Are you planning to hike the PCT in 2020? Are you drowning in logistical overwhelm? Do you want to know what packs are most popular and trail tested, how to tape your blisters, whether bears are a real thing, and if it's possible to hike with dietary restrictions? WELL GUESS WHAT? I'm teaching an online workshop on hiking the PCT!! This four week workshop will begin Jan 4, and each week you'll receive video, written material and homework that will help u demistify and prepare for The Greatest Long Distance Trail on Earth. Click the link in my profile for the full course info, and to register! And comment below if you have any Q's! 🌝 ✨
(And thanks to @muffyjdavis for this beautiful graphic- hire her for all your graphic and website design needs! 🤩)
Long Distance Hiking Zine #4, the zine that includes my recent hike of the #LowestToHighestRoute as well as my adventures in Alaska this summer, is finally here! I've sold out of the 200 copies I usually print of my zines, so I've decided to print 50 extra! Click the link in my bio to order via paypal, or venmo $20 and your shipping address to @carrotquinn. 20k words and 10 prints from the hikes contained therein. No international orders please! And if you've already ordered a copy, yours will ship in the next few days. Thanks yall! 🌝
I remembered from the last time I hiked the #LowestToHighestRoute in its entirety, in 2014, that the 99 switchbacks up Tumanguya (aka Whitney) to its summit at 14,505 feet were the easiest part of the whole route. That can't be true, I thought, as I drank cold brew in my van at 4 a.m., shivering in all my layers. Surely this time it will be super hard.
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It wasn't. The entire #L2H had been devastating, but these good clean switchbacks cut into granite in the high thin air were glorious, transcendant, and we were ecstatic as we worked our way up them, amazed at the energy we had in our bodies. What an incredible thing it is, to have a body. Standing on the summit, I couldn't believe I'd actually been able to finish this route again. Bodies are full of surprises. Life is full of surprises. I take what comes, but I don't hold on to it. ✨
I walked down from the mountain in a daze, the fatigue finally hitting me like a bag of sand. The descent seemed to take twice as long as the climb, and it was dark when we reached the parking lot. In Lone Pine we ate chinese food, shaking with fatigue.
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We'd driven to Whitney Portal to hike to the summit because our permits were for that day, so we still needed to do the 11 mile roadwalk from Lone Pine to Whitney Portal. The next morning we slept leisurely until dawn and bought coffee for the walk. We set out along the shoulder of the road, and the pavement turned easily beneath me. This is the only paved roadwalk that doesn't suck, I thought, as I played Cardi B on my phone and ate gummies. The last few miles were on trail, out of the sagebrush and up into a forest of flaming aspens. Our terminus was Pilar's car, which we'd left in the whitney portal parking lot. We all placed a hand on the trunk. I felt like crying.
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The L2H is gr8. It is 135 miles and 30k ft of elevation gain- in 3 big climbs. It has lots of varied cross country and chill dirt roads. It is cold and it is hot. The water carries are long. Thanks again to Brett Tucker @grandenchantmenttrail for creating it.
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📍The #L2H is on Shoshone and Paiute land. For more info on this area, give @indigenouswomenhike a follow- much of their work is based in this area.
A six thousand foot descent off the crest of the Inyos stood between us and the Carls Jr in Lone Pine. My body was a symphony of foot pain, chafe, and the itchy hives that had spread across my whole body (for some reason). We picked our way down steep scree into Long John Canyon, watching light spread across the high sierras. On a whim, @plantstho_ went online to check and see if there were any permits available for summiting Tumanguya. There hadn't been any in the month we'd been looking, but for some bonkers reason, there were four available for tomorrow. He reserved the permits as fast as he could, fumbling with his phone. We'd been coming up w alternate ideas- summiting a different 14er? Ending in Lone Pine? But now we could just do the dang hike, which felt good.
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Our burgers, when we got them, were incredible. Afterwards I wandered the grocery store in Lone Pine in a daze. Which gummies for our summit hike? Which cold brew? I took a shower at the hostel and the hot water was brutal on my mystery hives. We drove my van into the desert, and everyone spread their bedrolls in the dirt. We set our alarms for a 4 a.m. wakeup. I knew I would be too amped to sleep.
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There are 30 zines still available from my hike this year of the #LowestToHighestRoute ! 20k words, 10 prints of my photos from the route. They ship Nov 6! Click the link in my bio to order via paypal, or send $20 and your shipping address via venmo to @carrotquinn. No international orders plz. Thank you! 🤠
📍The L2H is on Shoshone and Pauite land
The caretaker of the ghost town, Robert, shared his water with us. I asked after the chihuahua I met here in 2014.
"Oh Harley?" Said Robert. "He's in town with my wife. She hurt her back, can't live up here no more. How old do you think I am?"
We stared blankly.
"I'm eight years til eighty, that's how old. Stayin active, that's the thing." He hooked his thumbs into the beltloops of his jeans. His wore a wool plaid vest and his face was ruddy from the sun. "I got five guns. Government gives me bullets, so I can protect this place." He squinted at the sky. "Sun's gettin low. I'll get back to splittin wood so you all can get goin. Gonna get cold tonight."
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The forecasted low was 28 degrees. We took our leave and hustled along the ridge, watching then sun set over Tumangaya (Mt Whitney), which was still bare of snow. We didn't have permits to summit yet, and we weren't sure how we would get them. I put on all my layers, wondering if I would be warm enough tonight. If we hiked late we could reach the abandoned cabin next to the old salt tram. We might be able to sleep there. We'd be a bit warmer.
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40 copies of my zine from this year's hike of the #LowestToHighestRoute are still available! They ship Nov 6. 20k words and 10 prints of my photos. Click the link in my bio to order via paypal, or venmo $20 and yr shipping address to @carrotquinn. No international orders plz. Thank u! 🤠
📍The #L2H is on Shoshone and Paiute land
We took a day off in Panamint springs. My body hurt so bad I could barely walk- the muscle soreness of climbing up and over Telescope ridge combined with the joint and foot pain of a 25 mile day on the flat, hot Panamint valley. ✨
We napped in the campground, ate candy, and talked about generational trauma. The next morning I felt brand new.
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The scramble out of Darwin falls was spicy, mostly because we kept losing the route and getting cliffed out. There is no track or accurate description for the climb out of Darwin falls, and I hope it stays that way forever. There's nothing like wandering in a steep canyon, trying to solve the puzzle of how to get out. It's perfect.
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We gathered water from amongst the huge goldfish in China Garden Spring, letting them nibble our fingers. We exchanged gummies under the huge cottonwood tree. We climbed out onto a broad expanse of Joshua trees and volcanic rock, and wandered over the earth to our cache. An animal had gotten into one of our gallons. We split the rest and walked until after dark. Lightening came and went. We threw down our bedrolls in the dirt and slept, the cold wind billowing our sleeping bags.
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There are still zines available from this hike of the #LowestToHighestRoute ! They ship Nov 6. 20k words, 10 photo prints. Click the link in my profile to order via paypal, or venmo $20 and yr shipping address to @carrotquinn. No international orders plz. Thank you! ✨
📍The #L2H is on Shoshone and Paiute land
