JConnHikes - Jordan’s Adventure Journal

09/08/2023

🥾🌲 8/31/2023 - Uinta Highline Trail Day 5 (About 25.0 Miles including Detour)

Onward and… downward. The trail was still pretty as ever today, but I had one mission: Git R’ Done!

I like to keep the final day of big hikes short and simple, but this time I still had about the same distance to hike that I had every other day. Like I’ve said, my original goal was to complete the entire trail in 96 hours, leaving about 10-15 miles left to complete by 12:27 pm on the last day. Instead, I had about 22 Highline miles to finish on the last day and over 3 miles on a big detour.

Dead Horse Pass was the second to last pass, and notably the most difficult for most hikers. Allegedly a horse attempted to get up the pass, got stuck, and died; hence the name. While it was difficult, I started to feel a sense of my body working a little bit better for me on those high-elevation uphills. I was able to hike uphill for longer without hyperventilating and my legs seemed to move just slightly quicker. I guess I was finally getting acclimated up until the final day!

Mid-day brought a lovely detour around a section of trail completely ruined due to fire damage a few years ago. The destroyed trail section? About 3 miles. The detour? About 6-6.5 miles. Woohoo. That part of trail took entirely too long, was depressing due to nearby forest fire damage, and again, I just wanted to git r’ done.

After the detour was the final of the eight passes: Rocky Sea Pass. Same experience as Dead Horse; just a little easier.

It was all fun and games from there, as I hiked my quickest miles of the entire trip to finally get to the end. Why stop now when I have plenty of time to rest later?

I finished the 104-mile trail, and ended up back where I started before shuttling to the start of the trail, in 101 hours and 43 minutes — nothing to sneeze at. My car was a beautiful sight. I downed a big burger with fried egg, some fries, and a Michelob Ultra in the nearest town, then booked myself a well-deserved room with a shower and laundry for the night.

I’m happy to cross off one more trail from the long list on my Adventure Bucket List. What’s next? Not sure. But more state high points are coming soon, and a couple trails have piqued my interest for way in the future, including a trek to Mount Everest Base Camp. We’ll see where God takes me on all my adventures!

09/06/2023

🥾🌲 8/30/2023 - Uinta Highline Trail Day 4 (About 21.0 to 23.0 Miles + King’s Peak)

I hiked for 14 hours today. It all started when I awoke at 4:30 a.m. and starting hiking at 5:05. I saved the battery in my headlamp for this moment.

My plan was to make it up the third pass — Anderson Pass — before sunrise at 6:15. Instead, I made it pretty far around a trail along the base of that ridge as I looked back at the orange and blue coming up around another ridge in the east. That trail was not the Uinta Highline Trail. Oops.

I half-sprinted backward to find the right trail, which I missed at a junction in the darkness.

Anderson Pass was killer after that sprint, but I finally made it up. What’s so special about Anderson Pass? Atop the pass lies a spur “trail” to Kings Peak — the highest point in Utah. Part of choosing this trail was the ability to check off my 17th (out of 51) state high point.

A little later than planned (but in full daylight — it was for the best), I dropped my pack at the top of Anderson Pass and set out on the 0.7-mile “trail” to Kings. It was really just a bunch of giant rocks that I had to walk — or climb hand over foot — over. That distance shouldn’t take long, but submitting Kings was slow going and took me off the Highline Trail for two hours.

Luckily, I was still able to hike nearly the daily average on the actual Highline. After Kings, there were two more passes. Tungsten Pass was literally a joke. It was a hill that I was over in about 45 seconds. Porcupine Pass was much harder, but the afternoon afterward gave me another break below treeline past pretty lakes and expansive basins. That seems to be the pattern now.

I still haven’t seen a moose.

09/04/2023

🥾🌲 8/29/2023 - Uinta Highline Trail Day 3 (About 20.0 to 22.0 Miles)

The Uinta Highline Trail didn’t do me dirty this morning. I was only briefly lost for a couple minutes, and found my way back to the trail when I heard an older hiker humming what sounded like a Frank Sinatra song. So I wasn’t far off!

I can’t give the trail too much credit though — this whole day was wet/marshy fields galore. My feet loved being soaked all day!

Today especially I could feel the affect of elevation. On the Appalachian Trail, my trail name was almost “Mountain Goat” (thank God it wasn’t) due to my efficiency in walking up daunting uphills. The elevation of the Uintas never made me feel nauseous (also thank God), but it did make me feel winded significantly quicker. I felt like a 95 year old granny in the grocery store while going up each of the eight mountain passes.

