Joel's Pacific Crest Trail Adventure

Monument Pictures

2009-10-26T09:18:00.001-07:00

Final Reflections

2009-10-26T09:10:00.000-07:00

A month has now passed since I got home, and I’m happy to report that returning to my “other” life has been much easier than anticipated. I’ve had a lot of time to reconnect with my wife and to think, both of which have been wonderful. Many people have inquired about my hike, and so this post will serve to respond to some of the deeper questions that people have asked.

What did you learn?

The PCT taught me that I was largely a risk-adverse person. I disguised my fear of risk with body art, rock climbing, and other activities typically associated with people who live in more risky ways. However, I worked diligently to manage the risk out of activities, relationships, and every so-called “adventure” I undertook. My wife (bless her!) brought this to my attention early in my hike when she told me “Honey, you tend to want all of the adventure with none of the risk.” Wow. That one smarted – but started me on a better path. In the process of hiking 2658 miles I learned to embrace the risk with the adventure rather than fleeing risk, and my PCT experience was much richer as a result.

I also learned the value of flexibility. One again I didn’t realize that I was an inflexible person until the myriad of uncontrollable circumstances that go hand-in-hand with a PCT thru-hike attempt forced me to either adapt or go crazy. I discovered that being a flexible person who is able to adapt to changing circumstances makes the whole experience much more enjoyable. In returning home I have found that little things such as running a few minutes late bother me much less than they would have before my hike. I have also found that I can peacefully coexist with unknowns rather than diligently seeking to stamp out every last variable.

What do you miss?

Surprisingly, I miss the trail much less than I anticipated. To be perfectly honest I was pretty tired of hiking by the time I reached Canada. However, I do strongly miss the community of thru-hikers. “Community” is a buzz word we throw around in our churches and board rooms, yet we live in fenced-off yards, we drive 20 minutes to see a friend across town while not knowing our neighbors, and we teach our kids about “stranger danger.” I don’t pretend to have an answer to this, but I can testify that the thru-hiking community has it figured out. Thru-hikers treat each other amazingly well regardless of race, gender, age, or socioeconomic status. I constantly felt valued, accepted, and cared for by people who I sometimes hardly knew. I believe that when God created humanity he designed us to live in community, and I think that a group of dirty thru-hikers all marching north is the closest thing I’ve ever experienced to what I imagine God’s concept of community to be.

In addition, I miss the simplicity of life of the trail. Thru-hiking was not easy by any stretch of the imagination, but it was simple. For five months every physical thing I was responsible for was on my back, and it was very freeing to not be concerned about anything I couldn’t see. Life was difficult, but each day I awoke knowing that my task for the day – as was my task yesterday and will be my task tomorrow – was only to get as close to Canada as possible. Returning to a life in the city with competing priorities, financial considerations, and property to care for has taken some getting used to.

What’s next?

In short, I don’t know. I do know that I focused way too much on work on the last few years, and while I do need employment and am looking forward to working again I definitely do not want to be consumed by a job. As my friend Cuidado stated, “Life can’t just be about work anymore. If it is, I’ll die.”

In terms of employment, I’m trying to balance my desire for my dream job with the reality of a tough job market. I will likely either pursue an independent business consulting practice focused on utilizing my gifts to serve clients or seek a full time position as a business analyst. I have been working on both, and my plan is to be flexible and see what happens in the next month.

In terms of life priorities, Amy and I are talking more about what it means for us to actively and intentionally seek and serve God as a couple and not just drift through life. I’m excited about this, but it’s scary at the same time.

Thank you once again to everyone who supported me and cheered for me on this hike. Before I started I said that if I took six months off and had a grand ol’ life adventure but didn’t return any different then the whole experience would be a bit of a waste. I do know that I have returned different, and your support has been a huge part of that.

Disco

Canada at last!

2009-09-20T22:26:00.000-07:00

Greetings supportive blog readers!

I'm happy to announce that after a full five months of hiking, I finally arrived at the Canadian border on Saturday morning!

First things first: to my former coworkers at aCoupleofGurus.com who have bets going as to how many pairs of shoes I would go through on my hike, the final count is six. In case anyone is curious how my other gear held up, I have holes in my sixth pair of shoes and my tenth pair of socks. My gaiters also have holes. My pack has been repaired in five different places with duct tape, safety pins, dental floss, and two different colors of thread. My sleeping bag smells like a locker room. The holes in my pant legs got so bad that I finally just zipped them off and got rid of them. One of the twist-locks on my trekking poles is failing and needs to be tightened every 15 or 20 minutes. Mice have chewed seven different holes in my food bag, as well as chewing up the handles on my trekking poles. Several seams in my poncho-tarp shelter are coming undone. My sunglasses are scratched to the point where visibility is impaired, and I've never owned a piece of clothing as stained as my hiking shirt (my wife has made a polite but strong request that this shirt be thrown away).

