Day 10: A big day

 

April 29, Day 10: Mile 124.9-148.2

Miles hiked: 23.3

Gratitude of the Day:  I’m thankful for the body’s ability to recover. Last night I tossed and turned in my cowboy camp because my feet and knees were sore. All I could think of was how am I going to hike tomorrow. Then I woke at 5am, packed up and was walking down the trail at 5:45 feet and knees feeling wonderful. 

Last night was my 3rd night cowboy camping, it’s not bad as long as you don’t let your mind wander. I mean honestly if something nasty wanted to get you a single wall tent isn’t going to stop that. I woke to a rather warm morning and was hiking down the trail at 5:45. My destination this morning was 2.5 miles down trail at a trail angels house called Mikes Place where he lets hikers fill up with water. I got to his place at 7am, filled up with 4 Liters of water and was back on trail heading up another long slow elevation gain, but it was cool and I got to watch the moon sunset and the sunrise, both dueling for the beauty of the morning. 

My first break was at 9am at a campsite right off trail. I had already hiked 7 miles and stopped to eat a snack and drink some water. I set at that campsite for about 20 minutes before heading back down trail and DOWN trail it was. I seem to be just fine when walking uphill, but down hill sure takes a toll on my knees, the jarring constant slamming for the feet, your toes being pushed to the front of your shoes and your arms braced with trekking poles, everything trying to slow the momentum. 5 hot dusty exposed miles later, I’m spread out under a beautiful shade tree at Tule Springs.  Here I’ll get more water for the day and dinner for tonight. But not without taking off my shoes and resting for an hour or two in this heat of the day. 

I left the shade of the Tule Springs at 2:45pm and my legs felt great. I think the 2 hours spent eating a “real” meal of Mac & Cheese, stretching and taking some ibuprofen rejuvenated me. I basically dragged myself into the shade of the tree and then I left it had a pep in my step. So much so I went another 8 miles to Mary’s Place for the next cache of water. Those miles seemed to fly by, my feet and knees felt completely different. I arrived to Mary’s water cache and then went another 2.7 miles to my camp spot at 7:45pm. 

The best part of this walk to my campsite, I saw a beautiful bobcat!!  Wish there would have been a way to take a picture. Overall it was a long day, but I made some crazy miles for me 23.3!  Part of the inspiration of going so far today is I’m now 3 miles away from a breakfast at Paradise Valley Cafe!

Day 9: Water is rejuvenating

 

April 28, Day 9: Mile 109.0-124.9

Miles hiked: 15.9

Gratitude of the Day:  I’m thankful for my mother. Some people may not know, but my mom is my step mom, hence why you’ll hear me call her Jane, my birth mom passed away when I was 6. Many people could probably use this as a crutch or an excuse, but I see things completely differently. I don’t think I’ve ever shared this with her or my father, mainly because I worry that it sounds crass. But for me, I think of my birth mom as the angel who brought me into this world and my step mom as the angel who has helped raise and guide me.  She is a wonderful and amazing person who took on a husband with two unruly young boys, a dog, a cat and 27 fish. I am where I am in my life because she encouraged me, protected me, and just nurtured me to be better, be smarter and work harder.  She may not be my birth parent, but she is most definitely my mother. 

What an amazing night of sleep, truly my first on the trail of continuous sleep. I think I woke several times to wipe the drool from my face.  I woke at a chilly 5:45 again today but the sun was peeking over the hill and it’s supposed to be a clear and sunny day today. I was first out of camp as I’m not stopping in Warner Springs to hit the gas station for goodies or the post office to grab a drop box. The first several miles are through a Sound of Music valley where usually there are cattle grazing, but not this morning. Only the flittering of birds from bush to bush singing their morning song. Somehow by 9:30 I’ve gone nearly 6 miles and I’m at the clear stream water source, airing out my tent, drying out my sleeping bag and soaking my feet in the nice cool clear water. I sat there for an hour and a half just basking in cool water and shade. 

I crossed that clear cool water three times as I headed up trail intent on another 5 miles and my second break of the day at a natural spring called Lost Valley Spring along the trail. It would be a 1400 foot elevation gain through a shade less and windy ribbon of trail that seemed to do nothing but go up. I played leap frog with a couple other hikers up this stretch until I finally reached my destination at 12:45. The spring is actually 1/4 mile off trail down what looked like an overgrown jeep road.  I set my bag down in the shade of a manzanita tree where a father and daughter from Cincinnati sat, grabbed my water bladder and filter and headed down the hill. The spring wasn’t anything spectacular, but a saving grace not to have to carry 5 Liters of water up that exposed hill. After fetching my water I returned to my back to my pack, I took a long 45 minute break drinking fresh cool water and eating some snacks.

