Hiker Haven, almost to Canada

"Almost to Canada! I know I haven't posted an update in ages, I just haven't had time or internet access. I won't even try to summarize what an amazing journey it's been, at least not until I reach Canada and have some time to reflect, but it's been a wonderful adventure. The last few weeks I've had some especially epic days and nights, such as battling hurricane-force winds while crossing a steep mountain ridge called the knife's edge, and pulling a non- stop 45 mile day in about 25 sleepless hours. After hauling ass for so long, I'm finally relaxing at Hiker Haven near Skykomish, WA, about a week from the Canadian border. I've been hiking with some other great hikers, and I've met up with some new and old hikers here at Hiker Haven. I'll be taking it a little easier for the rest of the trip, probably only doing 25 miles or less a day. Us hikers in the rear have been hearing warnings from naysayers who have told us that horrible weather will keep us from making it to Canada, and we've heard these stories of doom and gloom almost since the beginning of the trip. We've made it this far, and weather has been beautiful the last few days, and is projected to be good for the next week or so as well, so I'm not worried. I have one more resupply stop, in Stehekin, and then on to Manning Park, near Vancouver, Canada."

Dan Africk - AnswerMan
Oct 6_th, 2010 - Mile 2476

Hiker Haven, almost to Canada

"Almost to Canada! I know I haven't posted an update in ages, I just haven't had time or internet access. I won't even try to summarize what an amazing journey it's been, at least not until I reach Canada and have some time to reflect, but it's been a wonderful adventure. The last few weeks I've had some especially epic days and nights, such as battling hurricane-force winds while crossing a steep mountain ridge called the knife's edge, and pulling a non- stop 45 mile day in about 25 sleepless hours. After hauling ass for so long, I'm finally relaxing at Hiker Haven near Skykomish, WA, about a week from the Canadian border. I've been hiking with some other great hikers, and I've met up with some new and old hikers here at Hiker Haven. I'll be taking it a little easier for the rest of the trip, probably only doing 25 miles or less a day. Us hikers in the rear have been hearing warnings from naysayers who have told us that horrible weather will keep us from making it to Canada, and we've heard these stories of doom and gloom almost since the beginning of the trip. We've made it this far, and weather has been beautiful the last few days, and is projected to be good for the next week or so as well, so I'm not worried. I have one more resupply stop, in Stehekin, and then on to Manning Park, near Vancouver, Canada."

Dan Africk - AnswerMan
Oct 6_th, 2010 - Mile 2476

Brief Update from Hiker Heaven

"I'm at Hiker Heaven, at the home turned informal hiker hostel of the increadibly generous Donna Saufley aka L-Rod. I got here yesterday and I'm enjoying being showered and wearing clean clothes and catching up on email and overindulging in high calory food. The last few days I've mostly been hiking a detour around the PCT, since a section of the PCT is closed due to a recent wildfire. Most of the detour involved road walking on a fairly desolate highway. It was very sunny with zero shade, but fortunately the wind was blowing strong and consistently all day and kept me cool. The road walking was a different experience and I welcomed the change, but I'm glad it's completed. The nice thing is that the even grade of the highway made it easy to get in a lot of mileage, the first day I woke up at 4 am, left camp by 6 and completed 25 miles by the end of the day. I also wanted to post a link to the blog of a fellow hiker named Indie, formerly known as Jersey Fresh. The past week or so we have been camping close to each other and leapfrogging each other on the trail a lot, and often hikng and taking breaks in the same spots. Indie carries an iPhone and updates his blog almost daily, and since he's been hiking the same areas at the same time as me, I think you'll find his posts and his pictures interesting. His blog is located at www.jerseyfresh.net . As a reminder, Mark continues to make blog entries around the same time as I send out emails, except his are generally more detailed and often include pictures. In between Mark's posts, his brother is guest authoring his blog and is posting some pretty good stuff, including an interactive google map showing our progress on the PCT, which is pretty cool. Once again, the link to Mark's blog is at http://marks-talesfromthetrails.blogspot.com . That's all for now. We're taking a zero day here at hiker heaven, and we'l be headed out hopefully early tomorrow morning, headed toward's the Mohave Desert. Peace, Dan."

Dan Africk - AnswerMan
Jun 13_th, 2010 - Mile 454

"I'm in Wrightwood, mile 364, making a brief stop to resupply, and I'll head out tonight or in the morning. It's been really hot the last few days, but the trail has been interesting. We had a very relaxing stop at the Deep Creek hot springs a few days ago, alternating between soaking in the hot springs and swimming in the cool river. Two days ago we passed through a highway intersection and decided to spend the night at a Best Western hotel. From the beginning both Flyboxer and I had decided to avoid motels as much as possible, mainly due to limited budgets, however it was a long, hot day(at least 90 degrees in the shade, if you could find any), so we decided to indulge. Besides, we were with another hiker who was suffering from serious dehydration and heat exhaustion, and with the hiker rate split three ways, the motel only cost $20 each. We have been experiencing a lot of trail magic the last few days. We sometimes pass through campgrounds and roads, and people often ask us about our trip and are excited to learn about our journey. I never get tired of hearing the question "where are you hiking to?" and then seeing their incredulous reaction when I reply "Canada.". People often offer us things like food, cold soda, or even cold beer! Yesterday we were offered all three, by different people throughout the day. At times it almost feels like we're being treated like celebrities, when all we're doing is hiking. When something wonderful and unexpected happens on the trail, often as a result of the kindness and generosity of complete strangers, it is called 'trail magic'. We have had a lot of trail magic lately, and I'm very grateful for it. In addition to trail magic, there are people known as 'trail angels', who selflessly help out hikers with things like rides to and from the trail, hosting hikers in their homes for free, etc. One of the great things about a trip like this is that it reaffirms my faith in the kindness and general goodwill of people, which is especially important for someone as cynical as me. Our next stop is is Agua Dulce in 90 miles, where I plan on staying at a place called Hiker Heaven. Hiker heaven is the home of some well-known trail angels who generously host up to fifty smelly hikers a night. Till next time. Peace, Dan."

