Month: October 2020

That bed. I slept amazing. Whatever combination of pillows, blankets, and tired contributed to the equation, it was snooz-a-licious.

I heard someone moving around in the other room and emerged to find Jim, and he graciously made me a cup of coffee that I took to my room to sort through my last resupply box. The last one! It was already the end of October and there were four days of hiking left. It didn’t feel like the end of October…the sun forgot what it did with the snow and the single degree temps a few days ago, and t-ed up a week of 50-60 degree temps and blue sky. I’ll happily take it, but did grieve a little for the thirsty ground and the folks still fleeing wildfires in California. We really do need some rain, and a lot of it (but not all at once! Lets pass on post-wildfire flooding please and thank you ).

Once the food was sorted and the gear back in my pack, I went out to enjoy the morning with Jim and Rhonda. I’ve had such interesting conversations on this hike…part of it may be that I have almost no barriers left between me and the world. I’m feeling very raw, and you are gonna get my true self right now…I don’t have much time or patience for dilly dallying around conversations or topics that aren’t authentic, important, and true. I know it’s also because the people I’ve been spending time with out here are of the sort made of integrity, passion, and respect for the planet and each other. It surely has been feeding me in a more significant way than the omlette and chorizo I had for breakfast. But wow, what a great breakfast.

Rhonda made me a whole loaf of sourdough bread and threw in most of a stick of butter. On top of that was a full zip lock of brownies. I’m pretty sure I’m going to be living my best life on this last stretch.

We headed back to Sumpter where they had picked me up yesterday (masks on!), and I was walking north by noon. Jim and Rhonda, I can’t wait to do it again!

I had a big stretch of gravel road on deck, and I walked past Cracker Creek which had been turned inside out in the search for gold. In fact, that’s what all of this dredging looked like, the guts of the rivers were spilled out in big piles of river rock, all in the search for the bling.

I had a cross country section for the final stretch of the day, but it was one of the more pleasant cross country hikes I’ve had on this trip. The forest canopy was open, and the downed trees I had the step over were mostly shin high or less and there was always a way through. Lovely! At times I found myself on a trail, I hadn’t remembered anyone saying there was a trail back here, but sure enough there were cut ends of logs, and even red blazes painted on a few trees.

To avoid a mining claim I headed over for a steep climb up to the flanks of Crown Point to find the north slope was still holding onto some icy snow, which made the push a little dicey. Up top I surveyed the path ahead and opted for a different ascent due to more north facing slopes in the mapped route. As I was climbing up the spine of Crown Point, it appeared fairly wide with large shelters of granite boulders. I had to do a bit of scrambling on the boulders, but because it wasn’t exposed, I had fun with it. I decided the best way through was to summit Crown Point and head down the other side to intersect my route again. Up, up, up and away!

At about 7,800′ I found a sheltered spot to set up camp. It wasn’t even supposed to freeze tonight and I was facing the Elkhorns where I had just been, but all the snow was gone. That was fast!

Dinner was sourdough bread and sharp cheddar cheese. At this rate I won’t be eating any of my resupply, just baked goods. I can dig it.

It was so much warmer during the night, but still below freezing. I made some OvaEasy eggs that Charlie had given me for breakfast; our conservations while hiking together had invariably turned to food, and these dehydrated eggs were one of his go to on the trail. He had even included some butter and salt and pepper. So thoughtful! And they actually tasted like eggs!

I hiked down out of the mountains and expected the day to get warmer as I dropped, but instead it got colder. When my fingers stopped working I finally put on more layers; I had been willing the air to warm up, and it wasn’t working.

I started passing mining claims. This area was at the heart of the Oregon gold rush, and folks and companies are still digging up the rivers and mountains looking for the stuff. An entire stretch of the Powder River that runs in the valley below the Elkhorns has been dredged and the piles of tailings are visible in the river bank from on high. There is a massive gold dredge in town that is now a historical landmark and state park, but it was closed when I walked through town. No bonus history lesson for me today.