Currently I'm at the home of my sister Hannah and her husband Matt in Tacoma, Washington. I'm drinking my beloved decaf coffee and wearing cotton clothing that I borrowed from Matt. My body continues to insist that I wake up at 5:30 am like I did on the trail, so I'm pretty tired in addition to being very sore. However, I'm happy! I hiked every single step in a continuous footpath all the way from the Mexican border to the Canadian border without taking any shortcuts. The majority of hikers who attempt this end up quitting for one reason or another, and not many who make it to the Canadian border do so without skipping any sections. As such, I'm extremely proud to be among the few 2009 hikers who can claim a literal continuous footpath.

Tomorrow I fly back to Minneapolis to join my wife in celebrating our second anniversary. Once I get settled in a bit I'll post more thoughts/feelings/reflections/pictures.

Thanks for cheering me on through this adventure!

Joel

More Pictures!

2009-09-18T10:02:00.001-07:00

More Pictures!

2009-09-18T09:56:00.000-07:00

Picture time again!

2009-09-18T09:52:00.000-07:00

The Victory Lap

2009-09-15T10:45:00.000-07:00

Greetings persevering blog readers!

I am currently taking my final day off in the tiny town of Stehekin, just 89 miles south of the northern terminus of the PCT. Hikers call this last stretch "the victory lap." We're not quite finished yet, but there is definitely a spirit of celebration among the few remaining hikers who have made it this far.

The past few weeks have been wonderful. My good friend Cuidado caught up to me and we've had beautiful weather throughout a section known for its rain. The rugged scenery of the North Cascades has been spectacular! We've seen bear, elk, deer, pika, and marmots. We've watched amazing sunrises and sunsets over alpine lakes, and eaten our fill of the wild blueberries and huckleberries that cover entire hillsides. We've scrambled through 20 miles of damaged trail full of washed-out bridges and downed trees, and stood in awe as we watched dense fog roll through mountain valleys hundreds of feet below us.

It's hard to believe that I'm so close to done. Unless something very unexpected happens, Cuidado and I will be at the Canadian border on the 19th, to Manning Park in British Columbia on the 20th, and I'll be home on the 22nd - just one week from today. My emotions are all confused inside me: never have I been so excited and so sad at the same time. I can't wait to get home, start living with my wife again, and reconnect with people in the Minneapolis area. On the other hand, I'm mourning the end of this crazy, brutal, spectacular adventure. It will certainly be a challenge to learn how to maintain a life of adventure while building a career and paying a mortgage.

By the time I post again I will have completed my hike and started a new chapter in living a life of adventure with my wife. Stay tuned for my post-hike thoughts and reflections as well as pictures from the final few weeks. Thanks again for all your support over the past few months!

Joel

Pictures!

2009-09-08T16:00:00.001-07:00

Pictures!

2009-09-08T15:57:00.000-07:00

Pictures!

2009-09-08T15:41:00.000-07:00

Joel is happy when Amy is happy.

2009-09-08T15:39:00.000-07:00

(from Natalia: sorry I'm a little slow on posting this note from Amy and the accompanying pictures... it's my fault, not hers!)

This is Joel’s wife, Amy -- reporting from the homefront. As both Joel & Natalia mentioned in their recent blog updates, I went out to Oregon to visit Joel last week. Initially, I was hoping to have an opportunity to hike part of the PCT with Joel again during our 2nd trail reunion. Unfortunately, I’ve recently developed a mysterious, nagging pain in my knee that prevented me from doing anything that could even remotely resemble backpacking. Since I couldn’t hike, Joel chose to stay off the trail for a longer period of time than he anticipated so that we could maximize the window of time we could spend together. And not only did Joel take almost a week-long break from the trail to hang out with me, but he also let me decide what we would do for 4 of our 6 days together. If you’re a woman, you’ll understand why this decision made me very happy. J Ever since we started dating, Joel’s motto has been, “When Amy is happy, then Joel is happy”. I must admit, I’ve always been a fan of that philosophy!

So, as you’ll see from the accompanying photos – much of what we did together in Oregon is much more “romantic” than what you’d typically read about on a PCT blog. We drove down the coast from Astoria to Tillamook and spent hours walking on the beautiful, rugged beaches along the way. We ate at seaside restaurants and meandered through historic streets lined with antique shops in small, coastal towns. We picked wild blackberries until our hands were stained violet. We strolled for hours through both the Rose Garden and the Japanese Garden in Portland – and took oodles of pictures of pretty flowers & landscapes. We drove the historic highway along the Columbia River Gorge and stopped to gaze at lookout points and waterfalls. And we even stayed overnight in a lovely French-style inn at Arch Cape and watched the movie, “You’ve Got Mail” while listening to the ocean from our 2nd story room. (Joel may not quite finish the trail before our 2nd anniversary in Sept., so we thought we’d celebrate a little early). J Needless to say, I LOVED Oregon and love my husband even MORE!

