boggirlsummer

[boggirlsummer]

Roadtrip Rewind

Where did we leave off… After Bozeman I took two days driving through Montana, South Dakota, and Minnesota to get to Minneapolis, where I met up with Zoey. We spent two nights there, one night in Madison, two nights in Detroit, one night camping in upstate NY, and one night camping in New Hampshire after a day in Vermont. The next day I dropped Zoey in Portland and drove up to boat school. A few highlights:

In Minneapolis we stayed at 300 Clifton, this old mansion in the Loring Park neighborhood that was recently restored and is now a 10-room hotel/B&B (it’s on AirBnb!). It was spooky and fun and way cheaper than some shit motels I’ve stayed in. It’s probably haunted which is a plus for me. Also there were free scones. Another thing that makes me feel like I’m getting older - I’m starting to like all the dry biscuity foods I’ve always hated (scones, muffins, biscuits, shortbread).

There must have been a little cyanide in my tea

My claim to fame - we went to a camera store to get our film developed and the person who helped us shouted me out on their Instagram! 🥰 And they happened to know the guy from the camera shop in Portland where we bought our stuff earlier this summer and tagged him too, sweet small world of vintage cameras.

Golf courses are a waste of space

I love Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner so I’ve had romantic ideas about Madison for a long time and thought maybe I would want to go to grad school there. In reality it was kinda weird and sterile which is a bummer because they just announced the UW Madison Transdisciplinary Center for Research in Psychoactive Substances with a focus on therapeutic applications for psilocybin and MDMA #therapygoals

John K. King Used and Rare Books in Detroit is massive and chaotic. Loved it! We were hunting for Caliban and the Witch by Silvia Federici and we met two hella hot and tall employees who were very invested in helping us find the book. One wrote the title down and said he was looking to read more feminist anti-capitalist texts… Like okkkk fucking marry me and read to me in bed until the day that I die!! If I published a hot socialist bookstore employee calendar would anybody buy it?? These two guys would be May and November. I have a copy of Caliban and the Witch sitting in my AbeBooks cart with the shipping address: “Sexy Employee 4th Floor - You Know Who You Are, c/o John K. King Used and Rare Books, 901 W Lafayette Blvd, Detroit, MI 48226.” Venmo me $1 if you care to support my missed connection quest.

Laughed out loud…one million books in the store and this is their choice of doorstop

Our hostel in Detroit was in the Corktown neighborhood and next door was the Pink Flamingo pop-up which has been happening there every Thursday for the past ~six years. It’s basically an airstream serving a rotating food and drink menu and a cool hangout spot with music and firepits. We had a fruit plate cuz we’d been eating straight junk for days while the DJ made an impromptu and rambling fireside speech about community and the meaning of life. Near the end the airstream hostess started handing out free rice balls as an apology.

After Detroit we had two long drive days to get to Vermont where we had maple creamees at Bragg Farm Sugarhouse (shoutout to our friend and former housemate Brett for the recommendation!) and caught one of the last Bread and Puppet shows of the season (if you haven’t heard of Bread and Puppet it’s a political/radical puppet theater company based in Glover, Vermont). Holy shit Vermont is so beautiful it’s like a magical hobbit land. The lady at Bragg Farm tried to recruit me to come back and work through the spring maple sugaring season, maybe I should. Straight maple syrup is the new Red Bull.

And that’s it! I can’t believe I drove myself all the way here. Thanks to Zoey for the company and cheers to a summer of buses, bookstores, bikes, and backpacks.

Before I literally burst into tears

Maine is so beautiful and boat school is keeping me busyyyyy. Does anybody know what the hell a woolen is? I think I’m going to need some here. More soon! Send letters or junk mail my way at 440 Old County Rd, Pemaquid, ME 04558.

XOXO

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[boggirlsummer]

Intermission

Wowie wow I’m so behind on posts…my editor is really breathing down my neck. Highlights from the rest of my/our roadtrip coming soon! Spoiler alert, we made it!! I arrived at boat school this afternoon after dropping Zoey off in Portland (Maine). Did I cry like a little baby? Yes. YES! How many goodbyes can two girls say in one summer, I don’t know. Too many. We’ve been “moving”/in transit since June, which is almost as long as I’ll even be in Maine. Time is a flat circle.

Sads aside, I’m excited to have a bed of my own for a few months (thank you to everyone who let me sleep in their bed this summer 🥰). I can already tell this fall is going to be special and hopefully by December I’ll know how to sail and build a freaking (!) boat. If anybody wants to come visit me there’s room here. You can sleep in my twin bed. We had lobster for dinner tonight, just sayin…

More soon! In the meantime please enjoy a few shots from our first rolls of film that we just had developed in Minneapolis (mostly OCT). We were thrilled anything turned out.

XOXO

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[boggirlsummer]

Wet Hot American Summer

August 18 Zoey and I thought we fixed the leak in my tent but we were wrong. I spent the early morning inching away from a puddle that finally pushed me out around 8 am - time to get up anyway. Too rainy to cook or make coffee and I left camp aimlessly. I could barely see anything through the smoke and clouds which threw a wrench in my non-plan to drive around and take photos out the car window. Grand Tetons and Montana and Wyoming were up there on my teenage bucket list (lmao, dream big!), mostly for the landscapes and western vibes and maybe a few cathartic renditions of Wide Open Spaces. I just hiked all summer so I feel like I earned a few days of all-american automobile tourism.

Cozy

Decision fatigue is a ball buster on solo trips (and in life) and sometimes I refuse to change course even when it’s clear that a plan isn’t going to work out. I drove around Tetons alternately listening to the directions and making random navigational decisions, so Google kept yelling at me to make a u-turn. Eventually I got annoyed with both of us and stopped for snacks at the general store. I’ve been making my way through all the kettle chip flavors and so far honey dijon is the best and korean bbq is the worst.

Drove straight through to Yellowstone hoping the storm would let up, but by the time I got there it was 50 degrees with rain expected all afternoon. I thought it would be SUMMER once I left the Bay Area, so all my sweaters and warm jackets are in vacuum sealed bags that I don’t have the space in my car to open. I wasn’t loving the idea of being wet and cold in Yellowstone all night so I talked the campground lady into refunding my site reservation and headed for Big Sky, Montana.

I felt bad leaving without seeing any of the Yellowstone sights so I stopped at Old Faithful on my way out. I knew laughably little about what I was looking at and when a bunch of people started gathering I thought to myself, is this thing gonna explode or something?? And ya turns out that’s the entire point, it shoots a bunch of water and steam into the air every few minutes. I bought a cup of coffee and watched halfheartedly. The only other attraction I know about is the rainbow glory hole and there was so much traffic to park in the lot I said screw it and went on to Montana.

No LTE between Yellowstone and Big Sky and I was without a place to sleep - luckily my sister was available to do some emergency concierge work for me. I eventually found a nice campground near town but the obscene number of bear country warning signs freaked me out. I backtracked to Big Sky to buy a $50 can of bear spray, what a rip. Feeling beat today so I made it up to myself with a bowl of chicken curry ramen and a Sapporo. It was no nugget curry, but it did the job ☺️

Reading the bear spray instructions before bed - you’re supposed to use it once a charging bear is two to three seconds from reaching you. Wtf. I can’t do anything in two seconds. Finished Year of the Monkey at last. Almost fell asleep with a candy wrapper in my pocket, instant death. Also I got my period and I’m worried this is going to attract the bears.

August 19 I broke my own rule. I drove to Bozeman this morning and had a chicken fried steak at the Western Cafe, “The Last Best Cafe.” I had a nice chat with two old guys at the bar, initiated by ME! We talked about my trip so far and books (I was reading Walden Two and one of the guys had Woman in the Window with him, and we agreed that both authors are pretty nuts). Good time all around and then one of them secretly bought my breakfast 🥰 I’ve only ever had creepy men buy me drinks at bars so free CFS with no strings attached was a revelation. My smile lit up the cold dark streets of Bozeman.

