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We are currently on another long distance hike, and the third leg of our "triple crown", the Continental Divide Trail (the "CDT"). Come along with us if you can - if not in person then by following our grand adventure via our "posts from the trail".  Check out our Flickr Photos, which we'll update periodically, and see it through our eyes!

Our Credo...

"Success: To laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded!" ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Pacific Crest Trail – 2004

April 10, 2004

It’s springtime in North Idaho…that time of year when the Osprey return, the trees are budding and long distance hikers thoughts lightly turn to the nation’s “scenic trails”. This spring, the Walking Carrot and I are turning our thoughts towards the Pacific Crest Trail (aka the “PCT”)……

At nearly 2,700 miles the Pacific Crest trail presents a myriad of challenges, physical as well as mental and emotional. From its inception on the California/Mexico border to its anticlimactic conclusion at the Canadian frontier, there are many miles and many trials: the Mojave desert looms large, hot and dry; the Sierras bring snow and 10 mountain passes each over 10,000 feet; the cold numbs, the critters are all out to get your food (mountain lions, mice and bears…oh my!!) And the state of California seems never ending, passing through (and finally out of) it only after 3 months and 1700 miles of trudge, trudge, trudging along……

A few features are worth describing – the high point of the PCT is Forester Pass, which at 13,140 feet is a physical barrier; it limits entry to the high Sierras to only those who will brave the cold, the elevation, and the icy snow chutes. Raging creeks with wet, cold and slippery fords, trees across the trail from winter snow loads and avalanches, post-holing in soft snow and the quiet splendor of brook trout rising to an early hatch of May flies all slow down the northbound thru hiker. In the Cascade Mountains, huckleberry season downright halts all progress on some days!

The PCT is dry – in several areas there are 30+ miles between water sources. And in a couple of sections there are 200+ miles between beer sources. Thirst, hunger and hardship are constant companions.

For the Walking Carrot (those un-initiated to trail names should check out Our Adventures page for an explanation) our PCT hike will be the culmination of a desire held since we first met in 1994 during my first PCT hike.

A few years after that fateful summer, in 1997, together we hiked the length of the Appalachian Trail. Our hike of the PCT this year (2004) will be the first time the Carrot has hiked the entire PCT in one season. And, for me, it will be a “ten year retrospective”, not repeating but offering comparisons and contrasts to my hike of the PCT in 1994. Time to update the old memory database. We are preparing to eventually hike the Continental Divide Trail and complete, together, the third leg of long distance hiking’s “triple crown” (the PCT, the AT, and the CDT).

We will be remote but in touch. We will access our hotmail accounts about once every 2 weeks or so, and I will also be using a “pocketmail” device to provide a trip report or update, via email, about once a week. Some people will receive these updates directly and others will have it forwarded to them due to size limits on the number of outgoing email addresses from this account. Everyone is invited to respond directly to us.

As with previous trips we will be filing “trip reports” on this site, roughly once a week beginning the first of May. Background information, maps, photos, copies of our trip reports and a somewhat irregular “daily journal” will all eventually be available by following links on this website.

By September we will all be 5 months older and wiser; the Carrot and I will be a few miles more fulfilled (and somewhat skinnier) and we will have already forgotten the travails of the early days on the trip, anxiously looking forward to our next adventure. Come along with us as we hike the Pacific Crest Trail!

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Clicking on any of these photos will take you to that specific photo on our Flickr Stream, where you can view these and many, many more photos from our latest adventure....or use this shortcut to all photos.....we hope you enjoy them!

People Shots

CDT20101_NMWCWMCDT2010_TheTrailCDT2010_NMWC-1Carrot After a Trail BathCarrot Stream Crossing #3,768Carrot on the Trail stillCarrot takes a Trail BathCarrot Stream Crossing #5.875Carrot on the TrailCliff Dwelling SignCarrot takes a PhotoCarrot Stream Crossing # 2,115

Scenic Shots

CDT2010-valleyCDT2010_yellowflowersCarrot on the Trail 3ScenicPotty BreakScenicCliff Dwelling Stream Vast DesertPrickly Pear 2Prickly PearPlateau at Sunset

Flora & Fauna

CDT2010_treesCDT2010_yellowflowersCDT2010-purpleflowersAngry MarmotFlora 3FloraBeaverButterfly 2FloraButterfly