Twig Adventures

August 12th, 2019 Electric water well mm 1340.8 to Rawlins mm 1385.7 Distance in miles: 45 0630-2020 I don’t get nearly enough sleep but that’s okay. It gets really cold overnight and I have a hard time breaking away from my quilt in the morning. Cows provide the alarm clock. The prairie stretches out to eternity and the sun rises just as I hit the trail. Unlike the previous 2 days, there are no clouds in the sky. I think it’s going to be a scorcher. Well, seems like a good day to do a 45…which would be another record over the one I just set the day before. Back to back 40s is another challenge I wanted to try[…]

August 11th, 2019 Mm 1301 to electric water well mm 1340.8 Distance in miles: 40 0615-2230 Today is the day I want to beat my longest distance hiked in a single day. The weather is good, as in very cool, and the terrain ideal. I wake up to an overcast sky, similar to the day before. Just after packing, it sprinkles on me. There are patches where it’s raining all around but it’s all such nice, easy rain. The wind is not blowing, yet, and the morning has such a gentle feeling to it. I see pretty fresh tracks after a few miles but they are not Boo Boo’s Superiors but instead Lone Peaks…I can recognize all the popular Altra[…]

August 10th, 2019 Atlantic City, 1 mile south of mm 1272 to mm 1301 Distance in miles: 30 1110-2030 I’m so cozy in the cabin bed, I don’t want to leave. I wish I had many more hours to sleep in. There just aren’t enough hours in the day. Breakfast is at 7 am, whereupon I wolf down at least 6 pancakes and some eggs, sausage, fruit, coffee and orange juice. Basically I consume everything they set out in front of me. Only a few pancakes remain, and to be fair, they are smallish, so my count isn’t as impressive as it sounds. It’s great to eat so much before setting out on this next section. I take another short[…]

August 9th, 2019 Mm 1240.6 to Atlantic City, 0.9 miles south of mm 1272 Distance in miles: 31 0605-1900 I couldn’t get to sleep last night. Somehow a 30 mile day with over 7000′ vertical ascent wasn’t tiring enough. Or maybe I was just too excited about how awesome the day was. The cows also kept coming by, mooing and clacking their feet. I worry about animals not seeing my tent at night and running into it. But surely they can smell me? It was hot and dry when I went to bed but the morning brings wet, cold air. I hoped for a dry tent for once but it’s not to be. Everything is covered in a layer of[…]

August 8th, 2019 Mm 1209 to mm 1240.6 Distance in miles: 30.2 0620-1840 Wow, today was such a turnaround from the day before. It was also the opposite of all the things I expected. Overnight, I started to seriously have doubts about doing the Cirque of the Towers alternate. I read Carrot Quinn’s blog post from that day and she had the hardest time. I read it to Relentless and he up and decided not to do it. Plus, we didn’t make our miles the previous day, leaving 5 more miles just to get to the alternate. The forecast is for thunderstorms and 50% chance of rain…not good for above-treeline, exposed passes. I wake feeling pretty refreshed but still convinced[…]

August 7th, 2019 Mm 1180.5 to mm 1209 Distance in miles: 28.5 0620-1830 Today is a hard day. All day I struggle to get my miles done, coming up short in the end. The total elevation gain is only 6000′ but there are so many 200′-600′ short and steep passes. Plus the tread is rough, with rocks and roots everywhere. It’s technical hiking, always having to adjust each step to avoid a rock or to clear the height of one. My eyes are glued to the trail all day. I have to stop to be able to look around, otherwise I might trip and fall. Still, it is a beautiful day of hiking! By 10 am, I’ve only gone 9[…]

August 6th, 2019 Green River Lakes campground mm 1152 to mm 1180.5 Distance in miles: 28.5 0730-1830 After 2 zero days, I really want to hike today. But am I in any shape to do so? I wake up feeling quite ill, not surprisingly. I only got a few hours of sleep and I can’t get up when my alarm goes off. Maybe I can just sleep another hour. It’s light when I finally rally. I just want to pack up and go. No breakfast or coffee, I just want to move. I walk by the party site on my way to the toilet. There’s an epic mess and skinny bodies are wrapped in sleeping bags laying in the dirt[…]

August 5th, 2019 Hitch back to Green River Lakes campground Distance in miles: none I am going to a hikertrash wedding today! Two people I have never even met before are getting married on the trail and only thru-hikers are invited. They purposely planned it this way. I have no idea what to expect but since we saved about 24 miles not having to take the side trail to Pinedale, we figure we earned a zero. I have never taken a zero on trail before and this seems like one of the better reasons to do so. But first we have to get back to the campground. And before that, I have a lot of online business to attend to.[…]

August 4th, 2019 Hitch to Pinedale Distance in miles: just walking around town We planned to hike for 2 more days, taking a 12 mile side trail and hitch to Pinedale on the 5th for resupply. Relentless also has new shoes waiting in town, which he desperately needs. But that side trail would have meant an additional 24 miles RT for us, adding to an already long section through the Winds Range. Yesterday we started formulating a plan to hitch to Pinedale from Green River Lakes campground, no side trail necessary. It would mean a 5 day food carry (115 miles) to finish the section, which is certainly within our ability. Seeing so many people at the campground for the[…]

August 3rd, 2019 Mm 1117.3 to Green River Lakes mm 1152 Distance in miles: 34.7 0600-1830 We hope for another big day to make it to the Green River and Lakes, portal to the Wind River range. We are on the march early as usual, our actions almost mechanical at this point. The trail flows up to a ridge where there are views of the Tetons and back to the buttes where we started the day before. The miles tick by as we roll along. Twelve down by 10 am, nearly 21 done by 1 pm. We could be in camp by 6 pm at such a rate.But I always slow down by the afternoon. We take a long break[…]