My next destination was camp a solid 5 miles down the trail, my goal this week is to just do 15 mile days. It seems right now it’s the “sweet spot” for my legs, 15-18 miles depending on the terrain. My last 5 miles I didn’t see a single soul. Several times I even wondered if I was still on trail as it was overgrown with this thick spickey bushes that scrapped on my legs, arms and my bag. After what felt like forever trudging through this mess the trail opened up into a hillside strewn with granite boulders.  Tonight I’m cowboy camping in a wind block boulder cluster. My blisters currently are down to one that’s still annoying. My knees hurt at the end of the day from the pounding downhills and it’s always amazing to take my shoes off and put on my sandals. 

Day 8: Century Mark and beyond

April 27, Day 8: Mile 91.2-109.0

Miles hiked: 17.8

Gratitude of the Day: I’m thankful for my father. I’ve thought a lot today about what he’s gone through in my life, raising two sons with my mother and now raising his grandson who has become a wonderful, intelligent young man.  My dad has taught me that there are no defined rolls in a relationship, he was the cook at my house growing up and he is damn good at it. (My mom is the baker, her chocolate chip cookies are the best). My dad has shown me how to love, even to this day he flirts and “chases” my mom around the house like they’re newly dating.  He has taught me about work ethic and family. I remember him having to work 6 or sometimes 7 days a week, but I can’t remember a cross country meet, basketball game or track meet he ever missed.  One of the greatest compliments anyone ever gives me is “you’re just like your father”.  I hope to be and I’m proud to be his son. 

Last night was intermittent sleep with the wind flapping the tent all night. I had to get up three times because the tent stake kept coming out and my tent would collapse in on me... still trying to figure out the best way to get it set up correctly... don’t worry I have another 140 times to practice. 

Woke up early to a cold breeze, sat in my sleeping bag packing my tent up as long as I could. From where I camped 1/4 mile off trail there is a water cache that trail angels restock, so I went and grabbed my water for the day and loaded everything up to start walking down the trail at 7am. 

Up, up, up I went on the exposed, curvy trail with wind gust cutting right through me. Clothing choices are hard when this happens. If you’re going uphill in the morning sun it’s hot and you want to take layers off, but pop around another corner and on the other side of the hill and now it’s shaded and cold. So onward I went keeping my jacket and stocking hat on.

Somehow 2 hours later I had gone 4.5 miles, I stopped and laid my ground sheet out, took off my shoes and took a nice 45 minute break in the sun. A couple other hikers, Sarah and Clyde who I’ve been hiking with and camping with recently caught up and basked in the sun with me until we loaded up and headed back down the trail. We’d hike the rest of the day together. 

At 11:30 we hit a fairly memorable milestone, we passed the 100 mile marker and to celebrate we stopped to have our lunch break, I checked our mileage again and we’d gone nearly 9 miles of our planned 15... we were cruising through the day. Our other friends Joscelyn and Landon caught us during lunch and they continued the 1 mile jaunt to the water source down the trail. After lunch it was a routine of 3 mile hiking through open meadows with cows, then stop and take a break and then walk another 3 miles until we finally reached our 15 mile destination of Eagle Rock. Unfortunately at this precise time the rain clouds blew over head and we had to put our rain gear on take our quick photo with the freedom bird and hurdle down the trail to our camp site at mile 109. 

Tonight we are camped on a sandy creek bed, refreshing cool running water is right outside our tents, I’m pretty sure I hear an owl down the canyon hooting away and the frogs are serenading us to sleep. I can hear a light drizzle on my near perfectly pitched tent, there’s no wind and I’m toasty warm in my down quilt. It was another great day on the PCT. 

Day 7: Let’s get back to walking

 

April 26, Day 7: mile 77.1-91.2

Miles hiked: 14.1

Gratitude of the Day: I’m thankful for the trail angels who support all of the hikers along the trail. They make some of the hardest days truly brighter. 

I spent the morning resupplying and reorganizing my pack. I wasn’t intending to head out of town because it’s nothing but rain, rain, rain and a cold breeze but I’m antsy sitting around my room. So I’m going to have a noon start to my walk as I head on to the next 100 mile section into the town of Idyllwild. 

To get out of Julian you head down to the 2 Foot Adventures gear store and put your name on the ride list. Every hour there is a trail angel that take PCT hikers back to Scissors Crossing to start back down the trail. I was able to get a ride to trail by trail angel Rebecca, her trail name is Fossil Lady, because she is a paleontologist. Also during the ride I found out she’s a geocacher and has over 35,000 cache finds. She was surprised to find out that I knew what geocaching was and that I had an account, so she stopped on the way to the trail and I found my first geocache on the trail with her help. Again, I’m humbled and awed at the kindness of strangers.

