Team Creason

At My Trail's End

2010-05-14T12:40:00.000-07:00

So begins a new chapter for Team Creason... ...city life. This is an adjustment, one we've chosen, true, but one I'm only beginning to get used to. Instead of buying tickets to our next trailhead, we signed a lease. We'll be in the same camping spot for the next year! And we won't be in a tent. We have a real bed, a sofa, a hot shower, a kitchen. Normal for most, but unnerving to me.

If you can't hike, then read!

2010-03-05T09:55:00.000-08:00

I'm getting Springer Fever. For those of you who don't know, this is the time of year when prospective thru-hikers head to Springer Mountain, Georgia, to start the Appalachian Trail. For many hikers, whether veteran or aspiring, this is also the time of year when they wish they were heading to Springer Mountain or the start of some other adventure. The days are getting longer and a little

CDT: Broken Spoon, Bad Omen

2010-03-04T09:08:00.000-08:00

Reason unzips the tent and wakes me with a kiss. It's 8am in East Glacier, MT, and he's been up for hours. "I think I'm done," he announces. "I know," I say. I've had a bad feeling for a while now. Also, my lightweight Lexan spoon broke. I've hiked with it for well over 6,000 miles and I wanted it to become a triple crowner, if for no other reason than to tease Reason about his inability to

CDT: Lost and Found: A Tale of Two Drainages

2009-08-01T17:40:00.000-07:00

Everyone asks whether we carry a GPS. We don't. We don't want to carry the darn thing, don't want to pay money for the darn thing, and would rather refine our navigation skills without it. We don't need the darn thing, either. That being said, it would have come in handy the other day. Somehow, we missed an intersection. Usually we stop at every junction and every point of confusion, take a

CDT: Rocky Mountain High

2009-07-31T12:26:00.000-07:00

I know now why John Denver sings about Rocky Mountain High. Never did the CDT dip below 8,000 feet in the state of Colorado. Rarely did it dip below 9,000 feet. The snowy peaks are magnificent and go on for miles. I have never been so cold in the middle of the summer! Getting ready each morning is a matter of taking a deep breath and - as quickly as possible - unzipping the sleeping bag,

CDT: Embracing the Brutality

2009-06-25T13:36:00.000-07:00

Thru-hiker D-Low coined this tag line for the CDT: Embrace the Brutality. Well, he's got a point! The heat and lack of water in the desert were tough, but just meant carrying a lot of water (often six liters/12 pounds) and getting creative about fitting into the at best dappled shade of a yucca. Colorado is a different story. We reached the state just a few miles south of Cumbres Pass. From

CDT: Land of Enchantment

2009-06-04T13:55:00.000-07:00

What beautiful scenery New Mexico offers! I had visited Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Taos before, but what a treat it is to walk through the vast landscape of this gorgeous state. The wild west seems to be alive in New Mexico. From the Mimbres Valley, where I was thoroughly charmed by the weather-beaten cowboys, mule packers and farmers in boots and cowboy hats eating ice cream cones at Julie's

CDT: News from the Mimbres Valley, NM

2009-05-13T10:23:00.001-07:00

Reason and I had what seemed like a relatively short bus ride to Deming, NM. It only took two days - a two book ride! Coincidentally, fellow PCT hiker Ninja Tortoise was on our bus from Atlanta to Deming, making for a much more pleasant ride. He had been out for a trek on the AT. We arrived at Deming to find that trail angel Keith was waiting for our bus! He had offered to drive us to the border

How much food does a hiker eat?

2009-05-02T06:31:00.000-07:00

Umm... a lot!!But in an attempt to be only half-scientific, I thought I would try and figure it out.You see, when Team Creason hits the grocery store - or more often the convenience store - Reason does a lot of math while Cruiser heads straight for the Oreos. I'm thinking of taking a note from my husband's page this time around and buying food based on logic rather than stomach.Reason generally

3, 2, 1... Blastoff!

2009-05-01T18:12:00.000-07:00

Here we go!Tomorrow Reason and I board the bus for New Mexico and the Continental Divide Trail!Ultimately, we begin 3 miles south of Columbus, NM at the Mexican border. From there, we'll walk something like 2,800 miles to the Canadian border at Glacier National Park.The hike should take us about five months. We're starting later than our normal April 1 date because we don't want to reach

How to Hike Correctly

2009-05-01T07:35:00.001-07:00

Get any two hikers together ... or maybe just give a single hiker a blog... and said hikers will endlessly debate the correct way to hike.Some abide by the adage Hike Your Own Hike. Spirit Eagle has just a few words on the subject.P-Mags insists otherwise. Check out the hilarious Hike My Hike Damn It.I think what this amounts to is that a hiker without a trail is truly in need of some campfire

What's it like to hike the CDT?

2009-04-30T14:45:00.000-07:00

I'll let you know. In the meantime, I highly recommend the following... Books Scraping Heaven by Cindy Ross A gutsy veteran hiker takes on the CDT - with a husband, small children, and llamas. Where the Waters Divide by Karen Berger A well-researched account of the hiking and history along the Continental Divide. The Great Divide by Stephen Pern A humorous account of the CDT from the

Is now a good time?

