Well folks, there you have it. I have finished the thing that I began so many years ago. After four months and twenty days of hiking, resting, walking and hiking, we arrived on the 12th of September in Manning Park, British Columbia. Some numbers for you that I have run through my head:
Number of steps from Mexico to Canada (roughly): 5,000,000
Number of states: 3.
Number of days in California (roughly): 100
Number of days in Oregon and Washington (roughly): 40.
Average walking speed: 3.3 miles per hour.
Fastest push: 15 miles through the Goat Rocks Wilderness at 4.3 miles per hour.
Longest day: 40.0 miles.
Coldest night: 0 degrees farenheight.
Highest elevation: 13,200 feet (Forester Pass).
Lowest elevation: 160 feet (just north of Cascade Locks, in Washington).
Anyway, those are some numbers. I could keep going on, but I won't.

The other thing I wanted to accomplish with this post is to say thanks to all the people that have helped me to finish. You know who you are, but the first thanks that I can think of go out to my dear parents. Without both of your support, I could have never had the confidence to think of doing this trip, let alone be able to complete it. Thanks to my dad also for making the lengthy trip all the way up to Ashland, OR just to see me and to help out. Thanks to my friends for being supportive, and doing all the strange tasks that I've thrown at them ("...can you look up X, hold this package for me...etc..."). Thanks to all the donors that have donated their money and support. The success of AIDSHike this year has convinced me to take it to the next level next year, and the next. I'll be harassing you shortly.

Would I do this trip again? Hard to say at this point. It was a lot of hard work. I do plan on undertaking the AT in '07, so that should be pretty sweet. Am I glad I that I did it? Absolutely. It was amazing, and life changing.

And now, I must integrate back into life. My friends are growing weary at the fact that I'm typing a journal entry while I should be hanging out.

Well, we've taken a side trip to Seattle because, well, it just kind of worked out this way. We're here for bumbershoot though, which is one of Seattle's big festival/concert things. Strangely, I was in Seattle at this time last year. We're going to go to the REI here, and check it out, and we're going to get lots of food. So far, I have had a ton of good food. You just can not find good stuff while on the trail. You have to make your way into cities. Not sure why.

Being in a city is very strange. This is the furthest that we have been from the trail in the past four months, and cars and people are very strange to see in such numbers. Everybody looks the same, and crossing the street has never instilled quite so much fear in me. I'm realizing though just how much this trip is changing me. I see all these people, and I know that I have to do what I want to as soon as possible. It almost seems like people just start living, and forget variety. Routines become life, and regularity the rule. Getting back into such a life is going to be challenging, but I know I will soon need money, and that work is gonig to be the way to get it.

Back on the trail though, the last nine days have been great. Washington is amazingly beautiful, and is the first place to rival the Sierras. It's tough hiking though. In the last eight days, we've done about 250 miles, including our longest day yet, 40.0 miles. We're struggling hard to get these miles done, but the finish line is so close these days that doing consistent 30's seems very worth it. If all goes as planned, we have nine days of hiking left. Nine. That's just not that many days. After that, life will call. Very strange.

This isn't to say though that I don't want to get back to life off the trail. I am going to be glad to be done. Months of pain and effort with no breaks are beginning to wear on me finally, and to be able to relax and sleep in will be great. We realized that we haven't slept in once during the trip, and that we work every day from sunrise to sunset. Eight hours of sleep is considered enough, even though we really do need more to refresh our muscles. It's possible we're pushing too hard, but I think we just need to get the trip done. I'm excited to be finishing.

Well folks, Oregon is behind us. I guess it took us a little over two weeks to cross all 490 miles of it. Not too shabby really. All in all, I give Oregon a B+. While it was short, and had some great highlights, there were times that it was trees, trees, trees for rather extended periods of time. A couple more views, and it would have gotten an A.

Today though, today gets an A+. Probably one of the best days on the trail. We woke up with Panda and Gloves, a couple of northbound hikers that have caught us, and shared camp with us last night, and then started north. Within a few hours, we hit a view point from which Washington first showed her colors. In the distance, from this one spot, we could see, Mount Adams, St. Helens, and Rainier. A few hours later, we hit the Eagle Creek Trail, which is the one place we didn't follow the actual PCT. We took the alternate route, and the waterfalls were spectacular. Tunnel Falls was especially awesome. You go right behind the falls. Fantastic. After walking along this route for several hours, we eventually came into Cascade Locks, where the BRIDGE OF THE GODS was waiting to take us across the Columbia River into Washington.