If you’re curious about what we did the other 2 days … just scroll through the photos. It took us 1 full day to sort, pack, & mail all of Joel’s resupply for the state of WA. Thankfully, the amazing Ms. Stephanie Mack (who graciously let us stay with her at her apt. in Vancouver, WA while we were in the Portland area) helped us with this daunting task, so that we could complete it all in a day. Stephanie is a whiz at rolling fruit leather and may have the set the new Guinness Book of World Records time for sealing the greatest number of freezer bags ever sealed in 10 hours. You rock, Stephanie! The other day was set aside for traversing the many miles back to the place on the trail where Joel had been picked up earlier in the week. If you’ve read Natalia’s story about “Joel caching”, the magnitude of this feat will be very clear. By the mercy of God and a somewhat reliable GPS, we did find our way back to Olallie Lake – and miraculously timed our arrival to meet up with another PCT thru hiker (Munchie) that Joel knows well. The “Disco – Munchie reunion” was a welcome surprise and celebrated by the 3 of us indulging in some wonderful trail magic that was just a mile up the road in a campsite along the lake.

I’ve been able to talk with Joel twice since I left Oregon and both he & Munchie are doing well. If you’ve been following his progress on the map, you’ll see that he made it to Washington. That means only one more state to go. I’m confident that he can finish and I can’t wait to see the little hiker icon cross the Canadian border on the map in about a month!

P.S. Several of the latest pictures are from areas of the trail in Oregon prior to my visit. Joel especially enjoyed hiking around Crater Lake during that stretch of the trail.

End-of-the-tunnel syndrome

2009-09-07T00:05:00.000-07:00

Greetings dry blog readers!

I am currently in Snoqualmie Pass, just 260 miles south of Manning Park, BC. As you might guess, I've had quite a bit of rain in the last few days and am very much enjoying being inside and drying out.

Originally I wasn't planning on taking a day off in Snoqualmie Pass. However, last night I was talking with my father-in-law, Alvin Wissink, who is always full of practical wisdom. He warned me against what he called "end-of-the-tunnel syndrome." Alvin said that when people are walking in a dark tunnel they proceed carefully and watch their steps, but as soon as they see the light at the end of the tunnel they tend to speed up and are more reckless. According to Alvin, it's when the light at the end of the tunnel is visible that the most mistakes happen and most problems occur. I thought about that for a long time after I got off the phone with Alvin, and realized that I've been pushing way too hard in Washington. So ... I'm taking a day off. The last thing I want is to get lost or injured this close to the end.

The buzz over the last few days has been a wildfire which is just north of here. Unfortunately it has burned a significant portion of one valley and the PCT is closed for about 15 miles through that area. The good news (very good news) is that there is an alternate route that hikers can take which, while not the official PCT, will still allow me to continue the unbroken northbound footpath that I started at the Mexican border.

One highlight that I wanted to share is that a few days I've passed through amazing huckleberry and blueberry fields. I've picked tons of berries as I've hiked, and it's been a lot of fun and has brought some excitement to the otherwise rainy days. I could have picked and ate berries all day long and not gotted tired of it.

Two more weeks until Canada!

Joel

The Home Stretch

2009-08-27T13:13:00.000-07:00

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

Joel-caching

2009-08-25T11:36:00.001-07:00

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...

2009-08-25T11:30:00.000-07:00

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!

More Pictures!

2009-08-25T11:28:00.000-07:00

More Pictures!

2009-08-25T11:26:00.000-07:00

More pictures!

2009-08-25T11:15:00.000-07:00

Oregon at last

2009-08-15T23:03:00.000-07:00

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

Pics from Northern California

2009-08-04T08:31:00.000-07:00

Update from Amy

2009-08-04T08:25:00.000-07:00

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.

A Family Reunion (posted by Joel's wife - Amy)

2009-07-20T18:29:00.001-07:00

This update is more than a week overdue. But that's to be expected when your photo-fanatic wife is given the responsibility of posting news on your blog. I took a zillion pictures of the Sierras while I was on the trail with my husband recently and it's taken me awhile to sort through them and select only a few (does 20 qualify as a few?!) to share.

My sister and her husband (Robin & Ernie) and I flew to Reno on July 1st. We met Joel in Reno that evening -- and enjoyed catching up over a late night dinner, sitting on a patio overlooking the Truckee River. After 10 weeks on the trail -- not only are Joel's personal hygiene and facial hair significantly different than when he left MN in April -- but he now has an endless appetite. I have never seen my husband consume so much food in a single evening!

