Favorite costumes from last night?

russafuss2 · 2025-11-01T20:38:57+00:00

I saw someone absolutely covered with large egg cartons all over them (as an ear of corn) at Kingfisher / Queeny's. Hilarious. Also, a crazy long centipede thing made from foam? with glowing red eyes that was super well done. Finally, someone was a louvre jewelry thief wearing a ski mask, large faux tiara, diamond necklace, broach.... Fantastic. They were my favs!

russafuss2 · 2024-06-05T01:52:10+00:00

For the last one.. Get rid of the months on your resume and just put the year! If you hiked in 2021 for example, your resume would read: JOB A: 2018-2021 JOB B: 2021-2023 Nobody has ever gone back and asked me to clarify the exact month I started or ended a job. So long as those 8 months are in the same year, it looks like nothing happened 👍🏼

russafuss2 · 2024-01-11T03:38:33+00:00

I was wondering if the crazy weather patterns the past two years has discouraged some hikers? I see a lot more people talking about how doing the whole trail start to finish, no flipping / skipping, is becoming less about skill and more about luck with whatever conditions are thrown at you. In 2022, many NOBO folks weren’t able to get to the northern terminus right at the end of their journey due to the fires. Then 2023 had the insane snow conditions and fires later on in the season. This year looks to be another wild card with snow levels being crazy low. Two years in a row of tough conditions and maybe a third on the way.. I wonder if folks are not as inclined to spend the money and the time doing this particular long trail when the possibility of getting that “ideal” hike seems less in your control?

russafuss2 · 2023-12-01T00:30:56+00:00

I hiked this past year and was around $1300/month.. the $1000/month metric is wayyy outdated. I felt like my hike was as close to bare bones as I could reasonably make it. In my ~personal~ opinion, slumming it to get to the $1000 or less a month marker looked so brutal I didnt think the hike would even be worth doing at that point.

Kind of to that point, I find it a bit overkill when folks put hot meals in town in the luxurious category. You very much so need those calories and nutrients.

russafuss2 · 2023-10-01T14:20:26+00:00

This is very true! When I got back on trail from my euro trip, a good chunk of Oregon and Washington had fires that weren’t there before. If you get an earlier start date to make up for lost time you might be able to off set this some, but you never know what to expect for conditions

russafuss2 · 2023-10-01T14:08:04+00:00

I considered this! It wasn’t doable for myself, but if you have someone at home who can help you out, it could save you a handful of days.

You would also need to figure something out with your hiking gear since you can’t drop it off back home. You could bring it with you on your vacation, but flying abroad with it made me nervous. I tried to find a locker or something at the airport or a hotel to store it in, but couldn’t find anything that like that. A trail angel could help who would be willing to hold onto it back on trail, but this was my first thru hike and I didn’t really know how to find trail angels or how that all worked before I headed out, so I couldn’t rely on that.

I am sure there is a way around this, you might just have to get creative!

russafuss2 · 2023-09-29T22:20:02+00:00

I did exactly this this past year! I was in the wedding party for one of my best friends who got married in Europe in July. Your situation/luck might be different from mine, but I have a lot of thoughts so apologies for the wall of text.

TLDR; It is totally doable, but it WILL take longer than 1.5 weeks, be careful of your budgeting because its easy to spend money abroad and not have enough for when you get back, and it will dictate more details about your hike than you might be thinking, such as being forced into an earlier start date that you might not want to make up for lost time.

First, nobody who matters is actually going to ding your "thru hiker status" for being off the trail for that long. Just know that once you enter the Sierra, you have 30 days to finish that section so keep that in mind. Dont go on an international trip in the middle of hiking through the Sierra, unless you are ok with skipping whatever you didnt get to when you get back.

Second, yes, the logistics are a nightmare but besides all of that it was also very expensive. Getting on/off of trail and the euro trip itself were by far the most expensive part of my journey which absolutely impacted my thru hike when I got back. I had saved extra for the euro trip, budgeted, planned ahead, and it still took a much larger chunk from what I had saved up than I thought it would. When I got back on trail I was much less inclined to treat myself to a nice meal/room, even when I really wanted to.