I had plans at this last resupply stop to rendezvous with Jim and Rhonda Kennedy, Jared’s parents! They had some land nearby and had invited me to stay with them a night, and I happily accepted. I made it to town before our appointed meeting time and went about trying to find lunch. Two of the restaurants were closed, but the cafe in town was open, so I proceeded to order some tacos which I enjoyed on the porch. Then I ordered more. Eight tacos later I was scrolling on my phone when Jim and Rhonda pulled up.

I was whisked away to their piece of heaven overlooking the Middle Fork of the John Day River. I had a fabulous time getting to know them as they plied me with delicacies like crab dip, guacamole, salmon, roasted veggies….I can go on. In a move very unlike me, I ate too much dinner to be able to eat my dessert. I was so ashamed and offered to eat the sweets for breakfast the next morning.

I am tucked up in a bed so warm and soft they might have to drag me out of here tomorrow.

Follow me on Facebook!

Rocky Pond is one of my favorite spots in Central Mass. Part of that is the nostalgia bias. I grew up a mile down the road from it. But it's also a lovely place to hike, and there has been quite a bit of upkeep since I last went there years ago.

There are several ways to access the community forest. One is on Rocky Pond Road, one off of Green St. in Boylston. There is quite a bit of land here, a lot of which seems to be part of an old proposed development (or current development??). But there are a few miles worth of trails with great scenery.



I started on the Green St. side and walked along a logged road before cutting into the woods on the left. This was an easy graded trail that headed straight to the pond proper, where I passed some huge boulders.

I hadn't been on this side of the pond in a long time, but they added a ladder to one of the big boulders that overlooks the pond. It's a beautiful view.


From the pond, I explored some of the trails I had never been on before. As I said before, many are logging roads, and it was tricky navigating back to my car on this side, but it made for decent elevation training!

Total Distance: Around 3 Miles round trip, can be made more with other trails

I went to get water for coffee and found the lake was frozen solid! Oops. That’s how cold it was last night. I had water in my hydroflask (one of the reasons I’m carrying it, to have unfrozen water in the morning) I could use, but I guess I couldn’t have prevented any other water in my tent from freezing due to the deep penetrating cold. I had stayed warm during the night though….my 5 degree quilt was worth every penny!! (It might have literally been 5 degrees last night). Getting my tent stakes out of the frozen ground proved to be a task. I had to dig and pry, but finally they were all out, although some were a little bent.

I warmed up quick though as I climbed towards the first pass, marveling at the frozen landscape around me, and trying not to slip on the frozen ice just below the snow. The sun hit and felt rejuvenating.

I can’t adequately put into words what this 20+ mile crest trail is like. It hangs on the top or near the top of granite peaks. It unveils the world below and I had views over to the Wallowas where I started, and the Strawberries where this route ends near John Day. For a while Strawberry Mountain’s 9,000′ peak stood above a layer of clouds and appeared to be floating in the sky. Everything about the day and the hike was almost unbelievable. I will 100% be back here, and couldn’t believe I was hiking in this splender for the first time.

The cold prevented me from taking long breaks, but it started to ease some by mid day. It was the wind that was the biggest chilling factor, and any time I wanted to pause or stop I had to find a windbreak so I didn’t turn into a She-ra popsicle. Once I exited the North Fork John Day Wilderness the snow started to melt out a little, and I actually found flowing water over the trail to supplement my meager supply.

The crest trail kept giving, and didn’t ask for anything in return until the end of the day when my tired leg didn’t quite clear a boulder I was stepping over and I ended up leaving some shin skin as a tribute, the blood running into my sock. A small price to pay for the experience!

As I approached Rock Creek Butte, mountain goats were everywhere! Their thick shaggy coats were brilliant white, and were the key to their survival in this steep rocky place. Baby goats ran to catch up with their families and I felt very lucky to share the trail with them.

