End of Cali

Whoa..... We are less than fifty miles from Oregon! What a milestone. The Marble Mountain Wilderness was beautiful and the most under appreciated section of the pct so far. Next stop Ashland.

Shoes! And The Winner Is....

Lots of folks ask me how many pairs of shoes does it take to thru hike the Pacific Crest Trail. I usually tell people that shoes usually last anywhere from 500-750 miles per pair. I am on my third pair of shoes. Most thru hikers pick one pair of shoes and stick with what they are comfortable with. I have been on a quest to find the best shoes for the job. I think I have a winner. Solomon KA 3D Ultra 2 Trail Shoes. I have been wearing these since Truckee, (250 miles) and I am confident I will finish the hike with one more pair of the same shoes. Just to give you an idea of how well these shoes hold up my friend "Gutsy Rabbit" just retired her pair of Solomons after over 1,100 miles! She also used the same shoes on another thru hike. So if you are doing big miles or just want a solid hiking shoe that won't hurt your feet at the end of the day these are your shoes. Now let's do some hiking!

Comics

Hope you enjoy it....

Where are the thru hikers

We are on hat creek rim. Rabbit, moose, peru, scalpel
Bonelady, cheese, southern, mile 1420 also same goes for john wayne, bronco, bucket, steven and alice, malarky, and estero.

Just out of chester cool ranch and capitan and lala
Sanora pass: Astro!!!!!

That's all I got for now...

Other PCT Blogs

Here are three blogs from people that I hike with. Enjoy... I also added some info on Tuna Helper who is trying for the pct speed record. We met him very breifly just past Viginia Lake in the Sierra. He was still hiking at 9:30pm. Go Tuna Helper!

Http://www.meandermoose.blogspot.com
Http://www.trailjournals.com/andya16
http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=378987
http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=378987

Sierra City Report

We are back on the trail and posting up at Sierra City, CA which is a very small but charming town. Donner Pass/Truckee was a great stop. I am realizing these last few days how much of this trail is just mental. Leaving Jayne the other day was super difficult for me. I am not good at long goodbyes. We had a fantastic visit though. Do other hikers get homesick? Geez. It doesn't appear so. I have lots to look forward to. As far as the trail is concerned: Two major milestones coming up: 1. The end of California 2. The halfway mile mark. We are pretty stoked.

 There are lots of thru hikers here. A quick update for all you parents who are wondering where in the world your kid is:

Bone Lady, Cheese, Southern, Noamp all left Sierra City this morning
Moose, Peru, Gutsy Rabbit, Scalpel, all here in Sierra City
Goodtimes, Columbus here in Sierra City
Cool Ranch and Capitan 50 miles behind us

Ski Culture in Trukee/Donner Pass

We are staying at a wonderful cabin just outside of Truckee, CA. I thought you might like to see some of the wonderful things inside the cabin. Makes me want to hike for freshies even though its July 4th. Hope you have a safe holiday.

Love, Gourmet

Parents of Thru Hikers

I thought you might be interested in where your kid is:
Moose-donner
Rabbit-donner
Noamp-donner
Cheese&bone lady-donner
Train-sierra city
Salty snacks&aquaman-sierra city
Cool ranch and capitan-reno
Tuna helper is going for the speed record on the pct. He is now in oregon. We breifly met him in the sierra. Go Tuna helper!!!!
38 days 10hrs in to oregon. That's two days ahead of scott williamsons current speed record for the pct
Clay is in Beldon 3 days ago.
Lucky nalgene-is at the halfway point

Birthday Photos

Yes. I turned 40 years old today. I spent the day at Spaulding Lake here near Lake Tahoe. Usually we play softball and bbq at the house in west seattle.  This year is a bit different. So nice to have Jayne here too. We had not seen eachother in 80 days. What a treat....

Thank you for all the b-day wishes! Love, Gourmet

Donner Pass

A cyclist turned his bike around on the road when I told him we hiked from Mexico. We had a nice conversation about the PCT and he snapped this nice photo of Peru, Moose, and me. You can see the Donner Ski Area behind us....

Thanks Jim!