My Columbus apartment sits at about 800 feet above sea level. Throughout the trip, I camped at 9,200’ (Night 0), 10,000’ (Night 1), 10,500’ (Night 2), 11,200’ (Night 3), and 10,800’ (Night 4), and was perfectly well due to some excellent hydration (electrolytes included), Vitamin I (ibuprofen), a well-fed stomach, and some good luck. Walking uphill at high elevation winded me, but I thank God that that’s the only issue the elevation caused.

I went over the second pass — North Pole Pass — in the morning, and actually found the trail this time! It was a much better experience than my first impression from Gabbro Pass!

Most of the rest of the day was a leisurely, but long and kind of boring, stroll through the forest and back below treeline. I camped a couple miles from Anderson Pass, a large part of why I chose this trail. More on that in the next day’s report.

09/04/2023

🥾🌲 8/28/2023 - Uinta Highline Trail Day 2 (About 22.0 to 24.0 Miles)

Starting at McKee Draw, I got to start at a lower elevation (about 8,200’) and work my way up to the “High Uintas” (typically 10-12,000’). I figured this was a good idea for a flatland Ohio boy living normal life under 800 feet.

Other hikers (including the three others who were in the shuttle with me yesterday), started at Leidy Peak. Going westbound, Leidy is the introduction to the High Uintas Wilderness and the first time a UHT thru-hiker is above treeline. It is 27 miles into the trail (after the dry section), but it took me only 23 and a half hours to get there.

My major navigation issues of day two began as soon as I began descending Leidy. I had no idea where I was for about three hours. Any time I found a cairn (rock pile) marking the trail, I found different cairns in three different directions. My GPS file was not spot-on whatsoever.

There are eight passes — routes over a mountain ridge — on the trail. The first one, Gabbro Pass, was just after Leidy. Instead of skirting up the mountainside and over the ridge, I was forced to climb straight up the side of the steep mountain and over a snowfield. The trail was nowhere to be found.

I was lost, but at least there were now abundant water sources for the remainder of the trail. Even the trail itself was a water source, with many unavoidable wet and marshy grass fields soaking my feet. 🤷‍♂️

I eventually found my way back to navigable trail below treeline and crushed the last few miles to camp near a pretty lake.

09/02/2023

🥾🌲 8/27/2023 - Uinta Highline Trail Day 1 (About 13.0 to 15.0 Miles)

Between Uber/Lyft rides, airplane rides and a layover, a drive in a rental car and a ride in a shuttle, it took over 29 hours to get from my Columbus apartment to McKee Draw, the start of the 104-mile Uinta Highline Trail. Just east of Salt Lake City in Utah’s Uinta Mountain Range (Ashley National Forest), this remote wilderness trail is one of the state’s many breathtaking natural features.

According to my shuttle driver, about half of the people who shuttle to the start of the trail end up bailing after a day or two. This is often because of elevation sickness, extreme weather, or just plain difficulty of the trail. There were four hikers, including myself, in the car. I have reason to believe I’m the only one who completed the trail.

Three of the four hikers were from Ohio, though. Represent!

The first 27 miles of the trail are overwhelmingly dry, with only a couple water sources. Conserving water was key, but overall a non-issue, except…

I had two scares on the first day. 1) My water filter didn’t work the first time I tried using it. Luckily I was able to make it work after some fidgeting, or else I’d be in poor digestive health during and after the hike. The trail and its water sources traverse many cow pastures 💩. 2) A thunder storm began 30 minutes into my hike. Afternoon storms are always expected in the Uintas. There were two more short storms throughout the evening. Luckily, those were the only hits of negative weather the entire time I was out there.

My biggest enemy for the entire trail, but mostly the first couple days, was navigating. The trail is not always well-marked. Sometimes the trail disappears in front of your eyes. The GPS files available online are not always entirely accurate. Wayfinding through the dense Utah forest isn’t easy. Luckily, I was only lost for more than 10-20 minutes once (and sometimes only a couple minutes), but it still set me back. My goal was to complete the trail in 96 hours. That did not happen.

08/27/2023

8/26/2023 - Uinta Highline Trail Day 0 - I’ll be right back at this sign in about four days. See you on the flippity-flip. ✌️✌️

01/17/2023

Three Days, Four New State High Points. Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware, District of Columbia. 16/51 Done! Only a few more in the Eastern U.S…

12/25/2022

09/25/2022

9/25/2022 - Columbus Walk to End Alzheimer’s (1.5 Miles):

Man, I can’t believe I was able to walk so far today. I was pretty winded by the end. Flat city streets can be really rough.