Too early for hostel check-in so I killed some time hanging out in a coffee shop and wandering around Main Street. When I’m alone in a new city I usually get on the apps, it’s fun to hang out with a real LOCAL and have an AUTHENTIC experience. I did this on my first night in Sydney last year and my date won $7,000 at a bar raffle he’d been going to every week for three years and then bought us a night’s worth of top shelf shots, bad coke, and dumplings. Obviously I was his good luck charm so I should’ve gotten a cut of that $$$ but whatever… Eventually we went back to his depressing loft outside of the city. It was barely furnished and full of his shitty art and luckily he didn’t have any condoms so I was able to decline sex without feeling guilty (I had condoms of course but didn’t disclose). He tried to fuck me again around 4 am and I was so confused I thought he must have found a condom while I was briefly sleeping. He had not. I snuck out at 6 am and caught the bus back to the city. Not the most restful night but nice to get away from the hostel for a little while. But ya I updated my Hinge location to Bozeman and got hella conservative men swiping on me 🥴 My profile isn’t anything crazy but I don’t think I’m giving off Megyn Kelly vibes. Are they playing some sort of sexual bingo? Are they out to stealth me? Seems sus.

If you are a man on Hinge with a naked photo on your profile I WILL screenshot it and I WILL make a collage of my collection once I have enough material and I WILL sell it as a NFT and I WILL make $0 cuz y’all are freaks. This is the tamest one I’ve got, text me if you want a photo of a naked man covering his junk with a pineapple.

Ooooieee hostel is grungy and subterranean and not the kinda place you want to spend many conscious hours in. I took myself to the movies to escape - another thing I really missed last year. I saw The Night House, which I would describe as an architectural horror? I’ve been thinking about architecture a lot lately, this cool site Zoey sent me has some interesting interviews and stuff. In the movies I ate an entire bag of sour gummy worms and a box of junior mints.

Had a freaky bookstore experience earlier today, not the first time this summer. I originally wrote a longgg paragraph about synchronicity here but I got self conscious and started wondering if hearing other people’s stories about synchronicity is like listening to them talk about their dreams. I personally love talking about dreams (call me and tell me about your crazy dreams!!) but things definitely get lost in translation and sometimes they’re straight boring (like when my old coworkers and I used to dream in Excel, fucckkk). So I get why people find it annoying and here at Bog Girl Summer we can’t afford to alienate any of our readers. All I will say is that I walked into a bookstore today with synchronicity very much on my mind, went to the psychology section to buy a baby Jung text, and there saw a literal sign that said “Staff Pick, Introductory Jung: Synchronicity.” So yes, I bought it. Don’t forget y’all - I have a psychology degree so please don’t come after me about confirmation bias and all that lol. It’s very possible that in this summer of upheaval I’m desperate for some kinda sign that I’m on the right path. Let me have this one 😘

I also bought this postcard which spoke to me because most days I feel like I’m trying to drink out of a firehose

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[boggirlsummer]

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Since I know y’all are dying to hear what I was up to in the brief period of time Taylor and I were apart -

I started my illogical series of journeys back and forth across the country with an Amtrak ride to Missouri on the Southwest Chief. Luckily, the checked baggage is not a myth and I was able to give them my heavy suitcases and not worry about them again til Kansas City.

The train was almost full (we had a herd of tween Boy Scouts join us somewhere in New Mexico), so I had an older lady in the seat next to me the whole time. She came in with pretty chaotic energy, playing videos on her phone with no headphones (something that I quickly realized drives me insane lol) and ended by taking her pills with a Red Bull and telling me way too much about her family history at about 6:30 in the morning.

During the daylight part of the trip I took over a table in the observation car and just looked out the window and did a bunch of watercoloring. Very chill.

We still had to wear masks for the whole ride which made it a little difficult to sleep, but got used to it after a awhile.

After two full days on the train, I got to KC and hung out with my family for a few days. So nice to see everyone again, but it makes me sad that my grandparents once again don’t feel safe going to very many of places because of covid. Even though they regularly disagree with the beliefs and policies of their conservative neighbors and the governor, I’ve never seen them or my mom so frustrated and angry with their fellow Missourians. People in my hometown continue not to wear masks in public spaces and the vaccination rate for adults is hovering at around 40%. One of my grandparents’ friends was hospitalized for 18 days after going on a trip with one of his so-called friends who lied about being vaccinated. The unvaccinated man later died of covid.

But anyway, nothing new to say on that front, I know I’m generally preaching to the choir. Just can’t really leave that part of the picture out when it’s so ever present (especially since my grandma keeps the TV local news on all day lol).

Luckily, we were still able to do most of our usual activities - going on walks where the air feels thick enough to cut and listening to the buzz of the cicadas (or locusts, are they the same thing?), eating zucchini muffins, talking about traffic and new businesses in town, and watching Law and Order SVU.

After only a few days with promises to return soon, I headed out on a bus (Jefferson Lines aka midwestern Greyhound I guess?), to Minneapolis to meet up with Taylor. Looking back, choosing the 10 hour bus ride instead of an hour and a half long flight to save a little money didn’t make the most sense. However, I just entered the TikTok time warp and the hours flew by.

On one of our short breaks, almost everyone got off to get food from Burger King. I stayed on since I was supplied with muffins and planning on eating dinner with Taylor. The girl sitting behind me noticed I didn’t get off and offered me some of her food, which I declined but thought was really sweet of her. Inspires me to be a bit more generous and perceptive of people’s needs.

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[boggirlsummer]

Let’s Kerouac This Bitch

What now?? Time to get serious! After a weekend in Berkeley Zoey and I split up to head east - me to Maine via a two week roadtrip and Zoey to Missouri via Amtrak.

Why?? I’m doing a four-month boatbuilding apprenticeship in Bristol and Zoey is starting her year with AmeriCorps.

Huh?? DON’T WORRY!! Z and I are meeting up this weekend in Minneapolis and driving to Maine together, so stay tuned for a few more days of double trouble before we’re separated INDEFINITELY. I’m fine thanks!!!!

What’s next for Bog Girl Summer?? So far the blog is a commercial failure and we appear to have just one reader, our beloved kneehightoagrasshopper. Nevertheless I’m having way too much fun writing this shit so grab your Uggs and a pumpkin spice latte cuz Bog Girl Fall is coming your way. Serious question - should we switch to a platform where you can actually subscribe? Should we stay on Tumblr and I can just email people with a link when a new post is up? Does anybody care? Text/call/email/venmo me.

August 16 I was planning to hit the road early this morning but I discovered that I had a flat tire yesterday afternoon so I had to deal with that first. Greg at Tire Choice on San Pablo hooked me up and barely even laughed when I couldn’t release my emergency brake without help. Tires are expensive but I still don’t know what to do if I hydroplane or hit ice or how to use my emergency brake so hopefully these are a satisfactory offering to the gods of interstate travel.

Wow, leaving sucks! I know I can be particularly sentimental but damn… So much going on these past few months: Zoey and I quitting our jobs, our birthdays, a brief post-COVID period and a spring fling (me), moving out and leaving for the PCT, coming home with a foot injury (me again), the TRT (Z), leaving for Portland and the OCT, returning again, and now saying a third round of goodbyes. I’ve only had the brain capacity lately to focus on the very next thing and every time we’ve gone away this summer there’s been a return date not too far in the future. But “next time” is a mystery for now, and driving away this morning the reality of leaving so many people and places I love caught up to me. It’s weird when feelings that have been circling overhead for soooo long finally descend and sit on your chest all at once.

Goodbye to the Bog!

At least driving always makes me feel better. Y’all know I love public transit but there’s nothing like crying alone in your own car. Other activities of choice include singing until I lose my voice and ruminating in complete silence. Days like today I worry that my phone is recording me and that someday the world’s wildest 11-hour karaoke mashup will be released and I will be promptly beheaded. I used to get bored and tired on long drives but now I just black out doing any combination of the above and arrive at my destination feeling exorcised.

