Category: Places

I woke Thursday morning to temperatures hovering around freezing, cold as hell in Blair Valley. Struggling to gain the motivation to pack up my gear and begin heading out, I delayed as the sun rose. Within hours, I would be setting off on a planned nine day adventure to finally complete the Anza Borrego Badlands Route that I had been working on for the last year, taking over 180 miles of hiking and another 25 miles of hitchhiking to complete a full loop through the desert.

Following an 80 mile attempt at a long route through the badlands of Anza Borrego Desert State Park in March, I have continued working on lengthening that route. As I explored potential avenues, I created a long loop exploring the badlands. On Friday, November 22, I set out to attempt the new route, ultimately completing a shortened 111.41 mile version of it.

After a few months with family, I finally got back out on the trail this weekend. On Friday, October 18, I set off once again on the California Riding and Hiking Trail through Joshua Tree National Park. While I completed this same trail earlier this year, I decided to instead yo-yo it this time (i.e. complete it in both directions), plus add some side-trips. In total, I completed 86.5 miles.

On June 1, I headed to Southwestern Oregon and hopped on to the Rogue River Trail. Having a nearby outfitter shuttle my car to the end the following day, I hiked the 39.5 mile trail between Grave Creek Boat Ramp and Foster Bar over the weekend.

In April, I went up to Joshua Tree National Park to hike the section of the California Riding and Hiking Trail that makes its way through the park. The trail totals about 35 miles per the mileage on my topo map. Really, a great short thru-hike that would serve great for those new to desert backpacking, with the appropriate planning.

I have been staring out over the different badlands around Anza Borrego Desert State Park and Ocotillo Wells SVRA for years now. For the last few, a thought has been stirring endlessly in my mind: there must be a route through it all! Well, with some staring at maps and working on Google Earth, I made a prototype route and set out to give it a try.

On February 21, I hopped aboard a boat to Catalina, where I spent 4 days hiking the Trans-Catalina Trail. Officially, the TCT is a 38.5 mile trek across Catalina island. I began in Avalon and hiked to Two Harbors, before continuing on to Parsons Landing for one night and taking the boat back to the mainland.

On January 5th, I set off on another adventure on the San Diego Trans-County Trail. This time I did the hike solo, and tried to squeeze it in between a couple of storms. It was an amazing experience, and a wonderful opportunity for me to reflect on a challenging year now behind me.

After finishing the Loowit Trail, I was tempted to take a month off of hiking altogether, but after a good week of rest, I decided to go on and do another hike! Unfortunately, so much smoke blew into Washington, I ended up retreating into Oregon. Fortunately, that ended up meaning doing a 37 mile loop in the Eagle Cap Wilderness!

While doing research on hikes in the PNW further, I ran into the Loowit Trail, which circles all of the way around Mount St Helens. A couple of years ago, I visited this mountain for the first time and fell in love with it in a special way, so I was especially excited to see what this was. After reading tons about it being a remarkably difficult hike “for experienced backpackers”, I heeded some caution but headed in. I spent the weekend of August 3 circumambulating Mount St Helens on the Loowit Trail.