back into the wild

Day 69

After nearly a week long hiatus, we have returned. Our home -- a two foot by 2700 mile stretch of land -- was well missed. We got out to the trail with ease thanks to a couple guys who gave us a ride out of their way almost right to the trail.

As we walked the little bit to the trail, we were greeted by a PCT North sign, and we had a last arrived. Luckily, there is a bathroom, garbage, and bear can here. So our transition is smooth sailing. We are excited to be in the beautiful Yosemite, and are excited for the upcoming stretch. We have about two weeks of tough hiking, and then we will be rewarded with seeing our lovely girlfriend again. My girlfriend is flying out to lake Tahoe, and we will be there for a few days, while Andy goes into Palo Alto to see a buddy of his. A few days later his girlfriend will be flying into San Fran, and I'll be hanging out in Palo Alto.

We also got word that our good friend Jesse who we met in Bishop will be joining us for the final stretch into lake Tahoe. The best part? He's bringing a horse. That's going to be a great week of hiking!

Back to the trail, back to our home, and back to the difficulties and beauties we face daily.

Time for this weeks PCT critter of the week!

The illusive rainbow trout

While we have seen these guys swimming around in streams and brooks on the trail, that are quite frightful. The rainbow trout are broken up into two categories, sea-run, and freshwater. The sea-run trout are not the kind we see as they go in and out of sea water. They go back into freshwater to spawn where they were born. The freshwater folk are the ones we try to nab. However, they are super tiny. Only about 6 to 8 inches. Definitely not legal to fish, but since we are using them as sustenance, not sport, I think it's ok. So far they have out smarted us, and we haven't had any luck. But, with Jesses fishing rig, and power bait for trout, we are hoping to have better luck on this stretch!

-- Ian