I tossed and turned all night at my camp by Palisade Creek. My restless mind’s focus see-sawed between the sounds of the raging torrent running by my tent, and the irregular thump…thump…………..THUMP of my malfunctioning heart. I tried to calm myself, but kept giving in to the temptation to check my pulse. My heart had…
Mount Whitney (my mile 1530, trail mile 767) to LeConte Canyon (my mile 1600ish) I was up before dawn the day after my Whitney summit, determined to get over Forester Pass early in case the previous day’s afternoon storm was repeated. At 13,153 feet above sea level, Forester is the highest point of the PCT…
Kennedy Meadows (my mile 1465, trail mile 702) to Mount Whitney (my mile 1530, trail mile 767) I got a dose of Southern California’s searing August heat the second I stepped onto the air bridge at Burbank. The sun beat down on me as I crossed the street to the rental car garage, but I…
Charlton Lake (my mile 1296, trail mile 1925) to Santiam Pass (my mile 1465, trail mile 2000) “The trail provides” is one of the many sayings often uttered by PCT thru-hikers. Nowhere has that been truer for me than in Oregon, which I pieced together in sections after getting forced off trail by an Afib…
Crater Lake (my mile 1192, trail mile 1821) to Charlton Lake (my mile 1296, trail mile 1925) Our day off in Fort Klamath was sorely needed, as both Tidbit and I could feel our bodies protesting against the longer days we’d been hiking since the Oregon border. By the time we reached Crater Lake it…