Conifers

12 Gifts For Hikers, Day 4

By |December 15th, 2014|12 Gifts, 2014 posts, Current|Comments Off on 12 Gifts For Hikers, Day 4

12 Days of Trail Gifts For Under $50
Gift 4: Feet Treats

Feet are on the front line of any hike. Their condition and comfort can make or break an adventure, and there are a few things you can give your hiker’s feet to make them more likely to be stoked about being pounded into the ground for thousands of miles.
Dirty Girl Gaiters add sparkle as well as blister protection! These lightweight gaiters cover the opening of the shoe and the neck of the sock to prevent dirt, rocks, stickers, & bees from flopping in as you walk. Before getting a pair of these I had to wear my shoes really loosely and dump the rocks out at every break. Now my feet are less dirty at the end of the day, and I rarely have debris pile up in my shoe. My socks stay cleaner & last longer because they aren’t as gritty. If you can’t tell, I LOVE these gaiters. I’m guessing your hiker will too. You can choose from a bunch of fun patterns (they remind me of 80’s rollerskating rink outfits), and I bet she’d make up a custom pair if you found the perfect purple unicorn glitter print that she doesn’t have in stock.

Plantars Facsiitis Sleeves from Feetures! help keep my plantars Facsiitis from getting out of hand on the trail. If your hiker suffers from this form of foot misery this is a gift that has the power to turn a whole hike around. I wear mine each night as I sleep, and along with foot strengthening exercises, my PF no longer has me hobbling down the trail.

Socks!! We hikers trash socks, we need socks, we love socks! I like […]

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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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Bigfoot Trail preparation

By |June 24th, 2014|2014 posts, Bigfoot Trail, Current|Comments Off on Bigfoot Trail preparation

This Spring has been busy with things other than hiking, and I am left feeling like a pop-corn kernel about to burst. Soon (early July) my feet will touch down on the Bigfoot Trail. This trail was created by Michael Kauffmann, an adventuring botanist and author from Humboldt County, CA.

The trail highlights 32 different species of conifer in it’s 400 miles. I look forward to the scavenger hunt aspect of this trail, and will learn a whole lot about trees as I walk, not to mention maybe see Bigfoot!

The trail starts in the Yolla Bolly mountains in Mendocino County. These mountains are where I went skiing and adventuring as a kid, they are close to my home town, Willits. The Bigfoot Trail travels through the Trinity Alps and Marble Mountains before turning west through the redwoods to it’s north terminus in Crescent City. The BFT connects with the route I created in 2011, the Japhy Ryder Route, and might provide a great alternate start.

After weeks of work on the computer, my friend Treehugger and I created a map set for the Bigfoot Trail to help supplement Michael Kauffmann’s guidebook. If you are interested in the mapset contact me. Tree, her partner d=rt, and their amazing dog Justa started their hike of the Bigfoot Trail on the 24th of June, follow their blog on trail journals.

 

 

Besides spending a bunch of desk time on maps for this hike I have not been prepping much. My conditioning has consisted of gardening and building a patio, my food and resupply prep has included a couple trips the grocery outlet for bars and some time in the kitchen drying up strawberries. I expect the first week of the trail to be […]

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