Not much use looking around today anyway, northern Nevada was smoky all the way through. A relief really, that part of the state gives me the creeps so bad I originally planned to drive through it at night before realizing that could be even worse. Arrived at Balanced Rock Camp in Idaho around 11 pm, a free spot along a creek with a few tents and an RV posted up already. I set up quickly in the dark, trying not draw attention to the fact that I was alone and would only be protected by a deteriorating piece of nylon. No cell service but I brought my bat and pepper spray into the tent with me. I used to keep the same bat under my bed as a kid, and I started thinking about how I would sometimes stay up all night thinking through different home intrusion scenarios and the pros and cons of various escape plans. Seems pretty nutty now, did anybody else do this? Slide into my DMs if you know any therapists in Maine.

I finally fell asleep around 12:30 but I was woken up almost immediately by weird noises outside. I can only describe them as alien sounds, a Predator-like clicking that went on for a few minutes at a time. At first I thought maybe it was a bird or something in the creek, but then I heard something big moving around close by. I had camped out of sight of the other tents but kinda near the RV and I started worrying that those people were out doing some weird shit, like getting ready to harvest my organs.

I tried not to move or make any noise for half an hour while the sounds continued but when they started getting closer to my tent I decided to run for it. I went to the car with just the essentials (weaponry and my book) and left the tent open with all my sleeping stuff inside. I sat in the dark until 2:30 am trying to look out all the windows at once but also reallyyyyyy not wanting to see whatever the fuck it was. I fell back asleep until 6 am, when it was light enough to return to the tent.

I feel dumb but this was so fucking scary. In order of likelihood the possibilities running through my head were: wild pigs, ALIENS, fucking RIVER people, bears in new territory (thanks climate change!!), ostrich sized turkeys. I’ve been researching the sound for days and I still have NO IDEA what it could’ve been. I don’t even have a recording of it because I was too scared to make noise using my phone and also can you guys imagine if I disappeared and y’all found my phone with that shit on it?? NO THANKS. The only semi-possibility is possums which is way scarier to me than anything else I thought of so thank god I didn’t have LTE that night. But seriously, aliens are on my mind in a big way. Ancient Aliens experts, please direct me to the relevant episode. I’m haunted.

If I were an alien I would land here

August 17 Poorly rested I peeled out of camp and went to see Twin Falls at my mom’s insistence (weird, idk). Iced latte and back on the road for four hours. Stopped in Driggs, Idaho to visit the corner drugstore famous for their lime freezes and other soda fountain treats. I got raspberry lime because I can never pick one damn flavor. Cute town with a grocery co-op, which I’ve been surprised to see so many of this summer.

Drugs

Smoke lifted a bit on my drive to Grand Tetons and to my right were red clouds and a flaming sun and to my left blue sky, green valley, and trees. The phrase “on the road between heaven and hell” popped into my head but unfortunately 90% of my poetry is haiku and a nine-syllable phrase doesn’t leave me much to work with.

As I pulled up to camp storm clouds started rolling in and wind sent the awning flying. Leaning into my car window the old park ranger greeted me, “You look tired.” With all due respect, sir, no shit: yesterday I left home with my entire life in the backseat, drove 12 hours on a single Red Bull, spent two hours in a fight or flight state, experienced a paradigm shift in favor of extraterrestrial life, and then slept for three hours with a bat in my hand and one foot on the dash. So ya if I don’t look tired please call Tyra fucking Banks because I should be getting model $$$

Do I look tired?

Made dinner in the JetBoil, set up the tent under the skeptical eye of my camp neighbor, and fell asleep to the pouring rain.

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[boggirlsummer]

OCT Days 16 - 19

Day 16 Back to business today, walked the beach to Seal Rock where Erin slipped and slid down an algae covered hill in a fraught bushwhacking attempt. The girl is out here in light blue leggings and a white shirt (and sleeping in a white tent??), so she was tempting fate let’s be honest. Zoey and I looked on helplessly in our black and gray attire.

Art by Zoey (it me!!! 🥰)

Waited out high tide on a giant rock and ate lunch until it was time to stage an unnecessarily dramatic river crossing. As much as I hated rock climbing I will admit that the techniques + body awareness come in handy. Maybe everybody should learn some climbing basics when they’re a kid. Not my kids though, they might fall in love with it and then I’d have to spend hours every week in a sweaty climbing gym ❌

Staying in a yurt tonight we booked on Hipcamp. Our host is a kooky middle-aged woman with a stoner stay-at-home son, classic duo. She talked endlessly and it was hard to break away, exhausting! Feeling stuck in a conversation where I have to match energy or respond in a specific way is a fast track to dissociation for me. Spent the night in my little shell writing a blog post and reading Year of the Monkey by Patti Smith. I’m loving it but not making much progress… I’ve been reading high most nights so I’m trapped in an endless cycle of reading the same pages over and over. Fine by me, I could live in this book.

Yours truly at work, don’t talk to me!!!!

Day 17 All day beach walk with a stop in Waldport for lunch. Chubby’s for burgers and fries + an espresso milkshake from the coffee shack next door = best trail grub so far. We’re close to the end of our trip so we can finally buy shit without having to carry it for 100 miles 🙏🏻 Stopped in a bookstore but it sounded like the elderly shopkeep was watching some sort of animal birth video on her computer so we didn’t stay long 🥴

No lie I lost weight on this trip

Our last hiker-biker tonight! We grabbed the only spot with a fire pit and after a bunch of other campers showed up the camp host brought us extra wood and suggested we share the fire. I was hesitant as usual but a few cool people joined us and it turned out to be super fun. We really vibed with this badass old guy named Ross who’s done a bunch of big hikes and laughed at all of our jokes. I made our dinner but fucked up and accidentally dumped all of the macaroni into a bush while trying to drain it. Multitasking in social situations is basically impossible for me but at least I almost finished the food before doing something stupid. We were still full from Chubby’s anyway.

I did have this BuzzBall before making dinner…

Day 18 Last hiking day. We were packed and walking well before our usual wake up time to make the bus to Eugene via Florence. Shocked to discover that morning on the beach is clear and calm, maybe starting around noon every day wasn’t the best strategy lol. We really wanted to try this place Luna Sea in Yachats at the suggestion of our crazy Hipcamp host, but given the bus schedule we had to order right when they opened. It was good but 10:30 am is a ridiculous time for fish tacos, fish and chips, and slumgullion (cheesy clam chowder with shrimp).

Goodbye OCT!

In the five hours we had to kill between buses in Florence we got coffee, bought more books, sat around at the park, and fought off a pack of 7 disobedient bloodhounds. Some weird people on the bus to Eugene and it was HOT when we arrived. Dropped our bags at a normal funky hostel (Seaside, do better!!) and had a trail celebration dinner at this Japanese tapas place in the Whiteaker neighborhood. Poke and cucumber salad and pickled things and onigiri and spicy shrimp and sake drinks, soooo good. I can’t wait to go back to Japan.

Don’t let our smiles fool you, sharing poke is a bad idea

This is my summer of exploring affordable second-tier cities and OKAY! Eugene is actually pretty fun! After dinner we hung out an outdoor bar with karaoke and cheap beer and the bartender agreed to put pickle juice in mine without complaint, which is my personal benchmark for a great spot. I got a little messy near the end, but come on…is it really a night out if I don’t end up crying at some point? Can’t run forever!

Day 19 Erin flew out at 6 am because she has a job 😬 Zoey and I got smoothies and hung out at the river all day with our friend Josh, who is notorious/beloved among a big group of outdoorsy Bay Area people for his ambitious and often chaotic backpacking trips. The only one I’ve been on was unusually luxurious and very fun, we snowshoed Shasta and stayed in this cool train-car motel and drank giant micheladas.

