More Fuller Ridge!
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Sunday June 7, 2009
Great night sleeping, heard a deer snorting at one point, beautiful full moon when we woke up. Walking before 6am and quietly passed by Strawberry Junction where all the campers were still warm and cozy in their sleeping bags. Great view into the valley of clouds as we made our way to Fuller Ridge. Another cold morning walking with our winter hats on! The 5 miles along Fuller ridge were just one beautiful sight after another, definitely a highlight of this section as we meandered along below the towering peak of San Jacinto, lots of nice little spots to camp on and a river....waterfall almost at the beginning of the trail (coming from the south). Looking to the north and far below, we could see I-10 and the windmills we camped under last year, it was funny knowing exactly what the trail looked like ahead, but we where wouldn't be going this time. :( We got to Black Mtn Rd (officially connecting the dots from last year) and started walking down the road. About 4 miles later, we saw Steve and Kathryn driving up the road to pick us up! This great couple Neighbor met through a San Jacinto hiking board and they arranged to pick our sorry butts up and bring us back to our rental car (waaaaay back where we started the 40 mile hike)! Great feeling knowing that we didn't have to try to hitch on the side of the road for endless hours! We all went out for Mexican in Idyllwild and then back to our car. It was great meeting them and you never know......we just might see them again someday!! After this full day, Neighbor and I drove back to Idyllwild and crashed in the State Park. What a great 3 days back on the PCT!!
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Sat June 6, 2009
After quite the windy night, we woke up to a beautiful sunrise over Palm Springs area, packed up and got walking northward again. Cold morning, no one else on the trail, just amazing views all around, walked through the small section of trail that was on fire last year (1 mile out of the 39) near Apache Peak. Didn't go down to the Apache spring as we didn't need water and we heard it was quite the elevation drop to get there. Meandered along, following the trail, enjoying every step of it. Came to Saddle Junction around noon, lots of hikers here, had a bite to eat and decided to keep walking. Found a great little spot to camp around 2 or 3 in the afternoon and called it quits for the day. 15 miles for the day only left us 8 to get to Black Mtn Rd in the morning.
Friday June 5, 2009
We were up bright and early on Friday, drove to the trailhead and started our 39 mile walk to Black Mtn Rd. Chilly morning, but we moved right along, taking lots of pictures and enjoying being back on the trail again. As we climbed higher up the ridge the views were awesome, we could look back and see the trail to the south, peaks all around, the Saltan Sea, just beautiful. The wind picked up in the afternoon and made it cold on the shaded side of the mtn, but still roasting on the sunny side. We stopped at Fobes Saddle for water, Neighbor got us 4 liters with no problem, I stayed with our packs at the junction and flipped through the trail register of whose been through the area, fun to see all the 2009 PCT hikers and their comments. We noticed another message for today's date and come to find out "Nitro Joe" PCT 2008 was out here hiking also hiking these missed miles from last year!! Small world. After the climb out of the saddle, we hiked a few more miles to Spitler Peak and found a great camp spot off the trail, with a nice view of San Jacinto and all of the Palm Springs area. Had some dinner and called it quits, quite early for the day (around 3pm.......but we were trying to stay on east coast time!!) Made it 16 miles for the day, not too bad!
June 4th, 2009
It was finally time to head back out west and hike a few of those miles of the PCT that were closed due to wildfires last year! We decided to start with the 39 miles around San Jacinto/Fuller Ridge area. So, we flew to San Diego on Thursday 6/4/09, picked up our rental car with Enterprise (Neighbor and Dave the Enterprise man in photo) and drove north to Idyllwild to camp in the state park for the night. Long day of travelling, I think we were sleeping by 6pm (west coast time......would have been 9pm for us!!)
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Chief, Chickety and Neighbor in Seattle, WA
It was great to see The Great Chief-Chi-Hua-Hua Rainbowtoes in Seattle., it was the icing on the cake. Hi Chief!!!
We're home!
Just a few details about the week that followed our "Big Finish" at the Canadian border! We took the Greyhound to Vancouver the next day (about 210 miles to the West) and stayed at a "backpacker's hostel" nearby (scary!!). We said good-bye to Slider. Thrust, Neighbor and I then took a ferry from Vancouver to Vancouver Island where we stayed in Victoria for 2 nights. Then we said good-bye to Thrust and we took a different ferry to Seattle, WA for 2 nights. Seattle was wonderful! We went to Pike St. Market and were in awe of all the fresh fruit (great peaches and apples), fish and flowers the market had to offer! We went to the REI headquarters and ran into Antfarm and Swiffer! We went to The North Face and saw our friend Numtum from the AT in 2005! Then on Sunday, we were leaving the hotel to go to the airport and were walking down the street when we saw Chief and Sarong walking up the street to meet us! What a great way to end the trip, seeing Chief again! We hung out with them for a few hours and then took a bus to the airport hotel. Flew home on Monday, saw the most amazing full moon setting with the sun rising by Mt. Rainier as we took off and then saw the Northern Cascades in Washington that we had walked right by, it was awesome! Landed in Manchester to see our families and HikerEd were there to greet us home, how great was that! Thank you everyone for the support we received while out on the trail, it's great to be home and see everyone, what a great trip it was! :)
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
DAY 143 MON SEPT 8th!!!!
