A couple of weeks ago, my friend Janna and I went on a weekend trip to Page, Arizona, about 2 hours north of our beloved mountain town of Flagstaff. While the city itself is underwhelming, the two main attractions of the area – Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend – are some of the most photographed, …
Continue reading Lower Antelope Canyon: Not Exactly Wilderness, But Totally Worth the Trip
This piece was written for my American Literature and the Environment Class, for our Place-Based Essay assignment. It’s 8 AM in Sedona. Not early morning – the sun has already peaked over the buttes and towers and otherworldly spires. But it’s not yet afternoon – the angle is still low, the air still thin and …
Continue reading Vertical Tourists: Some Observations from Queen Victoria
Hello, Internet! It's me, Sarahmarie! Remember me? The one who wrote obsessively about preparing for and hiking the John Muir Trail last summer? I'm still here, and I'm writing again! Because time is weird and bizarre and very hard to keep up with, I find myself flabbergasted that it has been 9 months since I …
*If you’d like to skip directly to the gear list, scroll down to the bottom.* Introduction: Heavy pack = insane determination to go ultralight (because sometimes I was so annoyed with my 35-lb pack that I was tempted to chuck it over a cliff) When I was just beginning to get into the outdoors, I …
Continue reading JMT 2017 Gear List: What worked, what didn’t, and what was just plain dumb
Here I am again: sitting at my desk, writing at my computer. It feels weird to be out of the wild, off of the JMT, enjoying the fruits of civilization, facing the turn of the seasons again. I’ll spare you the “time goes so fast, I can’t believe the trail is already over, etc etc” …
Continue reading Beautifully Brutal: Some Reflections on the John Muir Trail
Short post because I'm writing on a phone! More detailed updates to come, but for now here's a quick briefing... 17 days of hiking has led us to Red's Meadow Resort and a much needed zero day in the town of Mammoth Lakes! We are about 60 miles from the end of the road for …
It's here. It's finally here. After months of planning, training, packing, gear purchasing, paring down, and stuffing more food than is reasonable into a bear can, the time has arrived. Tomorrow morning we'll depart LA for the Eastern Sierra Interagency Center in Lone Pine, where we will pick up the permit that we reserved for …
Above: My gear for the JMT in 2017, including the "maybe item" Petzl Glacier ice axe - 350g (will wait until the day before to decide based on trail reports). My Osprey Ariel 65 is off to the side at top right. My Kelty Cosmic Down 20-degree sleeping bag will go in a dry compression …
I've been training like crazy for the JMT. This is mainly because I see this trail as having so many inherent hazards this year (e.g., snow on high passes, swollen creek crossings, mosquitoes by the bushel, to name a few), and I do not want my fitness (or lack thereof) to be added into this …
Continue reading JMT training: a short saga (with pictures!)
I've never been able to stick with blogs before. Whether they are too specific to sustain my interest, or too broad to share pertinent thoughts, I haven't had much success in the past. But alas. I am trying again. Because this year, I am attempting to hike the John Muir Trail northbound, in July, in …
Passport Somewhere 