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Stoking adventure fire: 5 books to get you through winter

By |December 10th, 2014|2014 posts, AT, Current, Japhy Ryder, PCT|Comments Off on Stoking adventure fire: 5 books to get you through winter

Last week up at the mountain it rained on top of a beautiful fresh pile of 11 inches of fluffy powder. When I went to bed I had been excited to get up, gear up, and head up to Mt. Bachelor for my first day of the ski season. Reading the report in the morning dashed my hopes- all that beautiful snow was now encrusted by a lens of heavy snow.

The snow mess meant that instead of having a wonderful morning of playing in the mountains I was going to have to turn my focus back to the endless ruble pile of my own personal life maintenance. Adam and I recently returned home from a few months of work down in the Mojave, and we have stacks of mail to sort, a yard to clean up, firewood to split, map sets to edit, a kitchen remodel to plan, huge lists of projects to sew, build, create … The to do list is huge and overwhelming.

Distractions under these circumstances are welcome. I need reminders that adventures and free time exist. Following an adventure or two, watching movies about hiking, and reading books about fresh air and freedom are my remedy for feeling overwhelmed. Below I have listed 5 of my favorite books to help stoke your expedition fire and stave off the winter blues. Happy armchair adventures!

5 adventure books to get you through winter:

Rowing to Latitude, Jill Fredston

I discovered this book years before I started thru-hiking, and it planted some kind of seed that wouldn’t die. This book helped me realize that people do crazy sounding adventures- like rowing around Alaska- year after year. Jill and her husband, Doug, treat their summer adventures just as […]

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Reaching the Redwoods on the Bigfoot Trail

By |August 10th, 2014|2014 posts, Bigfoot Trail, Current|Comments Off on Reaching the Redwoods on the Bigfoot Trail

On the 28th of July I found myself suddenly out of the sunny mountains and walking into a fog enshrouded tsunami hazard zone. My hike ended when my feet left  pavement and sunk into the sand of the beach in Crescent City, and soon there after were dipped into the icy Pacific Ocean. There was something magical about ending a hike at the edge of the Pacific!

The last day of the Bigfoot Trail revealed  four final tree species, Redwoods, Red Cedar, Grand Fir, and Sitka Spruce within the last 15 miles. The morning walk through the Little Bald Hills was a review of many of the conifers I had met throughout the hike: Knobcone Pine, Jeffery Pine, Douglas Fir, Common Juniper, and Port Ortford Cedar to name a few. Day 20 turned out to be a fantastic grand finale to a wonderful thru-hike.

My time on the Bigfoot Trail was mostly bliss tinged with moments of misery in just the right amount to make it a solid adventure. Thru-hiking is never a cake walk, and I probably wouldn’t love it so much if there weren’t challenges like getting lost on overgrown trail or dealing with my ever present sole pain (sore & bruised feet). I loved the rugged, remote, and awe inspiring terrain of this route. There was never a dull moment, even the roadwalks were entertaining with their unique emerald triangle road trash and spectacular scenery.

Swimming was possible almost daily, and some of the swimming holes were in the top 10 pools of my life (check out the Stewart Fork of the Trinity and the North Fork of the Salmon!!). Discovering trees at each new mountain range helped ease the pain of the many […]

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Sage Celebrates 10,000 trail miles

By |August 28th, 2013|2013 posts, Current, ODT|Comments Off on Sage Celebrates 10,000 trail miles

 

On June 5th, 2013 I set out from my door in Bend, Oregon for a grand adventure. By the time I reached the Snake river and the Idaho boarder on the 11th of July I had covered 845 miles by foot and pedal, and stepped across my 10,000th thru-hike mile. It is hard to say exactly where mile 10,000 happened, probably in the upper West Little Owyhee River. When I think back to my very first three miles of thru-hiking, hauling myself out of Albuquerque up to the soaring heights of the Sandia Crest on the Grand Enchantment Trail, I realize now I had stepped onto a new path in life. I found something that made my soul sing at the same time it made the soles of my feet hurt with gut wrenching pain. 10,000 miles later my foot soles still throb at the end of each trail day, but my soul is rocking out more than ever to the rhythm of the routes. I am in love with long trails, creative routes, and the feeling I get when traveling over landscapes day after day. I am endlessly grateful to have had the opportunity to walk these miles, and I hope to be lucky enough to wander over another 10,000 or more- there are so many places to visit!

Thank you to all those wonderful people and places I have met along the way, though I was alone for most of my miles I always felt supported.

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