designates stories about treks
Although petrified wood can be found in all 50 U.S. States, Petrified Forest National Park has some of the highest concentrations in the world. We spent two days exploring this park as well as taking two overnight backpacking trips in the north and south wilderness areas.
The Pacific Crest Trail spans three states as it travels from Mexico to Canada: California, Oregon and Washington. The Oregon portion of the trail is the shortest of the three states, covering a distance of 455 miles. After over 1,300 miles of hiking in California, we were ready to tackle a new state.
The Cascade Range of mountains extend about 700 miles from British Columbia, Canada to Northern California. The Cascades differ from the Sierra Nevada Mountains in their series of volcanic peaks dotting Northern California, Oregon and Washington. In fact, all of the volcanic eruptions over the past 200 years in the contiguous United States have taken place in the Cascades.
It had been a traumatic experience for us to leave the PCT in the High Sierras, due to the raging river crossings. As we rejoined the trail in South Lake Tahoe, we weren’t sure whether we would encounter other issues that would force us to make a similar decision. We knew that we would still face some snow, but weren’t sure to what extent it would affect our hiking progress.
The past segment of the PCT from Tehachapi, CA has had a little of everything: heat, scarce water, fire worries, treacherous trail, snow, and finally, torrential rivers and streams. It also marked the end of our desert hiking and the beginning of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
Since our last post we have arrived in Tehachapi, CA, located about 35 miles southeast of Bakersfield.
We are at Cajon Junction, mile 342 on the Pacific Crest Trail, and at the end of four weeks of trekking. Already in that time we have hiked through a variety of weather, including rain, gusty winds, a snowstorm, and temperatures in the 90s.
Catch up with the Trekking the Planet team as they review their time in Parque Nacional Torres del Paine in Chile.
We took our first step trekking 355 days ago when we began the Overland Track in Tasmania, Australia. Now, after 470 miles of hiking in some of the most incredible cultural and natural places of the world, we completed our twelfth and final trek, in Torres del Paine National Park in Chile.
Our last stop in our 26-day, 2,700 mile (4,345 kilometer) overland journey through Argentina was in Los Glaciares National Park. While here we were treated to some of the most spectacular mountain, glacier and lake scenery of our expedition.
Catch up with the Trekking the Planet team as Darren and Sandy review the second half of their time in the Amazon basin.
Catch up with the Trekking the Planet team as Darren and Sandy review the first half of their time in the Amazon basin.
