About Us
Hi there! We are Gabi and Dave and we like to play in the mountains.
Currently, we are in the midst of preparation for another long distance hike along the PCT. Tag along as we start our journey from Kennedy Meadows on June21st, 2018. We are hoping to finish a 500-mile section through Sierra Mountain Range and North California that we chose to skip last year when high volume snowmelt deemed it unsafe and we are also excited about the idea of re-hiking some sections of our home state WA which we only saw through layers of thick smoke last year.
The navigation menu on the top will help you to get a quick overview of our trips. We will frequently post new adventures, gear reviews, and backcountry recipes.
Best of luck with you PCT prep!
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Thank you!
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Hey – I think you have a great blog. I am showing my ignorance, here … I reluctantly admit … What is PCT? I’ll be back to visit. Peace, T
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Hi there. PCT stands for Pacific Crest Trail. It’s 2660 miles long trail that starts at border with Mexico and ends up in Canada.
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Good luck on the PCT! I can’t wait to hear about your newest adventures!
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Thanks for following Sawyer’s adventures! Looking forward to reading about your hikes! ~Uschi
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Thanks for stopping by my blog post Winter Wonderland! I see that we’ve covered some of the same territory. Give me a shout if you’re in the vincinity and maybe we can connect in person! Great images of Lime Kiln!
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I think that your adventure is truly admirable and inspirational.
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I enjoyed reading about your adventure on the Alta Via 2. My husband and I are planning on hiking it this summer, and your beautiful photos and trail description make me want to be there now. I am similar to you in that I love to hike, but I do not really enjoy highly technical and/or adrenaline-inducing trails. We did the JMT last summer, which I see you have hiked as well. How would you compare the two trails in terms of scenery and difficulty? You mentioned clipping up a few times. What type of equipment did you have for that? How heavy is it? Any advice/words of wisdom are greatly appreciated!
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Hi Alison, both Alta Via 2 and the JMT hold incredible beauty. They will take you high into incredible alpine terrain and then drop you deep into valleys where your eyes can feast on greenery and wildflowers, and lively streams. JMT is longer but technically I found it less demanding. Unless you do it early in the season when there is still lots of snow around, you are more or less on the trail the entire time, and even the route to the summit of Mt. Whitney is a walk up. You can’t always say the same of Alta Via 2. Once in a while the trail will lead you to a cliff band and you have to climb that cliff up in order to be able to continue. The most dangerous sections would have irons posts drilled into the rock that hold a metal rope. You can use protection here. The idea is that if you slipped, you are clipped in, and you would only fall as far as the post bellow you. What kind of protection you use depends on your comfort level. I saw people who used none. I would not recommend that. I saw people who brought 2 carabiners on rope tied to a loop which they girth hitched to their pack belt. I would not feel completely secure with that set up either. Dave and I purchased Via Ferrata set for the purpose of climbing these sections (which are also refered to as Via Ferrata). You can get one from Backcountry.com We also brought our alpine harness and girth hitched the Via Ferrata set into it. For added safety we also used our climbing helmets. Somewhere between 2 – 3 lb of gear. The routes along Alta Via 2 are relatively easy, usually with plenty of handholds and footholds to use. I would not recommend attempting them directly after a rainfall though. The limestone gets very slippery when wet.
Hope this helps. Give me a shout if I can help further.
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Thanks so much for all of the detailed information. I think I will feel more comfortable with some security, so I will look into picking up a Via Ferrata set. What else did you carry in your packs besides clothes and cameras? A sleeping bag? Was it tough to climb up to the cliff band with a pack on your back?
Have you ever done Half Dome? We did that this summer at the end of the JMT (heading northbound). I only did it because we were lucky to have the permit and because I had built up my confidence on the JMT. I thought it was really scary, but I did it. I am not sure I ever need to do it again, though! We will be hiking the Tour du Mont Blanc and the Haute Route in Switzerland before attempting this, so I am hoping I will be up to this challenge by then!
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We climbed Half Dome as well. I described the experience in my book I Had a Dream, I Lived it in more detail but shortly said, I found the actual climb much easier that I imagined it to be. It surprised me quite a bit. 🙂
Sleeping bags were not necessary on Alta Via 2, all the Refugios provided covers. We brought sleeping bag liners though, and we were happy to have them. Other than that we carried our regular day hiking essentials – extra layers including rain gear, gloves and hat, map, compass, food, water, first aid kit. We backpack frequently and occasionally scramble with full overnight packs so the weight of my day pack was not an issue on the Alta Via trail but I can see that for somebody who is not used to carrying weight, their pack could feel little awkward. I wouldn’t worry about it much though, if you are hiking couple other routes prior to the trip, your body will have time to adjust to the weight. Just make sure everything fits inside your pack. You don’t want anything dangling on the outside that could get caught on a rock or the via ferrata wire.
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