Have an amazing time! I’m really excited to see the pictures. Are you doing three nights? You’ll be so much better prepared for it than our crew was. I loved it, but everyone else (cept one) thought it was a death march.
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I've only got time for two nights, hopefully the steep grade doesn't kick my ass too much! 💀 I average the same time on the Timberline, which is 10 miles longer, so I *should* be okay.
jul 11, 2025, 5:35 pm • 0 0 • view
Thinking back, I think we did two nights three days (so I was wrong before). We ended up finishing one section in the dark, but we were there in early October. The slowest parts were the middle day, with the beach ball sized rocks, and all the gully crossing, just in general.
jul 11, 2025, 6:26 pm • 1 0 • view
I still remember the planning dinner, where we read “difficulty: gully crossing”, and wondered what they meant by that. 😂 Turns out if you have a landscape that’s 100ft deep of ash, each little stream is going to carve its own canyon, with side that are just 45 degree ash slopes.
jul 11, 2025, 6:30 pm • 2 0 • view
Hahaha yeaaaah.... I made sure to reinforce my shoe gaiters to try and reduce the amount of sand that'll end up around my toes. Looking at this 1,500+ft drop down to the Toutle River and NOT excited about it. At least sunset isn't until 9!!
jul 11, 2025, 7:24 pm • 1 0 • view
I always do the Timberline Trail in late-September/early-October and the 6:30 sunset kills me. I haven't been on a trip this close to the solstice since '22, I'm excited!
jul 11, 2025, 7:24 pm • 1 0 • view
Don’t melt! Enjoy the gorgeous sunsets. I’ll be thinking about your trek this weekend. We have kayak camping trip and the end of the month on Ross Lake that we’re so excited for.
jul 11, 2025, 8:43 pm • 1 0 • view
It’s not even the sand getting places. It’s more than there’s nothing solid to stand on. You just slip/surf your way down, and scramble your way up, like trying to climb a steep sand dune. Some gullies had ropes, which helped. Also, this knowledge is 13 years out of date. Who knows what’s like now
jul 11, 2025, 8:40 pm • 1 0 • view
There ended up being no sand glissading, just a lot of clumsy falling and praying I didn't die 💀 oh lordy, what a trek.
jul 14, 2025, 4:50 pm • 1 0 • view
It’s still got me reminiscing about our trek. It was right after my beloved old boots exploded. My “broken in” replacements gave me a 2” heel blister in the first morning. So I just joyfully did the whole thing in some Merrell barefoot shoes!? No way my body would put up with that now!
jul 14, 2025, 5:36 pm • 1 0 • view
This was absolutely the End of Life trip for my current pair of Altras. They carried me on my big 350 mile hike in 2022, plus 150 in Washington last year, in addition to twice on the Timberline and who knows how many hundreds of miles of training. They're dead, Jim!
jul 14, 2025, 6:13 pm • 1 0 • view
Only a few minor blisters, nothing more than I'm used to and easily ignored. I was expecting at least a FEW spots where I could comfortably sit in a smidgen of shade and take my shoes off and maybe nap, but no! They were basically nonexistent. But I fared better than most hikers out there.
jul 14, 2025, 6:16 pm • 1 0 • view
I know! It must have been just baking out there! Again, we did it in *October*. (Not out of wisdom, out of herding cats.) I’m so glad you got to see the beautify of it, and also survive.
jul 14, 2025, 7:09 pm • 1 0 • view
It’s just a bonkers wild place. Like no place else.
jul 14, 2025, 5:11 pm • 1 0 • view