Alex McCafferty

Belden was a town whose personality far exceeded its size. Essentially just a campground, a few cabins, and a “resort”, it was equal parts trashy and artsy. A crew was setting up for a festival when we arrived. Had we attended said festival, I probably would have more to say about the quirky town. The … Read more

Spout has been reading about Tara Dower and felt heavily inspired. Of course she did. Last year, Tara smashed the fastest known time of hiking the entire AT in just 40 days. “If Tara can hike 55 miles a day”, Spout proclaimed, “then I can hike 25”.  We are attempting a challenge in the month … Read more

As we enter Northern California, I have decided to begin a new segment called Man vs. Mosquito. Each day, man will face off against mosquito in a fight to submission, striving to answer the question: who is the dominant lifeform?  If mosquitos prevent us from doing basic things like swimming in lakes, eating lunch, or … Read more

This was Carebear’s last day before leaping ahead on trail (he was just section hiking), so it meant we were saying goodbye. Even though it had only been a week since we met him, going through the Sierra together was a bonding experience like no other. Noon rolled around and we took the town trolley … Read more

Hitching back to the trail was surprisingly difficult. Bishop Family Fun Day was happening at the local park, so maybe the parents were scared of stinky hitchhikers. Eventually, a young woman from the Big Pine Paiute tribe scooped us up. She went out of her way to drop us off at Independence, CA. From here, … Read more

We made stops for Starbucks, bathroom breaks, and Chipotle. The total driving time was about 4 and a half hours. At Kennedy Meadows, we made one final stop at the outfitter before we were finally back at the trailhead around 5:00pm. The brief hiatus, new equipment, and epic scenery on the horizon made hiking north … Read more

There were 8 miles of trail between the two roads leading to Tehachapi, CA. We had taken the first and spent the morning cutting through a massive wind farm to reach Highway 58. This was quite possibly the windiest section yet, gusts surely reaching 50mph or more. The highway was significant in that it meant … Read more

We have been making frequent crossings of Highway 2 within the Angeles National Forest. The upside has been a pit toilet at nearly every parking lot. Unlike the AT, where each shelter has a privy in varying states of cleanliness, these pit toilets are maintained by the Forest Service and are almost always pristine and … Read more

After cleaning out our backpacks and back-flushing our water filters, we chatted a bit longer with some of the friendly hiking folks, then left to grab a bite to eat. We had an early lunch at The Himalayan. My plate was a huge pile of Tandoori chicken and some lamb curry. Spout said that gobbling … Read more

Spout and I consumed some caffeine that wired us into hiking machines. We cleared the morning mileage efficiently, stopping for a breather and a snack on top of a concrete cistern. It was here that Spout finally had to wander off and dig her first cathole of the hike, after making it an impressive 140 … Read more