My destination was Twin Lakes which sat in the shadow of a deep mountain cirque, but when I spied the lakes they looked cold. Real cold. Snow was still on the ground around them, and I doubted the deep pocket they were sitting in had gotten much sun at all during the day. I wanted a warmer night if possible, so I passed them by and went another mile or so until I found a little grotto of trees with just enough space for me and my tent. I was exhausted, but I was happy with my decision as the air felt noticeably warmer. My gauges were off though, because things in the tent started freezing and I still felt warm. Extreme cold puts everything into perspective!

I had a multiple course dinner…I’d be getting to Sumpter tomorrow, my last resupply stop, and was trying to eat as much of the food I was carrying as I could. I’ve rolled into each resupply stop with some food left, which is not bad. I’m hungry, but not ravenous…the hiker hunger usually kicks in around a month or so on the trail, basically when all of your fat reserves are gone, and I wasnt quite there yet. It’s dangerous though to enter the holiday season as we are with an unsaitable appetite.

It was another fabulous day on the Blue Mountains Trail!

Buy my new novel Take to the Unscathed Road now! Follow me on Facebook!

We did it! We finally finished our Adirondack 46ers. It was a long haul. With the exception of a short 3-4 mile hammock approach for the Dix Range, we did them all during day hikes. We had plenty of 20+ mile days during our journey. And we won't forget any of them. But you came here to read about the actual hike, so I'll get right to it.



We initially planned to do this hike from the Loj. But with the insane amount of people showing up at obscene hours, we opted to start from Upper Works. We had no problem finding parking on the side of the road, but it was still a busy morning at the trail during peak foliage.

And the foliage was peak!


Lauren and I were joined by Nonay and Alex, who were initially spooked by the daunting prospect of hiking 21 or so miles. But they crushed it to Flowed Lands, and our timing was fantastic. This is an approach we are all too familiar with, having done in three times in the last year already!


But it was super quiet despite the busy parking lot, and the early morning views of Colden from Lake Colden were stellar.


Next came the long jaunt along the beautiful Opalescent River, which was quite stunning with the foliage views. We followed it until we met up with the Mount Marcy Trail, which heads over to Gray and Skylight.




Gray was first. Alex and Nonay opted to meet us on Skylight to cut down some mileage. The approach to Gray was quick and easy, but had a few hairy sections, like the one pictured below, which is a class 2/3 downclimb.


There was also a class 2/3 ascent up a slab which was a little dicey heading down, but nothing we couldn't handle. Some people may feel differently however.

The views of Skylight and Marcy were pleasant, but it wasn't a bare summit. There was a small viewpoint just before the summit where you could see the surrounding area. Additionally, there seems to be a herd path that isn't used too often that cuts straight from Gray over to Marcy. I walked on it for a bit before I realized it kept going.



Back at the junction, we headed up Skylight, which was a more moderate climb than to Gray. We ran into quite a few people coming down who didn't want to move over for us and we had to brush our way past them without so much as an acknowledgement. It is what it is.


Alas, we finally made it! It was an emotional moment, but also kind of a buzzkill. The journey was certainly more memorable than the finish, especially since we felt so great hiking the first 10+ miles to the summit.



Skylight has some of the best views of any of the peaks in the Adirondacks, and we shared them in good company.


The journey back wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. We've done the approach so many times, it felt like second nature. We made sure to get a quick photoshoot by the river.



Eventually, Lauren and I broke off from Alex and Nonay so we could go to the store and buy us groceries to make for dinner. We decided to run the last few miles, and by the time Alex and Nonay got back, dinner was started!



Finishing our 46ers was a wonderful challenge and a great way to explore the Adirondacks, but we fully intend to be back and see what else these mountains have to offer!

Total Time: 10 hrs 5 mins (total with breaks)

Total Distance: ~21 miles

Total Elevation Gain: ~4514 vertical gain

When I got up to pee in the middle of the night I saw that the incessant rain was starting to form puddles under part of the tent. Oh the horror! I was thrown back to the worst camping incident of my hiking life when I had been flooded out of my tarp on the Tahoe Rim Trail one September. I was on my way to a week at Patagonia’s tools training conference for environmental activists, and thought I’d squeeze in a quick thru-hike of the 165-mile Tahoe Rim Trail before the conference started. Despite my best efforts everything got wet that night, and when the heavy rain turned to heavy snow that started to collapse the liveable space in my ultralight tarp (pitched with one hiking pole) to a space I could only occupy curled in the fetal position, well, that memory was what drove me to bring a free-standing double-walled tent on this trip.