My mom, Lori, and me participated in the walk today. While I’ve been raising money for Alzheimer’s disease for over two years, this was my first time participating in this event. The sheer amount of people was shocking — so many of us are in this fight together.

Those who’ve lost a loved one to Alzheimer’s carried purple flowers. Since my grandma died last month, we carried them in her honor.

I’m proud to say Jordan’s Hike for Alzheimer’s has raised $2,535 for Alzheimer’s research in 2022. Thanks to all who’ve supported this cause!

09/08/2022

9/5/2022 - Ohio to Erie Trail Day 4 (76 Miles + 2 Bonus Miles):

Waking up to rain gives you much more motivation to stay in bed. Josh and I didn’t leave camp until 9 am when the rain totally ended. And we thought we’d start every morning right at sunrise!

The goal of today was to get the trail done quickly. The flat terrain and great trail conditions made that easy. We flew through Xenia, Spring Valley, and Waynesville, all the way to Morrow for lunch. Morrow hosted our second delicious Mexican restaurant lunch stop: Don Bigote’s.

We carried on to Loveland, where Josh’s front tire got a little bit flat. It’s almost full circle — I had a flat tire for the first 25 miles out of Cleveland, and Josh had a flat tire for the last 25 miles to Cincinnati. Luckily, his tire held air for a few miles at a time.

I didn’t end up having ice cream every day on this trip, but I did have a nice dreamsicle snow cone in Loveland. I’ve never been through Loveland, but it seemed like a really cool outdoors and brewery-based town. I’m definitely coming back soon!

The majority of today’s path was on the Little Miami Scenic Trail, which is likely the most beautiful section of the Ohio to Erie Trail. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources does a wonderful job maintaining it along with local partners.

Just when we were ready for a big dinner, Josh and I could see the Cincinnati skyline. We quickly pedaled to the end of the trail under the Roebling Bridge downtown, dipped our front tires in the Ohio River, and joined our friends for dinner and drinks to celebrate our accomplishment and Labor Day.

326 miles (+off-trail miles). 4 days. Much exhaustion. Plenty of challenges. Everlasting memories.

About $900 raised to give illness a time out through A Kid Again, and organization that funds mini-adventures for kids with life threatening illnesses and their families. Please donate here: https://my.akidagain.org/fundraiser/4050896

Thank you all for cheering us on!

09/06/2022

9/4/2022 - Ohio to Erie Trail Day 3 (102 Miles + 3.9 Bonus Miles):

Today I completed my first century ride (100 miles). I’m walking normally (mostly; for now) afterward.

The thighs are feeling it, and it was definitely a long day.

Leaving the motel this morning wasn’t easy. The ongoing thunderstorm wasn’t the most optimal situation. But cycling 100 miles takes time, and we didn’t have much to waste. So we got going only about an hour late.

Starting off in light rain was somewhat bearable, but the down pour 20 minutes later wasn’t. I stood under a small info board along the trail for almost 30 minutes. But that was the last of the rain for the next few hours.

I booked it 14 miles to Centerburg, the half-way point of the Ohio to Erie Trail. Then continued on another 20 miles with almost no breaks to Westerville, where I stopped for a Wendy’s Chicken Sandwich and a beautiful large fry. I was finally getting back to the Columbus area — my home!

The next 15 miles into Downtown Columbus were slower going. The Alum Creek Trail is newer (I think), but very bumpy, curvy, and covered in slippery leaves. It had some 10/10 bridges, at least. I was still trying to blast through Columbus, but stopping for pictures of the skyline was essential, of course.

The last half of the day was large uneventful, passing through some small towns like Galloway, London, and South Charleston. South Charleston was 11 miles from our endpoint, and luckily had a big overhang and restroom area to stay dry when it briefly rained again.

We ended the day in Cedarville. The last few miles there were rough. I was exhausted and hungry and had already biked over 100 miles.

We had planned all along on stopping for Colonial Pizza, but there was an hour wait. The town was hopping because of Labor Day (Fun Fact: James H. Kyle, a former U.S. Senator, is from Cedarville and is known as the Father of Labor Day). Subway closed early, and Chick-fil-A is closed on Sundays.

Mom and Dad’s Dairy Bar and Grill was the answer! I highly recommend the Double Homestead Burger and the BLT. There was a long line, but they got the food out just in time for the sun to go down.

Unfortunately, Josh and I had to bike to our off-trail campsite in a friend’s yard in the dark, but we ended up in a dry and warm place for the night — safe from the incoming overnight storm.