Greetings faithful blog readers!
I am currently in Cascade Locks, Oregon, about 200 yards away from Washington. In a few hours I'll walk across Bridge of the Gods into my final state, with only 516 miles to go! It's hard to believe that I HIKED here from the Mexican border over four months ago. Wow. My pace will be much slower in Washington than in Oregon due to the rugged terrain of the North Cascades, but I'm excited to be counting down the miles/days to Canada. I anticipate reaching the Canadian border somewhere between the 20th and 26th of September.
Overall I'm holding up pretty well, but I'm slowly getting emotionally and physically worn out. Lately the weather has been good and the bugs haven't been too bad, but it rains quite a bit in Washington on the PCT so I'm trying to psych myself up to push through it. I think that by the time I complete the trail I'll be ready to get back to indoor plumbing, hot food, and the company of my amazing wife.
Speaking of amazing wife, Amy and I were able to spend almost six days together when she flew out to Portland. It was great to get off trail for a bit and reconnect with her. I'd forgotten how wonderful it is to have her around to share my life with, and I've missed her more than normal since I got back on the trail four days ago.
Thanks again for all your prayers and supportive comments. Onward to Canada!
Joel
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Joel-caching
Hi from MN - it's Natalia, back from the amazing state of Oregon with tales to tell. So some of you have heard of a lovely thing called geocaching. It's where you get coordinates and have to treasure hunt for little containers full of fun knick-knacks. It's a lot of fun... Unless your cache is Joel, he's in the wilderness somewhere, and your gps fails to distinguish the difference between a small overgrown path and an actual road. Tom (the 2008-09 sam and nat roomie), Sam and I took the trusty Honda Element (fondly known as the duckmobile for it's color and team affiliation) and drove into the mountains. First of all, Elements are not 4wheel drive, and not all mountain roads are meant for Elements. Some mountain roads are not roads at all actually. We started out on a nice paved interstate, moved to a nice paved highway, then a nice paved county road, and then somehow we got on an incorrect dirt road, where a lovely set of mountain men asked us if we were trying to "get to somewhere special" (we weren't sure what it meant) and then gave us directions that sort of took us the right way, but we got off track again (darn gps)...at this time we were about an hour later than we told Joel. But we kept on hoping that he would be patient and wait for us. We drove and drove and turned around, and drove, and turned around (now it's almost two hours later than Joel expected) and FINALLY we saw a sign for Olalee lake. Dang that Olalee lake. It's the most beautiful and most hated location in all of Oregon if you are me, Tom, or Sam. We drove right by Joel and didn't see him at first, and had a moment of panic that Joel would leave us a note somewhere saying to meet him at another set of coordinates. He didn't and lucky for him that he didn't because we weren't really at a point where that would have been an option. But, we were victorious. We found Joel, we brought him down the mountain, fed him, gave him to his wife, and spent a glorious evening in Portland eating good food, drinking beer and eating gelato.
Pictures...
So below are some more pics from Joel. I (Natalia) have had them in my possession for awhile and I've been slow in posting them. Sorry blog faithful!
There are pics of various scenery, pretty sunsets, a volcano field, remnants of a forest fire, and Mt Shasta, as well as a few pics of Joel crossing the border, and his icky feet. :)
Enjoy!
There are pics of various scenery, pretty sunsets, a volcano field, remnants of a forest fire, and Mt Shasta, as well as a few pics of Joel crossing the border, and his icky feet. :)
Enjoy!
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Oregon at last
Greetings supportive blog readers!
I am currently in Bend at the home of Brian and Lindsey. Brian is a fellow hiker who was unfortunately forced off the trail due to injury, but who invited me to come stay with him when I got near Bend. I've had a shower, slept in a real bed, and ate dinner last night at a dining room table. Being in a real house while in town instead of at a motel has been wonderful.
Northern California was pretty rough on me. It was hot, there were lots of bugs, the terrain was not terribly interesting, and I'd been hiking for three months and was still in the same state. Many other hikers had an equally difficult time, and I know a handful who just couldn't take it anymore and quit. However, the good news is that I'm now in Oregon! I got a pretty big mental and emotional lift crossing the border out of California - it's amazing what an arbitrary invisible line drawn by polititians hundreds of years ago can do to lift your spirits.
