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Reddit AMA next Tuesday

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For those who Reddit, I’ll be doing an AMA on the ultralight subreddit next Tuesday, 12pm eastern time, 9am pacific.

AMA stands for Ask Me Anything, and for a few hours I’ll be online answering any questions that come up!

Oh, and I started a new Instagram account for the Oregon Desert Trail.

Hope you all are planning some good adventures this year…

I’m old. Part 2: Arizona Trail 2009

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So I also uploaded this 25 minute video about my hike of the Arizona Trail.

This hike came after I had moved to Bend and had worked leading wilderness therapy trips for over a year already. This hike was my first route, as much of the AZT back then was dirt roads, some pavement, and some unmarked wondering. It was fairly well signed though, and in fact became a National Scenic Trail when I was hiking. When I got to Orcale and picked up a copy of the local paper I saw Obama had designated the Arizona Trail that week. Now, I’m not one for omens, but I thought that led to a nice theme for the hike.

Although I hiked alone most of the time, I was joined at the start by my bestie, NEMO. NEMO and I met on the PCT in 2006 and became fast friends. We’ve hiked together a few times since, and are currently planning something for this summer (!!!!!!!!!) I had made friends with a couple from Tuscon the summer before when I dispensed some trail magic on the PCT near Bend, and wouldn’t you know it, Slo-Ride and Shanke-n-bake had already hiked the Arizona Trail.

NEMO and I launched from Mexico with their help and crossed paths with a few other hikers out that year (Snappy & Puff Puff – and dog Buckaroo, Roni from Israel, and Mother Natures Son). But after the first week when NEMO had to go home, I wanted my solitude so took off for parts unknown (to me).

Here is my journal.

This is much more contemplative video, and a bit slow at times, but for 25 minutes, it might be better than scrolling through the dregs of whatever feed is near by. Maybe?

Lots of trail friends and new friends made on this trip, and illustrates one of the things I love most about hiking long trails: meeting awesome people.

Northbound Arizona Trail thru hike Spring 2009 from Renee Patrick on Vimeo.

A trip down memory lane: a Colorado Trail thru-hike

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I’ve always made little videos and compilations of the hikes and adventures I’ve had over the years. As a result I have a you tube channel, vimeo channel, and lots of stuff on DVD…do you remember DVDs? Those disk-like things on which you would burn a video…maybe half an hour to an hour of photos, videos, and music…

30 MINUTES?

People really made videos that long?

Yep. We did. My PCT video is 45 minutes, this Colorado Trail one is about 30, my Arizona Trail one is maybe 40? It seems these days hikers make 3-5 minute videos because no one has the attention span to watch longer…myself included.

But, I dug into some of the old DVDs I made of hikes, and am going to start uploading some of them.

This little trip down memory lane was over 10 years ago when I hiked northbound from Durango to Denver in the fall of 2007. I had moved to Durango in February that year to go through a crew leader development training program, an Americorps gig run by the Southwest Conservation Corps (SCC). I spent months cutting trees, building large log and rock retaining walls, and fixing damaged trail in places like Mesa Verde, Canyon of the Ancients,the Great Sand Dunes, and the San Juan Mountains.

It was the only logical next step to hike the 500-mile Colorado Trail when our work for the year finished. That put me at a mid-August departure from Durango. The timing was great. The weather held out and I thought I was going to die only once when I camped on the divide and over 12,000′ near Stony Pass. That night a lightning storm moved in and I was very exposed. I didn’t sleep a wink, but when I woke and hiked a few miles to Stony Pass, I met some of my SCC crew friends working on the Continental Divide Trail. Woop! (I would return 8 years later to hike the CDT).

Most of the time I felt like the only person left on earth.

I loved hiking alone after months of people around ALL THE TIME. I was strong after a summer of moving dirt and rocks, and it was very empowering to spend that time in the incredible landscape of Colorado. I climbed a few 14ers, read a couple of books, and got giardia only once.

I was tired towards the end and looking forward to the next thing…which happened to be moving to Bend to lead wilderness therapy trips.

I kept a daily journal here.

This video also has the soundtrack my 2007. Enjoy!

Solo Northbound Fall Colorado Trail Thru-hike 2007 from Renee Patrick on Vimeo.

 

A busy year ahead

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Welp, we’re almost a month into 2018 and the pace of all the good things continues.

