thru-hiking – Page 13 – Twig Adventures

PCBCRT Day 3: A Huge Bite of Trail-Beach-Trail Sandwich

July 11, 2023 kaulua26 Oregon Coast Trail, Pacific Coast Bigfoot Crest Rim Trail

Friday, July 7th, 2023, 0645-2100Tillamook Head Backpacker Camp to Manzanita 26 miles, Gain 3500′, Loss 4300′, elevation 30 The reason for such a short day yesterday and a long one this day had everything to do with tides and where to sleep. I needed to hit a low tide for the upcoming stretch of beach, which was in the morning. Because of the waning full moon, the tides were also rather extreme, meaning one of the lows each day was at a negative level, 1-2 feet below the average low. This was significant, since it meant I might be able to walk the beach farther than the official route. It’s mentioned in the guidebook and also was reported by a[…]

PCBCRT Day 2: Variety is the spice of life

July 10, 2023 kaulua26 Oregon Coast Trail, Pacific Coast Bigfoot Crest Rim Trail

Thursday, July 6th, 2023, 0715-1900Sunset beach to Tillamook Head Backpacker Camp.16 miles, Gain 1365′, Loss 600′, elevation 780 I slept like a total rock, it was so amazing. I was finally on trail, so my mind was at peace. The distant hum of the surf drowned out all else. I heard nothing until the lovely birdsong in the morning. I noted some thick fog right away, but it didn’t feel very moist or clammy. In fact, I thought I was completely dry until I felt my tent walls. Yep, it was condensation nation, but mostly just on the outside. This was not surprising to me, given my location on this notoriously moist coast. But I was hoping for a miracle[…]

PCBCRT Day 1: Off After a Bang

July 10, 2023 kaulua26 Oregon Coast Trail, Pacific Coast Bigfoot Crest Rim Trail

Wednesday, July 5th, 2023, 0615-2000Columbia River, Fort Stevens State Park (Northern Terminus of the Oregon Coast Trail) to Sunset Beach9 miles, Gain 30′, Loss 30′, elevation 30′ This was one of the best first trail days I’ve ever had. That’s because for most of the day, I got to be a tourist as we enjoyed the sights around Astoria and celebrated a birthday. But first I had to recover from a night of restless sleep (mostly of my own doing) and a subsequent migraine. Coffee and a breakfast with some delicious mango snapped me out of it (along with my prescription Sumatriptan). I know it worried my hosts that I was feeling bad, but I dealt with migraines all the[…]

PCBCRT Day 0: Reconnecting to the Pacific Coast

July 6, 2023 kaulua26 Oregon Coast Trail, Pacific Coast Bigfoot Crest Rim Trail

July 3-4th, 2023Miami FL to Portland OR To Manzanita ORDistance: 2,700 miles (by airplane), 60 by car Sometimes traveling to a trail can be very stressful and difficult. Fortunately, I’d been blessed with very good luck over the years and I was happy to find that my serendipitous streak persevered through all my logistics and connections again with this trail. In fact, it was one of the most auspicious beginnings yet, leaving me with a sense of awe about how everything came together so perfectly. I owe all of this to my auspicious beginnings/connections on the PCT and the generosity of some long-time trail angels, the Skybird Family. My travels began with a 7 am flight from Miami to Los[…]

The Pacific Coast Bigfoot Crest Rim Trail Introduction

June 26, 2023 kaulua26 Bigfoot Trail, Oregon Coast Trail, Pacific Coast Bigfoot Crest Rim Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, Tahoe Rim Trail

This is a rough sketch of the Pacific Coast Bigfoot Crest Rim Trail…PCBCRT. (I know, my scribbling looks a little like blood dripping…sorry about that. It ended up being a good proxy for how my legs looked after some bushwacking along the route.) I ‘invented’ this roughly 1200 mile route as a conglomeration of 4 distinct long distance trails, stringing together parts or all of the Oregon Coast Trail (OCT), Bigfoot Trail (BFT), Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), and Tahoe Rim Trail (TRT). I made-up the name to include a portion of each trail’s official name, paying homage to a common misconception, emphasized by the “Pacific Coast” part. That’s because about half the public mistakenly calls the Pacific Crest Trail the[…]