Dan Africk - AnswerMan
Jun 7_th, 2010 - Mile 364

3 weeks on the trail

"Well, it's been about 3 weeks and 266 miles into the PCT, and so far it's been quite an adventure. I've experienced everything from dry deserts where I've had to carry all my water for 30 miles, to frigid and windy mountaintops to snowstorms. It's been hard to find time at a computer to compose emails or journal updates, and even harder to make time on the trail to keep a written journal, but I'm going to try to send an email every few weeks to share a few of the great experiences on the trail. Most of the trail is stunningly beautiful everywhere I look. There's lots of cool wildlife too- all kinds of lizards, a few rattlesnakes(mostly harmless and timid but a few grumpy ones) as well as other snakes, lots of birds, and one day I woke up to a nearby pack of coyotes howling early in the morning. At one spot near the trail I saw a lion, tigers, and bears all at once! Seriously. There is sanctuary for retired animals that have been used(and abused) in Hollywood and the entertainment industry located right next to the trail. Some things haven't gone exactly as planned. I started the first 2 weeks from Campo going solo, and several days later than planned, and met up with my friend Mark aka Flyboxer in Idyllwild(For detail as to why, check out his blog at marks-talesfromthetrails.blogspot.com, which will be mostly guest authored by his brother). After a 2-day detour to San Diego, we were back on the trail, but wound up in the middle of a snowstorm. This was my biggest challenge yet- the trail was buried in snow and ice, the water in our bottles was rapidly freezing, and even our own tracks were completely covered up with fresh snow within an hour or two. I had dealt with snow the day I met with Mark, and it was very challenging finding the trail, but it was nothign like this. After several hours of attempting to follow the trail, and constantly backtracking, with getting lost in the blizzard a very real possibility, we decided to head back down to Idyllwild. Once in town we learned that most PCT hikers were taking a detour around the snow, and we decided to do the same. Spending the night and morning in Idyllwild was neat. The people there are extremely friendly, even to dirty and smelly hikers like us, and people were offering us rides to and from the trail without us even asking. Since then the trail has been great, except fro one night camped near a wind farm. The wind was so loud and unrelenting that I didn't get much sleep. Otherwise it has been warm and dry, a pleasant change from the snow. We're still near the back end of the back of hikers(I'm told close to 500 are attempting the PCT this year), so we haven't seen that many other hikers yet. So far every other hiker I've met on the trail or in resupply towns has been friendly and interesting, PCT hikers really do come from all walks of life but are all cool individuals. I look forward to meeting more hikers and catching up with some of the ones I've already met."

Dan Africk - AnswerMan
May 31_st, 2010 - Mile 266

Resupply stop in Wrightwood

"I'm in Wrightwood, mile 364, making a brief stop to resupply, and I'll head out tonight or in the morning. It's been really hot the last few days, but the trail has been interesting. We had a very relaxing stop at the Deep Creek hot springs a few days ago, alternating between soaking in the hot springs and swimming in the cool river. Two days ago we passed through a highway intersection and decided to spend the night at a Best Western hotel. From the beginning both Flyboxer and I had decided to avoid motels as much as possible, mainly due to limited budgets, however it was a long, hot day(at least 90 degrees in the shade, if you could find any), so we decided to indulge. Besides, we were with another hiker who was suffering from serious dehydration and heat exhaustion, and with the hiker rate split three ways, the motel only cost $20 each. We have been experiencing a lot of trail magic the last few days. We sometimes pass through campgrounds and roads, and people often a"

Dan Africk - AnswerMan
, 0000 - Mile 0

Update from the High Sierra's

"It's been so long since I've sent an update, I'm not sure where to start. After so many weeks and miles, the days are blurred together in my memory. I wrapped up the desert sections a few weeks ago, and I'm now in the High Sierras. It was a fairly sudden transition from the desert, where virtually every decision and thought revolved around water(how much to carry, where the next source is, how reliable it is, what time of day to hike, what kind of food to eat, etc), to the Sierra Nevadas, where streams and rivers are abundant virtually everywhere, and I often have to ford waist-high, rapid streams several times a day. Gone are the daily sightings of rattlesnakes, numerous lizards, and occasional scorpion- instead I now see many marmots and other small mammals, deer, woodpeckers and many other birds. The Sierras have posed a new set of challenges. Starting at Kennedy Meadows, I've been carrying an extra 5 poun"

Dan Africk - AnswerMan
, 0000 - Mile 0