Balls and Sunshine Contiental Divide Hike, THEY HAVE FINISHED!

[Boss .300 winmag]

I thought since we have one of our members (whuppinstick) here hiking the CDT and posting about it I would share my brother in law and his daughter's experience.

It all started before 2011 when they decided to hike the PCT, Balls had section hiked all the PCT prior to this. So after doing this he and Sunshine took off for the Mexican border to start the PCT in 2011. The Sierras had record snow that year but thru perseverance, and determination they got across all the swollen rivers, and snow fields. Only to get to Oregon (there home State) to start having problems, Sunshine got a bad double blister that got infected but after getting some medical attention and some off trail time they got back to it. Then as they got further north and south of MT Hood they ran into a forest fire, trail closed. Well Balls is not one to let things stop him, he skipped that portion and hiked on to the Canadian border, and then went back and they finished the fire section to complete the PCT thru hike in 2011. Not bad for a young lady of just 11 years old.

So with that one of the Triple Crown out of the way, here comes Appalachian
 Trail. They started it in the spring of 2012, right away they both could see it was going to be easier than the PCT in a lot of ways. But things do come up, Sunshine falls on the trail and her arm is hurting her. Well Balls takes her to the hospital and she had broken her arm. After a cast and a short period of rest Sunshine, and balls decide to hit the trail. Things went well with the arm and in no time they were flying  thru the eastern states as they hiked north , and completed the AT. Wow 12 years old and has completed two of the Triple Crown trails.

Well as you might have guessed they are currently hiking the Continental Divide Trail as I write this. So far the only hiccups have been a short period of flu like symptoms for both Balls and Sunshine. As of yesterday's post they are 672 miles into the CDT headed north thru New Mexico. Balls does a column for his home town paper in Salem, OR on outdoor adventures and hiking. That said his daily post on the below link are really fun to read, and Sunshine writes her post before Balls.

While they hiked the PCT Sunshine was interviewed by American Girl magazine and they did a five page article on her. Plus Oregon Public Broadcasting did a segment about them on one of their shows.

If they finish the CDT this year Sunshine at 13 years old will be the youngest person ever to complete the Triple Crown in history! 

http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=394388

Happy Reading.

Boss

[actionshooter]

That is cool!  That's a tough kid....

[elk247]

Wow! Very impressive. They are tough as nails. Thanks for posting.

[rtspring]

Amazing adventure!!

[Wea300mag]

Her tolerance for discomfort and pain will pay great dividends later in life. Most every other serious challenge will be just another day.

[Boss .300 winmag]

Well they left NM, and are in Colorado.

Trail mile 823 on 25 May 2013.


There post below for that day.


postholeing - Click picture to see full size 25 May, 16 miles to Cumbres Pass.
  "Today we hit snow. It was hard, but we did it!! It took a while but eventually we made it through. We also had to buy snow shoes for the next section".
                            -Sunshine
Town day! We woke up early and hit the trail before daylight. Today was a mix between beauty and brutality. We reached 11,000 feet early on and plenty of snow. We were making great time and hoping for an 11:00 arrival to Cumbres Pass when we hit the north facing slopes full of soft snow. With our 2011 PCT experience on hard packed snow behind us, we figured we could just prance across the drifts so long as we hit them early on... that was a big negative. Apparently snow in Colorado doesn't condense as hard as it does in the Sierra and Cascade Mountains. Twice we had the opportunity to experience walking through the soft snow for over a mile each time. Now when I say walking through, I really mean take 3 steps then high center ourselves on the snow. During these sections we were lucky to move at a half a mile per hour. We feel blessed to have had these experiences early on before the next 200 miles of continuous snow. This gave us a deep understanding of what we are about to encounter and ample time to prepare for it. We went to an outfitter (Ski and Bow in Pagosa Springs) where Bruno gave us a screaming deal on MSR snowshoes. Even if we don't need them in the San Juan Mountains, I do need them for my personal collection at home since I only had 9 pair already. Hey, some folks collect handbells or unicorns... I collect tents, sleeping bags, canoes, and yes snowshoes.
   Beacon and Problem Bear met us at the pass to give us a ride into town.  We sent out a spot report 4 miles from the pass so they knew when to meet us.  Several hikers are either quitting here at the CO border or skipping to Wyoming because of the snow. I thought we all expected this. We weren't surprised, in fact all these challenges are why we're here. If it's not snowin', we're not goin'!   
That's how we roll-
Balls and Sunshine
egjonnes@yahoo.com   

[Boss .300 winmag]

I was mistaken about Sunshines age in my original post, she will be 13 when they finish the CDT this year. Even more EPIC of an accomplishment for her! 