Later that evening and the following day, I helped my husband transform into a "section hiker". Let me explain further. On the PCT, there are "day hikers" (those that hike just for a day and wear matching clothes, have a recognizable hairstyle, and eat fresh food); "section hikers" (those hiking for several days on a section of the trail from point A to point B that smell like a fusion of soap & sunscreen and carry oversized backpacks with a change of clothes and far more dehydrated food than they need for the 10 miles a day that they'll be hiking) and "thru hikers" (those that hike for weeks on end - carrying minimal gear, wearing the same thing every day, and clearly looking & smelling like they haven't showered in at least a week). Since Robin, Ernie, and I were intending to spend 5 days hiking with Joel no more than 43 total miles - we upgraded him from minimalist, 2-star hiking gear to our 4-star hiking accommodations. For Joel, this meant having his clothes washed with Tide detergent, taking 2 showers (with both soap & shampoo), and doubling his pack size due to carrying everything from our 2-man tent to my camping pillow. He willingly adapted his hiker identity to suit us ... and after having hiked more than 1.000 miles at that point, I figured he was tough enough to handle all the extra weight he had to carry.

We began our section hike at Ebbett Pass on July 2nd. Soon after embarking on our trek, the 3 of us that were new to hiking in the Sierras realized that between the altitude, frequent ascending & descending, and the weight of the 4-star accommodations in our backpacks -- we would not be able to hike the entire 43 mile section that we had hoped to. So, we adjusted our plan a bit and hiked a 28 mile section to Carson Pass by the morning of July 6th. (Joel trekked an additional 18 miles to Echo Lake on his own between 5:30 a.m. - 11:20 a.m. on our final morning, just to get in a few extra miles. I guess that's why he's known as a thru hiker...) If you've been following the map, the places where the hiker icons are all squished close together is the section where we hiked and slowed Joel down from his usual trail conquering pace.

Sparing all the details and family antics, here are some of the highlights of our time on the trail:
-- meeting other PCT thru hikers that Joel has been hiking with periodically and camping with several of them our first night on the trail
-- experiencing "trail magic"; (we ran into trail magic TWICE during our 28 mile trek...which was unbelievable because it had been more than 600 miles since Joel had enjoyed an unexpected roadside smorgasbord)
-- seeing the beauty of the Sierras in summertime with blooming wildflowers, lichen-covered rocks, and crystal clear glacial lakes
-- crossing snow fields & meltwater streams
-- camping in the Sierra wilderness during a full moon
-- laughing so hard we cried
-- napping on enormous rocks in the warm summer sun & cool mountain breeze after a long hike

After finishing our hike, a friend from Reno picked us up at Carson Pass and drove us to see Lake Tahoe. (Yep -- it's as beautiful as people say it is!) We spent the afternoon celebrating the completion of our PCT section hike with a yummy, lakeside picnic lunch followed by a swim. After our dip in Lake Tahoe, we returned to Reno to spend some time visiting our friends that are locals there. (Thanks again, Lelan & Julie for shuttling us around and giving us a tour of the Reno area!) It was hard for me to say goodbye to Joel after having such a terrific time together. I'm really glad we had the opportunity to experience a small part of his hiking world, though -- and I'm hoping to join him again on the trail in Oregon in 6 weeks or so. I can't wait!

Pictures from Family Reunion

2009-07-20T17:48:00.001-07:00

Half done!

2009-07-20T11:25:00.000-07:00

Greetings cheering-on-wildly blog readers!

I am currently in Old Station, and just two days ago passed the halfway point! It feels good to know that there are now fewer miles between me and Canada than between me and Mexico. Recently the hiking has been fairly easy: the days are long, the weather is good, there is much less climbing than in the Sierras, and I'm in pretty good physical condition. I've been going about 25 to 30 miles per day, which is double the daily mileage that my dad and I did our first week. The first 1329 miles took me almost exactly three months, and I hope to complete the last 1329 miles in about two months. Wish me luck!

Amy, Robin, Ernie, and I had a great time when they came to visit. My friend Lelan from Reno was our personal trail angel and drove us all over the place, and we hiked for about four days. It was a lot of fun to see them and have them experience a bit of the trail with me. We had amazing views, made some great memories, and several times I laughed so hard I couldn't stand up! We'll get some pictures from our time together posted at some point.

Another interesting tidbit to share with you is the long distance hiking phenomenon of trail names. Most hikers don't go by their legal names while they're on the trail, but rather have a trail name that they use. Some choose their name, but usually people are christened by other hikers. Some hikers I have traveled with recently are Donut, Sugar Momma, British Slim, Hamster, Escalator, Wrong Way, Pockets, Muchy, Scholar, and Scruffy. I have become known on the trail as Disco because of my tendency to hike with my shirt unbuttoned down to my waist. I've been introducing myself as Disco now for almost six weeks, and I fully anticipate that when I get back into the business world in the fall I'll accidentally call myself Disco instead of Joel at least a few times before I get back into the habit of calling myself Joel.

Tomorrow morning I'll hit the trail again, and probably won't have internet access for another two and a half weeks until I reach Oregon. Thanks for all your support!

Joel

More Sierra pictures!

2009-07-09T08:46:00.001-07:00

Here are pictures of the trail from the end of June. The other folks you see with Joel are hiking partners from the Sierras.