We went straight to the airport from the river, and because it was 105 degrees I figured the shorts and sports bra I swam in would dry pretty quick. Lesson learned: body scanners and wet clothes do not mix. The TSA agent informed me that she would be patting down my crotch, inner thighs, butt, and chest. So…everything? And then she had to test her gloves. I had a moment of panic thinking the river had soaked me in some sort of illegal substance but I was soon released. Back to Berkeley for one last weekend 😓

Mileage: 28

Total OCT Mileage: 176

P.S. Zoey and I introduced Blossom to Dutch Bros while we were home and she had her first puppycino 🥰

Home sweet home

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[boggirlsummer]

OCT Days 12 - 15

Day 12 Woke up to a notice from Geico that an accident was reported involving my car in Oakland, which as far as I know is in storage in San Francisco… A few calls later and mystery solved: it was my ex’s Ford Explorer that I used to drive and was on my policy until he donated it to a radio station in Sacramento last year. I thought radio stations scrapped those cars but I guess sometimes they sell them for super cheap at auction, so whoever bought it got hit and didn’t have insurance and the claim got linked to me, the last policy holder. Kinda happy the Exploder made it back to the east bay but I can’t believe it’s still on the streets…I drove it until all the doors stopped working and a second fraudulent smog was hanging over my head. My friend Buddy at Public Storage seemed offended by the idea that he would let anything happen to my car. Don’t take it personally, Buddy! I’m just glad I don’t have to find a new ride the weekend before driving to Maine, as badly as I want a lime green Kia Soul.

Mix of beach, trail, and road walking today and we happened to see some whales as we passed through Depoe Bay. So many animals spotted on this trip, I always forget how much I love this. A biker passed us in a sketchy spot on the shoulder of 101 and stopped to talk about the trail. This guy was desperate to chat and we really had to shrug him off at the hiker/ biker camp tonight. So many lonely men out here, why can’t they befriend each other and leave us alone?

Day 13 10 mile beach walk to Newport, where we’re staying at Zoey’s dad’s cousin’s beach house for two nights. Late lunch at the South Beach Fish Market, another cool and crusty full service seafood shack off 101. We saw the bus pull into the tiny gravel parking lot as we walked up, and as Zoey says, if the bus stops there you know it’s a spot. I had fried shrimp and scallops (scallops so goooood) and Z had fish and chips. Some guy asked me where we were backpacking from because his daughter had guessed Europe, so we must look pretty fucking chic for not having washed our clothes in 10 days 💅🏻

At Fred’s house, came in from the rain and washed our clothes and had a little steam + shower (yup!). Z and I got into bed and stared at our phones while we waited for our friend Erin to arrive, who flew in from SF to finish out the trail with us. If you don’t know Erin she’s extremely classy and athletic and for some reason keeps agreeing to join us on trips that are a little…rough around the edges. Like Thanksgiving 2019 when an innocent backpacking trip in Joshua Tree turned into a two day tour of the Salton Sea w/ stops in Bombay Beach, Slab City, Salvation Mountain and East Jesus - places I first visited with my dad and where he eventually ended up living for a few years. A tour of art and alternative living in some spookier desert locales…heaven for me and Z…Erin, not so much 👀 Always a good sport though 😉

Cute abandoned cafe I want to buy

Day 14 Breakfast burritos and Dutch Bros Coffee in Newport this morning. Zoey and I got some highly caffeinated sugary shit (I ordered a blended “Jelly Donut” - the natural escalation of my Red Bull obsession) and Erin got an unsweetened green tea (huh?? 🤨). The fourteen year old working the drive-thru couldn’t be bothered and I loved her for it. Young people who give zero fucks are my favorite, even (especially?) the ones who are faking it. I love when they act like little robots, all stonefaced and monotone, like you must be the most mind-numbingly dull person on earth. It’s so easy to make yourself feel like an idiot when interacting with strangers (like when a barista says “enjoy your drink” and you say “you too” 🙄), so it’s a relief when my stupidity is assumed right off the bat. Weird mix of feelings - I simultaneously respect the commitment to the transactional nature of our encounter/the rejection of the customer is always right attitude and still want to break the fourth wall between us somehow… It’s like when somebody you love is being a helpless grouch and for some reason it’s really funny and you want to put your arm around them and squeeze them until they have no choice but to acknowledge you. Cute aggression is so real.

Red Bull > Jelly Donut > BuzzBalls?

Fred Meyer resupply again, then drove to Cape Perpetua in Erin’s rental car for the scenery and a baby hike. Picked up Thai for dinner before returning the car at the world’s tiniest airport and walking back to Fred’s along 101 in the rain with takeout in hand. I was afraid of walking on the highway at the beginning of this trip but now it makes me feel like a self-righteous pedestrian badass. At any moment I’m prepared to yell scathing and thought-provoking lines after drivers who honk or otherwise question our right to the road. Even better if they drive away too fast to hear me and I’m left screaming into the dust like a madwoman. Every road should have a sidewalk.

Day 15 Laughably short hiking day for reasons too boring to explain, two miles along the beach to our next camp. We had a lot of beer with us and nothing to do so we started drinking at noon and ordered Dominos delivery to our RV park. Waiting for our pizza man in the park clubhouse, Erin and I picked out trash romance novels from the library to read at the beach (Zoey got the one decent book in the joint, about 60s hippies who traveled the “hippie trail” east through India, Iran, Afghanistan and more in search of drugs and a ~spiritual experience~). Nice beach weather for once and we lazed around all afternoon eating pizza and reading. Sobered up around the campfire. A spooky little girl imprinted on me and came around to scold us about hanging food from a tree.

Fight me!!!!

Just because I’m unemployed doesn’t mean I have to give up on my boss fantasies…

Mileage: 38

#Spotify

[boggirlsummer]

OCT Days 8 - 11

Day 8 Started the day with some road walking to get to the Cape Lookout South Trail, which descends through a Sitka spruce forest to the beach. Zoey downloaded the plant identification app iNaturalist, which I think we both learned about from the book How to Do Nothing (hello to our old book club friends 🥰), so we made a lot of stops to identify new berries and figure out which ones we could eat. Still eating hella roadside blackberries but my new favorite are thimbleberries, which are like little raspberries with super crunchy seeds. One probably shouldn’t eat anything growing in highway-adjacent dirt but…I’m on vacation. And I’m trying to stop saying “should” anyway.

Berries were the fanciest food to me growing up so I couldn’t believe it when I visited the PNW for the first time and they were all over the place. It always feels like someone is going to yell at me when I eat them. The best things in life are free.

We’ve also been trying to identify mushrooms… I was hoping that since Oregon legalized psilocybin we’d be able to like, buy it somewhere, but no. I made eyes with some regular mushroom salesman at the Portland Farmers Market but no dice. Reddit suggested finding a weed dealer and then working your way up to a shrooms dealer but who has time for that.. Apparently there’s a special kind of shroom that grows out of driftwood on the north Oregon coast and people get busted harvesting it all the time. Some advice I got from the internet: cops can’t legally search camera bags? Good thing I own a camera now.

Should we eat? We both have health insurance as of Aug 1.

On our way down Cape Lookout a man sitting on a giant tree stump asked us if we’d heard the good news. Have YOU heard the good news btw? The good news that Jesus Christ our lord and savior died so that we may be cleansed of our sins and have everlasting life with him in heaven? Luckily both Zoey and I had heard this news so we were able to save a little time. The man seemed murderous and his eyes were glowing with the Holy Spirit so I didn’t think it wise to tell him that I threw my childhood bibles and baptismal certificate in the recycling at my moms house a few weeks ago. He’s #2 on the list of people to investigate if we disappear.

We had lunch at the beach and walked the rest of the way to Sandbeach camp, which is basically a giant ATV staging area behind a bunch of dunes. Most families there had more vehicles than people so Zoey and I looked like freaks on foot. Z invented my new favorite backpacking food, Chipotle knockoff guacamole, with the secret ingredient: TRUE LIME!! Avocado + true lime + olive oil + salt = shockingly good guac. Eat it on a tortilla like a little guac taco, a guaco. No ATV riding allowed in camp between 12 am and 6 am, so yes we slept excellently. Highly recommend campsite 9, it’s right where all the main roads converge 👍🏻

Day 9 We considered crossing a river near camp so we could skip 6 miles of road walking today, but the tide timing was bad and when I tested it out last night I could only get 5% of the way before the water was up to my knees. I wanted to try putting our bags in trash bags and carrying them on our heads or soliciting a kayak fisherman to ferry us across, but highway walking won out. Finally back on the beach and we climbed over Cape Kiwanda, a giant dune separating us from camp and beer in Pacific City. While waiting for a table at Pelican Brewing, we watched through Zoey’s binoculars as adults and children alike tried to scale the dune with varying degrees of success. One kid gave up halfway and decided to bury himself up to his head instead, relatable.