Tonight, we plan to do some resupply work for all of Washington, and then we will head out. If we average 30 miles every day for the rest of the trip, we will be done on the 16th of September, so that is our goal. It may be a bit challenging, but we're awesome these days. With little extra effort, we logged our longest day ever a few days ago: 37.3 miles. The next day, we did 33, so it didn't really take much out of us. We're hoping to do at least one 40 once we get new shoes in Stablers. It should be a good day. That is all.

Not a whole lot of news to report, but we are in mid-Oregon these days. We've done 30+ miles per day since Ashland, and should be done rather soon; in fact, we have begun our celebration schedule planning. Oregon is actually much nicer than I had imagined it to be. I had heard that it would be a rather drab place with no real views, but it is quite to the contrary. The views are spectacular, the lakes are everywhere, and things just keep getting better and better. Today for example, we crossed a lava flow, which, though painful on the feet, was amazing. It's about five miles long, and half a mile wide. Pure lava rock with nothing growing in it. Yesterday, we passed obsidian falls area, which has obsidian everywhere. I have been hoping to see the stuff for months, and finally it is everywhere. It's like walking through a glass field at times.

Other than all this, there really isn't much else to report. I like Oregon, and I hear that Washington is even better. No mosquitoes at this time, no snow, no rain. Things go well.

I hate to say it, but my ingrown toenail has bled everyday since tahoe. It simply isn't healing. I just need another 700 miles out of it. That's not so bad, right? I think it might be getting better...it's getting no worse...

We are in Oregon. I have one minute to type. Things go well, but public internet is annoying. Bye.

Well, it's been a long time folks. Far too long really, and for that I must apologize. I know you've all been on needles and pins waiting for the latest entry. There is good reason though for my lack of entries. At this point, we are travelling fast, and we haven't been in town with time to blow since Lake Tahoe, 500 miles south of here.

One day out of Tahoe, we saw Rookie (aka Tim), Cypress and Country heading south. They had decided to skip out at the southern end of the Sierras, and go to Ashland, Oregon. Before they skipped out, we had been hiking with them on and off, and they were a great bunch of guys. We hadn't really seen very many hikers since we entered the Sierras, so we decided that we would try to meet them in Ashland, when they finished the Sierras, and flopped back up there. It's all very confusing really. The point though, is that they were cool, and they had told us that they were going to be back in Ashland, heading north on the 10th of August, and that they would see us then.

We did some math. From Tahoe, to get to Ashland, we would have to average 25 miles every day in order to get there by the 10th. Now, doing 25 once is no problem. Doing 30 once is no problem. However, when you consider that it takes about a day to get into town, get food and get out again, things start to get tricky. Is it possible to hitch into town, resupply and hitch back out all in the same day you hike 25 miles? Yes. But it's hard. Quite so. In fact, we only managed that once I think, and all the other times we've managed 25 per day by doing 30's and 35's on the days that we don't go into towns. Anyway, it's been hard.

So, what's happened during the past 500 miles? A lot has. We saw all of the poeople that flipped to Ashland, and proceeded to see those that flipped to the Canadian border. It was good to see all these people again, and they all saw us, and informed us that we had easy miles ahead. I wouldn't say the miles have been easy, but they're falling fast. We now have 1,050 to go. That's like nothing. Oregon. Washington. I shrug at these states. SHRUG!

What else is new? I got an ingrown toenail before we hit Tahoe. I was briefly afraid that it would require a doctor, but it looks like it's taking care of itself. Every night, and every morning I drain out the pressure that builds in it though. Soon it will be healed, and all will revel in my ability to hike without foot pain. Which brings me to my next subject, one of much importance. I have switched shoes. I began the trip in Vasque Velocity shoes, and they were good for a while. I found though that if I didn't put $40 insoles into them, they weren't comfortable, and that wasn't cutting it, so after my third pair of them, I switched. I now have size 14 Brooks Cascadia shoes, and they are much better at this point. They seem to have better foot support and much better cushioning. Oh, and the important part about them, they are bright yellow. They put a smile on my face almost every morning since I got them. Bright Yellow - look them up online somewhere.

