Home At Last, Home At Last

There we are at the border of Canada and the U.S. giving each other high fives for completing what we had set out to do. 4 states, 5 weeks and 150+ miles of hiking completed and now with only the train ride home as our next goal…But that was a slight problem in itself because the train station was 100 miles away on the road. So we began walking…

We had been told by a couple people that hitchhiking in Montana was cake and with the success of our last hitching attempt we were confident. But as dozens of Canadian families flew by us looking at us like we were a couple hobos(by then we did kinda look like bums) and hours of walking we came to a split decision. Lucas was sure that we must keep walking, I was confident that no matter how long we walked it would get us no closer to the station. So let the arguing begin…

Just as our tempers were about to boil over a car pulled over without us even giving him the good ol’ thumb. All we needed was a ride to the parks entrance so we could pick up the free shuttle back to the station. But like many times before the Lord had blessed us with another awesome person. Turns out our new friend Ron was heading right to the station AND had a park pass which saved us from paying the entrance fee again.

It is moments like these that perfectly sum up our experiences and lessons we’ve learned from this journey.  Put your trust in the Lord, all of it, and realize that He knows the best path for you. The things that you need WILL fall into your path.

So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.     2 Corinthians 4:18

 

Christmas in July

Hiking in snow is a unique experience, one that we became very familiar with while hiking through the Enchantment Lakes. This time of year, the snow is typically nearly gone, and the weather regularly reaches the upper 80′s. When we arrived to the upper lakes we found them to be frozen, with the surrounding areas still covered in 100% snow! Nevertheless, the alpine habitat awed us with the majestic peaks and untouched blankets of snow.
Despite the changes in elevation, the hike itself was not all that strenuous, and we moved at a more relaxed pace, stopping frequently for cliff bars. As we hiked, we talked to folks who had turned around due to all the snow, and who told us that without ice axes or crampons we would not make it through. This shook us up a little bit, along with the news of a gal who died the other week by falling into a crevice along a pass that we would have to descend through. However, we continued on and were blessed with clear skies, friendly Billy Goats, and safe passage. Upon exiting the trailhead, we began the 15 mile walk in the rain back to Leavenworth. Being soaking wet, no one was stopping their car to pick up two hitch hikers. But then, we were provided for once again and two friendly climbers stopped and gave us a lift all the way to town! Oh and I forgot to mention our new friends Chuck and Sandy, who we met on the train. They drove us from the station to town, and then on the morning of our hike, picked us up and took us to the trailhead. We are very grateful for the kindness they showed us.
Currently we are en route to Montana, and should be arriving tomorrow afternoon. Yesterday was spent in the hospitality of my relatives in Seattle, and they blessed us with more good food than we could eat! It is people like this (my grandparents Purdy and Janice), like Chuck and Sandy, like the climbers who gave Jon and I a lift, like Chris and his family in Oregon, and like Derek and Wendy from Yosemite who truly highlight our trip with their love and kindness.

P.S.
We did not have access to a computer to upload the pictures, which was a bummer, but we will post them as soon as we get to use a computer (most likely august 8th).

Dragon Tail Peak. 9000 feet

Special thanks to our sponsors

When this trip was just an idea, I remember thinking how cool it would be to get sponsored by some companies to help us out with all the costs of the gear. When word got out about our trip, Jef Price from Necessarycool.com was thrilled to hook us up through his connections. At that point I knew I was blessed and had a great adventure ahead. Jef and the guys at NC worked really hard and got us some great sponsors. Teva shoes hooked us up with the best shoes these two feet have worn and some awesome water shoes for those gnarly river crossings. Osprey came through with their Aether 70 pack which so far has held up perfectly for Lucas. I myself have a Gregory pack and have already returned it for a new one at REI because of some failures on it. NAU clothing has generously provided us with the most high tech yet simple clothing I’ve ever worn.
I will be posting some more detailed reviews of the gear in the coming days.
Thanks again to Necessarycool, Teva, Osprey, and NAU

In Oregon….it rains.

So despite the last minute change of plans Oregon turned out great.  We began our hike at Eagle Creek and went a quick 7 and a half miles to our first camp site. I was really surprised by the terrain there. Having never been to the northwest before I thought it would just be like all the other forests, evergreen trees and plants, but here its more like a rain forest/jungle. There were tons of waterfalls throughout Eagle Creek and more ferns then you can imagine and moss covered just about every inch of everything in sight.  Day 2 we planned on heading towards a place called Tanner Butte but as we got 6 miles down the trail it completely died, we tried looking for the trail for a while but ended up having to turn around and go back to the same camp. Oh and did I mention it was raining the whole time…day and night.

Again with a change of plans on day 3 we headed to Wathum Lake. Unlike our last experience at a lake in Yosemite this one had no mosquitos and a great view. Day 4 was a well deserved rest day. We spent half the day cleaning up and bathing in the ~50 degree water and the other trying our luck at fishing. Fishing sucked just about instantly. So we tried our luck at catching crawdads(or for you San Diegans miniature lobsters). We got one right off the bat and then I thought our luck was gona end just about there, but we tried for a bit longer and got 13 more ! Huge moral buster and good times, but really a significant amount of food at all. Almost forgot to mention that no surprise it was raining all night…

Day 5 we planned on stopping and camping in the wilderness but because of our blistering speed we went all the way out and into somewhat of civilization. Unfortunately there was no actual campgrounds or anywhere to camp….so we staying up til 10pm and set up camp at a local park, hoping to avoid any people that would kick us out. Oh and also it was raining all night.

Overall Oregon was gorgeous, but also really, really rainy. Definitely did some serious character building throughout this leg of the trip. But hey if its not raining your not training!

Enjoy the pictures!

 

Change of plans

So we knew snow would be a problem. But not this much of a problem. Everyone we have talked to said Mt. Hood has way too much snow that the trail is none existent. This means Mt. Hood is out and now we are heading to the Columbia River Gorge which we are told is more unique to this area. So be on the look out for our SPOT tracks and wait for some cool pictures of forest waterfalls and probably a lot of rain.

On the mountain of the Lord, all will be provided.

Almost forgot to talk about the great couple we met on our last days in Yosemite!

We had just come from Merced Lake. The lake was flooded and swarmed with mosquitoes; and when we began to setup our camp, the rain started falling and we heard the roaring thunder. Overall, the Lake was a demoralizing part of our journey. We were also running out of food. Each day we would have two packets of oatmeal for breakfast, a clif bar and a hand full of trail mix for lunch, and a Mountain House freeze dried meal for dinner. After a week of this, it was definitely getting tough.

So there we were, walking into our final campsite, tired and hungry. We setup camp, and opened up our bear canisters to see that we didn’t have enough food to finish the trip. We were distressed and didn’t know what to do. Later in the evening, an elderly couple, Derek and Wendy Read, came and camped next to us. They were very kind and gave us good company. We had tea together and when they learned about our food predicament, they blessed us with their extra granola bars, trail mix, milk, and veggies! It was a true miracle, and more than enough to get us through the rest of our journey, and we are very thankful. Earlier in the day Jon had been reading in the book of Genesis, about the Lord providing for Abraham. Coincidence?

Thank you Derek and Wendy, and thank you Lord!

Yosemite Photo Dump

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Sleepy head

Train food… Mmmm