The latest trail post below.




Balls and Sunshine's 2013
Continental Divide Trail Journal

First Previous Next Last
Friday, May 31, 2013
          Destination: Pagosa Springs
Starting Location: Wolf Creek Pass
Today's Miles: 0.00
Trip Miles: 892.50

Pagosa Springs - Click picture to see full size We zeroed in Pagosa Springs. We ate all day except for a small break in the hot springs. We leave first thing in the morning with Annie, Sweet As, and Aqua Man for Wolf Creek Pass to Lake City. 6 more days of snow here we come!
That's how we roll-
Balls and Sunshine
egjonnes@yahoo.com   

[Boss .300 winmag]

Whuppinstick has caught up to Balls and Sunshine, man he sure is flying up that trail!


- Click picture to see full size    We had a great hike to Tennessee Pass. First we all slept in and spent family time in the morning. We hit the trail at noon and Mother Teresa and Butterfly picked us up at 4:30. Whooping Sticks (who we hadn't met yet) came out to the pass just before us so Mother Teresa offered him a ride to town when we returned. It was fun getting to know him on the way to the motel. There are so many great hikers out here and we are impressed by the experience level of others we encounter daily.
   Now what's hiking without a little drama, so for those of you who are interested you can read Yogi's letter to me that she posted in my Guestbook and my response a few posts later. This all started on my personal Facebook page when I posted pictures of vandalism done by CDT hikers in the past. My Facebook name is Ericballs Gjonnes if you want to see what started all this and the storm of hatred that ensued thereafter. The picture is about 6 post down now on my wall. I don't blame you if you don't want to see the drama so feel free to skip it if it's not your cup of tea. That's why I address it there and not on my daily journal that is intended for trail talk.
That's how we roll-
Balls and Sunshine
egjonnes@yahoo.com   





http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=420997

[Boss .300 winmag]

Friday, July 12, 2013
          Destination: Hwy 28
Starting Location: 3 forks road
Today's Miles: 10.00
Trip Miles: 1774.00

South Pass City - Click picture to see full size We knocked out the 10 remaining miles to Hwy 28. We hiked through historic South Pass City with our friends Dain, Sweet As, and Elisabeth. We have really enjoyed their company over the past few weeks. It was a bitter sweet day because we may never see any of them again as they will now be ahead of us. Teresa's dad Roger, Sunshine's grandfather, passed away yesterday and we are in the car heading back to Oregon now. We will return to the trail soon, but don't have an exact time yet. We knew this was a possibility (he has been ill for a while), and have been "banking" earned zero days just in case, so we will most likely still be on schedule when we return.
   Roger was very proud of Sunshine's hiking and in previous phone conversations, insisted that she complete her hike no mater what happened. He followed our journal closely and even marked our progress on a map of the trail. Roger served as a medic on the front lines in the Korean War and later became a pastor in small country churches where he shared love and compassion with whomever his life touched. Most importantly he gave me his blessing to marry his beautiful youngest daughter Teresa. When I asked his permission, he said with a grin, "Sure, but I do have a no returns policy". Thank you Roger for all you've done for our family and many others.
   We will keep you posted here of our return date. Please keep the family in your prayers.
That's how we roll-
Balls and Sunshine


My father in law went to be with The Lord on Thursday morning, he will be missed by all, but now is in a better place with our savior!

And yes Eric I got the same answer from Roger, no return policy on Karen. She is to valuable to return,  anyways I wouldn't know what to do with out here!

[runamuk]

This is so cool what an amazing girl, and what a great dad.

