things are going great on the trail and I am really learning a lot about myself. When this journey began it was important for me to communicate to others that I wasn't doing this because I was searching for something. I had already been fortunate to find a great and powerful peace that comes from knowing and having a relationship with God and Jesus as my savior and friend. This journey started because once I really felt that type of peace on the inside all I really wanted to do is go out and experience the beauty and wonder of creation. The trail has taught me a lot though. I realized that I really was searching for something though....I was searching for a way to share that peace I had found with others...what good is such a powerful love if not shared with everyone we are on this journey of life with? I realize that what I really longed for the most was to live a life of peace, love, compassion, and forgiveness and by doing so help others come to know the same grace that I have found in our heavenly father. The magnificence of creation can be seen at its fullest on the trail.....the starry nights, the beautiful forests, and the other animals we share nature with all have a way of making me feel so connected to everything that is real about this life....it is that connection that helps make me feel closer to God than anything I have ever experienced and I just can't help but to want to share that with everyone around.....have a peaceful day!
Love,
Forager
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Monday, August 11, 2008
It's Pancake Time!
Good morning from sunny Yreka, CA. I am now only one day away from reaching Seiad Valley and the "Pancake Challenge." Many of you are familiar with my story of how I learned about the Pacific Crest Trail. I saw a show on the Travel Channel that was about resaraunts around the country to "pig out." The Seiad Valley pancake challenge was one of those places and the show mentioned how hungry hikers come off the PCT starving for carbs and try to do the pancake challenge. It is a 5 pound stack of pancakes and I will be eating every last bite! A lot of fun has been had since the last blog. I made it from Old Station to the beautiful Burney Falls state park that was full of you guessed it....beautiful waterfalls...From there my travels took me to Castella and Castle Crags State Park. That park has a very unique mountainous rock formation that looks like some type of ancient castle. From there I took a side trip with Waffles, Sun Tan, Jammer, and Breezeway. We white water rafted down the Sacremento River for three days on tire intertubes. It was quite the adventure! We all lost our sunglasses, popped 4 tubes, got smashed in to rocks, and were drug accross the bottom when we tried to go over small waterfalls....by the grace of God none of us were seriously injured, but we did get plenty of scrapes and bruises. The best part of the story is that Sun Tan and Waffles had a wedding to go to and instead of taking a bus or a car they came up with the idea to tube down the river. We didn't make it far enough so after three days they finally decided it best to get out of the river and find some more reliable transportation. It was a side trip well worth doing! My next adventure is from Seiad Valley where we will finally cross in to Oregon and head for the city of Ashland. I cherish the experiences that I've had in California, but it feels good to be moving on to something new. Until next time.
Have a peaceful day,
Forager
Have a peaceful day,
Forager
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Old Station
Hello Everyone! Greetings from Old Station, California. The last few days have been a lot of fun. I made it from Chester to Drakesbad and then to Old Station. The area near Drakesbad is in the Lassen Volcanic National Park. The terrain included boiling lakes, geysers, hot springs, and Mars-like terrain. The Drakesbad campground has a swimming pool that is filled with water piped in from a hot spring near by. The group I'm hiking with spent the better part of the day swimming in the pool while we were there. I've been hiking with quite a group and I'm sure you'd enjoy their trail names:
Jammer, WingIt, Dr McDreamy, Roller Girl, Coyote, Ratatouille, Wild Child, Marty McFly, Smooth, Jester, Breezeway, Jeremy, and DyNO-mite. These are people from all over the country, from all different types of backgrounds. It is a beautiful thing that on the trail we are united by our lofty goal of hiking from Mexico to Canada on what most call the greatest hiking trail in the world. Everyone sticks together offering encouragement, inspiration, food, and advice to those in need. It has proven to be a great opportunity to set a Christian example on the trail. Many people group Christians in to an extreme right wing category or even in to a wacky extreme leftest religous stereotype. It is very rewarding to show those on the trail that the bulk of us Christians out there are more like themselves than they realize. The Pacific Crest Trail may only be a couple of feet wide, but it is 2650 miles long and a lot can happen in between. I am certain I would not have been able to finish this journey alone, so a special thanks to those both on and off the trail that have carried me through the first 1378 miles of this journey.....only 1272 miles to go!
Have a peaceful day!
