Our flight to Amsterdam was cancelled, so now going to Vegas first! Means a delay of 5 hours and an extra flight on a 737 max (wish me luck!)
Also broke my phone screen, so need a new one in the US. All good fun.
Flight Canceled!
Author: capocciblog
Please Support – British Liver Trust
As you may know, my wife Fleur had liver failure in 2020 and was diagnosed with Auto-Immune Hepatitus. Thankfully she’s doing amazingly well now, but I’d like to try to raise a little cash for the British Liver Trust.
https://britishlivertrust.enthuse.com/pf/michael-capocci-1d520-0e585
A gratuitous photo because I like to look at her 😉
Anything you can contribute would be greatly appreciated!
Flying out on the 22nd!
I’ve been so late in updating this blog, it turns out that moving out of a flat and renovating a house while working and preparing to hike is a but of a stretch!
Anyhow my PCT permit is for the 25th March, pretty ideal on a year where the snow pack looks to be much less than 2019.
At the start of my 2019 hike, it turned out that leaving my water filter in the aircraft hold was a critical error, leading to it immediately failing. Thankfully the amazing Austin Kindig, who I’d only just met, walked with me and filtered my water until I could get a replacement 100 miles later. A great way to make a friend, and he’s putting Freddy and I up in San Diego next week, and even driving us to the trailhead! He’ll be starting a little later, but he’s young, so will definitely catch me up…
As for kit, I’m using a new site this time: https://packstack.io/pack/2768/pct-2022. A few changes to last time; great new pack from a UK company, AtomPacks, and a less bulky, but hopefully just as warm, sleeping bag.
Now just praying for a negative COVID test.
Lairig Ghru
It has been maybe 25 years since I last walked this route, the most famous pass from Deeside to Speyside, in this case from Braemar to Aviemore.
Fleur dropped me into Aberdeen and I took the bus to Braemar, weather looking a little variable. Had a great breakfast at The Bothy, easily the best breakfast in both Braemar and Ballater. Downside of the bus, however, is the walk to Linn of Dee. But, in shades of the PCT, a lovely bloke stopped and asked me if I needed a hitch!
The rest of the day was a walk in the drizzle to the Corrour Bothy. I had it all to myself so given the weather forecast decided to eschew my tent and settle in.
The next day was forecast to be pretty wet, but fortunately the rain blew through overnight and got a dry day, at least from the sky! The walk over the pass with all the Autumn colours is awesome but frequently difficult underfoot.
Passing over into Speyside the skies opened up with sun and enjoyed the walk through Rothiemurchus forest to Aviemore where Fleur was waiting in Costa with coffee and cake 😁
PCT Reunion
Out of the blue had an invitation to Little Bee’s birthday party / PCT reunion!
Flew to Amsterdam where Freddy (Energizer) VDM collected me and plied me with high quality Belgian beer before driving off next morning to Roedinghausen.
Followed a reunion with Little Bee, Second Chance, Lava, For Free and Gazelle and taking sheep for walkies!
Ben Macdui
Well, finally managed to get out and camp again after over a year. Myself and Tony left in the Afternoon and set out from Linn of Dee (near Braemar) about 4pm. I was planning heading down Glen Lui but after about three miles we met some walkers at Derry Lodge and they recommended heading up Glen Derry and taking Ben Macdui (The UK’s second highest mountain) from there.
Lovely evening, the heather was in full flower so the ground was carpeted in purple.
Because Tony was coming along I had bought new gear. Firstly a Sierra Designs High Route trekking pole tent – I really like the design and it was a great price for what you get. It doesn’t work so well with Pacerpoles, so I’m getting a pair of Leki poles for this 😁.
Also was using a Gregory Optic pack, again got at a good price and actually a really good bit of kit, much underrated I think.
A new Pajak Radical 4z is as warm as my old Marmot bag but at 2/3s of the weight and much more packable. Pajak make the bags for Lightwave but at a better price.
And finally, my new Soto Windmaster was excellent and saves me quite a bit of weight on my MSR Windburner, though if the weather was predicted to be rough I would still take the latter.
Anyway, we camped up near the Hutchison Memorial Hut and enjoyed a decent sleep.
In the morning the weather was deteriorating but we decided to go up anyhow. Lovely views until we hit the clouds, but once we got to the plateau it was driving horizontal rain and little visibility, pretty nasty. Took the opportunity to shelter in the ruined hut up there and brew a coffee, before heading the 1/4 mile to the summit. Given the conditions we abandoned the plan to drop down into the Lairig Ghru and decided to retrace our steps to Glen Derry.
Navigation was a pain (and I certainly didn’t do as well as I should have on this point) so we had to follow a bearing over boulder fields to get back to the path, during which I slipped and gave myself a nasty bruise on the elbow. We however were followed by a herd of Stags in the mist which was unreal!
We got back down to the bothy rather wet (my goretex boots had given out entirely) so warmed up there before heading back to Linn of Dee. Of course the weather changed and we had beautiful sunshine by the time we got back.
Lochnagar
Finally got some decent walking in – great weather and amazing visibility in the Eastern Cairngorms, not to mention loads of people!
This is the only time I’ve been up Lochnagar and been able to see anything.
And…
Sorry for the late post.
We spent a few days in Cascade Locks and all went our separate ways. The Chairman and Little Red back south for the Sierra, and Freddy and I off trail. This bouncing up and down had got expensive and we both missed family!
We however took the opportunity of crossing the Bridge of the Gods.
And one morning these two wonderful people cooked breakfast for us and provided great conversation.
Freddy and I headed for Portland and, surprise, in the bookshop met these two
I hadn’t seen Bluetooth, my favourite Texan, since Big Bear Lake!
Freddy flew home and I started a long journey South to meet Fleur, who was flying in to LA. We shall do a long road trip.
Day 88, Mile 2147.1, Miles Walked 1000.6 (16.3 miles)
Had a late start and slowly descended down to Cascade Locks, the lowest point on the PCT. We got a teasing view of the town 8 miles away then descended down through trees to the sound of thunder, hoping we’d make it there before the storm got us!
And 1000 miles walked!
Day 87, Mile 2130.8, Miles Walked 984.3 (23.6 miles, 7 miles side trail)
Somehow this ended up as a 31 mile day. I think we were all below our best and feeling tired in the morning, but it was Little Red’s 50th birthday so in the German tradition she offered us lunch, so we all took a detour off trail to the Lost Lake general store for burgers, over 3 miles each way. The food was very welcome and invigorated us all, so we pushed a long way to reduce the miles we will need to do to get to Cascade Locks tomorrow.
Early in the day we saw the spectacular Ramona Falls.
Michael's Ramblings 