2009-04-30T09:19:00.000-07:00

The swine flu has Reason a little nervous about our bus ride to New Mexico. I'm little nervous, too.So far, we've dug up some Purell. I don't want to get sick, but I'm glad for an excuse to use up and get rid of the Purell. Just to be cautious, I think I'll pick up some surgical masks from the drug store. Is that ridiculous? Probably. But it is no more ridiculous than treating every single

Maildrops and Backup Packages

2009-04-29T11:22:00.000-07:00

Our strategy for this hike is to self-supply as regards food. This gives us more flexibility, more independence, and burdens our support crew less. I also hope that postage will be cheaper than it would be if everything were to be mailed from South Carolina to the West.We should be able to reach a good-sized town every few hundred miles. From such towns we plan to buy food and pack boxes to

Declination

2009-04-29T08:47:00.000-07:00

As is my nature, I've been cramming. I've been reading up on map and compass skills. The Outward Bound Map & Compass Handbook by Glenn Randall is very helpful. It contains just enough bravado and tales of being lost on snowy plateaus to keep it interesting without being annoying. Reading along with compass in hand helps tremendously. I'm thick-skulled and literal-minded, so I've reread many

Where are we going?

2009-04-29T06:20:00.000-07:00

We're going to Canada!!! Woohoo!If that seems overly exuberant, just be aware that that's been Team Creason's mantra for many years now. It's become a ritual to ask "Where are we going?" at the beginning and end of runs and workouts. The answer that keeps us on track, "We're going to Canada!"Now that you know where we're going, I'll provide the points in between Mexico and Canada below. This

Swine Flu, Drug Smugglers and Coyotes, oh my!

2009-04-28T13:40:00.000-07:00

We've decided.Team Creason is headed to Columbus, New Mexico and will hike north to Canada. The stats on snow levels in Colorado on Postholer.com seem favorable for a northbound hike. Of course, another storm or two could dump a bunch on snow on Colorado between May and mid-June when we reach the 14,000 ft San Juans in Colorado.We leave at the beginning of May and aim to reach Glacier Park and

Yogi's CDT Handbook

2009-04-28T12:52:00.000-07:00

I first learned about Yogi from my AT friend, Detour. I did a little trail support for Detour when he set out for the PCT in 2005. Sadly, my best package to Detour missed him and was returned to me weeks later. It was a full of Snickers! Sorry, Detour! However, all of the packages of Detour's maps and pages of his Yogi guide successfully reached him.Between shipments, I read through some of

Indexing the DeLorme and Ley Maps

2009-04-28T08:42:00.000-07:00

After finally printing the Ley CDT maps, I took Yogi's advice and began indexing the Ley maps with the DeLorme Atlas pages. I marked the corresponding Ley map numbers in the margins of the DeLorme pages and vice-versa. I ordered the DeLorme Atlases for New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana. Yep, these are the same oversized books of maps that you might keep in your car for road trips.

Wolf CDT Guides

2009-04-27T12:29:00.000-07:00

Earlier this winter I ordered the Jim Wolf CDT guides from the Continental Divide Trail Society.For some reason, there are two organizations devoted to protecting and building the CDT. They are the Continental Divide Trail Society and the Continental Trail Divide Alliance. By reputation, the CDTS seems to have the interests of thru-hikers at heart, while the CDTA seems to be focused on

Clean Eating

2009-04-25T15:07:00.000-07:00

Have you become acquainted with Tosca Reno?I first encountered Tosca when I was wedding dieting. One of my strategies was to buy a fitness magazine instead of an afternoon snack. Thus I discovered Oxygen Magazine, Clean Eating and Tosca Reno.I like Tosca. She used her head and changed her life into what she wanted. She made her body into what she wanted, and she looks great. Her advice is

Squats 'n Stairs

2009-04-15T16:30:00.000-07:00

Training to hike 20-plus miles a day for five or six months is a difficult thing to do, particularly when you don't have hours and hours each day to exercise.Before the AT and PCT, I tried to train in some way for at least two hours a day in the weeks leading up to the hike.Running is great, both for endurance and for overall fitness, and also for trimming excess fat. Reason and I ran a

CDT: Printing the Ley Maps

2009-04-14T09:46:00.000-07:00

I finally completed the printing of the Jonathan Ley 2009 CDT maps. It was easier than I thought.I ordered the 2009 CD from Jonathan earlier this spring. It promptly arrived, and I promptly sent a donation in return. Thanks, Jonathan Ley! After reading through Jonathan's instructions and recommendations, as well as insight from the Yogi Guide and the CDT-L, this is what Reason and I decided to

Continental Divide Trail Gear List 2009

2009-03-15T06:49:00.000-07:00

My goal this time around is to try and go lighter, and to try not to buy too much new gear. Check out my AT and PCT gear lists for more ideas. Backpack Granite Gear Nimbus Ozone, 48oz I really like the suspension of the Nimbus Ozone. I tried hard to work down to the Vapor Trail, but I'm just not an ultra-light hiker. I just seem to carry too much darn stuff. Also, Vapor Trail isn't as

Those Last Five Pounds

2009-03-05T13:50:00.000-08:00

In reviewing my Pacific Crest Trail Gear and reading gear recommendations for the CDT, I've started to think more about weight. I'm certainly not an ultra-lighter, nor am I really a light-weight backpacker. I'm generally content to carry whatever fits in my pack.I started the Appalachian Trail with about fifty pounds on my back. I had heard the adage that "ounces equal pounds equals pain", but