Thursday, November 28, 2013

Yosemite - 10/21-22/13

October 21 and 22 my good friend Sharell and I made a quick trip to Yosemite. Perfect timing for Indian summer weather and fall colors. As we drove in we were greeted by a red tailed hawk. He landed in a tree and stayed there for a really long time. I thought he was just giving Sharell time to get out her long camera lens. Then it swooped down into the meadow, picked up a small rodent and flew away. Cool. Nature in action.

We headed over to Yosemite Falls trail. From the valley floor we could see that there was not a drop of water in the falls. We hiked up to the top and kept on going to Yosemite Point and ate lunch staring at Half Dome. I hadn't been to this spot before. Now I wonder why. Once we hiked down and checked in to Yosemite Lodge it was the beginning of the golden hour. We walked over to the meadow and found the perfect spot. Half Dome lit up with alpenglow and a reflection in the water. Magic!

The next morning we drove Tioga Pass Road to Tenaya Lake and hiked to Clouds Rest. This has to be the best view in the park. Sharell and I had been here 10 years ago on a girls trip. We vowed it would not be 10 more years before we returned. The drive over to the east side landed us at the Whoa Nellie Deli for dinner. Then Sharell drove us all the way back to Sacramento. What a perfect 40 hours!







posted from Bloggeroid

Practice post from phone

Random photos.....

Me and four of my five brothers

My parents... still lucky to have them around
Eagle Peak in Mt Diablo State Park

Heros at ALDHA West - 9/27-29/13

I returned home from the AT just in time to attend the ALDHA West gathering. The American Long Distance Hiking Association West is the organization that confers the Triple Crown award to hikers who have completed the Pacific Crest Trail, the Continental Divide Trail and the Appalachian Trail. Since they must be finished by September 1st I didn't get my plaque. But that in no way put a damper on my mood there. It was THE best hiker gathering I have ever been to.
85 people attended. 25 were triple crowners. Lots were single or double crowners. There were aspiring thru hikers, section hikers, trail angels, trail lovers and more. I drove up to Nevada City with Dave Claugus and Cam Swami Honan. We got out of the car and were immediately thrown into hiker love. So many people, all so excited to be there. ALDHA West president Allgood just oozes enthusiasm. Dirtmonger that I met on the CDT showed up. So wonderful to see him again. Furniture and Cassidy that had hosted me in Vermont just a few months prior. Snorkel and PCTA's Jack Haskel were there and soooo many more.
Friday night we watched Jester's most awesome movie "Embrace the Brutality" about his CDT 2012 hike. Check it out here. http://www.tbwproductions.com/#!page3/cee5.
9am Saturday the talks started. I'm not a very emotional person but I got teary eyed during each one. That is just how good, motivating and unique each speaker was. Heather Anish Anderson talked about her 60 day record setting PCT hike. Kristin "Lost" Gates told us of her solo 1000 mile transverse of the Brooks Range in Alaska. Ian spoke of his 6 year walk from the southern tip of South America to Central America. And to top it off Swami gave us the low down on his 12 long walks in North America.
And then there was the presentation of the Triple Crown awards. All Triple Crowners in attendance got up for a huge group photo. I also got a photo of me with my hero, Anish, and another one with Peanut Eater.

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Appalachian Trail - Done! - 9/13/13

September 13, 2013. I finished hiking 2186 miles from Springer Mountain, Georgia, to Mt Katahdin, Maine. I also completed the triple crown of hiking.... the PCT, the CDT and the AT. My dear sister-in-law, Summer, made a crown for me which I proudly wore at the top. Check it out!

Life After Postholer - 11/21/13

Life after the Triple Crown is also Life after www.postholer.com/Nancy.....  I'm moving away from postholer.com to post reports of my adventures.  I'm hoping that I will have an easier time posting photos to this blog....

My first big adventure is a 6 week trip to Patagonia starting Dec 2nd.  I'm super excited about this.  I'll do a few practice posts to see how this works for me. One thing I already don't like is that from my phone I can't insert the photos in the text of the post.  If anyone knows how to do this from an android phone, please let me know.