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big seki loop

Big SEKI Loop Trail Journal Day 12

April 21, 2020 by Jon Lanman 4 Comments

Thursday, August 9, 2018

Today will be our last day on the SEKI trail. Tomorrow we will meet my mom in Fresno. After that we’ll retell of our travels, and make plans for future trails. But for now we’re in the wild. So, we’ll enjoy every minute as it lasts.

The morning sun turns the tree tops to gold, and I hoist my weight onto trail stained legs. The Roaring River rambled all night long, inspired from the glaciers and snow pack miles away. It’s voice comforts me as I greet the day.

We clear our bear bin locker. Anticipation, excitement, and a touch of melancholy hangs in the morning mist. It’s a familiar feeling.

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Filed Under: Hiking, Trail Journals Tagged With: big seki loop, sierras, trail journals

A Guide to the Big SEKI Loop (Colby Pass Variation)

March 28, 2020 by Jon Lanman Leave a Comment

What: A 134 mile, 12 day loop hike
Where: Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park in California

Big SEKI Loop

In 2018, Rachel and I embarked on one of our favorite hiking adventures to date, the Big SEKI loop trail. In the few years prior we had hiked across the Olympics, around Mt. Rainier, and portions of the PCT in Washington State.

So, we were ready to head southbound to the Sierras. Originally, we set our sites on the JMT, but quickly realized how difficult it can be to get permits. Plus, we were afraid of being overrun in a swarm of hikers on the JMT.

Fortunately, Rachel stumbled upon an excellent JMT alternative – The Big SEKI Loop.

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Big SEKI Loop – Trail Journal Day 11

February 28, 2020 by Jon Lanman 2 Comments

Wednesday, August 8, 2018

We wake up in the dim light. We eat, sip tea, and fill our packs. It’s chilly, let’s move. We leave camp at 7:04 am.

We are machines, hiking machines. We’re fueled by nature’s beauty, with nuts and fruit as supplement.

The trail immediately starts climbing. We have about 2,000 ft to the top of Colby pass. I quickly overheat, and peel off my green homemade jacket. The air is brisk upon my skin, just a single layer to shield my torso. But as long as I keep moving, the friction within my body will continue to create heat.

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Big SEKI Loop – Trail Journal Day 10

February 28, 2020 by Jon Lanman Leave a Comment

Tuesday, August 7th, 2018

Last night we camped at a small camp next to Tyndall Frog Pond. It was a beautiful area that sat just a little ways away from the majority of campers near Tyndall Creek where we had enjoyed our dinner.

Although, our camp was perfect, with a fine stone chair, I didn’t sleep well at all. Like the stone chair, the ground was hard. It felt uneven. I even got cold.

So, when we awoke before 7 am, I was ready to roll. When my body is stiff and sore, I find it’s best to get it moving. We were on the trail by 7:15 am. No breakfast. We don’t have time for such luxuries. Or, maybe we were just excited to see what was around the next corner of our adventure.

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Big SEKI Loop – Trail Journal Day 9

February 27, 2020 by Jon Lanman Leave a Comment

Monday, August 6, 2018

Last night was rough. I woke up in the night with a night terror, yelling at a bear. There were none nearby. Yet, I sat awake with concern, and toiled in the thoughts I had packed along this trip – the ones I could not leave behind.

This year has been rough. This summer the worst of all. It’s hard for me to even acknowledge, to speak out loud of the pain, the goodbye to a friend that Rachel and I had to endure. Even now I don’t want to face it. Just recollecting my recollections, it’s still too painful to write.

Doggie, Black Licky, Loaf of Love, Log Dog, Brownie. Anisa. She was a dog of many names, and much love. She was a kind friend that I never deserved, a sweet soul in a world that too often fosters bitter fruit. I awake at night and think of her. I scratch at the surface of memories looking to uncover what I could have done to keep her with us longer. I kick myself and bite down hard, I don’t deserve to express the pain. But it tares through all my might, opening up the night. I scream.

I thought there was a bear. But more likely it was my memories, fragments of fear jarred loose, that normally lay nestled in my mind.

