In my attempt to narrow down the thousands of photos I took into more digestible portions, I have put together some photo galleries for each state along the CDT this summer.
It was hard to choose sometimes.
But so fun to look back.
Author Archives: sheraaaa
Oregon Desert Trail
I have an exciting development to share with you all…I’ve accepted a position as the Oregon Desert Trail Coordinator here in Bend! The 800 mile Oregon Desert Trail is one of the newest long distance trails in the country, and begins right outside of Bend and connects a series of remote mountain ranges in the high desert of south eastern Oregon.
This is an incredible opportunity to combine everything I love doing to help shape a long trail. Ever since my friend Sage Clegg was the first to hike the ODT in 2013, I have watched with envy as other friends and hikers jump on the trail. Before I even heard about the new position I wanted to hike the ODT next. It’s exciting to be on the other side of the trail community and really be able to dive into something I am passionate about.
It will be fun to keep this blog going and share my experiences on the other side of the hike, and yes, take you with me as I hike it as well.
CDT Trip Report for Oboz Footwear
If you followed my blog on the CDT this year, you will know how much I loved wearing my Oboz shoes on the trail.
Rain, snow, and mud were no match for my Oboz Lunas.
I shared some of my initial thoughts on the hike with Oboz…read more here!
Vote for the CDT every day!
You may have been voting daily since I posted about this contest towards the end of my hike, but the voting is still on and the CDT has a great chance at winning $25,000 to make trail improvements in New Mexico.
PLEASE vote for the Continental Divide Trail every day through 10/31 here: http://superiortrails.michelobultra.com/
Limbo
How have I been home for 2 1/2 weeks already? Good news is that my list of things to do is getting shorter even though I continue to add to it.
I’ve been playing the hermit since getting home, probably a direct result of spending most of the last 6 months alone…I find it’s sometimes hard to make small talk, hard to sum up my 160 days in a few bite-sized snippets, hard to go right back to being the extroverted well-socialized and excitable hiker. I know that side of me will emerge again, probably once I have more of a direction with what I’m going to be doing now that I’m off the trail.
As for work I have a few irons in the fire, some exciting opportunities that I’ll be happy to share once confirmed, so really, this time can be devoted to relaxing, easing back into the fast-paced whirlwind of off-trail life, and just being. Except that’s hard to do…I find myself gravitating towards the more existential questions of life…and perhaps that’s because when I’m busy I never really give myself time to meditate on the deeper subjects.
Ok, that probably sounds a little doom and gloom, but that, folks, is post-trail readjustment.
A few of you have asked about my gear list…I’ve put together a page here...I need to get my hands on a scale to weigh all the miscellaneous things that don’t have listed weights on the product website. I never weighed my gear, so it’s kind of funny to be doing so now after the fact.
Time to keep on keeping on…
A look at Skiing the CDT
I have been sifting through the thousands of photos and hundreds of video clips I took on the trail this year and found these two from my time on the skis.
The shoe-bindings worked extremely well on the light-weight touring skis. I ended up skiing about 40 miles in the Southern San Juans…then I found steep avalanche-prone slopes were too risky for the late May-early June time I was there. Never fear, I’ll be working on putting some short films together this fall, should be a lot of fun!
So… home.
There is almost too much to do, so I choose to do nothing. It’s as if I were preparing to hike a long distance trail, and the thought of 2,000 miles makes the first mile unimaginable. That is what getting home after an almost 6 month absence is like.
I want to look at my 6,000+ photos and hundreds of little videos and make movies. I need to unpack from our 2 week road trip. I want to see friends. I need to go through all my mail. I want to go to yoga. I want to read all the magazines I missed. I want to veg in front of netflix. I want to go for a walk. I need to work. I want to write lots of blogs and reviews. I want to packraft. I want to make things.
So I don’t do any of it, or I do it slowly and distractedly.
Did I just hike across the country? Man, seems like years ago now.
Packraft time
We’ve been putting some miles on our boats and I’ll share more later when I’m in front of a computer. It’s been kind of nice to leave the writing for a bit, but I also have lots on my mind and look forward to getting home and having the time to dive in.
In the mean time here are some photos of adventures so far:
After the hike
First of all, thank you to everyone who followed along on my hike this year! All of your encouraging and support has definitely fueled my miles.
I’ll be writing up my gear list, writing reviews of everything I used, diving into life after the trail, making some short movies…but first Kirk and I are taking a couple of weeks to road trip back to Bend. We have our packrafts and hope to get up to some adventures I can share with you.
Feels so amazing to be done!
Continental Divide Trail: Day 160 – 10 Miles (0 Miles from Canada, 2708 Miles from Mexico)
She-ra Hikes 