another bear sighting

Day 90 ~ miles 1445.1 - 1468.7

We didn't hear the alarm go off today, and the sound of rain drops on the tent took away the guilt of not getting up. Upon looking out of the tent door, I was greeted by Thor and Fern Toe cooking breakfast and two flashes of lightning from an approaching storm. With new found energy to break camp more quickly, we gathered our things and started walking as the rain began to fall harder.

Not long into our walk we got our best view of Mt. Shasta yet. Sideways stepped off trail to take some pictures with nice purple flowers in the foreground. While I was gazing at the massive volcanic mountain, I saw something moving out of the corner of my eye. "Bear! Bear!" I yelled trying to get Sideways' attention while following the bear's movement with my pointed finger. Too late. The bear ran into the bushes, not to be seen again.

The day transitioned from a cool rainy morning into a hot humid afternoon. There were a lot of exposed areas causing us to get more wet from sweat than the rain this morning. Finally we reached a good water source where we camelled up (drinking as much as you can at a water source to lessen the amount you have to carry) and washed some of the dust off of ourselves. Campsites have been more scarce on this section, but we were lucky to find a pretty good one tonight. Just us two here to enjoy the thrush singing and the sound of the stream.

-Moonshine

another bear sighting

Day 90 ~ miles 1445.1 - 1468.7

We didn't hear the alarm go off today, and the sound of rain drops on the tent took away the guilt of not getting up. Upon looking out of the tent door, I was greeted by Thor and Fern Toe cooking breakfast and two flashes of lightning from an approaching storm. With new found energy to break camp more quickly, we gathered our things and started walking as the rain began to fall harder.

Not long into our walk we got our best view of Mt. Shasta yet. Sideways stepped off trail to take some pictures with nice purple flowers in the foreground. While I was gazing at the massive volcanic mountain, I saw something moving out of the corner of my eye. "Bear! Bear!" I yelled trying to get Sideways' attention while following the bear's movement with my pointed finger. Too late. The bear ran into the bushes, not to be seen again.

The day transitioned from a cool rainy morning into a hot humid afternoon. There were a lot of exposed areas causing us to get more wet from sweat than the rain this morning. Finally we reached a good water source where we camelled up (drinking as much as you can at a water source to lessen the amount you have to carry) and washed some of the dust off of ourselves. Campsites have been more scarce on this section, but we were lucky to find a pretty good one tonight. Just us two here to enjoy the thrush singing and the sound of the stream.

-Moonshine

black bear!

Day 77 ~ miles 1224.8 - 1250.9

I slowly came out of my dream to the sound of quiet beeping from Sideways' wrist watch alarm clock. I rolled over and we looked at each other, both almost instantaneously falling back asleep. Five a.m. came quick, and there wasn't  yet much  sunlight where we were camped. We repeated this a couple of times before a successful attempt was made 40 minutes after the original alarm sounded. The first thing to pop into my head was the opening song to the play Oklahoma: "Ohhh what a beautiful morning ohh what a beautiful day....". This has been a popular one for me and Sideways to sing on the trail, after seeing our local high school's production of it just before leaving the beach. It usually reflects the mood we are in, but that was not the case this morning.

We started with a decent climb today and stayed mostly in the cover of trees. As we were walking I spotted some bear tracks in the soft duff layer on the forest floor next to the trail. I pointed them out to Sideways, and we both gazed at them for a moment wondering if it might still be around. We moved on since there was no bear immediately in sight. Not far down the trail, we came across a rather large pile of mountain lion scat. We talked about how eerie it is to know that several of those cats have probably laid eyes on us since the beginnig of the trail. Now sufficiently paranoid, I was scanning the forest for any sign of danger. We rounded a bend in the trail and something dark caught my eye down the hill. Staring back at me from a safe distance was a 300 pound black bear. As Sideways approached I directed her attention to him, just as he bolted in the other direction. We were above him, so we had a great view of the action. We both agreed we had never gotten to see a bear running at full speed for so long. It got our adrenaline going and it was comforting to see a wild bear with a healthy fear of humans.

We ended our day by the Feather River, where we cooled off and rinsed out some clothes.  The river was wide and deep, and a more enjoyable temperature than most others we've been encountering.

-Moonshine

a marmot encounter

day 70 ~ 1096.6 - 1116

we started out the day by entering the Desolation Wilderness. We were informed by a sign at the trailhead at Echo Lake that this wilderness area is the most heavily used per acre in the US. This is believable judging by the number of hikers we saw on the trail.

After a short climb in the morning, we descended to, and walked beside, multiple mountain lakes. The most beautiful one was Aloha Lake. Rock islands with pine and fir growing on them dotted the lake, and there was a backdrop of snowcapped peaks, remniscent of the high Sierra. Not quite as tropical as the lake's name suggests. We had to keep moving to overcome the day's big climb up Dick's Pass.

