pines in the mist

the pine forests smell amazing as you walk through. there are heaps of different kinds of pines. often while we're up in the mountains mists come rushing through rapidly - can look very dramatic.















there are all these things that i was thinking i wanted to post while hiking yesterday, but now there are people lurking behind me wanting to use the computer and i can't think of any of it. the last three days we've walked 30, 30, 25 to get here to the saufley's. that's 48km two days in a row, then a 40. which potentially sounds big, but it's mostly an amazingly good track...

mt baden powell

i've just figured out that the formatting i've been doing on these to make the photos line up with the text doesn't seem to work anyway.... this is drop dead and annie above me climbing baden powell. it's about 9399 feet - 2864m or something...













i think this is speed bump. you can't really get a feel for how steep it was. it was steep.






this is one of the views from the top. i should have taken a photo looking out the other way because it was back down to the desert. seems surreal, these snow covered mountains dropping straight down to the desert...

this is drop dead and speed bump at the top. after all that snow most the top was bare...

in wrightwood with no jacket

we hiked up over a ski resort, and caught a hitch into wrightwood. wrightwood is mile 369. i was really hoping my down jacket would be at the post office here, but no go...
this is annie in the underpass under the interstate...

there were hot springs along the way... i stayed in way too long and by the time i got out it was freezing out and i stilll had to put up my tent...

this is balls and sunshine. sunshine is 11 and intending to hike the whole way to canada...

these are called the mormon rocks...

the path switchbacks up mountains, often snaking in and out of gullies and canyons. there are almost constantly amazing views...

often there's drifts of pine cones sitting in the gullies or along the path...

last night we went out to karaoke and i sang the obligatory down under song - we all sang 500 miles together... 9 of us are staying at a chick called courtney's house - sleeping on the floor, and drop dead cooked us all pancakes for breakfast...

another irrelevant bit of info... alex can run a 2:40 marathon. that's pretty fast...

some more random shots...

will write about these in a bit, but presently heading out to a karaoke bar in wrightwood...

we were freezing at the pass trying to get a hitch - and we got in to this diner... first example of grits, a southern delicacy apparently - and home fries, so warming - my kneecaps stopped shaking violently...

can't actually remember which mountain this is, maybe san gorgino, but in the last section there's been a lot of snowy looking mountains, walked around one today in fact...

so i've actually seen 8 rattle snakes now, and this is not a particularly good shot, but this is a rattler i saw same day as the bear and rabbit with weird ears...
this is a crazy hare i saw in the desert after whitewater... great ears.

ok, so i know it's a bad shot, he was running pretty fast, but this is my first bear. the other night i was hiking alone, had accidentally overshot my friends, and they were several miles behind, following my footsteps, and overlaying my prints were possibly a mountain lion's...

thanks so much for the comments

hey i really appreciate the comments etc from 'home' - feel a good sense of connectedness. i often don't have enough connection, time, battery or skill with my phone to actually write anything, but i can often read comments even while i'm up in the mountains - so thank you heaps, i really appreciate it.
think it was -5° here last night... going to be a chilly few days ahead.

well...

this is drop dead. he's an incredibly suave, dapper, erudite individual who wears a tie every day while hiking...






and this is another amazing example of american cuisine... the old sausage in a pancake on a stick... wiz talked me into eating this in my quest for american experiences. it was about as evil as it sounds...







and this is where the dude was originally attempting to jump out of the helicopter...








ok, so i was going to add all these pictures - and tell you about how i saw my first bear (so so exciting), but staying up late always makes me a target for late night philosophising, and once again i have been derailed by a conversation about social structures, religion and our responsibility to humanity...

these are shots of where we slept after the rescue. great sleep that night - perfect temperature..

conversations

this does not capture in any way the conversations, thoughts or ethos of the trail, but i've been meaning to mention a little of the culture... (i've just scan read this - not sure if it makes sense - it's quite late for a hiker - especially one who rose at 5 after a frigid night in the wind and ice)

i've had really interesting conversations about freedom, and truth, and what beauty really looks like. i've had conversations about the nature of God and the universe, and the substance of organised religion, and the operation and responsibility of human society...

it's an interesting culture to be part of. it's incredibly diverse, and yet there are these common threads. it's more welcoming than most environments, and there's this belief in humanity - especially in the members of the trail community - and a desire to see others succeed...

at some level most of these people deny the essence of goodness, and yet they have a better handle on the basics of love and freedom than most of society. there's a real sense of building into others, and looking out for others. there's a deep appreciation of beauty and a genuine sense of wonder and delight in good things. often there seems to be a serious quest after freedom.

there's another side of course, the side that degrades humanity, and denies truth. but still, there's an element here - hard to define - but people who are really living - and not of course to the degree they could be, but living freer and more wildly than many people ever manage to. i think there's something to be captured in this, without letting the stuff that diminishes or degrades pollute that goal.

i was going to write more here, but people keep chatting to me...