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Big SEKI Loop – Trail Journal: Day 8

February 26, 2020 by Jon Lanman Leave a Comment

Vidette Meadow
Vidette Meadow

Sunday, August 5, 2018

Today we march our legs back out onto the trail. We will start again from Road’s End, retracing our last 1.8 miles from yesterday until we reach the Woods Creek, Bubbs Creek junction. From there we will branch off onto the Bubbs Creek trail, heading toward Vidette Meadow.

It’s been less than 24 hours since we exited at Roads End, yet it feels like we’ve been off for weeks. We’ve only been off the trail for one night. We welcome the wilderness with eagerness and relax as the people on the trail become sparse.

It’s a Sunday afternoon, and most of the hikers are heading out today, after a weekend on the Rae Lakes loop. It’s a popular section of the trail we won’t be seeing. But we’ve been blessed with beauty, and more is yet to come.

It’s a hot day today. Although a canopy of trees keep us covered, sunlight bites at us through open gaps between the branches. We ascend a short series of switchbacks after cutting off onto Bubbs Creek Trail. In full sun now, the dust of the trail lifts in clouds around my feet, and stick to my sweating calves. I unbutton the front of my shirt. I had dampened it in the creek below, but it’s already beginning to dry. I envy the forest shade ahead.

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Big SEKI Loop – Trail Journal: Day 7

December 19, 2019 by Jon Lanman Leave a Comment

Saturday, August 4th 2018

It’s 6:15 am. I’m in my sleeping bag in Upper Paradise Valley. I can hear the stream that hooks around the campground, as it approaches from the north, water molecules traveling west.

In our campground are more people than we have seen our whole trip. As I peer from under our tarp I can see scatters of colored tents tucked under the fir tree canopy. The air is cool. A hammock hangs near the river, and I notice as other campers begin to stir.

As we arise from our camp and get together, Rachel looks aghast at me.

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Big SEKI Loop – Trail Journal: Day 6

November 17, 2019 by Jon Lanman Leave a Comment

Friday, August 3, 2018

Today we will emerge in the parking lot. Not any time soon. But, eventually we will wind our way through the trees, down thousands of feet of elevation, past the JMT-Rae Lakes junction, below granite cliffs, past a ranger station and to our car. Although our emergence from the wilderness will only be temporary, there’s melancholy in the morning air.

The river alongside our camp massages our ear drums awake. I find the air is cool and damp. It’s not just due to the presence of water rushing by, but there’s a foggy layer hanging. I pull over my head the green prima loft coat that my brother made me years ago. There’s a hole in the armpit, where the white prima loft is visible through the green thin outer layer. It warms me, and prods me from my slumber spot.

Today is calm and quiet. Our minds feel less alarmed. It’s been over 36 hours since we last hunkered under a tarp in a thunderstorm. Our minds can wonder elsewhere. Although, for me, that’s not always a good thing.

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Big SEKI Loop – Trail Journal: Day 5

September 11, 2019 by Jon Lanman Leave a Comment

Through Palisades Lakes and Over Mather Pass

stream crossing

Thursday, August 2, 2018

Forgive me the cliche. But I slept like a baby last night. And today I wake up feeling elevated. Maybe it’s because I’m on a ridge looking into a valley, granite peaks to my left and right. Maybe it’s because we survived two days of thunderstorms, and I’m awake, dry and alive.

I look down to the valley to a patch of trees that surround the river. Steam and myst hover around the edges. Somewhere nestled in the trees are our fellow hikers, shaking dew from their shoes, and tents. Burrr…. I do not envy them.

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Big SEKI Loop – Trail Journal: Day 4

July 31, 2019 by Jon Lanman Leave a Comment

Nothing Left to Worry About

Middle Kings River
All is right in the world.

Wednesday, August 1, 2018

I am alive. For now, that’s all I need.

I awake refreshed to the sound of water. I inhale the smell of dew on sand, and my heart is put at ease. The sun is hitting our tarp, preparing to dry the tiny drops of moisture that have settled over night. I watch them roll from our shelter’s peak, and collect upon the bottom seam. Soon the moisture will evaporate, and return to the clouds that drenched us yesterday.

I wonder if it’s possible to be hit by the same exact molecules of water, two days in a row.

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Filed Under: Hiking, Trail Journals Tagged With: big seki loop, sierra hiking

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