Rlhdancer - Other Trail Journal - 2021

View: 1  2  3 
(Click image for full size)


Ready to depart Pleasanton CA

On the road to Montana

On the road to Montana

Last year, during the height of the Covid19 pandemic, Two Step and I (Split) became weary of our somewhat enforced lockdown, and decided that a couple week backpacking hike would get us out of the house and away from the virus. We headed for Kings Canyon National Park and were soon backpacking the Big SEKI (Sequoia and Kings Canyon) Trail. You can find our discussion on that trail by navigating below to our Other Trail 2020 journal below.
That backpacking trip was a mental and physical reset during a challenging time. But soon we found ourselves in the middle of another natural disaster. A record 4 million acres of California forests burned, including those adjacent to our hometown of Pleasanton, California. So again we packed up and enjoyed a yo-yo hike of Nevadas Ruby Crest Trail. While our hometown recorded the worst air quality in the world, we enjoyed only slightly smokey views of golden Aspen, blue lakes, towering mountains, and far away plains.
We had hoped that by summer 2021, which is now, the pandemic would be well behind us. However, with the delta variant, lower than desired vaccination rates, and apparently on the cusp of another wave of infections, we have prepared for another set of backpacking trips.
The first trips we will do are short backpacks through the Bob Marshall Wilderness. We will start this trip with Andy and Amy Auble - nephews and nieces who share our Ohio background, and like us have ventured westward.
Our second trip, starting on August 17th and lasting for about a week, will be a backpack around Mt Rainer on the Wonderland Trail.

We are driving from our Pleasanton home to Bozeman Montana to meet up with Andy and Amy to start this summers adventures. We left Pleasanton yesterday, on July 12th, and drove to Elko, NV. Elko was coincidentally the closest town to last years Ruby Crest Trail. Today we are driving to Butte Montana passing over the Continental Divide Trail outside of Lima, Montana, bringing back fond memories of the end of our 2017 CDT hike and the start of our completion of the CDT in 2018. We enjoy road trips leading up to our backpacking adventure, and we spent most of this trip listening to the Podcast The Richest Hill, a fascinating view of Buttes history as a major Copper producer and more recent superfund status and ongoing cleanup.

From the road in Butte MT,
Split and Two Step

Entry 1 of 22
First :: Previous :: Next  :: Last