Love,
Forager
Jammer, WingIt, Dr McDreamy, Roller Girl, Coyote, Ratatouille, Wild Child, Marty McFly, Smooth, Jester, Breezeway, Jeremy, and DyNO-mite. These are people from all over the country, from all different types of backgrounds. It is a beautiful thing that on the trail we are united by our lofty goal of hiking from Mexico to Canada on what most call the greatest hiking trail in the world. Everyone sticks together offering encouragement, inspiration, food, and advice to those in need. It has proven to be a great opportunity to set a Christian example on the trail. Many people group Christians in to an extreme right wing category or even in to a wacky extreme leftest religous stereotype. It is very rewarding to show those on the trail that the bulk of us Christians out there are more like themselves than they realize. The Pacific Crest Trail may only be a couple of feet wide, but it is 2650 miles long and a lot can happen in between. I am certain I would not have been able to finish this journey alone, so a special thanks to those both on and off the trail that have carried me through the first 1378 miles of this journey.....only 1272 miles to go!
Have a peaceful day!
Love,
Forager
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Made It Through Another Fire
Hi,
I made it through another fire today....I hiked in to Quincy Laporte Road and then a hiker named "Chuck Norris" picked up about 6 of us and gave us rides in to Quincy around a trail closure. We hiked around an area by Tahoe and then another 38 miles from Sierra City. The landscape is starting to change in to more forested areas with a lot more shade and hardly any snow because we are at lower elevations. I will be hitch hiking up to Chester and getting back on the trail there after the fire closure. The next 10 days has me on and off the trail a few times to get around other fires, but I am only about 11 days away from being able to do the pancake challenge in Seiad Valley! I should be in Oregon in 12 days and finally out of smoke filled California. Thanks to all of you that have been supporting me with food drops! I couldn't have made it this far without you. My funds are running very low so if there is anyone else interested in sending me a food drop send me an email at hemmingwayjones@gmail.com and I will give you info on how to help.
Love,
Forager
I made it through another fire today....I hiked in to Quincy Laporte Road and then a hiker named "Chuck Norris" picked up about 6 of us and gave us rides in to Quincy around a trail closure. We hiked around an area by Tahoe and then another 38 miles from Sierra City. The landscape is starting to change in to more forested areas with a lot more shade and hardly any snow because we are at lower elevations. I will be hitch hiking up to Chester and getting back on the trail there after the fire closure. The next 10 days has me on and off the trail a few times to get around other fires, but I am only about 11 days away from being able to do the pancake challenge in Seiad Valley! I should be in Oregon in 12 days and finally out of smoke filled California. Thanks to all of you that have been supporting me with food drops! I couldn't have made it this far without you. My funds are running very low so if there is anyone else interested in sending me a food drop send me an email at hemmingwayjones@gmail.com and I will give you info on how to help.
Love,
Forager
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Time Off In Tahoe
Hello again! I made it to South Lake Tahoe. What a beautiful place. The lake is spectacular and the whole area is a huge tourist destination. There are casinos around the lake, but I will be skipping those.....no reason to donate money to them! The people in Tahoe have given me a bad taste though....they cater to the ultra wealthy so us hikers get treated pretty poorly....I went to church this morning and I thought the paster was actually going to ask me to leave...They made me go in a private bathroom, wash off in the sink, put on a t-shirt they gave me, and then he asked me to hang out in the bathroom until the service was about to start....WOW!!! I don't know about you, but the Jesus I read about in the bible would have FREAKED OUT about the way they treated me! The good news is that this is the first city on my trip where the locals have been so crass. After Lake Tahoe there is a large section of the trail that is closed because of forest fires. I will be skipping ahead to an area past the fires, but I wont know where until tomorrow.....Until then
Have a peaceful day,
Forager
Have a peaceful day,
Forager
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Hello Again!
Good Morning! Sorry it has been so long since my last post....the High Sierra's are a very remote area and there are no computers and no cell phone coverage for most of the journey....I am now at about mile 1025 of my journey. It was a great feeling walking past the 1,000 mile marker on the trail! I have a lot of catching up to do since my last post so here we go:
1. The Sierras are probably in the top 5 of most beautiful places on Earth. There are hundreds of waterfalls, snow capped mountains of every shape and size, creeks, streams, cascading rivers, deer, bears, marmots, fox, and every kind of squirrel you can imagine. The stars are brighter, the air is more pure, and there is a sparkling spring around every corner. Emotion is our guide in life. Events happen around us and they cause emotion that becomes our gauge of the experience. The Sierras were very confusing for me because there is no emotion that captures the full range of the magnitude the experience provides.
2. Climbing Mt Whitney was everything I had hoped for. I summited the mountain with a guy named "Jammer" from Alabama. We climbed the last 4000 feet at 2am so that we could watch the sunrise from 14491 ft. It was the experience of a lifetime but it was sooooooooooo cold! I started getting a little light headed and queasy at about 14000 ft because of the lack of oxygen, but I will never forget the way the sun looked as it began its wondrous climb in to the horizon. There was a back drop of 12K to 13K foot snow covered peaks all around us. The valley in between were filled with glaciated lakes and streams. The universe became still the instant the sky turned orange with the beginning of a new day.
