Two-Heel Drive

Rocky Mountain News interviews Francis Tapon, who’s yo-yo-ing the CDT this year.

What is your experience hiking through the CDT’s Colorado segment?

The scenery is amazingly beautiful. The hike is rough. I hiked from Cumbres Pass in the San Juan Mountains on May 3 and then within one hour, I threw up. I’m not sure if it was the altitude or food poisoning. That day, I vomited seven times. Then a foot of snow dumped on my tarp. The next day I endured a windy snowstorm.

And he likes this so much he’s doing it twice in the same season. His Web site is here.

Haiku, last seen accompanying Treehugger and others for a couple thousand miles up the Pacific Crest Trail last summer, plans to hike the Continental Divide Trail this summer. What he’s up to now:

I’m preparing/dehydrating food for my food drops.

I’m building a new pack.

I’m working 60+ hours a week.

I’m brewing beer.

I’m running to stay in shape.

I’m sometimes setting up my tent in my apartment and crawling into my sleeping bag and sleeping in it.

Now that’s what I call mental preparation. And he’s ready when the loser upstairs falls asleep drunk in the tub and floods the bathroom.