I wanted to start this blog by explaining why. Why the Bigfoot Trail? Why not another trail? Why not stay at home?
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| Poster available: http://www.bigfoottrail.org/route/poster/. |
The Bigfoot Trail, as I see it, is essentially my backyard. Before I moved to Northern California - many years before, in fact - I would look at maps of California and wonder at the giant expanses of wilderness in that corner of the state.
Michael Kauffman put out his maps for the Bigfoot Trail in early 2015, and Emily and I started to talk wistfully about hiking it. In November 2015, we decided to get serious about the hike. We shopped for lightweight gear, pored over maps, sat down with Michael for beer and advice, and cajoled friends into meeting us on the trail for resupplies.
Some time in the spring of 2016, as we worried over a particularly gruesome-looking creek crossing (Stuart Fork), it struck us that we didn't have to do every step of the trail. We decided to prioritize what we wanted to experience: the wilderness areas and the botanical diversity of this region. Why were we doing the hike? For the isolation, beauty, and challenge of a little-utilized route. We decided to skip the road section between the Trinity Alps and Smokey Creek (north of the Yolla Bolly wilderness). We also decided to skip the road section between the Siskiyou Wilderness and the Red Buttes. We added in side hikes within the wilderness areas.
I thought of our timing as a balance between challenging ourselves and having time to read books and play cards. I made excel spreadsheets of where we were going, what we would eat, and who would meet us where. Neither of us had done such a long hike, though we'd backpacked together before and felt we could do this.
The blog is written first person, with most of the early entries by me (Erin) and then alternating between the two of us.
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