3. Mirrored lakes......there are countless surprise lakes hiding up at 11K, 12K and 13K feet.....the lakes are formed by snow and ice melt....many of them have waterfalls pouring in to them from high atop the mountain's peak. The water is more crystal clear than you can buy in the store. I took a picture of the bottom of one of the lakes and it just looks like a picture of the ground...you can't even tell there is water there. I found a hidden lake one night right before sunrise. Because of the wild fires there is some smoke and haze in the air. The sunset was a spectacular purple pink orange and red light show that reflected perfectly off the mirrored lake. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.
3. Jane Fonda has nothing on this workout! The Sierras are a grueling test of strength, endurance, and mental toughness. The trail has as much as 25,000 ft of elevation change in a single day of hiking. We hike through snow, ice, rocks, and ford streams. I am now eating 4K to 5K calories a day and still my body is getting leaner. I even ate 10K calories at a stop in Yosemite Valley. But not to worry....they highest elevation is now behind me. I am in Bridgeport California and from here on out the trail doesn't go back over 10K feet.
6. John Muir was the man responsible for the founding of the national park system in the United States. Yosemite Valley was his inspiration. I understand why....there is half dome and el capitan.....they are large granite domes formed by ice ages 13000 years ago.....there are dramatic waterfalls complete with their own intricate system of rainbows, and there is an abundance of peaceful energy that seems to attract man and wildlife alike. One of the most beautiful places on Earth...a must see for anyone!
7. I am currently staying at a trail angel's house. Steve and Mollie Nugent live here in Brigdeport and work on mission trips during the cold months of the year. The have spent a lot of time working at an orphanage in Mexico. They have been a great inspiration to me since meeting them. It doesn't hurt that the view from the back of there house is the Eastern Sierras. Matterhorn peak is just over 12K ft and it is calling my name. I am going to stay here in town for a few days so I am going to climb that peak tomorrow. The world is such a different place from up there. Perspective is one of the most important things in life. Is the glass half full or waiting for some more sparkling spring water?
8. Showers.....ewww....I set my record on this stretch and went 14 days without a shower....do you have any idea how bad I smelled. Really....I walked by a meadow with flowers in it and they all wilted when I walked by! Good thing the Nugents have a shower!
9. What is next? After Brideport I will hike up to Echo Lake and South Lake Tahoe. I will hike around the west side of Lake Tahoe and then up the California plateau in to Northern California. The days will get easier for elevation change so I am going to step up the miles and go for a 50 mile day and then a 60 mile day. I hope my feet hold up! The have already swollen up two full sizes.
Hopefully it wont be so long until my next post. I really appreciate the words of encouragement that some of you have sent me by email. The trip has really become more of a psychological challenge than physical......I am learning a lot about perseverance and strength of character on this journey. I hope that you all have a peaceful day.
Love,
Forager
1. The Sierras are probably in the top 5 of most beautiful places on Earth. There are hundreds of waterfalls, snow capped mountains of every shape and size, creeks, streams, cascading rivers, deer, bears, marmots, fox, and every kind of squirrel you can imagine. The stars are brighter, the air is more pure, and there is a sparkling spring around every corner. Emotion is our guide in life. Events happen around us and they cause emotion that becomes our gauge of the experience. The Sierras were very confusing for me because there is no emotion that captures the full range of the magnitude the experience provides.
2. Climbing Mt Whitney was everything I had hoped for. I summited the mountain with a guy named "Jammer" from Alabama. We climbed the last 4000 feet at 2am so that we could watch the sunrise from 14491 ft. It was the experience of a lifetime but it was sooooooooooo cold! I started getting a little light headed and queasy at about 14000 ft because of the lack of oxygen, but I will never forget the way the sun looked as it began its wondrous climb in to the horizon. There was a back drop of 12K to 13K foot snow covered peaks all around us. The valley in between were filled with glaciated lakes and streams. The universe became still the instant the sky turned orange with the beginning of a new day.
3. Mirrored lakes......there are countless surprise lakes hiding up at 11K, 12K and 13K feet.....the lakes are formed by snow and ice melt....many of them have waterfalls pouring in to them from high atop the mountain's peak. The water is more crystal clear than you can buy in the store. I took a picture of the bottom of one of the lakes and it just looks like a picture of the ground...you can't even tell there is water there. I found a hidden lake one night right before sunrise. Because of the wild fires there is some smoke and haze in the air. The sunset was a spectacular purple pink orange and red light show that reflected perfectly off the mirrored lake. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.
