Another Day in the Life (a.k.a. "Stove")

This picture was accidentally posted the other day (some of you got a sneak-peak). I was going to write something interesting or funny or both about it, but I think you've got it by now: This is...our stove (twig-, pine needle-, paper-, burning, made from a 40-oz. tomato can, boils 1/2 liter in 10-15 minutes--some of you were feeling the cliff-hanger of too little information).

Jonah's Bush

Walking along the straight desert road where we found the miracle water bottle, we also found just a few places of shade. And we realized why Jonah was so crazy about his little bush!

Hola, Civilization! (and why we haven't been updating this thing)

Hello, all! After 6 weeks on the trail, we needed a week off (a sabbath week?). Plus there were some family vacations and brother Luke's baseball games we wanted to go see.
Somehow we got a ride from tiny Florence Lake to Concord and took BART to San Francisco. We ran from the station to get our first Mission Burrito in a long time (Jon was so excited he ordered in Espanol) and then to drop in unexpected at Sojourners (our church community where we've lived the past year). Then it was off to Ukiah and then off to camping (yes, camping) with the Otto family.
Today we are in San Francisco and Steven Braney is taking us to Tuolumne Meadows, about 80 miles north of where we left off (we'll have to do that section some other time).

More pictures are definitely to come, but perhaps (perhaps) not for another month. We re-hired Dan, but unfortuneately, due to some technical error and sketchiness in the United States Postal Service, we are unable to send any more memory cards in the mail (our first two got stolen en route... at least it happened after our pictures had already been transferred). We appreciate all your interest in our hike and patience with the blog. For those of you have anything negative to say about the lack of blog update, we'll be happy to meet you out on the trail and hand over our memory cards. More to come... (for those who are curious about our plans, we are hoping to make it to the California/Oregon border and then divine the Spirit's plan for us after that, although the Spirit has previously told us that he plans for us to go to IvaJo's cousin's wedding on Sep. 9 and then the Matt/Krista wedding the next weekend, so we're pretty sure Canada won't be happening by Sep. 9) Stay tuned!

Fields of Snow

(Top) Behind IvaJo you can faintly see our prints as they stretch up back to Muir Pass. This has been our longest stretch of snow (about 8 miles). She's smiling now, but we weren't smiling several hours later down in the meadow when a hail storm pounded us and made the trail into an ice-water trench--all on the 4th of July!

(Bottom) A bonus picture. We promised mountain shots, and we want to deliver.

"The Serenity of a Clear Blue Mountain Lake"

This is what you were talking about Uncle Bobo...the serenity of a clear blue mountain lake. It's glorious. Pretty good peanuts and chocolate, too.

Well, Hello, Mr. Marmot

These guys are our best friends in the mountains. It seems they only live above tree line among the boulders and the grassy meadows. You should see them scamper up sheer faces of rock!
No, but really we love these guys. We're actually in the process of adopting a Marmot named Obadiah. Updates to follow.

"Vitney, Ve Varned You!"

"Whitney, we warned you!" we yelled back at the peak in our best German accent after we had just conquered it (Why German? I don't know...we just watched The Life Aquatic...?) as we trotted down Mt. Whitney (the highest point in the contiguous United States at 14,490ish ft., for those who need the geography lesson).
(Top Left) Someone happened to offer us their cell phone on the top of Whitney (very kind). IvaJo called her mom at work and when she told her we were on Whitney her mom called her a "dirty rotten liar." How dare she? Well, Mom, here's the proof. We love you.
(Top Right) This for all of 129 (and 129 extended) (Jon's college friends) (I'm not flipping anyone one off--that's supposed to be a '9').
(Bottom) One for Captain Xtreme! (IvaJo's brother, Josh)

After the Highest Point on the PCT

We crossed Forrester Pass (the highest point on the PCT at 13,000 ft +) on this day, our first exposure to walking in Sierra snow. Quite fun, since others had already blazed a trail for us. We were overwhelmed with the jagged, white peaks stretching in all directions, and with feeling like an ant engulfed in an amphitheater of majesty. It was at this point that we realized that we can't capture this place on film. It feels like every five minutes we want to take another picture.

First Day in the Sierra Nevadas

We love grass! We love snow! We love water! Fa la la la la!

Kennedy Meadows

This place is hyper-sweet! When we made it to Kennedy Meadows, we made it to the the beginning of the Sierras. And you know what that means? The END OF THE DESERT! From here on there is plenty of water and no more of that prickly-pear cactus.
This picture is of the only store in Kennedy Meadows, a town of about 60 full-time residents with no electricity. They've only had phones for the past couple of years. But when you're here you see why. They hardly need contact with the outside world! They've got their own little world. They've got Saturday night movies in an amphitheater under the stars, Double Cheesburgers every afternoon, potlucks on Sundays (which we hikers were invited to join), all the Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream you could want (IvaJo and I had three half-pints over our two-day stay), and conversations on the porch into the night with well-hydrated(?) locals (quite the picture of back-country American life).

Caballos Espanolos 101

The guidebook tells us that these wild horses are the descendants of the Spanish horses of the Conquistadores, which we thought was pretty amazing. We've made a further theory which Jon plans on publishing. You see, these descend from the horses of none other than Don Quixote...(see the windmills?). But then even this theory is not without it's holes. I tried my Spanish with them and one of them responded with something that sounded a lot like "You killed my father. Prepare to die!" Inigo Montoya? I don't know. Again, maybe they were threating the windmills. Back to the Quixote Theory.
But seriously, try walking by such a windfarm and you can't get close to walking a straight line...kinda fun...kinda frustrating.
(This picture is a little better when enlarged.)

St. IvaJo of Aquafina

I think someday they'll turn this picture into a stained-glass window. This is St. IvaJo. Actually, IvaJo's being a saint has nothing to do with it (however wonderful of a hiking partner she's been!). This beautiful, unopened (~105 degrees F) Aquafina bottle fell out of the sky and landed right in our path as we zombie-walked a straight 15-mile stretch of desert road through the Mojave Desert. Well, we didn't actually see it fall, but we still consider it at least on the near-miracle level, since we only had half a liter to get us to the next water five miles away (that's not comfortable, in case you're wondering). Below is a shot of St. Jo on the said desert road.