Go West Old Man (& Woman)

After a winter on the boat in which it was just too cold to go anywhere (people were coming back from the Bahamas to the southern US, as the Bahamas were too cold!), we spent a few weeks in Ohio, seeing family and getting ready for our trip out West, where John will attempt to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. John and our youngest, Brad, walked the entire Appalachian Trail three summers ago, and we were hoping that Brad would again accompany John on this venture. Alas, Brad decided that he needed to engage in more serious pursuits (such as a real career, etc.), so John will be on his own. You know, you try to raise your kids right, and what happens????

 

Taos Market

After all the preparation, visiting, and seeing Brad participate in a community theater production of "Never Been Kissed", (he was typecast as the heartthrob) we started west on Monday, April 26. The first night found us in Tulsa. We spent night number two in Taos, then toured Santa Fe and Albuquerque's old town. Along the way, the land gradually morphed from green pastureland to scrub vegetation, to lots of rocks, to mesas, mountains~~all the while getting dryer. We saw a herd of pronghorn antelope, lots of blowing red dirt, cattle, wind farms, canyons, tumbleweed and one dead armadillo.

We took our time getting to California and the start of the trail, as it had been snowing like crazy in the Sierras, so we thought we may as well enjoy the trip. Night three was in Gallop, New Mexico. We next went to Flagstaff, and while having lunch at an old style diner, John just stops in mid-sentence and stares out the front of the restaurant. I turned around to see what the big deal was, and low and behold, its snowing! (Flagstaff is about 7,000 feet.) We took a scenic route after lunch from Flagstaff west and ran into a ton of snow and fierce winds. It was beautiful with all the evergreens. We turned and drove south down the Colorado River to Lake Havasu for night four. Lake Havasu is where the London Bridge is (of course). It is also a desert town on a lake, which just doesn't look like it belongs there. But nice, nevertheless.

We left Lake Havasu Friday morning, stopping for lunch in Yuma (which was surprisingly green~~lots of farms and orchards).

Crossing into California was like crossing into another world. Almost right away you run into the Imperial Sand Dunes (where some of the Star Wars films were done). Then, the land turns into~~~just giant piles of rocks. It was so dramatic and unexpected. As you get on the other side of the mountains which trap the clouds on the west side, everything turns green. It immediately looked more prosperous. We went up to Mount Laguna to pick up some equipment for ice climbing (yes, you read that right) that John had forwarded to him via general delivery. We were talking to the nice man in the general store in the Mount Laguna state forest about camping sites, when he informed us that it was going to be 26 degrees that night, so we opted for a rather rustic motel room (at a not too rustic price). So that's it. We're here, and John is eager to get started. I will drop him off at the trail head at the Mexican border in the morning (that's Saturday, May 1) and we will meet again here in Mount Laguna in 2-3 days.

Octotillo

The Pacific Crest Trail runs from the Mexican border near Campo, California, to Manning Park, British Columbia, Canada, a distance of 2660 miles, through five of the seven 'life zones' which exist in North America, all but tropical and arctic. About 100-150 people hike the whole thing a year, passing through the Sierra Nevada mountains, Sequoia National Park, Kings Canyon, Yosemite, Lake Tahoe, and Lassen Volcanic National Park in California, Crater Lake and Mt. Hood in Oregon, and Mt. Rainier in Washington (and everything in between).