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How did it all start?
Francis (Mr. Magoo) and Lisa (Cartwheel) met in Oct 1999, and after
we met we thought it would be fun to go backpacking, even though
neither of us had done it before.
Without setting one foot on a
trail or even reading a single book about backpacking, we instinctively
believed that we should minimize what we carried. Why? Two reasons:
- We wanted to see as much
as possible. Some people boasted doing 10 miles after hiking all
day; we thought, "Ten miles? You see so little!" It was depressing how
little ground backpackers covered in a day. We wanted to see as much
natural beauty as possible. We knew that we could walk more than 10
miles if we weren't carrying anything, so the key was to get rid of
unnecessary things and lighten our load.
- We wanted diminish the
chance of injury. We figured that carrying 50 pounds on our backs
all day long must punish our bodies over time. It would not only
increase our chance of a catastrophic injury, it could also lead to
physical problems later in life. We concluded that traveling light was
safer, as long as we brought along the essentials.
The picture below shows one
of our early attempts at minimizing weight. Believe it or not, that is
all we carried (including food and water) for our three day trip into
the Ventana Wilderness in Big Sur, California.
We have now shifted to using the
best lightweight gear out there: GoLite!
We have a list of the gear we took on our thru-hike.
| Grand Master Chef at
work!
It was our last meal of the day before we
headed into deep snow territory. Cartwheel is whipping up our favorite meal: Sunridge Farms' corn pasta! Yummy!
Sunridge Farms is a proud sponsor,
and we thought of them everyday on the trail because we enjoyed their nutritious and delicious food!
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| Toasty in Yosemite
Thanksgiving 2000!
Here is a happy camper! It's
Cartwheel's favorite time of day: BEDTIME! She is all bundled up to
survive the below freezing temperatures at 8,000 ft! Here she is
wearing about 5 layers of clothing: two wicking shirts; a fleece
sweater; a water proof jacket; big white down jacket; scarf; hat; two
long johns; ski pants; and gloves! All this and she snuggles into a 20
degree sleeping bag!
The result? "I slept so well
those nights," she said with a smile on her face.
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Two Feet, Two
Conditions.
On the left,
Cartwheel is enjoying a pit stop on the shores of Pt. Reyes, the start
of the American Discovery
Trail, which goes to Washington, DC! Check out those dirty feet! We
learned we didn't like hiking in sandals because it was painful after a
while.
On the right,
Cartwheel's feet are not so toasty! With no snow shoes, we trudged
through miles and miles of snow covered Yosemite. It was certainly a
workout, and the solitude was divine!
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Mystic Fog of
Pt. Reyes, CA
Mr. Magoo felt that
he was entering a fairy tale forest shrouded with mysterious fog.
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You call that a
snow angel?
Cartwheel may be a rugged and adventurous backpacker,
but she sure needs more practice making snow angels!
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Movin' Right Along!
This silly Muppets
song is our theme song for our backpacking expeditions! It's so
positive and fun, you can't help but be happy!
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Deserted Trail
in Yosemite
It's was hard to
believe that during the summer, these same trails are teeming with
hikers.
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The Ultimate
Treat: a Shower!
OK, so most people
wouldn't call this a shower, but we consider this luxury: running water!
Sure, it's only a
little faucet barely a foot off the ground, but it sure beats scooping
water from a stream and walking 200 feet to take a "sponge bath."
It also helped that
the weather was warm and dry in Big Basin Redwood Park in California.
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Happy in Costa Rica
We spent the
Christmas of the year 2000 backpacking in Costa Rica for 10 days. It
was some of the most grueling hiking we experienced. The wildlife was
incredible. We crossed a river with a crocodile nearby, deftly avoided
a Corral Snake, and woke up to the eerie sound of howler monkeys! We
hiked for days in incessant rain, forded intense white water rivers,
and slid down mudslides! It was an amazing adventure.
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