Our camp tonight is my least favorite so far, a weird dead patch of grass in the middle of town populated by 65 bunnies whose ancestors were dropped off on the site 30 years ago (according to the camp host, who reminded me of Laird from Girls). Cold, went to bed early.

Gross

Day 10 Giant fluffy bagels and coffee in town this morning, plus resupply. Every single establishment in this state seems to be desperately understaffed - hiring posters and signs about supply shortages are up all over the place. I’m sorry to drag Ayn Rand into this again but it’s all very Atlas Shrugged.

Absolutely yikes

Somewhat complicated bus scheduling to swing a longer hike over Cascade Head, but it worked out. On our way down the foggy mountain, some accidental + authentic trail magic…hot tea and snickers bars with a couple from upstate New York living out of their truck for the summer. The girl is finishing a degree in “expeditionary studies” at SUNY Plattsburgh, and it sounds like they literally climb, paddle, and ski five days a week and graduate with a bunch of guide qualifications. You can get FAFSA for that shit?? She came to Oregon to do the OCT for her capstone project and seemed really excited to meet persons who could validate its existence. She and her friend went north on the trail (not recommended cuz of strong winds from that direction) and bailed after two weeks because water and legal camping spots were few and far between. She seemed kinda salty about the logistical challenges and said she might try again in 10 years. Would love to read her capstone report.

Got to the highway where the bus was supposed to pick us up an hour early. It doesn’t usually stop there but Zoey called the depot before our hike to make ~special~ arrangements. Cooked fried rice in the jetboil squatting by the side of the road while we waited. Was hoping somebody would offer us a ride into town but no luck. I fucked up and burned AND undercooked the rice and we didn’t have enough soy sauce, oh well. Noticed the dehydrated vegetables we bought on Amazon have a weird smell and now I can’t unsmell it. Took two buses to our campsite, lights out.

Day 11 Cheat day…decided to take a bus instead of walking on the highway for miles. Hiked the beach into the town of Otis, where we had a truly devastating breakfast at the Otis Cafe. Chicken fried steak for me as always and some kind of vegetable omelette for Zoey, plus molasses bread and cheesy potatoes. I think I need to take a break from CFS or order like the kids chicken fried steak or something because it’s just getting to be too much. Is it a coincidence that chronic fatigue syndrome and chicken fried steak share an acronym? No, it’s fucking not.

Until recently I thought I was missing that gene that made you want to stop eating, like a beagle. My mom said I used to breastfeed until I threw up and she thought that was normal until she had my sister. For this reason I’m planning to approach my first baby with suspicion and not get played like an absolute fool - generational strides. But anyway since I turned 25 my telomeres or whatever must be getting short real quick and my stomach is shrinking (but just internally, my belly fat is permanent) and I can’t believe I’m saying this but I want to eat healthy food. I’m really missing my daily smoothies. I haven’t had hot Cheetos since I left Berkeley, only partially because of the Frito-Lay boycott. I’m eating a banana a day and I hate bananas in their natural state. I’m reformed.

Chicken fried steak not to scale

We laid down on the beach for a few hours and eventually took the bus to a weird Hipcamp site on an eroding cliff. It was really our only option but $70 for a picnic table, a portapotty, and a hose is pretty steep. Zoey hates getting ripped off and I could tell she was annoyed. Rainy night and I ate too much weed gummy to do anything but stare at the tent wall. At least I haven’t been sleep talking, or Zoey is lying about it.

Mileage: 41 (110 total)

#Spotify

[boggirlsummer]

Please bring back Taylor's behavioral score. This is very important data.

HAHAHAHA WHO IS THIS!! I (Taylor) just saw that you liked our last post and what a thrill, I am overjoyed. We will consider your request!! You are currently the president of our fan club. I love you and miss you whoever you are! I think I have an idea…

[boggirlsummer]

OCT Week 1: Director’s Cut

Day 1 From Portland, we took four buses to the beginning of the trail in Fort Stevens State Park, with eventful layovers in the city of Astoria (fish and chips + bloody mary and beer on the waterfront + soft serve custard 🤤) and the legendary PNW superstore, Fred Meyer. Set up camp in the Fort Stevens hiker-biker area and walked north along the beach in search of the official OCT start marker (does it exist? We still don’t know!). A five mile hike turned into a ten mile hike and we returned to camp at 10:30 pm after trespassing in a jetty construction site and almost getting gored by an elk. Same deal as bears and mountain lions: walk away backwards, talk loudly, make yourself big, don’t run.

Day 2 Woke up and met our camp neighbor, a European biker girl who had a lazy morning smoking cigs, drinking pourover coffee, reading, and sitting in the sun. Sexy! When I get over my fear of being hit by a car and start bikepacking that’s how it’s gonna be.

Hiked 7 miles south to Sunset Beach, where we caught a bus to the town of Seaside. Zoey and I enjoy a hostel experience from time to time so she booked us two nights at the Seaside International Hostel and it was…pretty weird! All I will say for now is that it inspired a new running list, “Most Employees Stoned Most of the Time” Here’s what I’ve got so far:

DNA Lounge Pizza

Seaside International Hostel

Day 3 Spent the day hanging at the beach in Seaside and buying a few things we needed. This town is weird as fuck, it feels like the setting of a Goosebumps book: too many candy stores, an old-timey indoor arcade and amusement park, a suspicious fog that darkens the promenade in the afternoon… Every store and restaurant is staffed by teens who harass each other in a way that feels made for TV. At the Elephant Ears stand (it’s like a funnel cake I guess?) this kid who couldn’t have been older than 16 ran a very tight ship and was overheard telling his subordinations that just because he was the manager didn’t mean he had to work more days than anyone else. Now that’s some corporate culture, some top down management! Right on. This kid will be president in 2040.

Steve and I felt the same way about the hostel.

Day 4 A weird middle aged dude named Tony (sorry @MilviaTony) tried to woo Zoey last night at the hostel campfire, so we had to peace out quick in the morning. He’s also hiking the OCT (allegedly) so we’re still on guard in case we encounter him again. As we were getting ready to leave Zoey realized she’d lost her key and I had the idea that it might have fallen behind the baseboard, which was installed extremely shoddily and wasn’t fully attached to the wall. When I looked in the crack I spotted a $20 bill!! Enough to pay the hostel lost key fee AND buy us both bagels. I grabbed some marshmallow sticks from the kitchen and we spent at least ten minutes digging it out. Here’s what we got:

WTF! I thought I was too smart to be fooled by Trump but I stand before you, humbled.

Forensic expert sketch of “Tony”

We finally left the hostel and got some bagels and I had my first Red Bull “infusion” with cherry, vanilla, and lime “flavorings”. I wanted to be energized in case I had to fight new Tony later on the trail. Goodbye Seaside! We hiked up Tillamook Head to a magic backpackers camp which had three cabins (two bunk beds in each) with a fire pit in the middle, and many more tent spots in the surrounding woods. We had it all to ourselves! I loveeee places like this and I always think about how cool it would be to take over the spot for a night and throw a big + stupidly extravagant party and have all my friends backpack in speakers and feast food and a million bottles of wine, etc… For me and Zoey’s bdays, someday.

Only problem with this camp: no water! The map screwed us. We basically had nothin left when we arrived so we just ate snacks for dinner. Fun to sleep in the cabins (for me) but Zoey had to get up in the middle of the night and fight off some rodents who were eating her books on the top bunk.

Day 5 Hiked 5.5 miles down Tillamook Head to Ecola Point (water!!!) and then into Cannon Beach, which was actually cute and more the vibe we were expecting in Seaside. We had iced coconut lattes and a green smoothie (me) and veggie sandwich (Z) for lunch. Wow so healthy. Took the bus to Manzanita and bought snacks, then walked another 2.5 miles down the beach to the hiker-biker camp at Nehalam Bay State Park.

