Sandy&Darren

That distance took us through 80% of California and the entire state of Oregon, leaving us with the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California and the state of Washington to go. To prepare for this year’s trekking, we are completing a 33 mile training hike, taking us on a portion of the Pacific Crest Trail that is closest to our Palm Desert, California home. After the Washington section is complete, we will travel to South Lake Tahoe, California and begin hiking south through the Sierra Nevada Mountains in August, hopefully completing our trekking in early September. Not only will we have the challenge of trekking the Grand Canyon from the south rim to the north rim to look forward to, but the hike will be a great warm-up for our PCT adventures to come.

This summer, we trekked over 500 miles on four different long distance hikes in Europe: the Camino Portugues in Portugal / Spain; the GR53 in France; the Lechweg in Germany / Austria; and the Swiss Alpine Pass Route in Liechtenstein / Switzerland. The Swiss Alpine Pass Route was another story: because of the steep ascents and descents on many of the days, we varied from the trail estimates. For example, because we averaged over 3,000 feet of elevation gain and loss each day on the Swiss Alpine Pass Route, we had many extreme trail sections to hike. Completing the Camino Portugues During the Swiss Alpine Pass Route we took two rest days: one after the first 77 miles (over six days) and the second after about 90 miles (over 10 shorter days).

This summer, we trekked over 500 miles on four different long distance hikes in Europe: the Camino Portugues in Portugal / Spain; the GR53 in France; the Lechweg in Germany / Austria; and the Swiss Alpine Pass Route in Liechtenstein / Switzerland. The Swiss Alpine Pass Route was another story: because of the steep ascents and descents on many of the days, we varied from the trail estimates. For example, because we averaged over 3,000 feet of elevation gain and loss each day on the Swiss Alpine Pass Route, we had many extreme trail sections to hike. Completing the Camino Portugues During the Swiss Alpine Pass Route we took two rest days: one after the first 77 miles (over six days) and the second after about 90 miles (over 10 shorter days).

The final three days of hiking took us 46 miles and over six more passes as we continued towards Lake Geneva. Although there was not much climbing to the final pass on the trail, the Col de Chaude (5,318 feet), we would be descending over 4,000 feet in just 8.5 miles. After crossing a street, we walked to the lake promenade path and officially finished the Swiss Alpine Pass Route, 21 stages and 23 days after leaving Vaduz, Liechtenstein! We took a few photos and then walked to our B&B to check in and relax. Not only did we have the challenge of climbing over 16 different passes, but we hiked through a variety of Swiss cities and towns, stayed in quaint mountain guest houses, walked by thousands of cows grazing in the meadows, and of course, witnessed the incredible rugged beauty of the Swiss Alps themselves.