Magic is the impossible come to life. Thru-hikers along the Appalachian and Pacific Crest trails find it all the time: coolers of Cokes, boxes of Snickers, spare socks in an ammo tin. Right on the trail, hundreds of miles from…
Shimmering waters of Lake Winnemucca “I can breathe up here.” So said my allergy-prone wife, Melissa, whom I had talked into an “easy” jaunt down to Lake Winnemucca from Carson Pass. It was an odd thing to hear 9,000 feet…
So I’m on vacation this week and needed to do some vacating yesterday, so Melissa and I headed for the hills. We took Ebbett’s Pass, lunched with a through-hiker and gave him a ride into Markleeville, then headed down to…
I took a day off from hiking yesterday to read Dan White’s “The Cactus Eaters: How I Lost My Mind — and Almost Found Myself — on the Pacific Crest Trail.” Oddly enough, my summation before reading the first sentence…
Dan, who shares the unfortunate name of a notorious San Francisco double-murderer, has a new book out about his long-ago adventure up the Pacific Crest Trail. It’s called “The Cactus Eaters,” alluding to the time when, in an extreme expression…
Steve Sergeant interviews Captain Bligh, Nellie Bly and Scrambler, the family who hiked the Pacific Crest Trail in 2004, chronicled in the book “Zero Days” (since trail season is officially under way it’s OK to call ’em by their trail…
Dave and Cindy Peters have already logged their first 100 miles from the wall at Campo on the U.S.-Mexico border. They’re now calling themselves Zelda and Tarzan. How Dave got dubbed: At Scissors Crossing we stopped to rest and make…
Jellybean, from Mile 43 of the Pacific Crest trail: I was sitting on a rock out cropping yesterday to air my feet and eat a snack. I could see down into the valley and interstate 8. I was thinking Wow!…
Barb is the author of Zero Days, her account of hiking the Pacific Crest Trail with her husband and 10-year-old daughter. As of a couple minutes ago, Barb is essentially unemployed — she’s one of the folks getting their walking…