So excited! Up and hiking by 6:15 (we slept in a little on our last morning) The miles came fast and easy, it was COLD, I mean there was frost on the plants on the side of the trail! Our feet were wet in no time from brushing the plants as we walked. Neighbor and I saw the border swath just ahead of us and knew we were soo very close! Then we saw part of the monument through the trees and we were there! 0840am, we were standing at the border swath and end of the PCT, the end of our long walk. We took a few pictures then Slider and Thrust came along and we took more pictures and signed the register and hung out for 40 min or so, but it was too cold to stay any longer, so we started our 7 mile hike to Manning Park which couldn't come fast enough (for me). I wanted DONE (Neighbor says that he wanted to yo-yo...) We got to the pavement a few hours later and walked the 1 mile to Manning Park resort and got a room for the night. Washed our clothes and enjoyed the hot tub. I started feeling just awful and realized that I had caught some kind of stomach bug (bad food or bad water somewhere) but thank goodness we were in town and done, so I could rest!!! What a day to remember!!
Day 142 Sun Sept 7th
Chilly morning, had the mittens on. Sunrise reflection on the big peaks around us and we could see Mt. Baker off to the West. More amazing views on this eastern side of the Cascades where the air is drier (and the weather is nicer!!) We hiked over the highpoint in WA of 7100 feet and we could SEE Canada!!! Amazing views (which I'll attatch pictures to soon) We took picture after picture this day, in all directions, just beautiful! So glad we had nice weather on this last week of hiking. Camped by Hopkins Lake for the night a mere 6.8 miles from the END of the PCT!! What a beautiful spot for our last night on the trail (camped with Slider and Thrust)
Day 141 Sat Sept 6th
No mice! Pretty big climb out of Rainy Pass, but it was easy walking as usual, this is where the amazing views on this stretch started, what beauty all around. We just meandered along the mountainside for endless miles today taking in the views. Ended up hiking close to 30 miles by the days end and camped at Harts Pass (at a small campground) It was downright cold out this night and we were at 6200 feet. Only 30 miles left to the border from where we camped!
Day 140 Fri Sept 5th
Warm night sleeping with lots of active mice around, beautiful stars and first night in a VERY long time without the rainfly on! Up at 6am and had one last breakfast at the Landing, then caught the 8am bus back to the trail (with a quick bakery stop on the way!!) On the homestretch, 89 miles to go! Pretty easy hiking, we camped at Rainy Pass (Route 20) basically at the picnic area after a 19-20 mile day out of Stehekin. Lots of Canadian Jays around just waiting to steal any food you might drop.
Day 139 Thurs Sept 4th
Got to sleep in and it felt great! Packed up and were out of the room by 1030, decided that we liked Stehekin so much that we'd spend another day here! (but would camp for free instead of spending more money on a room) So, we moved down the street to the Purple Point campground where the free camping was and set up shop. I jumped a ride to the bakery with one of the same ladies as the day before and saw Flippy, Swiffer, Antfarm and the 3 guys from Washington there. I got one of the bakery's famous cinnamon rolls (they are huge!) and took the bus back, basically hung around and relaxed the rest of the day away. Neighbor got an e-mail from Chief that he was leaving Skykomish today (so he's only 4 days behind us!!) We might get to see him again afterall!
Day 138 Wed Sept 3rd
Had a great night's sleep, went to the Landing for breakfast (amazing food there) I had pancakes with berries and cream on top! Neighbor had the French toast, yummy! Then we finally hit the showers and did some laundry (though I think our laundry may have been cleaner when it went in the washing machine than when it came out) We got a room at the Landing Resort for the night and were able to enjoy a real bed for the night. The PO opened at 10am and we picked up our many packages! Almost missed one from Yappy (because she addressed it to "Neighbor and Chickety" :) ) Gram and Papa mailed some homemade cookies! Letters from Chels, Grammy Peg and Mom (with $$ in it that we put towards are night's stay!!) Thanks!! Then we caught a ride to the bakery with a couple of nice ladies and had a great lunch there. Managed to get a ride back to "town" (the bakery is almost 2 miles up the road) and bought a few postcards, hung out on the deck and filled them out while taking in the beautiful day. Our buddy MJ bought us a gift certificate for the Landing Restaurant (where the food is amazing) and we had a great dinner on him and even split a bottle of wine :) Thank you MJ!!!
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