We planned to have lunch at the top of the pass, and I arrived before Sideways. I picked a spot in the shade and rested my trekking pole against a tree. Once she arrived we decided it was too cold in the shade and moved out into the sun.

After we finished eating, Sideways was taking nap when a visitor arrived. A marmot was making its way across the field directly towards Sideways. I woke her up to look, as it approached within a couple of feet of her. I scared it away, only to have the same thing happen several more times. We had fun for a little while taking pictures and video of the daring marmot, but it eventually became a nuisance. We knew it wanted our food, or worse yet, to chew on our gear for the salt.

While I was keeping an eye on the marmot, I noticed that my trekking pole that was resting against the tree had been blown over by the wind. I thought to myself that the handle might be of interest to the marmot because of the salt on the handle, but no worries, "I'm keeping an eye on him". About 10 seconds later I turned around to check on the marmot's whereabouts, and noticed the trekking pole was no longer laying where it fell. A split second later I noticed the bottom end of the pole protruding from a nearby bush and wiggling around in mid-air. The image was so comical that I almost started laughing, but I realized that real damage was probably being done. I exclaimed, "The marmot has my trekking pole!", and took off running across the rocks in my socks towards the bush. Sideways popped up from her nap, confused to see me tugging on one end of my trekking pole while the marmot was holding the other working the handle over like corn on the cob. I got it free and saw the quick work he had made of the cork grip. I was pretty upset at first, and didn't want to see the humor in it while Sideways laughed hysterically. I got over it quickly since the damage has no bearing on the performance of the pole. I don't view marmots as being the cute fun loving creatures I once did.

-Moonshine

to Whitney basecamp

Day 41 ~ mile 746 - 766

Oh, just another day in the most beautiful place on earth.  We took our morning break by a stream and lake surrounded by gigantic peaks.  We were concerned, as we had forgotten to print out a water report at our last town stop.  The PCT water report is a report of the status of water sources on the trail, kept up to date by hikers.  It's a fantastic and vitally important resource.  To our total surprise, we learned from some other hikers during our streamside break that there is no more water report!  The water report is only maintained for Southern California....that means water will be plentiful, and a water report is unnecessary!  What fantastic news, as water has dictated our hike for so long.  What a relief it will be to not have to carry 8-12 pounds of water at a time!

Our goal for the day was upper Crabtree Meadows, or Mt. Whitney basecamp, as we called it, with a group of hikers.  From here, we will make the journey up to Mt. Whitney tomorrow, the highest peak in the continental US.   Before arriving to upper Crabtree Meadows, we passed through lower Crabtree Meadows.  In this large meadow, we saw more wildlife that we have seen on the entire trail!  Several deer grazed, countless trout were feeding in the stream, and marmots playfully ran and hid from us.  We could've stayed in the meadow forever, but we had to get to basecamp.  Whitney tomorrow!

aesthetics

Day 40 ~ miles 723 - 746

We slept well under the phenomenal stars of the Sierra sky, but it was freezing cold!  We awoke early, as usual, and hiked a gentle ascent down from our campsite. 

Everything in these mountains seems to be so aesthetically pleasing.  It's as if every live tree, rock, fallen dead tree has been perfectly placed.  We pondered the age of some of these huge live trees, and how long the fallen dead trees had been decomposing, surely a slow process at these heights.

We saw our first marmot!  He popped out of a dead tree, presumably his home, to check us out as we walked by.  A cute, chubby little mammal of the woodland, it seems similar to a groundhog.

Fighter jets performed stunts overhead for much of the day as we hiked.  We made our way to a grassy meadow where we are camped by ourselves at 11,000 feet.  It gets cold so fast in these parts!  We possibly just witnessed Air Force One fly overhead, or some other large jet flanked by 2 fighter jets on each side...pretty neat!

black bear waddle

Soo as we promised ourselves, we've been hiking more.  Over the weekend, we headed over to the mainland for a change in scenery: the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, where we hiked 14.5 miles on a gravel road (I'm telling you...the options are limited in these parts!).  Anyway, it was quiet and beautiful and great, and it toughened up my feet a bit, I think.  It was a gorgeous day and we didn't hear any gunfire, and really only saw a few cars roll through. 

Believe it or not, this area (mainland Outer Banks/Dare County) has the largest concentration of black bears on the East Coast.  We were really disappointed that we didn't see any bears while hiking, but we saw plenty of bear scat and tracks.  We decided to drive the route after we had hiked it, to confirm our mileage and have one last look for a bear.  Well whatya know, we saw two fatty bears who appear to have been eating well this winter!

Here's a glimpse of this big 'ole cutie waddling around and munching out...enjoy!