Pacific Northwest Trail Photo Essay & review of Scotland book

The winter issue of Outdoor Focus, the journal of the Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild is out now, edited by John Manning, a long time friend - he describes our first meeting in his editorial! This issue contains a review of my Scotland book, in which my claim to have spent six years writing it is described by Mr Manning as "rubbish", and a photo essay on last year's Pacific Northwest Trail hike. Outdoor Focus is available on line as a pdf here and as an easier to read YUDU publication, with pages that swish when you turn them, here.

Islands, Roads & Towns

The area between the Cascades foothills and the Olympic Mountains is a mix of roads, towns, industry, farmland, islands, beaches and forests. The PNT threads a way through this varied terrain, sometimes on trails, too often on highways, some of them very busy. There are some attractive sections - Deception Pass State Park, the Bluffs Trail on Whidbey Island - but this hasn't been a memorable part of the walk. It finishes with the ferry to Port Townsend on the Olympic Peninsula. From here I head back to the mountains and then the Pacific coast and the end of the trail.

Awaiting the Cascades

For the last nine days I've wandered through the pleasant though cow-infested and rather waterless Kettle River Range, where there are some good trails and scenic camp sites but also a fair amount of road walking, and then the lower sagebrush dotted Okanagon, where it's hot and dusty. Ahead though lie the North Cascades and the longest stretch of high mountain wilderness on the whole trail. After resupplying here in Oroville, and enjoying some fresh food (and beer!), I'll be heading into the Cascades for 150+ miles.

Across the Rockies

Ten days into my Pacific Northwest Trail hike and I've crossed the Rocky Mountains. The first five days were in the glorious rock and ice scenery of Glacier National Park. There the trails are maintained, backcountry camp sites have to be booked inuyb advance, and a permit listing many conditions is required. The mountains are busy and I met many hikers and at least one ranger every day and camped with others every night. I loved the landscape but it did not feel like a wilderness trip, though a tremendous thunderstorm on day four did add a little excitement. Then I left Glacier for the Whitefish Mountains, via the entertaining and friendly hamlet of Polebridge. Suddenly there were no rangers, no permits, no camp sites and no other hikers. I had the wilds to myself. The trails were often overgrown, sometimes hard to find and I had to hunt out camp sites in the dense forest. The hills were lower than in Glacier but felt wilder. The weather went from thundery to heatwave and there was little water on the long ridges followed by the Whitefish Divide and Highline Trails. By the time I dropped down to the Tobacco Plains and the little town of Eureka I felt the walk had really begun. Next comes a week in the even wilder Purcell Mountains.