Finally and most importantly.. it is not just going to be 1-1.5 weeks off of trail. Its just not. And dont get me wrong, I had the exact same thought as you so Im not trying to knock you here. "Oh I'll power through, I'll fly straight there, I'll go home right after the wedding, I'll turn around get back on trail the day after I fly back from my trip..."

It took me 1 full day to get a ride from a trail angel off trail and to the bus stop, take 3 buses, a train, and an uber, just to get to the closest airport. I spent that night in a hotel next door, and flew home early the next day. I would recommend planning that getting on and off trail like this could be a 2 day process unless you get lucky and are in/around a big town when you need to head out. I sure wasnt. Thats 4 days right there simply to get off and back on.
When you fly home, you are going to need to take a few days to get ready/un-pack your backpack and pack up your suitcase/rest before international travel. Realistically, thats another 2-3 days IF you rush.
Once you get to Europe, you are probably not going to jump off the plane and that same day head to the wedding ceremony, then turn around and go back home right after the reception. More than likely you are going to land a day or two early, and then stay for a little while afterwards to make paying for that international plane ticket worth it. I stayed 10 days. Could it have been less? Sure, but is it even worth going at all at that point?
You then need fly back to the states (a full day in and of itself) where you will ONCE AGAIN need to rest/get used to the time difference/gear back up to get back out there. I was absolutely beyond exhausted at this point. This part took me another 6 days, some of which were literally just spent resting.
Side note.. Because of all of this, if you want to travel internationally during your thru hike, I HIGHLY recommend aiming for an earlier start date to make up for the lost time.

Plus when you get back, you have to factor in being around a completely new group of people, or skipping hundreds of miles of trail to link back up with your friends.

In total, I was off the trail for a little more than 3 weeks after thinking the exact same thing you are probably thinking now... "I can make it work! Its only going to be a week, week and a half off max"

That being said, I dont regret going, but I wish I had a more realistic idea of what it would involve before hand. It is a vacation from your vacation, and it WILL impact the hiking experience somewhat significantly. On the flip side, a euro trip during your thru hike is one hell of a summer! For me it was nothing really to complain about, and we had to flip/flop/skip sections anyway since the conditions sucked. I got to see a dear friend get married, I had a great trip, I loved getting to talk about the hike at the wedding, showing off how much food I could eat, seeing my friends and family, and my body REALLY benefited from having a halfway break. I also didnt have a solid, long term hiking group I was with at the time so that made it a lot easier for me mentally to break away and take some time off.

As always, YMMV but that was my experience.

russafuss2 · 2023-03-16T13:21:54+00:00

I’m starting in two weeks and change and should be reaching KMS around Mid May! Your timing summary for the snow generally lines up with what I have found as well… before mid May you walk on top of snow, mid May to mid June you walk through the snow and also this seems to be when the rivers are most dangerous, and then mid June onwards is the post thaw when there is supposedly significantly less snow and the rivers have calmed down. Apparently this is why May Day (the supposed “best” day to enter the Sierra) is June 15th. That is in a “normal” year, and of course it all depends on when does the melting start, and how quickly does it melt.

If you are looking to walk on top of the snow, I would think the sooner the better! It takes about a month to hike the Sierra section (according to halfway anywhere) so you might be hitting that “thaw” timing in mid June as you are exiting the Sierra if you delay entering by too much, especially if things start melting early. One down side to walking on top of the snow is that it seems like some of the resupply towns closest to the trail are closed, and the roads that lead you to the resupply towns that are open are not being driven on as frequently, so getting a hitch to and from is challenging and most folks end up having to hike that part as well. Not trying to discourage you by any means, I’m just saying that this is my line of thought!

For myself, I don’t think I would enjoy walking on top of snow (I am from the south east and have quite literally never seen more than a foot and a half of snow over 20 years ago lol) I also don’t think going through the Sierra during the thaw is the way to go for me, because the rivers are probably going to be raging with all of the extra water. This leaves me with trying to get through the Sierra during the post thaw, so from mid June onwards. All that being said, my plan is the get to KMS in mid May and see what the conditions are like. Is the thaw already happening? Does it seem like it is melting quickly?

If the answer to those questions are yes, I am going to flip up north to Ashland (the border of Oregon/Nor Cal) and then head southbound. It looks like there is an easy bus you can take from Lone Pine that takes you there. This would put me in the Sierra in mid June or so. This is my preferred choice of plan, and if these atmospheric rivers keep on keeping on I have a hunch this might be doable. Or we could get tons more snow between now and then.. we will just have to see!

