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Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park
I survived my first of I'm sure many nights in a shared hostel room. I usually avoid communal sleeping situations, but it seems that it may be much more common in Australia and New Zealand and I'm going to have to adapt. Later in the evening, a third gal showed up and...
Heading Into The Outback
I made it to Australia! Everything went amazingly smooth. So smooth, in fact, that I keep waiting for something major to happen. The big news is that I didn’t forget or lose anything! Well, I’m pretty sure I didn’t. I double checked my own gear list before I left and...
Australia Bound!
Well, it still doesn’t seem real yet, but tomorrow I fly to Australia!!! If all goes as hoped, I won’t be back in the US until late spring. It’s pretty exciting to think about such and extended amount of time spent traveling and hiking, and what the next 7 months...
Day 6: A Fitting Finale
August 27th Sunrise Camp(68.7)-Eagle's Roost(94.7) Mileage: 19.7mi Campsite Elevation: 4,834ft Today may have been the one day that we had significantly less elevation gain than loss. We did 19.7mi with 5,823ft of uphill and 7,184ft of downhill. Of all our days, today...
Day 5: Bring On The Scenery!
August 27th Nickel Creek Camp (47.3)-Sunrise Camp(68.7) Mileage: 21.4mi Campsite Elevation: 6,620ft We had a 21.4mi day ahead with 7,578ft of uphill and 4,719ft of downhill. At the end of the day, just half a mile off the trail, would be the Sunrise Visitor's center...
Day 4: A Day To Veg Out
August 26th Maple Creek Camp(44.1)-Nickel Creek Camp (47.3) Mileage: 3.2mi Campsite Elevation: 3,392ft This.Is.The.Life! The way permitting worked out, the only campsite available for us today was the next campsite 3.2mi away. I need more days like today. It...
Day 3: Pitstop At Longmire
August 25th Devils Dream Camp(28.5)-Maple Creek Camp(44.1) Mileage: 15.6mi Campsite Elevation: 2,814ft We slept in! For the first time all summer on the trail, I didn't set an alarm. It was pretty glorious. We only needed to do a 15.6mi day to reach our designated...
Day 2: The Big Day
August 24th S Mowich River Campsite (3.8)-Devils Dream Camp(28.5) Mileage: 24.7mi Campsite Elevation: 4,875ft We slept in (for me) and got started at 7am. I've been doing a 6am hike time all summer, and one of the things I was looking forward to on this trail is that...
Day 1: We Got It!
August 23rd Mowich Lake Campground(0)-S Mowich River Campsite(3.8) Mileage: 3.8mi Campsite Elevation: 2,687ft As I mentioned in the last post, the permits for the Wonderland Trail (a highly sought after permit) are all first come, first serve this year. The ranger...
Heading To The Wonderland
I've had a whirlwind of a transition time between trails. It's been five days and I'm now headed out to another trail. I drove to Moraga, CA right after the KCHBR to visit family for two days and three nights. I don't get there too often, so it was great to see...
Day 12: Ending Full Circle
Aug 17th Grouse Lake (120.3)-Roads End/Copper Creek Trailhead(128) Mileage: 7.7mi Our final morning on the KCHBR and in the Sierra. We soaked it up these last couple days knowing how fortunate we were to be able to do this trip and pull it off. Many factors have to...
Day 11: Winding Down, Going Up
Aug 16th Horseshoe Creek Campsite(106.7)-Grouse Lake(120.3) Mileage: 13.6mi Campsite Elevation: 10,469ft This morning was the big climb out of Simpson Meadow. The first 8mi of the day climbed 4,300ft from 5,900ft in Simpson Meadow to 10,200ft at State Lakes. We made...
Day 10: Oh My Goddard
Aug 15th Along Goddard Creek(98.6)-Horseshoe Creek Campsite(106.7) Mileage: 8.1mi Campsite Elevation: 5,883ft Well, today was a day that we knew would not be fun. We dropped 4,200ft over 7mi as we descended down Goddard Creek. We knew it would probably be our slowest...
Day 9: Polar Opposites
Aug 14th On JMT before LeConte Ranger Station(83.1)-Along Goddard Creek(98.6) Mileage: 15.5mi Campsite Elevation: 10,086ft Today had two halves that were quite polar opposites. We started out the morning with 8mi on the JMT up through LeConte Canyon. It was quite a...
Day 8: Three Before Lunch!
Aug 13th Tarn below Cartridge Pass(66.4)-on JMT before LeConte Ranger Station(83.1) Mileage: 16.7mi Campsite Elevation: 8,563ft We started out the morning with three passes well before lunch. All were not huge or technical. Cartridge Pass was just above where we...