Girona to Olot and HF Holidays Hiking
  The second half of my time in Catalonia would be 5 days hiking with a well-established company from the UK, HF Holidays. I had a day to explore a bit in Girona before heading north to Olot, to begin my hiking adventure. 
  Upon arrival dining that evening, I met the other 20 or so hikers, mostly from a Canadian hiking club, several from UK, and me the one person from the US. We met our tour leader, Jill, and our two guides, Berta and Maddy.  Berta and Maddy live in Catalonia and are experienced mountain tour guides and as we learned, are very good at what they do. 
   I think everyone was over 68 years old, one lady who could pass for late 60’s, was 92 and another 88 or so. They were fit and experienced hikers and we were all duly impressed with their stamina and skills.
  The hikes often were challenging, technical trails with steep climbs and descents, averaging about 7 miles and around 1200 gain.  We hiked in Garrotxa Volcanic Zone national park into a volcanic crater formed 11 million years ago.
  After a few days in the Garrotxa area, we boarded our bus to Porto de la Selva, about 30 miles south of French border, on the Mediterranean Sea, where we would do more hiking in a coastal national park.  This area boasts the origins of Club Med and there’s a lengthy history to the establishment, then decommissioning of it.  Additionally, Salvador Dali spent many nights camping in this area, gathering inspiration for his weird (so the Gypsea thinks) art. We walked the Cami de Ronda, about 135 miles total (nah we didn’t go THAT far) along Costa Brava
   It was such a wonderful experience, meeting all these inspiring hikers and hearing their stories, getting to know the guides, and learning about HF Holidays, which I’ll definitely travel with in the future.
   We all said our goodbyes, and I boarded a bus to Figures where I’d get the train to Barcelona for a few days there before retuning (business class; yay!) to the US after this 20 some day excursion.  
   Next up ... a weeks' cycling with friends much closer to home.

​Only a few days until the Gypsea and Stanley board Amtrak for the trip to Chicago to begin the Wisconsin Loop adventure.
Meanwhile..
 Hiking around Sisters, Oregon, work parties on Pacific Crest Trail and Mt St Helens, some trail running and a wedding (no, not mine, but a great friend).
  My brother and I spent a few days in Sisters, in the oh so noisy (traffic) City Park.  Great location, but…we started with a short hike around Suttle Lake.  Dunked our feet in the lake to cool off and…oh no! I discovered back at camp that my boots didn’t make it back with me!  So a fast half hour drive with fingers crossed that no one claimed my dirty stinky hiking boots.  Arriving at dark, we found them right where I left them. Disaster averted.
  We did two more hikes, an out/back on Four in One Cone Trail and a mosquito infested loop which included Scott Mountain.  
Ready for Wisconsin!!

​  My brother and I did a backpacking adventure to the Necklace Valley, which is near Stevens Pass in Northern Washington state. Break ins are apparently common but the only thing that broke into my car was a mouse.
  The trail was mostly rocky, rooty, steep and very hot in the exposed areas.  Some sections were so brushy that it was difficult to see further than a few steps. Seems like the trail builders were against switchbacks. We camped at Jade Lake and hiked further up the valley over the next few days.  Good workouts, scrambling over rocks and boulders but worth it at the end of the day to enjoy my home made dehydrated dinners – chili with extra cheese was my favorite.
  With an inspiring environment, we made up a trail song – rules are only to be sung while on trail.
   We were on our way out the day the wildfire smoke got really bad and looked forward to burgers and hot showers.

   Now that I'm pretty much healed, except for some lingering PTSD, I'm back to hiking and trail running (with a bit of Nordic skiing), armed with a Garmin InReach Mini just in case. Soon as weather begins to cooperate, I'll be back on Alvin and/or Stanley to train up for the next bike tour. A few photos from local winter trails....
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  I took a few days' road trip to explore the eastern Gorge, and test out my hiking ability and stamina.  The scenery is stunningly different from western Gorge and for me all the more amazing. Here's a link to Wikipedia about the formation of the Columbia Gorge.  The photos here speak for themselves.

Well, that's because it is.  It gets dark too early and stays dark too long. In the hours when daylight appears, to send me into the outdoors, I ponder on the possibilities for next years' adventures and the wonder of being in the woods, listening to the trees breathing.

My hiking friend, Robert from Massachusetts, visited the PNW for the first time and I showed him around.  A highlight was a guided hike with Mt St Helens Institute to the Crater Glacier at Mt St Helens. 
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