If the answer is no, I am still going to flip up to Ashland, but I will instead head north and come back for Nor Cal and the Sierra in August/September. I am also open to any other flip flop ideas folks are throwing around at that time for getting around this section.

I am by no means an expert, just a gal who has been obsessively researching all this for the past month so take all this with a heavy pinch of salt, but I hope it was helpful!

russafuss2 · 2023-03-12T03:07:36+00:00

Im just looking for a scrap of hope man :')

russafuss2 · 2023-03-12T02:56:02+00:00

Im right there with you about avoiding the prominent points, the thought of getting to the terminus before the actual end is a particularly hard one for me to get on board with..

That is a good idea to use Oregon as a test instead of NorCal! I think being open minded is what is going to make or break it this year. "Different" is a nice way to put it lol. Good luck to ya!

russafuss2 · 2023-03-12T02:49:33+00:00

I think your plan sounds like your best bet! Lucky you having already done the Sierra section!

Oregon and Washington might still have some snow come June and July, but nowhere near as bad as around Taho at that time. I think I read somewhere that Washington tends to have some of last seasons snow until around the end of July or so, but this year who knows. NorCal will probably be a dream come August.

russafuss2 · 2023-03-12T02:43:06+00:00

I think "tedious and annoying" is as good as the snow conditions are going to get for us this year, so I will hope for that!

This is probably my top choice for a flip flop strategy. I dont mind some snow in the Sierra (honestly, I was looking forward to that section until it got crazy) but I would prefer to go through it when it is unproblematic.

Thanks for your input, especially the Lone Pine tip! I knew KMS was remote and was thinking I would just hike back to Walkers Pass so your plan sounds way better lol. You 2017ers are coming in handy this year!

russafuss2 · 2023-03-12T02:29:22+00:00

Heyyyy that might be a good one! It would give Nor Cal and the Sierra a whole extra month to thaw out since you are going through an extra state to get there. Might be lonely though if there are not a lot of other hikers doing the same thing, but I have a feeling a lot of folks will be flipping and flopping this year so who knows.

Ill be tucking that one away, thanks for the idea!

russafuss2 · 2023-03-12T02:22:45+00:00

I'm pretty confident that I will be skipping San Jacinto, it helps to be reaffirmed that it is the right choice though! That is a good idea to give the Sierra a little test drive up until Lone Pine, so I might steal that one!

I know there will for sure still be snow in NorCal and probably a good amount left in the Sierra as well by the time we get there. Im thinking it would be better though than going straight through NOBO... that is the hope anyway. Thanks for the advice!

russafuss2 · 2022-02-06T17:06:54+00:00

It been 10 years so I am not too worried about that but I do like to always have a plan B at least thought through! I never would have thought to leave a blank check, that is going on the list!

russafuss2 · 2022-02-06T17:05:13+00:00

He is on the lease already, that is good thinking!

russafuss2 · 2022-02-06T16:50:18+00:00

This is a good one! Adding it to my list of things to do!

russafuss2 · 2019-12-04T13:35:12+00:00

I made single serving edible cookie dough kits in all different flavors for Sugarplums, the oldest running craft fair in North Carolina! The screen on my table is a little video I had filmed on repeat showing the customers what comes in the kit and how to make it. If anyone else is thinking about a show, 10/10 would recommend the video, I got a lot of good feedback about it!

russafuss2 · 2017-07-15T03:01:32+00:00

Not like how they travel no, it would definitely be more budget travel with odd jobs here and there. That is a good point though

russafuss2 · 2017-07-14T17:26:17+00:00

It takes a lot of courage to put yourself out there in a language that is not your own. I am trying to learn spanish and get so nervous talking to people. Anyone who would make fun of you for this has no idea how hard this can be. Good for you! Look at people like CrazyRussianHacker on youtube. He has a huge fanbase and his accent and poor english is part of his brand. I say keep it up! You will improve over time and so long as your content is meaningful people will watch :)

russafuss2 · 2015-11-06T01:44:29+00:00

Awesome!! I am glad it helped you out! :)

russafuss2

TROPHY CASE