The Angels

Oasis and I have made it 558 to Tehachapi, California. I have been meaning to write another post for a while, but have either been too distracted in town by a hungry stomach, or, have not had access to a computer.
This first leg of our journey has been incredible. Highlights include seeing four rattlesnakes (we kept a safe distance), soaking our tired legs in deep creek hotsprings, located at mile 306, spending a day at the Saufley's and another unforgettable eveing at the Andersons, as well as hiking along the California Aquaduct at night with glow sticks.
This morning Adrianna (now known on the trail as Oasis) and I arrived in Tehachapi, California. With our minds set on a good meal, we managed to find an awesome diner that served us monster-sized omletes and a serving of homefries that might have given me a heart attack in another life.
Anyway, as we sat and scarfed down our breakfasts, I noticed an elderly woman looking at our soiled clothes and dirty faces. As I got up to use the restroom, she quickly handed me a 20 dollar bill and said "Please, please use this". I didn't accept her offer but explained to her that we were just fine...just a bit dirty from hiking. It was then that I was reminded of two things. What I realized first was just how dirty we both looked and how it might give people the impression that we have nothing. What I also realized, however, is just how generous and kind people have been on the trail as we have hiked.
Hikers like to call acts of kindness on the trail "trail magic" and the people who deliver these services "trail angels". I will give you a few examples of wonderful individuals who have supported us in this indeavor. Take, for example, Push and Unload, two individuals who parked by the trail to deliver hikers extra cliff bars, sanwiches, soda, cookies and a cold beer. Both Push and Unload had hiked the trail last year and been pleasantly surprised by the trail magic and thought they would return the favor. We then have Dr. Sole, a retired truck driver who set up a large tent along Highway 74, who after his son hiked the trail and complained of blisters, decided he would take it upon himself to learn everything he could about "hiker feet" so he could treat people's aches and pains along the trail. Dr.Sole spent more than 1/2 hour cleaning and treating my pathetically swollen and blistered feet. We then have Ziggy and The Bear, a couple who hosts through hikers in their backyard. There we were served hotdogs and salad and the largest bowl of icecream I have ever eaten in my life. Random people have offered us rides to and from the trail, have hosted us in their homes and have left ice-cold soda and beer in coolers along the trail.
Hiking provides much time for reflection. Walking over 558 miles and being blessed with such wonderful acts of kindness along has a way of restoring one's faith in humanity. It's amazing how just an ice-cold soda or a ride to a trail-head remind one that random acts of kindness happen all the time and make an incredible difference. So I want to conclude by saying thank-you to all the trail angels, and my incredible network of family and friends for all your support in helping us achieve this goal and enjoy this journey.
Best, Honeybear
If you want to send us something (a letter telling us how you are doing, peanut m n ms, candy, chocolate, tea) Our next reliable re-supply point will be in Tuolumne Meadows.
The address is:

Hold of PCT Hikers Lena Sessions
c/o General Delivery

Tuolumne Meadows
Yosemite NP, CA 95389

Noah's Flood

Location: 8 miles from the Southern terminus of the Pacific Crest Trail
Time: April 26th, 12am-8am
Many hikers have expressed to me the importance of putting aside expectations for this journey. On the first night of our hike, as a raging rain and wind storm blew through the mountains of Southern California I realized it is not realistic for me to expect anything from this hike. Here is a short journal entry I wrote the night after Noah's flood.

In only one day of hiking, one thing I have learned is that expectations are worthless when it comes to hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. Adriana and I arrived at the southern terminus of the Pacific Crest Trail excited to see and hike in flat desert. In all honesty, seeing streams, wildflowers and deep green meadows had definitely not crossed ours minds. Nor did we predict that on our first night of camping we would endure what I have titled "Noah's Flood PCT edition".  Although the forecast predicted rain, I scoffed at the notification and laughed at the mere thought that someone would forecast rain in Southern California. Nevertheless, after bragging to Adriana about my awesome new "waterproof" tent, I felt the desire to set it up in wait for this storm that I thought would never come to pass.  I fell asleep around 10pm thinking about sunshine.
Approximately 2 hours later I awoke to find that due to water buildup on the roof my "awesome" tent had collapsed and was smashed against my face and sleeping bag. The rain continued to pelt down on my dilapidated tent and I knew that I only had one choice; to go outside in that downpour and fix the problem. I went outside to find that over a gallon of water had collected on the area of roof covering my feet. After dealing with this first issue, I then found that upon re-entering my tent that another 2 liters of the same liquid had gathered underneath my sleeping bag and had soaked through my only hiking outfit. Wonderful. I spent the rest of the night awake, laying in a cold shallow pool of water. By 6 am I was done. Done being wet and cold and done thinking that the desert in Southern California was a dry, flat expanse of sand where it never rained. Laying there in my sleeping bag full of water I realized that this trail is here for us to expect anything. Dropping all expectations for this trail has made me realize that the PCT isn't here to remind us of all that we know, but to reveal how much we still have to learn.
p.s. Later the next day, the sun came out and I was able to dry my clothes and sleeping bag! We are still hiking and still loving everyday. More trail tales to come....

