
Speedy Pinecone
Hi, I’m Maja - or speedy Pinecone on the trail. After training hikes in Scandinavia (Kungsleden, Bohusleden, Grensesommen) and South America (TDP O Trek, Huayhuash, Tierra del Fuego, Huemul Circuit, Refugio Grey) I was finally ready for the big ones: PCT 23 & CDT 24.
Posts
CDT sidequest El Dorado: Argentine Spine to Mount Elbert
Slowly, I make my way up through the dark forest before the trail climbs above tree line. A faint violet shimmer on the horizon, sunrise. There’s no one else around, it’s a Thursday, I think. 1.5 miles before the summit, it starts hailing. I sigh, thinking „classic Colorado“ and pull the hood of my rain jacket closer around my face. The ascend to Mount Elbert isn’t steep or technical, it’s just very long. I stop and turn around but instead of a dramatic sunrise in vibrant colors, I look down on a bed of clouds.
Day 67 – 72: Colorado, it’s a crowd out here
The surrounding peaks, once towering and majestic, now looked like humbled giants from here. Colorado has become a playground. The world beneath folding into a patchwork of valleys and rocks, all bathed in the fleeting glow of the sunset. It was painfully beautiful—so vast, so indifferent, it made my heart ache. I stopped for a moment, while the wind howls around me. The kind of view that made you feel both infinite and insignificant.
Colorado welcome committee: we hope you like hail
CDT Sobo, days 61 - 66, entering Colorado Day 61 - 0 miles The bed is empty when I wake up. 6 am. As silently as possible I make my way down to
CDT days 58 – 60: Six hikers walk into a church. Wyoming? That’s a wrap!
After the 100 mile challenge, we’re wrapping up CDT Wyoming. Being sent off with trail magic, old friends and an unusual church visit.
CDT Sobo – Why hike 100 miles and hallucinate in the basin?
„Do you wanna do something crazy in the basin?“ That’s how it started. Mosey and I hadn’t seen each other since early June in Glacier national park.
End of the Teton alternate, the Winds and Cowboy Wisdom
The Winds - finally the trail enters the section considered the “most beautiful” of the whole Continental Divide Trail. Green alpine
Getting bored of hiking on the Teton alternate
Day 43, Teton NP to Jackson I am done with hiking. I’m bored by it. Fuck it. I’ll take the cut off. Yeah, this park is beautiful but I just don’t
1000 miles and leaving Yellowstone for another National Park
Just before Heart Lake in Yellowstone National Park I exited the park and the CDT to embark on a side quest: the Teton alternate. Crossing through
CDT mile 927 – 941 Yellowstone
A huge CDT Sobo milestone: the end of Montana-Idaho. And while walking right into Yellowstone National Park, we enter a new state: Wyoming. Geysers, Bisons and Bacon.
CDT day 32 – 35: leaving Lima
Totally into Tetons? A famous alternate begs planning and decision making. Day 32 Fred and I are sitting in front of the laundry room which has