Not a whole lot else to report I guess. The past miles have been hot, and the last couple days have been a little rainy, which is interesting because Zip and I have gotten rid of our shelter for the time being. If it rains at night, we have decided to just start hiking. It could get messy. The scenery is great, and we entered the Cascades a few hundred miles ago.

Oh, I almost forgot, our party is up to three. Myself, Zip and Smiley. I may have mentioned him before now. He's an Israeli that we have been rolling with for the past hundred miles or so. Very cool guy. Smart, funny, etc.

We have a finish date. September 13. That allows us five zero days, one every 200 miles or so, and 25 mile days, which I imagine should be easy through Oregon and Washington. From what I hear, 30's aren't hard to do. Rock and Roll.

I finally got a message from the NPS about the body that we found. Makes you think about all the risks you take in the backcountry. Read on: The body of a 64 year old male was recovered Monday, June 27, from Evolution Lake in Kings Canyon National Park.

McClure Backcountry Ranger Kenan received a report Sunday, June 26 of a red backpack floating in Evolution Lake in the northeast part of Kings Canyon National Park. The ranger hiked to the location to assess the situation, and tried to recover the backpack. The pack was too far from shore and the water too cold to allow safe retrieval. Additional rangers were flown to the remote lake the next day with wetsuits and cold water equipment. As the helicopter flew over the lake the rangers could see the backpack was still attached to a submerged body. The body was retrieved and turned over to the Fresno County Medical Examiners office. The hiker was carrying appropriate equipment and enough food for a multi-day cross country trek through rugged terrain, and was still wearing snowshoes when he was recovered from the lake.

Well folks, the snow is no more. We do hike through it, and it is good clean fun, but understand this - We will never again be above 10,000 feet of elevation while on this trip. It's done. The high Sierras are behind us. We've pushed through. Here's the interesting thing. Now that we're in a substantial town (South Lake Tahoe), we can actually see how many people are in front of us this year. There are six people in front of us this year that have signed the register, or that we know about. Last year at this time, according to a volunteer ranger that did the math, 91 people had been through already. There's an indicator for you. It is with pride that we can say we hiked the high sierras in 2005. Now that we are through them, I would like to do a quick ode, explaining just why they were so bad, as I never did so before.

The snow is so bad for a number of reasons. Let me think. There are two kinds of snow that can I think of. Hard snow, and soft snow. Neither is to be trusted, and both have a mean side and a friendly side. The advantage of hard snow is that it will support your weight most of the time, without giving way, and leaving you up to your knees, or waist. The down side of hard snow is that it is very dangerous when it is tilted at all, as one small slide can turn into a longer one, and before you know it, you could be sliding down a mountain. The soft snow is nice because you get some traction on it, but unlike the hard stuff, it will leave you up to your knees on every 20th step. So you see, what we had was a damned if you do, damned if you don't kind of situation. Hold on though, it was worse than all that. Not only did we have hard and soft snow, but we had sun cups. Miles and miles of sun cups. For the uninitiated, sun cups are what happens when the snow starts to melt. As it does so, it forms dips and rises that leave you jumping from one to the next, sliping down one, and climbing up the next, all day long. Sun cups are the bain of all existence. Bain. Oh, there's one more thing horrible about snow - patches of it. As you enter snowy areas, the snow starts to form patches. These aren't your little pansy ones. No. These are three feet high, and you have to climb them, only to jump off their backside moments later. These will really take it out of you. Up three feet, down two. Up two, down two. Etc. Don't forget that snow makes the trail impossible to find too. You just have to follow ridges and lakes - if there are good ones to go by that is. If not, you stare at the compass and GPS for a while.

And so it is, that upon this 11th of July, that I say goodbye snow. Fare thee well.

Not a whole lot of news from the last section that hasn't been covered in the numerous other postings I've just put up, but we are now in South Lake Tahoe, and things are going well. Zip's mom and two sisters have met us here, and they've put us up in a nice hotel, and we've been living it up. It's a good thing too, cause it looks like this is the last town that we will be in for a while. From here, we are sending ourselves food to two other sections, as there simply won't be food where we're going.

I can't really remember the last section particularly well. Not sure why. Lots of volcanic rocks, and weird magma towers.