Adri and Me at the Fence!

Today is the day! Adriana Boylan and I are headed down to the border to El Campo, CA to the southern terminus of the PCT. Adriana thoughtfully described today like Christmas.
We spent all yesterday completing errands like  grabbing that last chunk of extra sharp cheddar cheese at Trader Joe's, purchasing a small backpack sized ukulele, stealing plastic utensils from the McDonald's in Mentone, CA, and raiding REI to find items like a watch and a silly sunhat with a fantastic flap in the back for sun protection despite the weather forecast predicting rain and thunder showers!!
Since I am up at High Trails (the outdoor school where I worked last year), where we show our appreciation for people by giving them "kudos", I thought I would mention a few people who have helped me out. Kudos Caroline and the Square House for hosting me! It has been so nice to see everyone again! Thank-you to Emilie, Callie and Anna for a wonderful reunion in Colorado and thanks to Ryan for taking his free time to drive us ladies to the start of the PCT. Finally, I just want to mention how fantastic it is to be planning this trip with another individual. As many of you know, Adriana is such a wonderfully positive and caring individual and I am so excited to start this adventure together. Adriana is also keeping an awesome blog about her experience www.whileshemoves.blogspot.com.
Finally, thank-you to people like Henry, Kristina, Evan, and Chris who are supporting our efforts to raise money for SheJumps.
I sign off for now and leave you with a poem by Robert Frost.

Desert Places by Robert Frost

Snow falling and night falling fast, oh, fast
In a field I looked into going past,
And the ground almost covered smooth in snow,
But a few weeds and stubble showing last.

The woods around it have it—it is theirs.
All animals are smothered in their lairs.
I am too absent-spirited to count;
The loneliness includes me unawares.

And lonely as it is, that loneliness
Will be more lonely ere it will be less—
A blanker whiteness of benighted snow
With no expression, nothing to express.

They cannot scare me with their empty spaces
Between stars—on stars where no human race is.
I have it in me so much nearer home
To scare myself with my own desert places.

Dresses to Dust

Last night I thought about dust. Considering the first 500 miles of the PCT skirts the deserts of Southern California, it is a fitting visual. On the 26^th of April, Adriana (my hiking partner and inspiring educator and climber) and I will be starting our hike! (Image of the beginning of the trail below).

 For months I have slept with my window open and made an effort to spend as much time outside as possible. Now, with the trail only a few days away, I am experiencing a sudden drive to stay indoors and as clean as possible. Additionally, my ability to vegetate on whatever sofa is available to me has dramatically increased. This has given me ample opportunity to catch up on movies that I apparently missed out on as a child. The cheer-leading saga “Bring It On” is just one example. While movies like these can stimulate certain areas of the brain, for me, the outdoors seems to offer something more.

As a friend stated “Backpacking can be empowering because there is simplicity in this sport that does not exist elsewhere. I find it important to remind people that despite it [backpacking] seeming like a huge feat, it is actually quite simple. It helps me to reflect on how insignificant material possessions can be”.

Aside from the somewhat complicated logistics of planning a backpacking trip, once on the trail it suddenly becomes so simple. Sleep. Hike. Eat. Hike. Let’s hope that my experience this time around offers a similar simplicity.

I am currently in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, spending a few days my dear friends from Macalester College. On Monday, I’ll head to Southern California where Adri will pick me up and we’ll spend two days visiting with friends from my past job at High Trails Outdoor Science School, sorting gear and purchasing a few other last minute items like fuel for cooking and a wide brimmed hat for sun protection.

I hope to send a short update before I head out on the trail! Until then, I’ll leave you with a fitting quote I included in a recent email by John Muir as well as a quote offered by blog follower Abby! Cheers, The Honey Bear

“I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.”  John Muir (1838 - 1914)

"I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move." ~Robert Louis Stevenson

Six days ‘til trail time!

I'll take it.

Today I spent an ungodly amount of time, arranging the gear I am bringing and I am excited to show you what items are lucky enough to be joining for me for 2663 miles.
First, however, if you are planning on following my journey, I would encourage you to subscribe to my blog!! This is easy. Simply enter your email in the slot that indicates "Follow by email" located directly below the information about me on the right-hand side of my blog.  Also, as I have mentioned before, I am hoping to raise funds for SheJumps, a non-profit that provides women with community and support to spend time in the outdoors! Make a donation now by clicking here!
For those of you who have decided to donate! I am so grateful. Your efforts are encouraging other women (like me) to experience the outdoors.

