The Hike of All Hikes

As most of you know Carrie’s uncle Don and I went on a 26 mile hike and intended to do it in 2 days through the Ventana wilderness. We started at Arroyo Seco and trekked to Pfeiffer Big Surr forest campground. We went and had a great time but things didn’t work out as planned. The trail was over grown and very difficult for most of the first day. We did 18 miles in the first day and hiked from 7am to 9pm with 2 hours of breaks throughout the day. It was intense. The views were incredible and the clear starry nights were stunning. We had to fight off ticks but that was all the bug problems we had. The second day was as long as the first and the trail was still in a horrible condition, plus we got lost for about 3 hours and hike many unnecessary miles. The third day was relatively quick compared to the first two because we only had 7 miles to go. We took the bus home to Salinas from Big Surr which proved to be an interesting experience in itself with the people that got on and off the bus. We both were extremely tired when we got home and it was nice to sleep in a bed and eat home cooked food again. Don came home and the next day broke out in a rash of poison oak. It actually became quite serious. I walked through the same bushes but had no reaction to it. Our wonderful two day 26 mile hike became 38 miles and three days because the trail was so poorly marked and maintained. We look back now and laugh at what we went through during our adventure. Don and I are thinking of doing another hike during July of 2008 in Waterton National Park in Southern Alberta or in the mountains of Kananaskis Country in Alberta west of Calgary.