Mike's birthday is coming up, and I gave him his new .9L Evernew Titanium Pot, and his mom got him some poles that he needed, and he got some socks from his dad. He's doing well as far as new gear goes.

The wind has picked up again. I hate wind. It is a nemesis. That said, snowcups are a thing of the past, so I can live with some wind. Next stop Sierra City. We should get there late Saturday evening, so if you are stalking us, now's your chance (hint, hint).

Sorry to have taken so long between updates. Things have been busy, and Internet access hard to come by. Very hard to come by.

Let's see, last I wrote, I was in YMCA camp with what has come to be known as the "puking death." As fate should have it, after 12 or so hours of puking, one reaches the recovery stage, during which time one can resume eating. However, remember that we hikers eat food like none other. More than two pounds of it a day I'd wager. So when we get the puking death, it means trouble. After not eating for 24 hours or so, we were damned hungry, and we ate. Too much in fact, which resulted in the backlash of the puking death. I'll spare you the details, but know that we got through the section from YMCA to VVR without too much further problems. As a matter of fact, in a way it was good that Zip and I were laid up because it knocked us down a notch, leaving Boothe as the strongest hiker.

Unfortunately though, that was not to last. After the first day on the trail, the altitude and sudden 6,000 foot climb out of King's Canyon were wearing on him. After the next couple days, the crown of his foot was hurting for some unexplainable reason. We marched on, but after having left VVR, the ankle on his other foot began hurting a lot from being abused in the snow, and he actually had to bail out at Red's Meadow, take the bus to Mammoth Lakes, and then somehow get to his brother's house in Eugene, OR from there. Word has it that he got a ride through Yosemite with a guy known only as MacGuyver, and that he had made it to his brother's house successfully. It was good having him along, but unfortunate that the Sierras bested him.

Speaking of such things, I am happy to say that it looks like the worst of the snow, rivers, mountains etcetera are all behind us. There shall be no more days spent entirely above 10,000 feet of elevation, and there shall be no more nights so cold that our shoes freeze. We took some risks to get across these mountains, but it seems we have made it. What's more, we rolled over our 1,000th mile yesterday. It was a good day.

Other interesting updates that I have to report are that we did some hiking with a guy named DJ, who also made his own gear, and he was actually quite an interesting fellow to roll with. Sadly though, his ankle died on him, and he had to bail out at VVR. He too shall be missed. We bumped into a hiker named Smiley that we had met some time ago while we were in Tuolumne meadows, and he was doing well, though the only reason we caught him after taking eight days off the trail was that he had gotten shin spints before hitting VVR. These mountains are mean. He seems to be doing well though as of now.

The final piece of news news is that it seems we found a...hmmm...how best to put this...a dead hiker. Coming down off of Muir Pass (where we encountered a small blizzard), we were passing by Evolution Lake when Zip saw something floating towards the middle of it. He says, "hey, what's that?" I take a long look, and say, "I don't know. It doesn't look good though. Looks like a pack." We decide to take a closer look, and as it should turn out, it was a pack. Eventually, the four of us (Boothe, Zip, DJ and I) got down to a ranger station and reported it, as the lake was still mostly frozen, and our attempts to get at the pack were less than fruitful. I just followed up with the station, and all they could tell me as of now is that it was a 61 year old male, and that they were attempting to contact his relatives. It seems he was out alone, trying to cross frozen Evolution Lake, when he fell through. Unfortunate.

While I'm on the rather dark and sad subject of missing/dead hikers, the rumor mill has it that they found the hiker that was missing after trying to go over Fuller Ridge. He was not looking well. However, that said, the rumor mill also has it that the person they really found was actually somebody that had been missing much longer (I heard as long as seven years), and that the missing thru-hiker was still missing.

Moving on...the last few sections have been awesome. We pushed through Yosemite, resupplied at Tuolumne, and are now in Bridgeport. Our next stop is South Lake Tahoe, where we will celebrate Zip's birthday early, as that's where his gift shall be arriving. What could it be? I can say it here. It's a .9L Evernew Titanium pot. We both have bigger sizes, and they are too big. Smaller ones cometh. If anybody tells him somehow, I'll be both impressed and shocked.

I should be able to do an entry from there, but it looks like these are going to be fewer and less regular. From here on out, we are taking fewer zeros, pushing harder, and the towns are getting smaller with less internet. Se la vie baby.