Test post 8/27

Pacific Crest Trail

Must remember... Always TRAIN for big days. I knew 25 miles on the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) would be painful, as I never hike, but I had no idea my feet could hurt that much! Jason and I drove from Seattle down to Sisters, OR, on Thurs night, left our bikes at McKenzie Pass and crashed at the hotel at about 1am. Up at 5, drove through Bend to the Devil's Lake trailhead near Bachelor and started north along the Sisters. Now, for background, Jason has hiked 1600 miles of the 2600-mile PCT already, so I knew I was going to be outclassed on the trail. It started off great - felt good, light pack, plenty of food and water - and great views. You start south of South Sister and wind your way through forests, open meadows and high alpine past Middle Sister and North Sister before reaching McKenzie pass. The weather was 80 and sunny, and you reach about 6000 feet, although there is not much vertical gain on this stretch of the trail. We passed snow fields, lava rock deposits and old glacial moraines; all in the shadow of the three 10,000 foot peaks of the Sisters. While the scenery was nice, after about 15 miles I started to pay the price for lack of training. My feet started to feel every step, just plain sore after all that walking and not being used to it. 10 miles of feeling every step is not fun! At one point I was so delerious I had to yell out to Jason to stop so I could eat a sandwich and get off my feed before passing out. Alas after 12 hours we made the other end of the trail and our waiting bikes. Although a 15-mile bike ride might not sound good after the hike, it was heaven just to get off our feet. We enjoyed a couple of margaritas in Sisters before meeting our families for the camping trip the next day. That story will have to wait for another day...

Test post

Testing only

Devil's Gulch and Kachess Ridge

Wow, was it hot last weekend. I mean, not just "I'm kind of sweaty" hot, but "I think I'm about to pass out from heat stroke" hot. I actually felt chills at one point when I knew the temp was about 100, so I knew something was wrong.

Aaron, Konrad and I rode Devil's Gulch near Cashmere, starting with the Red Devil trail as the road to the normal parking lot was closed. Red Devil is 800' of climbing and descent over 5 miles - a great addition. From the intersection of Red Devil and Devil's Gulch, we rode up the Devil's Gulch trail arguing about how much harder the trail was than the road. I say 30% minimum, and those guys were trying to tell me "not much harder". That was at the beginning of the climb. By the time we reached the intersection of Devil's Gulch and Mission Creek trails, about 9 miles up, we were almost out of water and did not opt for the summit. The trail is a bit dusty and some sections are starting to erode (where it cuts the ridge in a steep section and has lots of rocks). The creek crossings were a blessing after going through sections that felt like a blast furnace. We also had the strange experience of an old-growth tree snapping and blocking the trail in the hour between passing that point on the way up and getting back to it on the way down. Photo attached.

Saturday night was cocktails at the Stever's near Salmon la Sac, and Sunday dawned as hot as Saturday. John joined us at 11 for the climb up Kachess Ridge (the road, not the trail), and thank god, as I about passed out again during that sufferfest. Made the summit in about 90 minutes and had a great downhill - trail in great shape and all in the shade. Lots of roots, rocks and switchbacks on that trail - no time to rest.