Continental Divide Trail #30: Fire, Storms, & Old Friends

Og (aka Porter) messaged me late one night from his campsite in the Rabbit Ears Range to say he saw and smelled smoke, and was there a fire near him? I sprang into action from my hotel room and learned a lot about how to research fire activity, especially through an invaluable site called Inciweb. […]

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Continental Divide Trail #28: Yogi, Rockstar Thru-Hiker!

So I’m descending 12,000-foot Mount Flora, solo after leaving Og (aka Porter) to continue north on the Continental Divide Trail. “Gail?!” a woman calls out behind me. Who the heck could I possibly know out here? And I’m like, “Uh, ya, and you are?” “Yogi,” she says. “I met your husband up the trail and […]

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The Making of a Thru-Hiker, Part 7: Gourmet Feasting on the Trail

My seventh post for “The Making of a Thru-Hiker” (in Women’s Adventure Magazine): Gourmet Feasting on the Trail I had my doubts about how well my husband, Porter, and I would eat on our hike of the Pacific Crest Trail, 2,663 miles from the border of Mexico to Canada. “I’m a gourmet cook in the […]

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The Making of a Thru-Hiker, Part 5: The Flood!

Don’t worry, written in 2013, this is my fifth post for “The Making of a Thru-Hiker” column (in Women’s Adventure Magazine): The Flood! In the middle of the night of September 11, 2013, floodwaters began to pour through our downstairs half-basement of five furnished rooms. A storm had stalled over the Front Range of the […]

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How to Pitch a Bedroom in the Woods

I’ve never been on an outdoor trip with my husband, Porter, for which he didn’t invent/adapt/sew multiple pieces of gear.  Even on our thru-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail, he entertained himself each evening by modifying our packs, stove, water purifier, and clothes while I entertained myself begging him not to modify something that worked […]

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