Sierras update

2009-06-25T09:05:00.000-07:00

Greetings envious blog readers!

I am currently in Mammoth Lakes, at the north end of the High Sierras. I still have a few hundred miles of Sierras to go, but the really high passes, extended snow travel, deep stream fords, and low temperatures are behind me. I think.

The High Sierras were amazing, as you can hopefully tell from the pictures. All the climbs, high altitude, and snow travel were exhausting but very rewarding.

Just for fun, here are a few figures for the numerically inclinded among you:

2: number of times my pants have fallen down as I was hiking due to weight loss
43: number of streams I crossed in the first hour of hiking a few days ago
22: number of minutes it took me to eat an entire large bag of kettle chips when I got into town yesterday
907: number of miles hiked so far
8: number of high passes I went over in the High Sierras

The big news I'm excited about right now is that very soon I get to see Amy! She and her sister Robin and Robin's husband Ernie are coming out to hike with me, arriving late on the 30th. I'm really looking forward to spending some time with them and having them experience the trail with me a bit.

Joel

pictures from mid June

2009-06-24T10:22:00.001-07:00

The pictures are from newest to oldest -- reverse order!

PCT Panoramas

2009-06-16T09:38:00.001-07:00

Panoramas in the Sierra Mountains.

more pictures from the PCT

2009-06-16T09:26:00.000-07:00

The white tents are part of Hiker Heaven.

Pictures of the PCT

2009-06-16T09:17:00.000-07:00

Above, Joel and others making lunches for firefighters at Wrightwood.

Sierra Adventures

2009-06-15T15:02:00.000-07:00

Greetings warm blog readers!

I have completed the first leg of the Sierras, and am currently in Independence at mile 790ish. I'm happy to report that the weather has been much better than was predicted when I was in Lone Pine. We've had some cold and snow but nothing that's too tough to handle.

Three days ago I summitted Mount Whitney (the highest point in the lower 48 states), and yesterday I went over Forester Pass (the highest point on the PCT). Mount Whitney was very cold and cloudy, but the clouds cleared up for a few minutes while I was at the summit allowing some beautiful views and a strong enough cell phone signal to call my wife! Yesterday was a perfect day to go over Forester, with great snow conditions and clear views. I've been hiking with a small group in the Sierras, and we had a wonderful day and tons of fun. We glissaded down the north side of Forester, which means you sit down and slide down the mountain using your ice axe to brake. We had many laughs and took videos of each other glissading.

I just sent home another memory card, so hopefully we'll have some pictures of the Sierras up soon.

Lastly, my friends Natalia and Sam who are manually updating the Google map with my Spot location are currently out of the country. As such, the map won't be updated until they return. Don't worry - I'm doing fine and my wife and parents are still getting the live updates every night when I push the OK button.

Joel

Pictures!

2009-06-15T11:48:00.000-07:00

pictures

2009-06-15T11:39:00.000-07:00

more pics

2009-06-15T11:36:00.001-07:00

Picture page, picture page...

2009-06-15T11:30:00.000-07:00

Change of plans, again

2009-06-09T15:41:00.000-07:00

Greetings surprised blog readers!

I am currently in the city of Lone Pine at mile 744ish, about a day south of Mount Whitney. As you might imagine, I didn't expect to be here. However, the weather has been a bit nasty the last few days with thunderstorms and snow and such. About 11:00 I got to a trailhead and talked to someone heard who said that for the next four or five days there would be 20 to 30 percent chance of snow with highs of about 32 degrees. That's highs, my loyal blog readers, not lows. And oh, by the way, the next 100 miles includes a lot of stream fords (one that's about chest deep) and snow field crossings. Hmm. The trailhead I was at is not an easy place to hitchhike from as it's essentially the end of a road, but just then some local hikers came off the trail and headed to their car. I asked for a ride into town and they agreed, and so I got to town and found a hostel. It turns out there are a bunch of hikers in town waiting to see what the weather does. We're all prepared for cold-weather backpacking, but most of us are not prepared for what the forecast is saying.

SO ... I have no plan right now. I don't know where to get food, I don't know what I'm going to do about getting better/warmer gear, I don't know how long I'll be here, and I don't know how I'm going to get back to the trail. This is a bit out of my comfort zone, but I keep reminding myself that being stretched is a good thing and if I wanted an easy and relaxed summer I would have just stayed home.

That's all for now. Hopefully the weather will turn for the better and the next few days will find me back on the trail, up Mount Whitney, across Forester Pass, down Kersage Pass, and into the city of Independence for my next resupply. We'll see. Be flexible, right?

Joel

High Sierra hiiiiigh, California.

2009-06-09T08:55:00.000-07:00

Amy got a call from Joel last night. It might be the last one for awhile as he's headed up into the high sierras and might not have cell phone or internet service for awhile.

