Patagonia!

Saturday, December 17, 2011

I'm in Patagonia! And how delightful it is to be here. Mostly because of the endless refills on coffee I get at this coffee shop(somehow I'm on my 5th cup. Hehe). Its called Gathering Grounds, if you ever pass through. Great sandwiches too. I recommend the BLT.

Anyways, I'm gonna break each day into a separate post so to avoid massive block of text that would be difficult to navigate.

Trail day 1 comin' riiiiiigggghht up!

Day 1- Delays

Monday, December 12, 2011

Rain. A backpackers worst enemy. Today was the big day. I was going to be at the trailhead and had all the gear set and ready to roll, but now, rain.

I went out this morning with Skyler, the son of the family I'm staying with, to get food and ship my care packages, and it was raining the whole time. Not bad rain, but enough to get you drenched if you're outside for more than 10 minutes. It's tapered off, but it fades in for brief showers every so often.

On top of it raining, I was waiting for a package with my power bars and crampons that I'd just bought. Also, tomorrow, I'll be able to catch a ride to the trailhead rather than pay for a very expensive shuttle service. Overall, better decision to wait. I did buy a bit too much food though. Munchies time.

It's very pretty out here though. Arizona has some very striking terrain, which I'm sure I'll be talking about in my trip report to come. Stay tuned!

Catch up

Been a while since I've posted anything on my winter trip. To update you, I am now going on a 24-hike on the Arizona trail. I met with two Irish foreign exchange representatives at my school and they encouraged me to come to Ireland in the summer rather than winter.

So, I was shopping around for other overseas options and I kept over exceeding my budget on airfare. I began to look at domestic options and thought about the PCT's John Muir trail. Since I didn't know much about the JMT I posted in an online forum asking about winter conditions. It was quickly obvious that I was not prepared for the JMT and needed milder weather options. In the same conversation concerning the JMT I was recommended by a Arizona native to look at the new 800-mile thru hike trail in Arizona. A little conversation and I was set on the AZT. Many hours of planning and research went into making the trip possible and you can read all about it in the forum. Here's a link. http://www.backpacking.net/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=156990&page=1