I have divided my gear into three photos. The first image is the gear that I plan to carry on my body (outside my pack). The second image are additional clothes and my sleeping bag, and are all the other important (and totally unnecessary items I will bring with me). Despite taking an embarrassing amount of time to figure put these packing tables and images together, I had fun doing it and am excited to show you.
Best,
The Honey Bear

Items worn on Body (See Image 1)	Weight (grams)	Specifics
Bra	92	NikeFit Dry (Size 4-6)
Socks	27	Smartwool HP Cycling Ankle Sock
Skirt	128	Patagonia Lithia Skirt
Shirt	87	Li-Ning Drifit
Gaters	27	Dirty girl gaters: shagadellic blue
Shoes	480	New Balance Running 490GB1
Underwear	26	Patagonia Bearly Hispter
Sunhat	83	Sports Authority Blue with Tree Design
Trekking Poles	439	REI Titanal LightWeight Aluminum
Total Weight	1389	Weight in Pounds 3.061 lbs.

Packable Items (Image 2)	Weight (grams)	Specifics
Sleeping bag	880	REI W’s Subkilo 750 Fill Down
Rain jacket	107	Homemade Tyvek Jacket
Warm Jacket	360	Montbell W’s Alpine Light 800 Fill Down
Pants	102	Cheap fleece pants purchased in Chile
Baselayer	118	Smartwool Microlight Long Sleeve Crewtop
Extra Hiking Socks	27	Smartwool HP Cycling Ankle Sock
Hat	29	Craft %100 Polyester
Warm Socks	41	Smartwool Jovian Striped Socks

Packable Items Continued (Image 3)	Weight (grams	Specifics
Backpack	1237	The Northface Terra 40
Tent	763	Henry Shires Contrail Tarptent
Sleeping Pad	263	Thermarest Z-Rest
Water Filtration System	176	Steripen
Cooking Pot	99	Evernew Titanium .9L
GPS System	117	SPOT
Cell Phone and Charger	194	Sprint LG Smartphone
iPod	21	Apple iPod Nano Graphite 8G
Stove	86	MSR Pocket Rocket
Utensil	9	Guyot designs spork
Journal, Map, Pens	180	Data book, Decomposition Book, mechanical lead pencil and black pen
Holding containers	23	Sea to Summit Ultralight Mesh bags x 2 (Size XS, L)

This list still needs some revising. If you feel moved to provide some idea for how I could improve this list, I am always open to suggestions!
In Eugene it is Spring. So today I leave you with one of two poems titled Spring written by Mary Oliver. Thank-you Callie Thuma for sending this in my direction. Blessings.

Spring

By Mary Oliver

Faith 

is the instructor.

We need no other.

Guess what I am, 

he says in his 

incomparably lovely

young-man voice.

Because I love the world

I think of grass,

I think of leaves 

and the bold sun

I think of the rushes

in the black marshes

just coming back

from under the pure white

and now finally melting

stubs of snow.

Whatever we know or don't know

leads us to say:

Teacher, what do you mean?

But faith is still there, and silent.

Then he who owns

the incomparable voice

suddenly flows upward

and out of the room

and I follow,

obedient and happy.

Of course I am thinking

the Lord was once young

and will never in fact be old.

And who else could this be, who goes off

down the green path, 

carrying his sandals, and singing?

Certified "Geardo"

Today I met Evan. Evan has circular glasses, volunteers at the local raptor center and loves all things Iceland. If Evan told me he had been a guest on the “Portlandia” TV series, I would definitely believe him. Like me, Evan plans on thru-hiking the Pacific Crest Trail; beginning at the end of April in El Campo, CA and hiking until the end of September to complete the trail in Manning Park, British Columbia. 

As I have discovered, many backpackers, especially thru-hikers choose to hike “ultralite”. According to the prolite gear, ultralite is defined as backpacking with a base weight (the weight of your pack excluding food, fuel and water) under ten pounds. For many backpackers, obtaining ultralite status supersedes comfort on the trail.

Within minutes of meeting Evan, it became pretty clear that he considered himself “ultralite”. I enjoyed getting to learn about the ways in which Evan cut weight in his pack. Instead of the small 3oz pocket rocket backpacking stove I am using while I hike, Evan informed that he made a stove out of an empty can of catfood weighing in at less than 1oz! Rather than the bulky steripen water filtration system I hope to utilize on the trail, Evan plans to ‘purify’ his water with drops o’ bleach. While I plan to haul a phone, a camera AND and an ipod (not to mention a travel size ukulele and a portable sound system...yes this hike will involve music, dancing and random bouts of debauchery), Evan is bringing the ‘all purpose iphone’. Finally, in place of my heavy NorthFace backpack that I received as a Christmas present from my German grandmother before I hit puberty in 2003, Evan will carry what I can only imagine as being a VERY lightweight Ultralite Adventure Equipment backpack.