High Sierras means no more desert! YEAH! He’s excited about getting into the mountains. No more desert means no more rattlesnakes (yey!) but also means new wildlife enters the picture. Bears and mosquitoes are the biggest concern at this time. Joel is using the bear canister to hold his food, and he’s seen a fair number of mosquitoes but they haven’t gotten bad yet.

Prayers for finding people to hike with for a part of the hike as he gets up into the mountain and the trail gets a little hard to find with snow fields, etc. He’s going to hike to the top of Mt Whitney if the weather holds out. Mt Whitney is the highest point in the lower 48 states so it would be awesome to be able to summit. It’s been so cold (below zero windchills at the summit of Mt Whitney) there’s been ice on Joel’s sleeping bag every morning. That’s quite a change from the desert heat.

We'll post pictures when we get them next... keep praying for Joel!

The Official PCT Joke

2009-06-02T13:39:00.000-07:00

Greetings ever-insightful blog readers!

I would like to share with you the semi-official PCT trail joke:

Question: How do you make thru-hikers laugh?
Answer: Tell them you have a plan.

Today I'm in the town of Lake Isabella. I didn't plan to come here, but I was on schedule to enter the Sierras earlier than recommended and I ran into a group of people who all had a ride into town, so on a whim I decided to go into town with them to take a day off. If you know me well, you'll know that "Joel" and "on a whim" rarely are found in the same sentence. However, I'm starting to learn to be flexible and go with the flow rather than try to plan in detail and then execute my plan without deviation. It's difficult for me, but I'm happy to be stretched as I believe it will make me a better person. If I just come out here and have a grand ol' adventure but don't learn and grow through the experience then the whole thing is a bit of a waste in my eyes.

So here I am in Lake Isabella. I have 50 more miles to Kennedy Meadows, which I will hike Wednesday through Friday. I'll then rest again at Kennedy Meadows for a day or so while I repack food and some new gear for the Sierras before I head into the mountains. Yesterday I caught my first glimpse of the jagged peaks of the Sierras, and I'm really excited to get out of the desert and into the rougher terrain!

In the last few days we've had some thunderstorms come through. I was on the edge of most of them and only got drizzled on, but some other people I am in town with got half-inch hail. I discovered that my ponco tarp is not as well vented as I thought, and I got really hot and sweaty hiking with it on. I might have to switch it out for something else before I get to Washington where it rains a lot more.

The other fun story from this last section is that a few days ago I hiked 25 miles to the place I was hoping to camp, and when I arrived I saw a sign that said "Trail Magic: 2 more miles." I flew through the 26th and 27th miles, and found a small group of former hikers who had set up at a road and were feeding hikers. I ate a huge dinner of pasta and meatballs and fruit, then got up in the morning and ate a huge breakfast of french toast and hash browns, and then made sandwiches to take on the road with me. We also sat around a campfire and sang songs and talked. It was a really fun break from normal trail camping.

Once I get through the next 50 miles I have no idea what to expect as far as phone and internet access, but I'll try to update the blog myself when I can or at least call my wife and give her an update that she can type up. I've also sent home a few more memory cards, so there should be more pictures up soon.

Thanks,
Joel

Pictures (part 3)

2009-05-28T13:08:00.001-07:00

Sorry these have taken so long to post... hopefully they are pretty self explanatory, but if you have any questions about them, just ask Amy - she knows where most of them are from (and some stories to go with them)

Pictures (part 2)

2009-05-28T13:06:00.000-07:00

Highlight - "eagle rock" aptly named!

Pictures (part 1)

2009-05-28T13:00:00.000-07:00

Watercache, pretty vista, rattlesnake,(see earlier blog for the full story!) and start of the hike.

2009-05-27T14:03:00.000-07:00

Greetings punctual blog readers!

Today I am in the town of Mojave resting up for the last push before the Sierras. The last section was pretty rough with lots of sand travel and not much water, but it has been blissfully cool which has made it much easier. I'm not carrying a thermometer so I'm not exactly sure how hot it was, but I doubt that I hiked in anything over 95 degrees in the last 100 miles.

I'm still having fun, but I'm definitely ready to be done with the desert and excited about entering the Sierras at mile 702 (I'm at mile 566 right now).

A few highlights and/or interesting information: first, on Monday and Tuesday I hiked a total of 52 miles (that's a LONG WAY for those of you who have never tried it). I was sore but impressed that my body was able to carry me that far in such a short amount of time.

Second, I was pretty close to where the space shuttle landed and I heard the sonic boom. It sounded like God was using a 12 gauge, and the boom echoed for almost 20 seconds. I didn't know what it was at the time, and only later found out that it was the space shuttle coming back into the atmosphere. Apparently they try to land it in Florida but use the California desert as a backup when the weather in Florida isn't cooperating.

Third, my pants are now a good two inches too big. They still stay on, but if I lose any more weight I will probably have to buy new pants.

Fourth, I found that mixing Gatorade powder into my water bottle was kind of a pain so I've taken to just dumping the powder directly into my mouth. It's surprisingly good. Remember Pixie Stix? It's a lot like that.

