Justin is a great cook.
He bought burgers for dinner and sausage & eggs for breakfast. However because I get up so early we had sausage on scrambled eggs with cheese on toasted rolls for dinner. My oh my it was tasty!
Great cook
Month: July 2020
Desolate high plains
Dry, treeless, and desolate high plains. Together we drove to a high-point where we got cellphone service.
A panoramic picture as we sit and call family, send text messages, read email, and post on this blog.
First Meetup
After three days in the wilderness Justin and I found each other in the wilderness as planned. As I was hiking I saw something high on a hill far away. Initially I wondered if it was a stick or marker but the next time I looked it had moved. It was a person. And then as I got closer I saw it was him. I was so relieved! It was early in the morning and he had come down the trail to find me. We hiked back to the Jeep and I collapsed into a chair, and he got me a Coca Cola, yum!
All is well. I got water, food, a shower, laundry, and especially human company – all of it somewhere in the wilderness. Now he’s driven to where we’ve got cell signal. This is luxury hiking at its finest.
No one
In the past three days I’ve met no one. As I hike I watch the trail ahead and I see other footprints in the sand. They look old and nothing like my own print which is precise and defined. No one has been here in days.
Daily Log: Day 2
Day 2 – Tuesday 7/14/2020 – 1291.3 – woke at 4:30 am and hiking at 5:15 am. I was a long way from the trail, but surprisingly it didn’t take long to get back on it. The first bit was point to point over chaparral but then I got on a dirt road which is so much easier. I passed by Oregon and California trail markers. At 1 pm I stopped for lunch at Weasel Spring and I should have stopped for the day but there were no good camping spots. So I went on and finally tented on a grassy flat with cows. They weren’t happy and moved off. I’m hiking on the high plains 8700’. There are no trees. The morning starts out calm but as the day progresses the wind gusts from 5-15 mph. My little tent is not good in wind. With no trees there are no wind breaks. Nor are there any flat open areas. Everywhere is sandy soil and low to the ground bushes. The soil is very compact and hard to push in tent stakes. Today I had to use a rock as a tent stake hammer.
Dry historic trail
At various points you have to cross from one person’s land to another’s. To do that you need to open gates and close them after you’re through. Here is one where I just crossed through, turned around and saw these distant snow covered mountains along with the brilliant morning sun.
I’ve been hiking part of the historic Oregon and California trails. I think about all those people whose only means to get there was to come by wagon train and walking through this inhospitable high desert (elevation 8700 feet). I now truly understand viscerally what that journey was like.
Daily Log: Day 1
Start: Day 1 – Monday 7/13/2020 – ended at mile 1271.0. I woke at first light around 4:30 am, packed up, ate Raisin Bran for breakfast, and headed out at 5:18 am. The morning was cool and partially cloudy. Cheerfully I marched along. I consulted my Guthook app regularly to stay on the trail. The sun came out on my right and I said my normal “Good morning Sun”. After about 2 hours I had done 5 miles. I was movin’! So I looked at my mileage and it said I was at mile 1253 and had done 4.9 miles. Suddenly at that moment I realized that I had hiked NORTH and I should have been going south. OMG! I immediately sent a satellite message to Justin [“You won’t believe what I did, I WENT NORTH OMG, I’m 5 miles in and heading back.” Jul 13, 2020 8:04 AM]. I turned around and started speed hiking back the way I came. I kept thinking of all our plans for the next 3 days we’re kaput. Finally I could see the tiny Jeep in the distance. I worried he’d drive off before I got back to the Jeep. Made it. Justin was still there. I told him my terrible goof. I got some water and headed off now in the right direction. I was nearly running to make up the lost miles and time. By 11 I had hiked the number of miles I had planned, but there was no where to stop. I needed water and the next one was way off trail and 6 miles away. So on I trudged. I got there but I was exhausted and the water was littered with cow dung – ugh – not great. Nevertheless I put up my tent. The wind is rattling it. I hope tomorrow is less stressful.
Wrong way Joe
Well I got up early and headed out, but I didn’t do my homework and hiked north about 5 miles when I should have hiked south.
Call me wrong way Joe!
Daily Log: Pre-Hike/Day 0
Prehike 0 – Sunday 7/12/2020 – I will be starting at Guthook’s Southbound mile 1257.6 – We drove from about 7 am until 6:30 pm. It was a long day. We chatted as we drove and the time went by easily. I helped drive, but Justin did the vast majority. At the pull off we found the CDT trail marker and knew we had arrived. I did my final prep as Justin talked to Stephanie on the phone – amazing, we had cell service! After a dinner of chicken, carrots and snow peas I set up my bed – again cowboy camping behind the Jeep with Justin on the roof tent. I plan on leaving as soon as I wake up so we said our goodbyes and our see you soons.
Made it to the start
We’re happy!
We made it near to South Pass City and where the trail crosses Highway 28.