Day 6 Walked a few miles down the beach and got ferried across the Nehalam River by a Jetty Fishery employee. This place is cool - you can pay to spend the day crabbing off their dock or you can be lazy and just buy the crab, oysters, and clams that they already caught that day. They cook it for you and provide all the accoutrements (lemon, butter, hot sauce, etc.), and then you can chow on the patio with a cold beer. The dock store was small but mighty and had all the essentials including hot cheetos and cucumber lime Gatorade, which we saw a group of children-workers munching on during their 15 minute break. My kinda gals! Are there labor laws in this state?? Please comment below… The store also sells mangonada paletas, which I didn’t even know existed!!! What a spot. If you do the OCT save a few hours to get drunk and fishy here.

Not pictured: The 12-year-old girl singlehandedly running the crab shack

We walked 7 miles or so down the beach, stopping in Rockaway Beach for lunch at an Indian food cart on the side of the 101. This place has Guy Fieri’s name written all over it. We ordered giant naan wraps/burritos, mine with lamb curry and rice and Z’s with veggies and rice. I upgraded my naan to garlic, duh, and we used the tamarind and mint chutney as salsa. As Guy would say: it was money!

Why am I eating like baby?

Seen in Fred Meyer…lots to unpack here

We walked some more and camped at the Bar View Jetty hiker-biker camp, right behind the dunes, and had our first campfire. For once in our shared existence I put my pack under the vestibule and Zoey left hers out, and we woke up to pouring rain and thunder and lightning at 4 am. Our shoes got wet but we rescued everything in time 👍🏻

Day 7 Lots of road walking today, which is a notorious issue with the OCT…some waterways are impassable with no ferry options and in some areas the road shoulder is the official trail… From camp, we walked along the railroad tracks to Garibaldi where we caught the bus to the Tillamook Cheese Factory. No coat check (ya not exactly MOMA…) so we did the self-guided tour and ate cheese samples with our bags on, then bought fried cheese curds and ice cream for lunch. Btw chocolate peanut butter is the all-time best Tillamook ice cream flavor!! It has like sheets of sweetened peanut butter in it, make sure you eat all that before anybody you live with gets to it.

Tangent: @Tillamook, as a PNW-based ice creamery, why do you have so many berry flavors that are all VANILLA BASED?? Give me a straight raspberry or blackberry ice cream, puhlease! My favorite PNW ice cream place of all time, Mora, has like five pure berry flavors, now that’s the real shit. Go there and get a brownie hot fudge sundae with every berry ice cream they have and thank me later.

After the dairy fest we walked to Fred Meyer for a quick resupply, then got on another bus to downtown Tillamook to catch another bus to Netarts. The bus system here is so great! You can get off wherever you want and the drivers are sooo nice - we almost missed our Netarts bus cuz the first one was running late and multiple transit employees got involved and made damn sure we caught that bus. Transit drama is the best. Where’s the Grey’s Anatomy for transit workers, NUMTOTs would go fucking nuts for that.

There’s no official way to cross Netarts Bay, so we were supposed to flag down a fisherman at the boat launch and ask for a ride. Only one boat went out in the time we were standing around, we were both tired, and I had a fresh zit/didn’t feel like turning the charm on, so we decided to walk the highway around the Bay instead. Another hiker-biker camp, another campfire night, and quesadillas on the firepit grill 🤙🏻

Week 2 is going great so far, more coming soon!

Yours truly

Total mileage: 69 😎

#Spotify

[boggirlsummer]

Oregon Coast Trail

Has anybody heard of the OCT? Before we found a tiny sign like the one below, we weren’t even sure it was a real thing. Zoey has done most of the planning for this trip and claims that a map of the trail in its entirety, with segment mileage, does not exist. And if the OCT Facebook page is to believed, the trail Class of 2021 is just us and some lady named Angela.

Our girl Angela

The primary source for information about the OCT is this woman Bonnie Henderson, who has a book as well as a blog about day hiking the Oregon coast (fellow blogger 😎). She has another book about thru-hiking the OCT coming out which will include critical information about camping spots, impassable beaches, and marine hitchhiking, but it won’t be available until October. @Bonnie, can we get an advance copy? We need this info now!!

So yeah, most of our plan is cobbled together from a few contradictory and possibly outdated sources. Other variables: half of our nights will be spent in first come-first served hiker-biker campgrounds, and we’ll be relying on the local bus system and friendly fisherman for trail bypasses and bay crossings. And of course, my body may fail in new and unexpected ways at any time… I listened to a podcast in December 2020 that suggested I pick a theme word for the upcoming year - I try to play it cool but I secretly love corny shit, so my word for 2021 is “freefall” 😎 So far this has only caused me emotional and financial pain, but I think it may finally pay off on the OCT. Damn…is freefall two words? Cast your vote in the comments.

Again, I’ve contributed near nothing to the planning of this trip and we’re only a few days in, so I may be blissfully unaware of the logistical nightmare that lies ahead. We’re also taking it easy with a modified/low-mileage schedule (riding the bus as needed to avoid hiking more than ten miles a day in areas where camping spots are too spaced out) - partly for my foot but also to have more time to be ~chill~ and spontaneous. It’s been a dream so far! I have no idea why the OCT is so under the radar, this is like the PCT for lazy beach babies on a seafood and beer diet:

The trail takes you through a town almost every day, so there’s no need to carry multiple days worth of food or water. My bag is lighter now than it was on the PCT even with the addition of a leather cowboy hat, a pair of yoga pants, a bathing suit, a WWII-era metal camera, some oil pastels, DEODORANT, mascara and a tie dye tank for townie days 💅🏻 and a third pair of shoes (the solution to my foot problems 🤞🏻). Also, more town stops = more opportunities to eat regular food and stay in hostels/hotels if that’s your thing. Some people don’t camp at all and stay in hotels every night. Also also, if you get tired or hurt or bored, you can just BAIL! You can just get on the bus in the next town and go home. No need to fake a foot injury.

What the fuck is a CLIF bar

Campgrounds with toilets, water, and sometimes showers almost every night!! And, all of our sites so far have allowed campfires. Hiker-biker campgrounds are especially cool - something I had never heard of before this trip! These can be areas within a regular developed campground or more primitive sites along the trail, and they’re only for “people-powered” travelers. They’re super cheap (sometimes free!), no reservations, and seem way less likely to fill up (there may not be a set number of sites in the area, so you can squeeze more people in if needed). Getting a spot at a first-come first-served campgrounds is usually a shit show (at least in CA), but this has been no stress so far. Two of four nights we’ve had the entire camp to ourselves!

Some of the hiker-biker camps have these fancy lockers with USB CHARGING INSIDE!! We’re glamping let’s be real.

Cute! Coastal! Vibes! And sometimes not so cute Jersey Shore-Goes-West dystopian vibes (@Seaside, OR). Seafood, breweries, and ice cream, everywhere. Red Bull, everywhere. Sand, everywhere!

Perfect hiking weather (IMO) - mid 60s, breezy, occasional cloud cover. No waking up at the ass crack of dawn to hike before it hits 100 degrees. No immediate threat of heat dome or wildfire. No drinking 4 liters a water a day and still not needing to pee.

Easyyyyyy hiking…some elevation when going up dunes or forested areas, but mostly walking on the beach (on the packed/wet sand, but I’m considering doing some dry sand intervals to work on my 🍑)

Nobody here! No scraggly longhairs fighting us for a site every night. Nobody hassling us about gear or mileage. No suspicious trail angels. No bugs.

Water water water! I know I’m an Air sign but I gotta be close to the water. I’ve never lived more than an hour from the ocean even after my fam moved to the desert. I was almost born on a fishing boat! So hiking through coastal forests and dunes and along the shore all day is 🤩

Why aren’t you here with us! Get on a plane/train/bus ASAP and meet us at the Tillamook Cheese Factory for lunch tomorrow.

Today is Day 6 on the trail so we’re a little behind on posts, but more coming soon!

