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Pacific Northwest Trail 2022

June 10, 2022 kaulua26 Pacific Northwest Trail

For my 10th long-distance thru-hike, I’m attempting the 1,200 mile PNT, which traverses along the Canadian border from Glacier National Park in Montana to Cape Alava/Pacific Ocean on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington. This route serves as a northern connector of the PCT and CDT, as it shares a brief part of each trail. The majority of the PNT is through Washington…a section I really loved on the PCT, so I’m looking forward to seeing more of this beautiful state. The conditions will be a huge change from my recent time spent in the desert SW and along the east coast on the AT. Water will be plentiful (snowpack is still way above average), bushwhacking will be the REAL DEAL,[…]

MRT Summary & Stats

June 7, 2022 kaulua26 Mogollon Rim Trail

I thought this would be quick and easy, given how short this hike was. But actually, there was quite a bit to it. I’ll let my daily blogs do most of the talking, as I was pretty detailed in capturing the spirit of each moment. My main takeaways from this route were greater confidence in my abilities and appreciation for remote and ‘difficult’ hiking. Going for days or even weeks without seeing other hikers, let alone other people, really appealed to me. I felt like I saw a lot more wildlife and was more in the zone of just being in nature. Without an audience, I find a stoicism in my responses to the conditions and hardships of the trail.[…]

MRT (Bonus) Days 28 & 29: Silver City Fin

May 30, 2022 kaulua26 Continental Divide Trail, Mogollon Rim Trail

Friday May 6th, 2022, 0630-1800Sapillo Creek to Little Walnut Picnic Grounds outside Silver City24 miles. I heard some strange noises coming from the nearby cave dwellings in the morning. I wondered if it was from animals or ghosts? Perhaps some early-riser CDT hikers had discovered the caves? This area was also where I first heard a Mexican whippoorwill and again, one first thing this morning. They appear to have a very limited range in the SW of the US, but I’d heard them quite a few times on this hike. I always love the sound they make. I also forgot to mention that we saw a lone javalina by the river 2 days prior…first and only of this hike. The[…]

MRT (Bonus) Day 27: Rollin Down the River

May 14, 2022 kaulua26 Continental Divide Trail, Mogollon Rim Trail

Thursday May 5th, 2022, 1000-1800Gila Hot Springs to Sapillo Creek17.5 miles. I woke and packed early, but not so I could hike. My only priority was getting another soak in the springs. I felt pretty warm in my tent, but found my dress frozen stiff outside…it was only 30 degrees. I had to dunk it in the hot water just to be able to change into it. I decided that I needed to invent a hiking robe for such circumstances. None of the CDT hikers opted for a morning soak… probably because of the cold and also because they had thousands of miles left to hike. I had less than 50 miles and 4 days to get it done. It[…]

MRT (Bonus) Day 26: Gila Hot Springs

May 14, 2022 kaulua26 Continental Divide Trail, Grand Enchantment Trail, Mogollon Rim Trail, Pacific Crest Trail

Wednesday May 4th, 2022, 0640-1000West Fork Gila to Gila Hot springs.11 miles. We had about 6 miles to go until the cliff dwellings, then another 5 miles of road walking to Doc Campbells and the hot springs in the morning. The trail went by fast, especially since I was running to keep warm. The relentless river crossings turned my feet into blocks of ice, so I had to do something to generate heat. We passed a camp where the occupants were dry, sitting in chairs, and sipping coffee. Ahhh, the regular backpacking life. We also passed our camp from the year before, where I spied toilet paper right where I’d cowboy camped…good thing I hadn’t counted on a repeat of[…]

MRT (Bonus) Day 25: Gila River

May 12, 2022 kaulua26 Grand Enchantment Trail, Mogollon Rim Trail

Tuesday May 3rd, 2022, 0640-1920Iron Creek to West Fork Gila, GET Seg 21 mm 11.527.5 miles. I wasn’t looking forward to the challenge of the first half of the day. We were walking unfamiliar territory for about 14 miles, a lot of which was in burn areas. This alternate now had its own alternates to avoid miles of washed out creek travel. The first few miles were fine, on maintained trail. Then we turned up a drainage towards Turkeyfeather Pass, which was chaos from the get-go. I thought there might be some remnant parts of the trail left to follow but I was wrong. Massive erosion and flooding from the surrounding burned areas had turned the drainage into a jumble[…]

MRT (Bonus) Day 24: Mogollon For the End

May 11, 2022 kaulua26 Grand Enchantment Trail, Mogollon Rim Trail

Monday May 2nd, 2022, 0630-1830Mineral Creek to Iron Creek Gila National Forest, EABO mm 520, GET Seg 20 ALT mm 11 27 miles. I didn’t sleep well, partly because I was too hot in my quilt and also because my mind was playing stupid tricks on me. I had to leave my feet out of the footbox for half the night, it was so warm. Crazy that I was freezing my butt off less than a week before. Then I dreamt that something was scraping at me inside my tent or that something kept walking by. The creek was so close and loud that it seemed to make noises that simulated other things. Perhaps it was also the sycamore whispering to[…]

MRT Day 23: Mineral Creek Repeat

May 10, 2022 kaulua26 Grand Enchantment Trail, Mogollon Rim Trail

Sunday May 1st, 2022, 0540-1920Near Charlie Moore Mountain to Mineral Creek, EABO mm 493.5, GET Seg 20 mm 5.5 (6.5 miles to end Seg 7 plus 10 miles to Alma plus 5.5 miles to campsite)22 miles. My cowboy camp was fantastic. It wasn’t too cold, no bugs, no weird noises…just wonderful star gazing. It made packing up very easy as well. We left earlier than usual because we were loosing an hour by walking across the border into New Mexico (commence DST). The Alma cafe closed at 3 pm and we didn’t want to miss out on a hot meal (or 2). But we still had to walk 16 long miles to get there. The first 3 miles were pretty tough.[…]

MRT Day 22: A Signature Day

May 10, 2022 kaulua26 Mogollon Rim Trail

Saturday Apr 30th, 2022, 0610-2030Government Mesa/Horse Mountain Trail to near Charlie Moore Mountain, EABO mm 471.5, Segment 7 mm 5618.5 miles. I felt like this entire day was a reward for nearly finishing the MRT. I usually have at least one day or moment during a long trail that I recall as my most stunning experience, my Signature Day, and this day was definitely it for the MRT. It wasn’t the easiest hiking I guess (mostly entirely cross country down canyons), but so much fun that I barely noticed any effort all day. It began with another big descent, officially our final from the “Rim”. We left the ponderosa, rejoining the juniper prairie and big round lava rocks that are so[…]

MRT Day 21: Blue Mountain Primitive Area

May 9, 2022 kaulua26 Mogollon Rim Trail

Friday Apr 29th, 2022, 0600-1920Grant Creek to Horse Mountain Trail, EABO mm 454, Segment 7 mm 3825.5 miles. It was another very tough day. The morning was at least pretty chill. We walked the rest of Grant Creek to the confluence of the Blue River (all creeks in this area flow into the Blue). Based on our previous crossing of the Blue a year prior (GET 2021), I expected a decent-sized river and to get wet feet. But the crossing was tiny and bridged with some logs. 20 or so miles to the north of our GET crossing, the Blue River here was a small creek. I suspect in other years it can be quite a bit more, but the drought[…]

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