The rain had turned to snow during the night, but it was only the faintest dusting. I made some hot tea to sip on during the day and was hiking soon after first light.
Several miles into the day I turned onto a decommissioned road that was to take me along Little Meadow Creek to the East Fork of the Grande Ronde River, then to the main Grande Ronde itself, but the going got so difficult so fast that after about half an hour I crossed the creek and hiked back towards the maintained gravel road I had just left. That was frustrating, but so was a wet riparian area tree obstacle course.

I sat down at the junction and debated what to do. In Jared’s notes he warns of unimproved or missing trail up ahead for almost 7 miles, and that didn’t include the three miles I had just decided not to do. There was another road I could walk around the section I just left that looked long, but the unmaintained trail still loomed…and I could discern no other options to get me out if the going got bad. Ugg. I know there is no right or wrong way path to hike out here; the goal is continuous footsteps across the Blue Mountains, so ultimately I decided this 10-mile section was probably best scouted over a long dry and sunny weekend, not on my attempted thru-hike. So I backtracked.

I had to backtrack 7 miles to get to the dirt Ladd Canyon Road which would deposit me at the doorstep of the Anthony Lakes Ski Area. Ok, decison made, lets do this.

The forecast was for snow most of the day, then single digit temps tonight. Brrr. I decided to camp near the base of the Elkhorn Crest Trail and wait for tomorrow when there were five solid days of sun and temps in the balmy 20 degree range. I wanted to see this magnificent mountain range I would be hiking through!

About halfway down my dirt road I heard a holler and looked up to see Charlie and Suzie walking towards me! Oh joy!!! Charlie brought me a hot mocha and some sweet crepes….the BEST!!!! We walked together for the next few hours, Suzie bounding around in the snow as playful as a puppy, me, grinning ear to ear at the unexpected kindness.

Charlie offered to drive me back to town if I wanted to sit the cold night out in a hotel room, bringing me back in the morning, but I decided I had all the gear to keep me warm, plenty of food, and with the clock on the hike running out, I knew in a week when I was done hiking that I’d be longing for a few cold nights in my tent (I know, most of you are probably thinking that I’m nuts). As it was, the day had already provided so much more than I was expecting. If I had gone ahead with the bushwack I wouldn’t have run into the dynamic duo. So, as much as I berated myself for turning around and taking the easy way, I knew it was the right move.

At the yurts on Anthony Lake Charlie decided to take a short hike up to Hoffer Lakes, and offered that I could sit in his warm car and eat lunch while he was gone (COVID has been at the heart of every interaction on this hike, and I appreciated that we were both on the same page about not wanting to expose each other.) Now that I could do! He had more treats in the car and I melted into the heated seats for my break.

I was basically at my destination for the night, and we were parked near some walk-in campsites. After we said our goodbyes (Charlie, I don’t even have words for all you have done for me, THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart!), I walked past the sites, but kept walking. My legs took me to the start of the trail, and I ended up walking a little further to find the very same campspot at Black Lake that Kirk and I and our friends Brooke and Adryon had camped at a few years ago. We came up over Labor Day with intentions to backpack along the crest trail, but only a few miles in, some panicked hikers came jogging from the other direction, explaining they had just seen a fire start near the trail. Wanting no part of that on a hot dry late summer day, we turned around and camped at Black Lake. Now I was here again, this time in the snow.

I spent the extra daylight hours reading another book I had downloaded from the Deschutes library, Ta-Nehisi Coats’ The Water Dancer.

I bundled up as best I could to keep the cold at bay, and shut my eyes when it got dark. These are longer and longer nights now!