That's all for now. The next few resupply locations don't have internet access, so if I don't post for a while that's why.

Thanks,
Joel

Pizza & beer. 10:00. AM. Sunday.

2009-05-20T17:09:00.000-07:00

Greetings good-lookin' blog readers!

I'm currently in Agua Dulce at Hiker Heaven (www.hikerheaven.com), which is the home of Donna and Jeff Saufley. Donna and Jeff are trail angels who let hikers stay with them - and by "hikers" I mean "all the hikers." There are about 30 people here right now, and pretty much every single PCT hiker stays here when they come through town.

There's another term I've learned: trail magic! Occasionally trail angels do something special for hikers to encourage them along the way. As you can imagine, this usually involves food. On Sunday morning I arrived at a highway crossing and met Flop and Connie who were there providing trail magic. They set up a camper and fed all the hikers who came through for two full days. On Saturday they ran out of burgers and french toast so on Saturday night they went a bought a bunch of pizzas for the Sunday hikers. Normally at 10:00 am on Sunday I'm at church, but instead I found myself eating pizza and drinking beer with a group of other hikers. Kind of strange, but fun!

I've had a few pretty tough days since then fighting mosquitos, biting ants, and orifice flies that swarm around your face and crawl into your eyes and nose. I do have a headnet but I discovered that when it's 95 degrees and you're breathing hard you just can't get enough air through it. My plan B for the headnet is to make my own out of bridal veil material that will keep out the mosquitos and flies but still let me breathe.

Lastly, a few people have asked about the Google map thingy on the blog and if I'm carrying a GPS. The gizmo I'm carrying is called a SPOT (www.findmespot.com), and was a gift from one of my long-term clients - Dan Harvey from PGC (www.precisiongasket.com). It doesn't tell me where I am, but I can push a button every night that transmits my location to my family to let them know I'm alright. It also has a 911 button that I can push which will summon a search and rescue team to my exact location of I get in a critical situation.

Thanks for all your support. I only have 250 more miles until the High Sierras!

Thanks,
Joel

Resting in Wrightwood

2009-05-15T12:16:00.000-07:00

Greetings all ye encouraging blog readers!

I have now hiked about 370 miles and am in Wrightwood, CA, staying with Ray and Susan and their kids Noah and Logan. Ray and Susan are local "trail angels" - a term that denotes people who help out hikers. They're really friendly people, and welcomed in myself and a few other hikers like family.

Yesterday I got into town and shortly after I met Ray he got a call to come help pack lunches for firefighters who are working on putting out some fires north of here a couple hundred miles. I went down too to help out for the afternoon, and boy was I surprised. I was expecting a few people making a few lunches. What I found was about a dozen people working at the local grocery store packing 2000 lunches! I helped for about 3.5 hours and we got through about half of the lunches while I was there. It was a lot of work but I was happy to be able to help out in the community a little bit, especially since Ray, Susan, and the whole town in general is very friendly to hikers.

As I'm getting in better shape I'm being able to hike more miles with less effort, which is really nice. I've been doing close to 20 miles on most days, and it feels great to be capable of hiking uphill for several hours without needing to stop and rest.

Amy sent me some pictures of the flowers coming up at our house and of our dog Lami hunting squirrels in the back yard. Seeing the pictures made me miss being home, but overall I'm doing well. My body is holding up, which is great considering how many hikers are having significant problems with blisters, joints, and so forth. Some days are a lot of work and not much fun, but most days are good and some are wonderful.

Thanks a lot for your blog comments, prayers, and notes of encouragement. It's great knowing that so many people are cheering me on.

Joel

Understatement of the week: the desert is hot

2009-05-09T17:05:00.000-07:00

Greeting faithful blog readers! Today I'm at a hostel in Big Bear Lake, and will leave for the trail again tomorrow morning.

All the scary stories about Fuller Ridge that I mentioned in my last post turned out to be just hype. There was a lot of snow and route finding was pretty tricky but I made it through just fine and there was really nothing dangerous at all. From Fuller Ridge it was a long, long, downhill hike to the desert floor: I was hiking in snow at 10:30 am and passing cacti by 4:30 pm. The desert was really hot, and I ended up getting sick from the heat despite being well hydrated. I was weak and nauseated and could hardly eat for fear of vomiting up all my water. During the worst two days I estimate that I hiked 35 miles and ate a total of 1500 calories. Not much fun. I tried just laying down in what little shade I could find but discovered that I felt like poo regardless of whether I was laying down or hiking, so I figured I might as well hike. When you're 50 miles from town and 15 miles from the next water you don't have a lot of options other than to keep moving. Fortunately I recovered and feel great now. For future desert travel I plan to hike until 11:30ish, lay around in the shade until 4:00 or so, and then hike into the night to get the miles in without having to hike through the heat.