[Boss .300 winmag]

Wow what an amazing niece I have,  I can't imagine anything she puts her mind to now that with this life experience she won't be able to accomplish!

Congratulations Balls and Sunshine! 





CDT northern terminus - Click picture to see full size Sep 5- Last CDT Day
"Today was full of events. To start, first thing in the morning we heard Elk bulging. When we looked down in the direction of the strange noise, we saw the two elk. Thoughout the day we saw massive bear scat. Beacon left camp before we did, therefore he was still ahead. Once we cought up to Beacon he told us he just saw a black bear.
Later on we saw a grizzly. We were walking through a forested area, when suddenly a brown bear comes running around the corner. When he saw us he slows to a walk, refusing to get off the trail. He never growled or showed teeth or even stood up. We quickly got out our bear spray... Safety off. We then realized he won't move, so we stood off the trail. Gently hitting our poles together, then he darted past us less than five feet away! My heart is still pounding!
Shortly after we arrived to Goat Haunts ranger station, where customs and border patrol were. We checked in and told them that we were going to the border then heading back to Waterton Riverside Camp. They were very kind! We set up camp and as we began to leave, Daine and Beacon showed up! We chit-chatted as we quickly walked until we arrived at the border!!!!! We cooked dinner and took pictures. We are very excited! I can barely process it.
We will miss thru-hiking, but I've got a feeling this isn't the end of our long distance hiking. I know in my future, I'll travel to other places to go hiking. We plan on getting very involved in the PCT community, and next year is high school for me!"
    -Sunshine
5 September, 32 miles to Waterton Riverside camp.
Wow, what a day! We have so many exciting stories to tell you, that I don't even know where to start. Sunshine may tell you these too, but that's ok because they're great stories.
   We started early since we had a big day. Beacon started at 5:30am and we started walking at 6:00 am still in the dark. It began raining shortly after daylight and continued for several hours. We had been seeing a lot of fresh bear scat so we were excited that we may have another bear sighting. Sunshine jokingly said "I wish Tattoo Joe was here so he could tell us if the bear poop was still warm". Yep, he picked some up once to pose for a picture.
   Just before lunch, I slipped on a slippery (wet) rock from a water bar (a water bar forces water to run off trail). As my body hurled forward, I frantically was trying to catch my legs up to my upper body by running forward to regain control. I almost pulled it off when my foot hit the next water bar and I slammed to the ground smacking my shin on the rock. I really believed I had fractured it just 8 miles before the Canadian border. As I surveyed the damage, a bloody lump the size of a lemon formed. I tested my weight on it and it did hurt badly, but I could stand. I began walking in pain deciding I would continue walking to the border until I could no longer physically do it. I wasn't about to mess up Sunshine's triple crown when we were so close. I didn't know if I was causing further damage, so we decided to skip lunch in case stopping would cause more swelling or immobility. At one point, I skipped a bridge and walked into the river to "ice" it.
   Later Sunshine says "Bear"! I look up from my pain to see a large grizzly bear running towards us on the trail. We stopped and got out the bear spray to stand our ground. Once he saw us he slowed to a walk, but continued towards us. We backed away trying to get off the trail, but there were dead trees in our way as he continued straight for us. We squeezed 4 feet off the trail pinning our backs against a log. As soon as we stepped off trail, he bolted into a fast run again! He ran right past us and continued down the trail, never stepping one foot off it. Seriously, no one gets any closer to a running grizzly bear than we did without getting mauled. I could have reached out and touched him. We held off on the bear spray, because he looked like he just wanted by and didn't even turn his head towards us as he passed.
We had just passed two other hikers and knew they were about 200 yards behind us. After the bear passed us, I yelled, "Bear! Bear running down the trail." Sunshine yelled, "Get off the trail!" The bear stopped, looked over his shoulder at me, then began running forward (away from us) again. For a second, thought I had just foolishly called him back to us. Because of the warning, the other two stepped off the trail far enough to take pictures as he passed them. It was so exiting that our hearts were still pounding 15 minutes later as we discussed what had happened.