I like the pace of life in Oregon’s high desert

I’m over two years into my job to establish the Oregon Desert Trail, and it’s still incredible to me that I am in a position to use all my hiking experiences in this job, and am seeing results.

It will be another busy year of presentations around the state, leading trail maintenance trips, and helping hikers get out on the trail.

Interested in joining me on one of the trips? Here are the 5 outings I’ll be leading this year. Registration opens for these and almost 30 other ONDA stewardship trips on February 19 here.

Badlands Wilderness Trail Work June 1-3
Celebrate National Trails Day on June 2 with trail maintenance in one of the newest Wilderness areas in Oregon, and the start of the 750-mile Oregon Desert Trail.

Fremont National Recreation Trail Work June 21-24
Enjoy views for miles on this trail maintenance project up and over Morgan Butte on the Fremont National Recreation Trail and Oregon Desert Trail.

Big Indian Gorge Steens Trail Work August 2-6
Steens Mountain sets the stunning backdrop for this trail maintenance project in the glaciated landscape of Big Indian Gorge along the Oregon Desert Trail.

Nye Steens Trail Work August 23-27
Want to work on a steep exposed amazing section of trail that drops over 1,000′ into the Little Blitzen Gorge along an Oregon Desert Trail alternate? This trip is for you.

Little Blitzen Gorge Steens Trail Work September 6-10
Join in this trail work trip in the glaciated canyon of Little Blitzen Gorge along an Oregon Desert Trail Alternate.

And if you are in western Oregon, join me at one of my presentations next week:

Eugene, Tuesday 1/30 @ REI 7pm

Portland, Wednesday 1/31 @ Mountain Shop @ 7pm

Hood River, Thursday 2/1 @ pFriem Brewery @ 6pm

Bikealicious

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I started something new…well, not exactly new.

I began screen printing about 7 years ago, designing images, making screens in my boyfriend’s bathroom, and printing on recycled clothing. I originally designed about 10 different bike images and would upcycle thrift store clothing and sell them at bike events around Bend.

That experience led me to start the business Hikertrash with another long distance hiker, Brian Frankle.

We ran that for three years, and just sold it this spring to another hiker in town who is taking it to new levels…but I’m still designing. Here are a few new images for the Hike Like a Girl series coming out soon:

All this is to say, I’m still having fun with design and the things I love, hiking and biking. SO….

I started a store on Zazzle, an online store that will put my logos on cool things and do all the shipping and fulfillment for me. So I’m bringing my bike designs back to life!

You can shop in my new store here.

Here are a few items you can find there…take a look!

 

Skiing Steens Mountain

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Steens Mountain is considered one 50 mile long mountain in Eastern Oregon.

One of the things I love about working on the Oregon Desert Trail is the opportunity to head out into the desert at different times of the year to explore what other seasons and methods of travel can happen along the route. In winter this year, one probably could have skied the entire route. January dumped 3-5 feet of snow many places in the high desert, an unusual event for the past 9 years I’ve lived in the area.

I knew the Steens Mountain would have some epic skiing, and last weekend Kirk and I headed out there with our touring set up and camping gear to see what we could get up to.

In the winter the Steens Loop Road, which takes folks to the 9,500 top of the mountain from the little town of Frenchglen, is closed, but the Burns BLM has a winter permit system whereby you can check out a key to the gate. I’ve been working with the BLM over the past year on issues relating to the ODT, and will in fact be leading 2 trail work trips on two different sections of trail there this summer. I also plan to head out there again in a month or so to packraft one of Oregon’s Wild and Scenic Rivers (and a water alternate to the ODT!) the Donner und Blitzen River. There are just countless things to do in the desert.

We took Friday off of work and drove to Burns to stop by the BLM office, then made a stop at Safeway to buy lots of goodies for the weekend. By 11am we were in Frenchglen, and I noticed that the Frenchglen Hotel had reopened for the season. I stopped in to say hi to the caretaker John (it’s a Oregon State Heritage Site) and decided if we made it out on Sunday in time that we would stop by the hotel for a Steens burger (yum).

We unlocked the gate and were able to drive in about 9 miles until we reached snow. It looked as if a few people had tried to drive into the snow patch, and as we could see dirt about 100 yards away, considered trying it ourselves, but the churned up snow also gave the impression that one or two of those cars had gotten suck, so we decided to play it safe and park.