Just a few days away is a hot spring! I really don't know what to expect, but it sounds like there are 5 or 6 different natural pools of hot water and a lot of people are planning on taking a rest day there. I'll definitely take pictures if it lives up to everyone's expectations!

Thanks,
Joel

Still alive, still happy

2009-05-02T14:51:00.000-07:00

Greetings loyal blog readers! I am currently in southern California in a town called Idyllwild taking a day off. My dad just left, so tomorrow the solo hiking starts.

The last few weeks have been great! It was a lot of fun to have my dad with me for the first 180 miles, we had great weather, met a lot of fun people, I have a grand total of zero blisters, and overall spirits are high. My hair is getting long enough so the wind can blow in it, which is something I haven't experienced in five years since the last time my dad and I hiked for two weeks. It's kind of odd. However, I've showered and am clean, so all is well.

The next section of trail goes up near the San Jacinto peak in a place called Fuller Pass. Apparently it's a still covered in snow, and some hikers are choosing to skip ahead. I'm going to go for it and see what happens. Fuller Pass is only about 8 miles out of town, so if I get there and decide I can't pass through safely I can turn around and come back to town pretty easily.

My dad is bringing back an SD card full of pictures, so hopefully within a week or so there will be some pictures up here.

Thanks for all your prayers and support!

Joel

Cold Soda Never Tasted So Good.

2009-04-28T15:24:00.000-07:00

Amy got an update from Joel yesterday (Monday). Sunday was their biggest hiking day so far... they went 17 miles! They were very happy with it. YEAH!!
Blister update:
Joel is still blister free (go Joel's feet!!), and his dad still has them, but they're becoming manageable. Praying for feet is sort of awkward, but it seems to be working!

Two highlights from the past week or so:
1. There are these things on the trails called "water caches." Basically, lovely people from areas around the PCT come and stash fresh water in specific locations so they don't have to hike so far between available water. The caches are pretty hit or miss, but they've been to two water-caches and BOTH had water. EVEN BETTER - the second one had ice cold soda... like the person literally JUST put a case of cold soda up there for the hikers (remember how hot it's been??) and Joel and David were the first to get to it! Joel said it was amazing and he had two sodas right then and there.
Non-soda drinking Joel+two cold pure sugar sodas=happy.
2. They were able to stop off the trail at a little town and get a "real" (aka non pack food) meal. Hamburger and fries all the way. Joel even got to wash his feet in a public bathroom. Simple pleasures.

Prayers:
Just keep them coming. Joel said he really feels encouraged that nothing has gone wrong for him yet. A number of hikers who started at the same time have already had to quit because of the heat or because of injury, etc. Joel knows the fact that things are going so well isn't luck, it's prayers - so keep them coming!!!

Rattlesnakes and blisters

2009-04-24T07:01:00.000-07:00

Joel called Amy on Wednesday night to fill her in on the trip so far. They (Joel and his dad) are doing well, dealing with a few things, but basically having a great time. Some highlights:
* They saw their first rattlesnake - well, at first they saw a snake right on the trail and they were all "oh cool snake" and then it rattled, and they decided maybe it wasn't quite as cool as they moved out of the way quickly.
* There are record temps in southern Cali right now. It was 102 degrees on Tuesday, (Sort of a shock to the system after MN 40s). They are enjoying it though - getting up early and then taking a break in the heat of the day and then hiking in the evening again.
* Joel said the best part so far has been the lack of bad weather. Not a drop of rain or any storms means that they don't have to set up tents, they just get to their site and they lay out under the stars in their sleeping bags.

Prayer requests as of now - for their feet. Joel's dad has some blisters, and Joel said his feet are just TIRED so prayers for them to toughen their feet up and get a little extra boost would be great!

Keep up with the map! The satellite checker has been letting us post where Joel is currently - it seems like he's gone SO far already!

Last day of work!

2009-04-18T09:55:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo that Amy took when I got home from my last day of work (notice the slight belly that I try to hide with only moderate success).

I was the first employee at aCoupleofGurus.com and worked there for six years. Like a lot of startups, we worked in the owner's basement and garage as well as coffee shops. Several years later we had an office, a dozen people, and I was the Operations Manager running all the day to day aspects of the company. Leaving has been difficult: it felt very strange to transition all my responsibilities to other people and power down my laptop for the final time.

Tomorrow the hiking starts! My dad and I have done a lot of backpacking together over the years, and he's going to join me for the first 150 miles of trail. We'll fly into San Diego, be picked up by a former hiker called Girlscout, ride with him out to the southern end of the trail, and hopefully be hiking by 5:00 or so. Wow.

I'm very excited to start this adventure, nervous about attempting such a huge feat, and sad about leaving my wife for five months. Fortunately I'm more excited than nervous and sad, and fortunately Amy is an amazing woman who will miss me but is fully supporting this adventure.

I hope to have this site updated every couple weeks with photos and such, but I make no guarantees. Thanks for your interest and support!

2009-04-15T09:42:00.001-07:00

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