XOXOXO

[boggirlsummer]

LAZY DOG DAYS IN PORTLAND

Zoey and I just spent a week in Portland with her fam before starting the Oregon Coast Trail (my foot is mostly ok!). Her mom drove out from Missouri in her converted van and rented an Airbnb for the month of July + her dad flew out for the week, so it was a party. I slept in the van which was surprisingly cozy and all around a fun experience. One night I peed on a telephone pole like a dog and every morning I emerged from the back of the van feeling like a little gremlin. If this were any other city the neighbors might be disturbed but this is fucking Portland. Thanks for hosting us Kari!!!!!

Highlights from our time in the city of roses:

I rented a bike for the week and it was love at first sight. It was an aluminum PURPLE Trek with flat handlebars and a rear rack and a Prince sticker. My purple prince bike!! After some online research I determined that it was a 1992 model frame in the color “Sour Grape”. Zoey and I rode everywhere all week and this bike made me feel like the city biking girl I always dreamed I would be. Hills and bridges and errands were no match for us!

All of the things that suck about biking were solved with this bike. My #1 annoyance is locking up - it’s a pain in the ass to get a U lock around all the important stuff and I hate digging my key out of my bag when I’m hot and sweaty and juggling a bunch of shit and I look like I’ve never locked up a bike in my life and I feel like everyone is STARING AT ME. I always expect some random man to come up and ask if I need help which gets my cortisol pumping and then I fumble with the lock even more because I ACTUALLY DON’T NEED HELP! It’s like when old guys try to help me parallel park before I’ve even started, like they can smell a woman thinking about parallel parking, like sharks and period blood. Yes, I did fail that part of the driving test but that’s only because there was no such thing as parallel parking where I grew up. My dad had to put a railroad tie down in our yard for me to practice on. But after living in LA for 4+ years I can parallel park with the best of em, as you might know if you’ve ever been my passenger. I can even parallel park a moving van! Without help! So ya, when an old white guy sticks his head in my window while I’m trying to park I just roll that shit up. It makes them mad which makes me laugh. Yes, I actually CAN choose to disengage at any time!! But thank you for the help kind sir!

Anyway, I know it’s really dumb but I’m legitimately trying to buy this bike and have the bike shop ship it to Berkeley for me. I left my contact information for the shop owner and I plan on following up until I get an answer. I need this bike. This bike is my destiny. Phone zap alert!!! Please contact Everybody’s Bike Rentals in Portland and encourage them to sell me this bike [phone]. Oh also, the solution to the locking up problem is to put your bike key on a stretchy bracelet thing and wear it around your wrist at all times.

My steed

One morning we went on a self-guided donut bike tour and hit Pip’s Original Doughnuts and Chai, Coco Donuts, and Sesame Donuts. We planned to visit NOLA as well but we were too sugared up :/ If we had gone to Sesame first I would have had a drink off their Red Bull menu. Does anybody know what the deal is with Red Bull here?? Every coffee shop in this state sells Red Bull-based concoctions and as a recent RB addict I am HERE for it.

In the middle of our ride we went thrifting and I bought a sweater y’all are about to see a lot of… I call it my purple grape sweater cuz yeah! it’s purple and it says something punny about Oregon wine country, like “Wine of a Time.” I unfortunately don’t remember what it actually says and I had to mail it home but I’ll circle back. It also seriously smells like grapes (ask Zoey!). Can anybody recommend a grape perfume? I read online that Lady Gaga’s perfume is pretty close. I’m on a purple kick right now.

We also went on a sunset and moonrise group ride to a “mystery” destination which was so fun. Why is “secret” stuff so exciting?? Can it be cool without being gate-keepery? Anyway, the moon was ginormous and Cheeto orange and the fact that it rises at a different time every day is still wild to me. One of those things they should teach you in school!

I love biking with a group and doing stuff in cities that’s more like what I would do if I actually lived there. Sightseeing can make me feel like I’m just checking a box or killing time which puts me in this weird headspace/existential spiral where I wonder if travel is meaningless and start freaking out about whether life itself is just killing time. Not exactly a vacation state of mind!!!! My dream city trip = food (regional fast food is thrilling), ~active~ transportation, small music venues, PEOPLE WATCHING, walking around residential areas, reading in the park… How did my country parents raise such a snob??? Somebody slap me.

Keep those eyes rolling cuz Zoey and I bought ~film~ cameras. We went to a used camera store where a very nice man helped me pick out a 35mm cam while Z talked herself into buying a Diana F+ “toy” camera. Ultralight backpacking friendly? No! Extremely fun? Yes!!!

By the way the daddies here are UNMATCHED. We were hiking in Forest Park and a man passed us towing his baby behind his bike. We later saw him picking blackberries along the road with baby on hip and he earnestly asked us if we were also out “foraging.” Not sure that’s my kind of man but…very interesting. Saw sooo many solo guys out walking hand in hand with tiny independent babies and having full blown conversations with them. Baby talk is dead! Treat your baby like an adult. DILFlandia forever.

Of course we went to Powell’s and bought some cool stuff!! I got a book that’s been on my list for a long time: Walden Two by psychologist B.F. Skinner. It’s about a utopian community that weirdly reminds me of Atlas Shrugged (don’t judge me!) and despite being written in the late 1940s still feels hella relevant (sad…). In the intro (updated in 1976) Skinner writes about some of the cultural and economic issues that inspired the book, including overconsumption and environmental degradation, the decline of community life and art/leisure, capitalism and productivity culture, and more personally, Skinner’s observation of his wife and her friends’ boredom/isolation/despair as they transitioned from college girls to young wives and mothers. Many of my favorite topics! Can’t recommend it until I’m done - lots of ways a book written by a 1950s behavioral psychologist could go wrong - but happy to mail it to any interested readers once I’ve finished it.

Listen to men!!!!

Portland has some cool urban planning/community stuff going on that I haven’t noticed in other cities: lots of food pantries on the street (some with fridges and microwaves), real public bathrooms, public transportation is affordable and the fare system just makes sense (after two trips or $5 you’re automatically upgraded to an unlimited day pass). So bikeable! Streets were super clean! There are co-ops everywhere! Also Oregon just passed a law that allows unhoused people to camp on public land? I want to know more.

Designed to make can collection easier? Is this the opposite of hostile architecture?

A week in Portland wasn’t enough! Stay tuned for updates on our next adventure, the Oregon Coast Trail 😎

Please consider donating to my GoFundMe so I can return to Portland and visit this Love Specialist :)

#Spotify

[boggirlsummer]

TRT Days 10 and 11 Full Circle (around Lake Tahoe)

Day 10, my last full day of hiking on the rim trail. I’m out of battery on my phone and kindle at this point, so my main downtime activity is just writing down every thought in my head.

I ate lunch and filtered water with a guy doing the PCT. If I understood him correctly, the PCT was his first backpacking trip EVER? He said that he had done some day hikes as training, but otherwise just jumped straight into the deep end, knowing that he would just be uncomfortable at times. It would definitely make it a hell of an adventure, going into it cold like that. He seemed to be having a great time. He also gave me a cookie and a Starburst, which was much appreciated.

Day 11, I figured I had about 7 miles left to hike out before reaching Tahoe City. It was a chill morning and was fun (and also somewhat jarring) to come out near the Truckee River at the end which was packed with people day drinking and blasting music from their tubes. When I got to the transit center, I ran into one girl who I had been hiking with before and it was nice for someone to be there to acknowledge that I finished the trail, things kind of came full circle if you will lol.

There seems to be surprisingly good public transit in Tahoe City, so I got on a free shuttle to Truckee within like 10 minutes of arriving. After reassuring friends and family that I was, indeed, alive and on my way home, I ate as much food as possible and then sat in the visitor center with a bunch of religious tween Girl Scouts and their mothers and waited for the Greyhound bus.