So far I've enjoyed Oregon quite a bit. There have been more mosquitos, rain, and cold than I was anticipating, but the scenery has been beautiful. Crater Lake was breathtaking, and the whole Three Sisters Wilderness was great as well with lots of mountain meadows, wildflowers, small streams, and majestic trees.
This afternoon Brian is bringing me back to the trail, and then in just two days my friends Sam and Natalia (who are maintaining this blog site) and Tom and Andrea are picking me up and bringing me to Portland to meet Amy! I'll be off trail for three or four days while she's here, so if you don't see the SPOT icons update that's why.
Also, I just crossed the 2000 mile mark! I'm at mile 2007, which means that I have less than 700 miles to go. If all goes well, I should be finishing the trail the third or fourth week in September.
Thanks a lot for all your comments of encouragement. I read them all, and once even called Amy and had her read the new ones to me over the phone. It really means a lot to me to have so many friends back home cheering me on.
Joel
I am currently in Bend at the home of Brian and Lindsey. Brian is a fellow hiker who was unfortunately forced off the trail due to injury, but who invited me to come stay with him when I got near Bend. I've had a shower, slept in a real bed, and ate dinner last night at a dining room table. Being in a real house while in town instead of at a motel has been wonderful.
Northern California was pretty rough on me. It was hot, there were lots of bugs, the terrain was not terribly interesting, and I'd been hiking for three months and was still in the same state. Many other hikers had an equally difficult time, and I know a handful who just couldn't take it anymore and quit. However, the good news is that I'm now in Oregon! I got a pretty big mental and emotional lift crossing the border out of California - it's amazing what an arbitrary invisible line drawn by polititians hundreds of years ago can do to lift your spirits.
So far I've enjoyed Oregon quite a bit. There have been more mosquitos, rain, and cold than I was anticipating, but the scenery has been beautiful. Crater Lake was breathtaking, and the whole Three Sisters Wilderness was great as well with lots of mountain meadows, wildflowers, small streams, and majestic trees.
This afternoon Brian is bringing me back to the trail, and then in just two days my friends Sam and Natalia (who are maintaining this blog site) and Tom and Andrea are picking me up and bringing me to Portland to meet Amy! I'll be off trail for three or four days while she's here, so if you don't see the SPOT icons update that's why.
Also, I just crossed the 2000 mile mark! I'm at mile 2007, which means that I have less than 700 miles to go. If all goes well, I should be finishing the trail the third or fourth week in September.
Thanks a lot for all your comments of encouragement. I read them all, and once even called Amy and had her read the new ones to me over the phone. It really means a lot to me to have so many friends back home cheering me on.
Joel
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Update from Amy
A couple weeks ago, Joel was hiking just North of the Lake Tahoe area and through the Desolation Wilderness. He really enjoyed hiking in this section of the Sierras. The several sets of photos that I'll email you are from those areas. I'll also send a short video that you can post, if possible.
About a week ago, after completing the more mountainous terrain of the Sierras - he began hiking in densely forested areas of Northern CA. Some sections in the area have been very challenging due to overgrown poison oak (some as tall as 5 ft. high!). Since the trail is now more level - he's also been pounding out a lot of miles (25-30 a day). Between the big miles, the hot & humid weather, the poison oak obstacle course, and being confined in forests that limit his view of the surrounding scenery - Joel's been finding this part of the PCT to be much less enjoyable. He's also beginning to feel sore (especially his knees, feet, & shoulders) and has a nagging thorn in his hand & pain in a toe. So, he would really appreciate prayers for perseverance & the cooperation of his body while he's on the "home stretch" in CA and begins hiking in Oregon this week.
About a week ago, after completing the more mountainous terrain of the Sierras - he began hiking in densely forested areas of Northern CA. Some sections in the area have been very challenging due to overgrown poison oak (some as tall as 5 ft. high!). Since the trail is now more level - he's also been pounding out a lot of miles (25-30 a day). Between the big miles, the hot & humid weather, the poison oak obstacle course, and being confined in forests that limit his view of the surrounding scenery - Joel's been finding this part of the PCT to be much less enjoyable. He's also beginning to feel sore (especially his knees, feet, & shoulders) and has a nagging thorn in his hand & pain in a toe. So, he would really appreciate prayers for perseverance & the cooperation of his body while he's on the "home stretch" in CA and begins hiking in Oregon this week.
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