It was quite blizzardly out, and we put on all our gear and goretex before leaving the car. We both brought shoes as we thought we might have to hike a bit before finding enough snow to ski. All in all it ended up being about 2 miles of walking before enough solid snow appeared. We may have regretted stopping the car so short, but on Sunday on our hike out, we saw fresh evidence of another car getting stuck. Oh, maybe we made the right choice.

Kind of a junk show

Come on snow!

The weather was nasty, and the stinging snow stuck to our packs and battered what little bits of our faces weren’t covered up. By the time we arrived at a big grove of aspen near Fish Lake we decided to set up camp even though it was early. Neither of us had been on the road this time of year, and it had been long enough since Kirk had been up here we weren’t sure there would be much tree cover further up. Fish Lake is about 7,500′, and the wind was howling. We found a spot that seemed a bit more protected and set up our Hyperlite Mid (a great snow shelter, and light as it’s cuben fiber).

Time to find shelter!

Saturday the morning was clear and sun streamed into our mid, warming us up pretty quick. After some coffee we packed up our packs for the day, and set off to ski the road up about 2,000′ to the Kiger Gorge lookout.

Oh that blissful sun!

Lunch is going to be awesome

It was fantastic! After a few miles we started traversing near the Blitzen Gorge, and it looked like it would be some epic backcountry skiing. We decided to stick to the road, and while sections were wind blown and some sagebrush and rocks would appear from time to time, the snow coverage was pretty even.

Kirk looking into Blitzen Gorge

The good stuff

Finally about 2pm we made it up to Kiger Gorge, a glaciated canyon that looks like it belongs in Glacier National Park. Epic.

The ski out was even better as we were able to coast for long periods just enjoying the view around us. In retrospect we could have taken a short cut that would have given us more elevation loss in a shorter distance, but it was still pretty fun.

By the time we made it back to camp we were both ready for food, and snacked our way through the next few hours.

Sunday morning was overcast again, and by the time we packed up the sky was threatening to start dumping on us. We made it back to the dirt, luckily the cold night had iced up the new snow from Friday, so we were able to ice-ski farther than we could have on Saturday. On the last few miles of dirt it started to snow hard and sideways, and we didn’t even pause to switch to our shoes, instead hiking back in our tele boots. We were both ready to be warm inside the car, and it was a relief to take off those boots and get out of the wind.

Time to ski out…but first, coffee.

That’s some dark sky

And as luck would have it, we made it to the Frenchglen Hotel for those burgers. Oh yeah.

Successful Season on the Oregon Desert Trail

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Following an incredible first year on the job MAKING A TRAIL (still a dream job after a year!), I wrote this letter for some papers in the high desert. It’s no joke, the people I meet on the way are a huge reason why I hike. We may be a divided country on a lot of fronts, but it always seems like we have lots in common when you meet a stranger in the backcountry and start telling stories.

I floated past Ron and his grandson Gavin on my packraft trip in the Owyhee this July

I floated past Ron and his grandson Gavin on my packraft trip in the Owyhee this July

Successful Season on the Oregon Desert Trail

I’ve lived in Oregon for over 12 years, and have enjoyed spending time hiking, packrafting, and exploring the public lands of the high desert. This year I spent almost seven weeks walking across Eastern Oregon along the 750-mile Oregon Desert Trail. In addition to the wildlife, wildflowers, and incredible desert skies, I encountered countless acts of generosity from the people I met along the way. From a handful of fresh cherries, to a ride back to my car, and ice cold water on a hot July day, these gifts from chance encounters are a big reason I love putting on a pack. I can’t think of a better way to learn about a place than to share a beer and a story or two with someone, and hear about some of their favorite places to explore.

Four other hikers completed the entire route this year in addition to countless others who spent a day or two hiking in the desert; they all had similar stories of generosity and chance encounters. All were safe and successful in navigating the route in what is a series of trails, old two-track roads, and cross country hiking. It’s a challenging route as there are no physical markers on the ground, but that didn’t deter those backcountry navigators from enjoying and exploring the high desert.

Thank you to all in Bend, Christmas Valley, Summer Lake, Paisley, Lakeview, Plush, Adel, Frenchglen, Fields, Denio, McDermitt, Rome and Adrian, and all those in between.

—Renee Patrick, Oregon Desert Trail Coordinator