Well, we made a decision to continue our Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) hike of 2014. We are starting at Echo Lake, just west of Tahoe, where we left off two years ago. A friend from that hike contacted us and put a bug in our ear about doing roughly 300 miles. However his 300 miles included about 140 miles that we had already done. This lead us to look at doing 630 Miles which completes California. Enter Mr. Half and Half, also of 2014 fame. He decides he wants to do another thousand miles. He also left off south of us and so we decide we will try and hike from Echo Lake with him and get to the 2000 mile mark and then he will do the short stretch south of us after that to complete his 1000 miles.
He and his girl friend come to visit us and we plan, plan , plan as we have that trait in common. after returning to Sacramento, Half and Half decides that he needs to get back by the last week of August to tend to his nuts. By then his nuts will be big and ready for harvesting…walnuts that is. So he is starting earlier than us and heading south, then we hope to meet up in July and hike North together to the 2000 mile mark. At that point, Carol (Pit Stop) and I (Navigator) decide we might as well walk another 144 miles and finish Oregon, so now that has become our plan. Echo Lake is mile 1092 and Oregon ends up at the Bridge of the Gods on the Columbia River at mile 2144. You can do the math. After all this, the friend who started it all, sends a text saying a conflict in his plans will not allow him to do the trail this year. Go figure. We are stupidly committed and so instead of hiking with friends the whole way, we will start out as we did last time, knowing no one and relying on ourselves for the first part of our journey. Hopefully we will hook up with Half and Half in Dunsmuir, up near Mt Shasta.
We have been spending an inordinate amount of time preparing, not only for the trail, but also making sure that the real world responsibilities will be taken care of when we are gone. I regret the fact that I have not kept this blog up since we left Europe, but hope to do better in the future. writing, like hiking, brings me to a much calmer place in my life and allows me to put my thoughts and experiences out there for the very small part of the world that chooses to find them. Our start date is June 16th and I will post our itinerary (the short version) here in a few days. I also set up a link to the PCT 2016 Trail Journals page that I started as I am still not sure if I will blog here or there, maybe both. Happy Trails
Charlie
Unable to open itinerary….
Will contact Cheryl to see if she has it.
We’re doing resupply (and lunch?) for Half’n’Half @ Echo Lake 7/9.
But think you will be long gone by then.
We head south from there for a road trip.
Look forward to seeing you in September.
TRAVEL CAREFULLY!