Once on Greyhound, all of us passengers watched out the window while our driver and another passenger argued for about 45 minutes. It seemed like the driver had let the guy get on in Reno because he said he would buy a ticket in Truckee. He didn’t have the money to get a ticket and was kinda belligerent, so even though people offered to pay his ticket, the driver didn’t want him on the bus. So basically we ended up leaving the guy stranded in Truckee. Not a great situation, and kind of a harsh reintroduction to people being people after a couple weeks in the woods. Luckily no one had to sit by me for the rest of the 6 hour bus ride, considering I hadn’t showered in 10 days and the bus AC never got us below 85 deg F.

Mileage: 17ish and 7ish

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[boggirlsummer]

TRT Day 2: Cicadas gone wild

Day 2 was a bit of a trudge, uphill for the last 12 miles or so and I kind of got a late start, but Mt Rose wilderness is beautiful and I crossed the state line into Nevada. Passed through lots of meadows buzzing with cicadas and lots of wildflowers.

When I got to the lake where I was going to camp, an older lady crawled out of her tent wearing a tie dye shirt and no pants to say hi and to let me know she would be getting up at 5 am.

Don’t have quite the same level of foot cleaning routine as Taylor lol, but so far have been lucky to stay near lakes where I can wash my feet and face every night which has been great.

Mileage: ~17.6

Elevation: ~3650 ft

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[boggirlsummer]

TRT Days 7-9: Women and Dogs Rule the TRT

Day 7, passed the 100 mile mark! Felt like a pretty chill day, where 2 miles actually felt like 2 miles instead of stretching on forever. I had a really nice swim in Round Lake, and met even more female solo thru hikers! I think our ages ranged from like early twenties to sixties and we all went swimming in our underwear lol. (As a side note, I’ve also met several dogs hiking the whole TRT with their owners, including one pit bull who had its stuffed moose toy attached to its lil backpack with a carabiner, soo cute omg).

Two older guys hiking the PCT camped near me, so I chatted with them for awhile. When I mentioned we’d met people in Oregon doing like 40 miles a day, they said “only the crazy ones do that.” I don’t think they’d been hiking together for too long and it was kind of cute to watch two old guys who obviously want to be friends, trying to become friends.

Day 8, I got into Desolation Wilderness and was back in pretty familiar territory. This section of the TRT overlaps with the PCT and there were tons of backpackers. We had a small tent village basically at Lake Aloha. Before that though, I went to the store at Echo Lakes and got some more snacks. I had mozzerella sticks, an apple, and a popsicle, making what might be my new ideal hiking snack on a hot day.

One of the interesting things about the TRT being a loop is that people start and end at any number of different trailheads along the way. So it seemed like I would leapfrog with the same group of people for a few days and then would be on to an entirely new group. I also got to see a couple people doing the loop in the opposite direction as me twice, which was fun.

Day 9, my journal entry mainly consists of brunch food ideas, so I guess that was what was on my mind hiking up Dick’s Pass. Some of the best views of the trail from the top of the pass and another nice few lakes to jump in after. An old man going the opposite direction raised his eyebrows at me when he passed and said “5.9 earthquake at Walker, things are moving and shaking.” Didn’t quite know what to do with that information, so just kept on goin’.

Didn’t make it as far as I wanted to, so I ended up camping near what Guthooks labeled “Stagnant Pond.” Unsurprisingly I had the campsite to myself. Despite being devoured by mosquitoes the mile or two before reaching Stagnant Pond, it ended up being a decent spot and windy enough that the bugs didn’t bother me.

Mileage: 17 mi/day

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[boggirlsummer]

TRT Days 4-6: Fried Pickles and Scorpions

I think I was already tired of oatmeal before this hike even started, even with my overnight oats/cold soak method. I think I ended up carrying like 5 days of oatmeal 170 miles for nothing, just weight training I guess. In the future I kind of just want to replace it with potato chips and Takis. Any other savory breakfast ideas besides grits? Backpacking congee? Let us know in the comments below.

Day 4, my morale was running a bit low, just real tired and having a bit of trouble keeping up with the daily miles. I laid down inside my tent and then was too lazy to make dinner. It rained pretty hard (or maybe hailed based on how loud it sounded in the tent?) and got windy. Double Rainbow was up for the challenge tho, no issues. Happy for the precip and didn’t see any lightning. Really nice views of Marlette Lake and Lake Tahoe from Spooner.

The next day I met another girl thru hiking solo who seemed really cool, she lives in Reno and is getting her PhD in ecology. She wasn’t using her phone at all for the hike, she had paper maps and a digital camera, respect. We hiked together for a couple hours, til she stepped off a boulder wrong and took a break to make sure she didn’t mess something up. Am I bad luck??

At the end of the day, I walked a short side trail to one of the ski resorts and overpaid for a meal of fried pickles and pizza. Then fell asleep to the distant sound of country music and fireworks going off, happy fourth America.

Day 6, I put away my tent and a scorpion crawled out of a hole right where it had just been. Didn’t know those guys lived out here??

I met up with the girl from the previous day (she wasn’t injured, hurray!) and another girl she just met who was also thru hiking solo. (I actually met so many female solo hikers on this trip, we love to see it!) We both found it pretty funny when mountain bikers who are by themselves come up to you and say “I’m all alone” or “I’m just by myself out here”. The heads up is appreciated lol, but its just funny to have a stranger announce that to you.

I started listening to some audiobooks since I don’t allow myself to listen to my usual murder podcasts when I’m gonna be camping by myself. I listened to all of Dave Chang’s “Eat a Peach” in a day, which was good but felt weird to have somebody’s else’s voice in my head for that many hours of the day.

We ended up at Star Lake in the afternoon, which was beautiful and nice to jump in. Saw some people hiking with their pet goats. Some people hiked nearby Freel Peak as well (tallest in the Carson Range I think), but I was too tired. I think this area would be great to visit for a weekend trip - beautiful, not super busy and no permits required.

Mileage: 17 mi/day

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[boggirlsummer]

TRT Day 3- Smoky skies make for a nice sunset??

Today started off easier, climbing up Relay Peak and then a lot of downhill. I met 3 fellow thru hikers who were really nice that I leapfrogged the rest of the day. They were all from Folsom and were only about 2 days away from finishing the trail.

Near the Mt Rose trailhead, a guy hiking up the trail asked if I was hiking the TRT and said he was a trail angel and had cold drinks in his car if I wanted. We sat in some folding chairs in the parking lot and I drank an entire blue Powerade. He immediately started telling me that he was hated by the local Sierra Clubs and that they had kicked him out years ago, from what I could gather due to a combination of racism, just not liking him, and not wanting to listen to his safety concerns. He also said they intentionally gave people wrong directions and had a whole book full of them. In the same cooler as the Powerade, there were at least 10 containers of pineapple cottage cheese, which he didn’t offer and I didn’t ask about.

I got a little ahead of the other hikers after filtering water and some storm clouds started forming overhead. After hiking so much in Colorado, I feel like I don’t mind a thunderstorm so much when I’m below tree line, but here it freaks me out because of the potential for lightning strikes to cause fires.

And sure enough, I started smelling smoke and once I got to a clear area where I could see into Washoe Valley, there were clearly two spots where smoke was rising up from the hills on the opposite side of Washoe Lake. Luckily I had service at this point, so I was checking Twitter and fb for updates. I wasn’t too concerned about those (in terms of my own safety) because they were all the way across the lake with a population center in between (and helicopters had already started to put them out, at least the Carson City one).

I was standing by the Diamond Peak ski lift and could see some smoke coming from the eastern side of one of the hills I’d just come over though, so I wanted to put a little more distance between me and whatever was happening there.

I kept going a little ways and then ate Mac n cheese while I waited to see what the storm would do. I ended up camping there and it was all good, things cleared up and never got too smoky. I could hear helicopters coming to dump water on the one near me (called the Diamond Fire because of the ski lift, so guess it was pretty close). The next morning people were coming from that direction on the trail, so even though I could still see smoke I guess the trail was still open.

Anyways, I’m planning to camp relatively near civilization and water the next two days and will keep checking the weather! Don’t worry, if it seems sketchy I will bail.

Trail Stats:

Mileage: 17

Elevation: 2,100 ft

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