A few of the best quotes from last year:
1. "You have been out here far too long when you chose a comfortable lunch sport with your back to a magnificent Sierra vista" ~ String Bean, Sierra High Route
2. "Would you like some water?" ~ drivers passing by on the CDT, Hayduke and AzT. These people were absolute legends!
3. "Where are you going? You cannot get down that cliff" ~ random 4x4 drivers, Hayduke.
4. "Cola for president" ~ our random explanation when giving SOBO PCT hikers supprise biscuits on the trail. @colahikes, @yeayeahhh, @dustinwhyte
Little River Gorge: Day 1 (6km | 4 miles)
This short by miles but long by hours hike in the Australian Alps is an absolute gem. The day involved 10 hours of constant rock hopping, 5 abseils, a few rock pool crossings and a whole lot of fun.
After breakfast and coffee, @hiker_rach , peter and I dropped into Victoria's deepest gorge. At its spectacular best it is 300m of pure rock, and home to Australia's longest rock climbs.
This was not a normal hiking route as we hiked in 110m of rope to negotiate multiple dry falls in the way down. These shear cliffs turned out to be the best part of the trip as we geared up and abseiled up to 60m at a time.
It was Rach's first time in a harness, let alone jumping off a cliff hours away from civilization. After an introductory course, Rach leaned back and jumped backwards off the cliff. At the bottom she had that nervous excitement printed all over her face of trying something new for the first time.
The day was slow going as we hoped from one rock to another. All 3 of us were just having fun until I mentioned that we had made it 4 hours (it was 4pm). This revelation almost broke Pete, and caused him to want to push on well into the night.
By 7.30 we stumbled across the second good camping spot of the day and decided to set up camp even though we had 8 or 9 miles to get out of the canyon the following day.
After we all filled up on dinner, including a fresh peach that Rach secretly packed in, we curled into bed.
Rach and I watched for shooting stars as we drifted off to sleep. Oh how I miss sleeping under the stars. It was a perfect end to such a good day in the mountains.
Photo by @hiker_rach
Pacific Crest Trail - Snowpocalypse (Part 1)
The Sierra is shaping up for another high (or even epic) snow year for the Thru Hiking Class of 2019. This provides the opportunity for one of the most memorable and unique hiking experience. This section will be hard, tiring work but the rewards are priceless and well worth the challenge. On a personal note, this challenge of pushing through the snow in 2017 is by far the most memorable and treasured hiking experience that I have ever had.
You will find in the desert there is a lot of unknown of what is to come, with a lot of people giving advice that have never experienced the upcoming conditions. Unfortunately, this leads to fear and miss information spreading through the herd and caused many people that would have gone through the Sierra to back out. So here is some thing that I found helpful if you decide to take on this challenge. - Develop a plan
The environment is challenging and can quickly change conditions to something that you are not comfortable with. It is important that you mentally develop a plan for when you encounter a condition or barrier that you are not comfortable with. It does not really matter what your barrier is as long as you know what you will do when encountering it.
My plan when I entered into the Sierra was to not believe the hipe and personally see every challenge before making a decision. One of the hardest decisions that I have made hiking was to turn around about a day north of Tuolumne Meadows. It was peak snowmelt and the rivers were raging. It took me 12 hours to get past 3 creeks and totalled 6 trail miles. I was short on food and raging Kerich Creek was still to come so I made the tough decision to turn around. I swor and had a hissy fit but the risk of being trapped in between rivers was to great.
But the rule of viewing each barrier allowed me to find my comfort zone, overcome challenges and kept my mind open to what was ahead.
What advice do you have for the upcoming year?
For me, Thru Hiking is about the adventure, life long trail friends, wildlife encounters and of course all those epic landscapes but it is much more! I never really mention all the awesome people that I meet in towns so here is the most memorable locals that I have meet;
1. I was sitting at the pub and pondering what I should do for the -5F (-25C) arctic blast that was arriving the next day and I somehow started talking to another Australian, Monique @anothersouth. We were happily talking away for well over an hour when I realised the time and started to pack up to get back on trail. Monique and her family were saying in a cottage around the corner and offered a hot shower and a warm bed for the night. I actually declined but eventually caved to this temptation. I was so glad that I did as I ended up spending a couple of days hanging out with the most epic and nice people imaginable. It somehow was like being back home, I played board games and Lego with the kids, watched footy and just sat on the couch and had long informative chats.
2. Leaving the 3 Sisters on the PCT I had a swollen foot and wanted to get into town to ice it. I was hitching for 30 seconds when a car pulls over and asks what I’m up to and I asked for a lift I to town. He ponders me for a moment and then asks if I’m a crazy person. I was taken aback and that was enough for him. He then proceeded to offer dinner and a place to sleep for the night. I ended up spending a wonderful zero day kayaking with him and his family along a pristine Oregon lake with @adventuring_photos
3. I rolled into the town of Escalante a little beat. I just spent 6 very challenging days totally alone on the Hayduke. I while I recovered at the caravan park I met not 1 but 3 top notch people @luminous_leslie. I was socially drained after 3 weeks of almost no social interaction and I had a fantastic time simply taking and swapping stories the lawn with them. We even managed to catch up later that year.
This is by no means a defining list as so many people along the way choose to open up their lives to me, a random stranger. They had nothing to gain from this, yet so often did.
Have you had a wonderful experience?