3. Jane Fonda has nothing on this workout! The Sierras are a grueling test of strength, endurance, and mental toughness. The trail has as much as 25,000 ft of elevation change in a single day of hiking. We hike through snow, ice, rocks, and ford streams. I am now eating 4K to 5K calories a day and still my body is getting leaner. I even ate 10K calories at a stop in Yosemite Valley. But not to worry....they highest elevation is now behind me. I am in Bridgeport California and from here on out the trail doesn't go back over 10K feet.
6. John Muir was the man responsible for the founding of the national park system in the United States. Yosemite Valley was his inspiration. I understand why....there is half dome and el capitan.....they are large granite domes formed by ice ages 13000 years ago.....there are dramatic waterfalls complete with their own intricate system of rainbows, and there is an abundance of peaceful energy that seems to attract man and wildlife alike. One of the most beautiful places on Earth...a must see for anyone!
7. I am currently staying at a trail angel's house. Steve and Mollie Nugent live here in Brigdeport and work on mission trips during the cold months of the year. The have spent a lot of time working at an orphanage in Mexico. They have been a great inspiration to me since meeting them. It doesn't hurt that the view from the back of there house is the Eastern Sierras. Matterhorn peak is just over 12K ft and it is calling my name. I am going to stay here in town for a few days so I am going to climb that peak tomorrow. The world is such a different place from up there. Perspective is one of the most important things in life. Is the glass half full or waiting for some more sparkling spring water?
8. Showers.....ewww....I set my record on this stretch and went 14 days without a shower....do you have any idea how bad I smelled. Really....I walked by a meadow with flowers in it and they all wilted when I walked by! Good thing the Nugents have a shower!
9. What is next? After Brideport I will hike up to Echo Lake and South Lake Tahoe. I will hike around the west side of Lake Tahoe and then up the California plateau in to Northern California. The days will get easier for elevation change so I am going to step up the miles and go for a 50 mile day and then a 60 mile day. I hope my feet hold up! The have already swollen up two full sizes.
Hopefully it wont be so long until my next post. I really appreciate the words of encouragement that some of you have sent me by email. The trip has really become more of a psychological challenge than physical......I am learning a lot about perseverance and strength of character on this journey. I hope that you all have a peaceful day.
Love,
Forager
Friday, June 20, 2008
Let It Burn!
Wow.....so much has happened since I last blogged but I will try to keep it short! I got to hiker town in the middle of the Mojave desert to discover it was simply a combination of trailers with now electricity and an outdoor shower that ran off a garden hose. After hiking a 40 mile day I didn't care and took a shower in the cold night air. I did get a good night's rest in the bunkhouse style hostel and the next morning I was joined by Adrian "Walkeaze" Baird to do another 48 miles through the Mojave to Tehachapi. We had a great hike and he shared coffee and other great trail foods with me. His "Trail Grit" has revolutionized my diet out here. It consists of several grains and oats and can be mixed with spices, jellies, or bacon bits to add flavor. We hit the 1st annual chilli cook off upon reaching Tehachapi and even got to see a reinactment of a wild west shoot out on the downtown square. I went back out on the trail that day to finish the final section leading in to the High Sierra's. That section included some more 100 degree days and another 40 mile day before I finally reached Kennedy Meadows where a fledgling forest fire awaited me. The fire wasn't close enough to the trail to cause a problem, but the forestry service was closely monitoring the containment. I met up with about 10 other hikers at the general store and we spent the first day resting and enjoying hot food. The best way to describe Kennedy Meadows is to say it is the only place on the trail where the locals are grittier than the hikers! I got up this morning ready to hike on and my backpack got a huge tear in it as I packed it. At first I questioned why this had happened. I packed the bag the same way I had for hundreds of miles and all of a sudden it got a catastophic tear. Fortunately there was another hiker with me that is an expert at sewing and he even made his own backpack. After a few hours of sewing on new materials my pack was as good as new. The only problem was that I had lost a day waiting. I decided to hike out with the group tomorrow and then it became clear. The forestry service called the general store and informed them the next section of the trail was now closed because of a flare up that caused the fire to spread and cross the Pacific Crest Trail. Had I hiked out this morning I could have been caught in the fire.....thank you God for protecting me yet again! Tomorrow we will be hiking out on a side trail that avoids the fire and we will be entering the High Sierra's. In a couple of days I will be standing on top of Mt. Whitney at the highest point in the main 48 states......I like to call it God's front yard!
Until next time..............
Love,
Forager
Until next time..............
Love,
Forager
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