Hayduke Intermission #2 and Bonus: Highpoint Substitute

June 13, 2023 kaulua26 Hayduke Trail

Memorial Day weekend, May 26th- 27th, 2023Music Pass and Sand Lakes, Sangre De Cristo,10 miles, elevation 11,500 I didn’t finish the last 150 miles or so of the Hayduke (yet), and I also bypassed the route’s highpoint in the Henry mountains, due to heaps of snow. While I planned to return to the Grand Canyon to finish the western half of the route in the fall, I doubted I would get back to the Henry Mountains for just one peak bagging foray. Finding myself in Colorado with a bit of extra time after my Aunt’s memorial service, I figured I could at least gain back some style points by matching the Hayduke Highpoint: the south summit of Mt Ellen at[…]

HayDay 35: A Grand Finale

May 23, 2023 kaulua26 Hayduke Trail

Friday, May 12th, 2023, 0600-2030West Horseshoe Mesa to the South Rim, via South Kaibab trail 24 miles, elevation 7200′ Gazing at stars every time I woke was a grand experience. But when the quarter moon came up, it got pretty bright. With no trees or tent to block the light, even such a sliver made a big difference. I was also awoken by something crawling on my neck. I only remembered grabbing and flicking whatever it was away, then falling back asleep. It probably wasn’t a scorpion. Oddly, there were 20 or so little beetles crawling under our ground sheets in the morning, so I’d guess my nighttime visitor was one of these harmless critters. Such minor inconveniences were worth[…]

HayDay 34: Canyon Flowers

May 23, 2023 kaulua26 Hayduke Trail

Thursday, May 11th, 2023, 0610-1800Cardenas to West Horseshoe Mesa19 miles, elevation 3865′ My little nest among the trees was so snug and complete with the loveliest of birdsong in the morning. The crash of the river waves made me think I was sleeping next to the ocean. I was dreaming that I was on a beach in the Ten Thousand Islands, instead of in the canyon. That is until I looked out to see walls and buttes all around. I left my mesh partially open since the site was pretty much mosquito free (also unlike Florida). The trail greeted us with a nice 1,500′ climb, only to go right back down to the river. We went in and out of[…]

HayDay 33: The Grandest of Days

May 19, 2023 kaulua26 Hayduke Trail

Wednesday, May 10th, 2023, 0610-1800Nankoweap to Cardenas via raft and Beamer Trail12 miles (plus 9 miles hitched on raft), elevation 2600′ It would be hard to top the previous day, but we still managed! As I said before, I’d hiked through the GC on the AZT, but never had the pleasure of camping in the canyon before. I slept well but did wake up with a pretty bad migraine. The day before had been excellent but also tough. The heat and exertion had cooked my brain. Thankfully my prescription medicine kicked in quick and we were ready to tackle another hard day. We needed to go about 9 miles along the river where there was no trail. It would likely[…]

HayDay 32: Nankoweap

May 17, 2023 kaulua26 Hayduke Trail

Tuesday, May 9th, 2023, 0610-1800Mile 21 of alt to Colorado River \ Nankoweap20 miles, elevation 2800′ It was a very quiet night and I slept so well. I think I heard a western screech owl but that was about it. We had a big day planned: to get down to the Grand Canyon! First we walked the remainder of the road to the trailhead. We found several streams along the way, filling up on beautiful clean water, all run-off from the snow melt above. We climbed towards Saddle mountain for quite a ways, which I didn’t appreciate knowing how much we’d just have to go down to get into the canyon. Must go up to go down! My pack felt[…]

Tag: thru-hiking