Once we reached our intended camp, 4 miles south of the border, my leg seemed manageable, so we checked in with border parole to let them know our plans. We didn't want them to later mistakenly think we had entered the US at the monument without permission. Yes, they are 4 miles south of the actual border because the boat ramp is there. Most people take the boat, not the trail. We set up camp, left our unneeded gear in the tent, hung our extra food, and began our last 4 miles to the border. Beacon and Dain literally showed up to our camp as we began to leave. Great timing. It was great to all finish together since we've been hiking and camping together often for the past 2 weeks.
   Dain took a swim and ate dinner. Sunshine, Beacon and I ate dinner and took hundreds of monument pictures. Dain and Beacon continued into the town of Waterton Canada, but Sunshine and I returned 4 miles to camp. There are two northern terminus monuments, so in true Balls and Sunshine form, we decided to hike to the second one tomorrow at the Chief Mountain port of entry. The Chief Mountain monument is in place for the Sobo's who can't get to Waterton in the spring due to snow.
   Tomorrow we back track 5 miles, then cut west onto Stony Indian Pass Trail for 22 additional miles to the Chief Mountain terminus for a daily total of 27 miles.
   All that being said, I am extremely proud to announce to you that at 5:30 pm on the 5th of September 2013, my 13 year old Daughter Sunshine (Reed Gjonnes) became the worlds youngest person to have ever thru-hiked the CDT and the youngest person to have earned the Triple Crown of hiking! She thru-hiked the PCT in 2011 at age 11, the AT in 2012 at age 12, and now the CDT in 2013 at age 13.
   We also believe that we are the first two hikers to complete the entire official CDT as it is mapped today. We also must hold the speed record on the official CDT (Ha, ha get it?)... that is until next week when Stopwatch and Optimist shatter it since they started 5 weeks after us, also hiking the official trail. Traditionally hikers have hiked many different alternate routes under the "it's a corridor not a trail concept." These alternate routes with the CDT together add up to between 2,600 and 2,800 miles depending on their choices of alternates. The official CDT is now completely mapped (not completely built) and spans from Mexico to Canada for almost 3,100 miles. I'm not saying our hike was better, just explaining the differences because I believe it was a significant accomplishment for us. We were told by many that a thru-hike of the official CDT was impossible, due to distance, navigation, incomplete trail, and a lack of water in NM. One prominent trail figure even tells hikers that they will die if they hike the official route. This sounded like a good challenge to us. We wanted to prove that the trail was ready to be hiked in it's entirety in hopes that others would be inspired to do the same and ignore the fear mongering. The more people that hike it, the more time and funds will be spent to complete it. Why build a trail that no one will hike, right? Also, more foot traffic alone will establish a path. Some said "I don't want to miss the Gilla, Mt. Taylor, or the Cirque of Towers, but we said "We don't want to miss any of the CDT, we'll come back for the other beautiful areas not on the CDT later".
   Also since Sunshine was attempting an age record of the triple crown, we believed that she needed to hike all 3 trail's official routes to set a legitimate record. If a hiker claimed a speed record, but took an alternate or shorter route, wouldn't people call BS on them? Likewise we feel anything less than the entire official route of any of the 3 trails would be cheating for an age record. Again, I'm not poo-pooing on hikers (who don't claim records) for taking alternates, it's not my business, it's their hike.
   If you're looking for an adventure like none other, the CDT is a beautifully wild trail. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll bleed, and you will marvel! If you ever get the chance, I highly recommend a thru or section hike on the CDT... The king of all trails.
   Tomorrow, we will journal about tomorrow's hike to Chief Mt. and in a few days we will both write a summery of our entire CDT adventure. Keep checking on us for a couple of weeks because next week, we will both write a gear review, followed by reentry to city life updates and talk about future plans. More hikes, a book, what about Butterfly's adventures, ect? Stay tuned and thanks to all of you for your encouragement!
   
   

That's how we roll-
Balls and Sunshine
egjonnes@yahoo.com   

[Wea300mag]

Very cool!!! Congrats to them 

[grundy53]

Very cool! That is incredible.

sent from my typewriter

[SemperFidelis97]

What an amazing accomplishment for both of them, I cannot imagine doing that now let alone when I was 13.