Author: David Hardcastle

https://www.instagram.com/coast_to_coast_hiking

Hello everybody, my father and I now have fourteen hours left on our 75 hour journey to the east coast and back. This has been very exciting and I am working on my presentation as you read this. The reason posts have been so lacking lately is because the majority of areas we have been in have not had a cellular or WiFi connection.

I am looking forward to seeing everyone’s progress.

I just completed my final hike which was a four day three night adventure into the back country of Yosemite National park. The hike took our medium size group through waterfalls, over rivers, and through mountains. This time instead of eating flash dried food we ate fresh produce, meat, and other tasty treats. The total distance of the hike was around 20 miles… fourteen of which were with a 46 pound pack. We each had to carry a canister which weighed 6-10 pounds, this was to protect agains the bears and other animals from getting our food. Fortunately the weather was on our side and the rain held off just as it did last trip.

Unfortunately I am not able to post the link to my Instagram blog on this format. Each time I try to visit the page I get a 404 error code. Sorry teachers and students, the page is called (Coast_to_coast_hiking)

Today we reached the Grand Canyon and this is quite a tourist trap. Twenty five dollars for a chicken breast, proud to say I had a vegetarian meal with meatballs of course. It is completely spectacular, there’s too many people on their phones missing the view.

Yesterday we drove from our home to Oklahoma city. Today we drove to New Mexico and are staying the night before driving to the Grand Canyon tomorrow. The occupants of our vehicle are my father, who is celebrating his 50th birthday today and myself.

Our total journey was around 23 miles. I carried a pack that weighed between 34-38 pounds. The first day was around 3 miles, at night we settled in and made food, this freeze dried food was surprisingly good. Getting water was interesting as it had to be filtered. The water was put in a bag and then hoisted up to where the water would fill another bag through a hose system with a filter in-between.

The second day was very hard as 9 of the 12 miles were uphill at a very steep gradient. This day we reached Gregory’s bald, and open field at 5000 feet with a full 100 mile few of the surrounding valleys and areas.

The third day was a climb back up to the bald and then a few miles downhill to get to camp. The night of Thursday we had some unprepared hikers that acted strange and fried corn in cast iron skillets that couldn’t make it up the hill and had to stay at our camp without a permit.

The fourth and final day was fantastic because we finally got to ride in a bus and have some ribs. I will have more details on my Instagram page.

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On Friday I completed my adventures on and around the App Trail in Tennessee. This was a great adventure with my father and will be uploaded to my Instagram soon!

 

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As some of you know i just returned from my four day excursion into the wilderness. My Elephant rock post is now up and you should expect pictures from the AT soon. Most of you are going on the camping trip and I will be releasing a summary of that as well, along with fun tidbits about the AT and those adventures.

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Tomorrow I will travel to the state of Tennessee and begin my hike on the App trail. I will be out of radio shot until around Monday. Wish me luck and expect great pictures and stories!

On Friday my parents and I ventured to the coveted Elephant “Rocks”, I say this because not only are they breathtaking, but massive and spectacular. My favorite part was most certainly leaping from boulder to boulder as my mother shrieked with anger and fear, a jolly time I say. Anyway it is about two hours away from school and can easily be turned into a day long excursion. Just make sure you are safe and bring proper shoes because you could trip and actually die if your wore the “flops”.