Evan has definitely outdone me in achieving the ultralite backpacker status. Nevertheless, I am quite proud of the fact that I managed to make a waterproof tyvek rain-jacket out of one of those sexy disposable hooded coveralls you see house painters wearing. I got the idea from the fabulous Education Coordinator at Nearby Nature (also a former thru-hiker). When purchasing the coveralls, the frazzled looking man at the paint supply store somehow knew that I was not using these to paint my house. He shot an annoyed glance in my direction and blurted out to another employee re-stalking shelves on the other end of the store, “ Gee, I have seen so many people like her come in here to buy those outfits for their goonie costumes”. Anyways, despite accidentally purchasing the uni-suit in size XXXL, I managed to create a lightweight jacket that should provide some rain protection! In case you are interested, I have included a link to the website that guided me through the process. Making a Tyvek Rainjacket!!

While Evan’s philosophy on the trail may be far removed from my own, I could tell by the hurried manner in which he talked that like me, Evan is as anxious to start this epic adventure as I am. Thirty-seven more days to enjoy my comfortable bed and regular showers (among many other things).

I leave you today, with a quote that I received in a birthday card from my friend and fellow backpacker Anna Hankins.

“Just as a white summer cloud, in harmony with heaven and earth freely floats on the blue sky from horizon to horizon following the breath of the atmosphere-in the same way the pilgrim abandons herself to the breath of the greater life that leads her beyond the farthest horizons to an aim which is already present within her though yet hidden from her sight” –Lama Govinda

Cheers my dears!

The Honey Bear

When I grow up.

I have spent the past few years trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. After graduating with a BA in Political Science and Public Health, I ended up ditching academia for a while and spent a good portion of the following year getting paid to clean toilets and hike around the San Bernardino National Forest with children. While this experience was far removed from my reality as a student, I definitely in no way had it “all figured out”. So, I ended up moving to Alaska for the summer to shuttle a random assortment of rowdy guests between our cute little lodge on the Kenai River, the Anchorage Airport and the liquor store.  Due to my inability to stop my hands from digging into the infamous ‘wall o’ snacks’ in our lounge, I left Alaska with a slew of pleasant memories and subcutaneous layer that would help me to surive the winter. Apparently I had taken after the eating practices of the brown bears who frequent the area.

Conversations, contemplation and inebriated decision-making allowed me more backpacking opportunities with my friends Javi and Chica Chiva and got me in a pickle when an un-castrated yak chased me through the Langtang Valley in North-central Nepal.

On January 10, 2012 as I unpacked my backpack one last time and apologized to our washing machine for putting in overtime to clean my filthy clothes that had already reeked of body odor more than two months ago, it suddenly dawned on me that somewhere during my adventures, I had made a commitment to myself and to my friend Adriana to hike the Pacific Crest Trail beginning at the Mexican border and ending Manning Park, British Columbia.

Despite interspersed periods of extreme boredom, spending three months in my hometown has given me time to enjoy the company of my wonderful and supportive family, and to figure what the heck I am doing come the anticipated start date of April 25th.

Life in Eugene is pleasant, but rather low-key: my main objective to keep my body and mind somewhat occupied with work and physical activity. After entertaining myself with youtube videos and facebook (essentially doing nothing productive) for close to a month, I landed myself a VERY part-time job at a restaurant that specializes in soup. My favorite soup is chicken mole. And yours? I divide the rest of my time between teaching small children about Pacific Tree Frogs, preparing for my role in the cast of the Vagina Monologues, and, of course dreaming, fantasizing, planning and talking about the Pacific Crest Trail.

There is much more I want to discuss: What gear I am bringing. What I will eat. The base weight of my pack. Trail terminology. The origin of my trail name (Honey Bear). My hope and fears for the trail. My hiking partner. SheJumps: the amazing organization I am raising funds for while hiking...just to name a few.

Please let me know what you want me to write about. I always appreciate input and hope that this setup will offer genuine interaction between myself and those accompany me on this epic adventure my reading this blog.

I leave you tonight with a poem written by Gary Snyder describing the austere beauty of the High Sierras (Thank-you Emilie Schur for sharing this with me).

Bedrock

Snowmelt pond    warm gentle

We make camp

no thought of finding more

and nap,

and leave our minds to the wind.

on the bedrock, gently tilting

sky and stone

teach me to be tender

the touch that nearly misses –

brush of glances-

tiny steps-

that finally cover worlds of hard terrain.

Cloud wisps and mists.

gathered into slate blue

bolts of summer rain.

Tea together in the starry purple eve.

New moon to set;

why does it take so long to learn to love,

we laugh and grieve.

Goodnight!