July 21st Mileage: 14 (60.6) I wake to air so crisp and cold it could chip a tooth. The sky is blue and the surrounding mountains look lunar: pale, stark, severe. Last night, I was not visited by a bear. I begin my morning tasks: breaking down camp and loading my pack. I have become … More The Glory of Lyell Canyon
July 20th Miles: 10.9 (46.6) For the second night in a row, I camp at the junction to Cloud’s Rest. Again, I fall asleep to the shrieks of “Bear! Go on! Get, bear!” but it doesn’t revisit my campsite. When I wake everything is damp. A brief early morning rain fell and now mist is … More The Grey Kingdom
July 19 Miles: 13.2 (none on the JMT) (35.7) Shortly after I fell asleep last night I woke to shouts of “Go on bear! Get out of here bear!” and the loud clacking of trekking poles being knocked together. A bear? In the campground? The shouts sounded about 100 yards off, but where was the … More A Bear, A Crash, and a Bang-Bang
July 18 Miles: 13 (22.5) I wake to a chilly morning–I can see my breath. What a difference a day and a few thousand feet make. The 6 a.m. scene is so serene I consider just stopping my hike right here (just kidding…). The air is crisp and smells of the back-country mountains, a smell … More But, this was supposed to be easy…
July 17 Miles: 9.5 Today is the first real day of backpacking and I lurch-hike under the weight of my pack. “Goodbye lawyer couple!” I think as I leave their sleeping tent. “Good luck!” and I don’t even mean it sarcastically. I have to find a way to get to the Pohono Trail, which is … More Up!
July 16th I wake early, 5:45, in a stuffy hotel room. I’m in the central California valley, Steinbeck’s country, and I blink in the early morning light. The place smells like smoke, but it was my only lodging option and was had for a steep price. Tourist season is in full swing, and the folks … More An Arrival
And it only took all day. I also lost my stylus, so unless it pops up all my posts will be very brief because composing on phone is really hard to do with my finger. I make lots of typos and it’s not worth the time. I keep a decent and detailed notebook … More I’m In Merced
20 lunches and 20 dinners. All vacuum sealed.
This is the final meal I need to make. The plan is to eat this the first night out of a re-supply, so hopefully I can buy corn chips at a market to eat with it. Tortilla Soup 2 Chicken breasts, cooked, diced, tossed with Mexican spices (left over from when I made 4 chicken … More Tortilla Soup
Thai Noodles 2 packages Thai Kitchen rice noodles 2 Chicken breasts, cooked and diced 1 eggplant, diced 2 red onions, diced 1.5 cups carrot, diced 5 cloves garlic, rough chopped 1 package mushrooms, diced Soy sauce Siracha Black pepper Each Thai Kitchen package comes with 2 blocks of rice noodles. The box says each … More Thai Noodles
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