Once back on trail at 12 my goal was to catch up with several other hikers that I’ve meet and were about 14 miles in.  Also a bonus it’s not raining at the trail so I’m happy I made the decision to start back up. So I just started an audible book called Journeys North (it’s about the PCT surprise surprise) and I cruised the 14 miles in 5.5 hours and tonight I’m camping with my new friends. There was still lots of dramatic views with the stormy rain clouds over the mountains to the west staying away from the trail. Beautiful cactus along the trail were in bloom and say more yucca’s with the asparagus stalks that just make me smile. Dinner tonight was some delicious Mac and Cheese with jalapeño tuna. It’s another windy night and chilly, supposed to get down into the 30s so I’m already in my tent and snuggled under my down quilt at 7:15. Well on my way to the next trail town of Idyllwild. 

Day 6: “Oh good you’re awake...”

April 25, Day 6: Julian town day

Miles hiked: 0

Gratitude of the Day: I’m thankful for the kindness of strangers.

“Oh good you’re awake, I need to talk to someone” is not what you want to hear at 5:30 in the morning as you’re crawling back into your sleeping bag after using the local public restroom on a cold morning.

This was what started my first “zero” of the PCT.  This poor young hiker girl, according to the story, had ripped her shorts, didn’t have thermal long Johns and had gotten rid of her rain pants because “they were too big” was now sitting on the bench of the Julian back patio deck where I’d chosen to cowboy camp telling me about the woes of her last several hours. She had had a panic attack at her camp in Mt Laguna, told her hiking group about it, and then decided to leave, which she ended up knocking on a car window of a person who was passed out along the highway to ask for a “hitch” into Julian at 2:30am. 

So by the time I woke up to relieve myself, I’m sure she was ready to express her emotions to the guy sleeping on the back deck of the local market.  So... after hearing “oh good you’re awake, I need to talk to someone” what does one do.... I just asked her if she was ok. That is when she spent 25 minutes telling me about her ordeal.  I didn’t have many words of comfort or encouragement at 5:30 in the morning. I just felt the best I could do was listen and let her vent her frustrations.  After a bit, she decided to go charge her phone, and I curled back into my down quilt and when I woke a couple hours later she had gone. This was how my first “zero” started off... being an emotional ear for another hiker who had a bad night.

The rest of the day consisted of a huge breakfast, getting the free PCT hiker pie from Mom’s Pie Co, not being a huge dessert fan it wasn’t that big of deal for me but honestly it was delicious. I checked into my hotel for the night, took another long shower which was wonderful. And finished the night at the local brewery with several other hikers talking about our first couple days of trail experience and about our gear we all were struggling to get to work or line out properly. Tonight I’m sleeping in a bed, I have a flushable toilet and a hot shower waiting for me in the morning. Tomorrow it is supposed to rain/snow on the trail and since I already have the hotel booked I won’t start back on the trail until Tuesday. Tomorrow is hiker chores.  Even with an early morning therapy session, today was a wonderful day. 

Day 5: 20 miles oh my... oops!

April 24, Day 5: Mile 56.0-77.1

Miles hiked:  21.1

Gratitude of the Day: I’m thankful for early morning sunrises in the backcountry and cool breezes as you walk up an incline without any shade. 

Last nights camp spot looked amazing and seemed all well and good... problem was that it was a high point and the wind did nothing blow the tent all over the place. So, at 12 in the morning I got up and packed everything up and cowboy camped in the same spot.  (Cowboy camping is basically sleeping under the stars). After making the change I was able to get 4-5 hours of sleep and woke up to the orange glow of the sunrise over the valley below me. 

Best made plans usually never work out... so originally my plan today was to hike another 15 miles to just 7 miles outside “scissors crossing” (this is the jumping off point of the PCT into the town of Julian where I have a hotel reserved to resupply and rest my legs).  After getting going in the morning, surprisingly the legs and feet felt wonderful. The trail was super cruise-y down to the Sunset trailhead where I topped off my water for the next long stretch and there was a cooler of “trail magic” (people leave goodies for hikers”.  This cooler had apples, chips, and strudel breakfast cakes... I nabbed an apple and a breakfast cake.  The off I went. 2 miles later I was taking a break, making coffee and enjoying the sun and a strudel.

 Oddest thing I’ve seen on trail so far was about 15 miles in a there was a guy camped out and he was sitting under the shade of a bush playing a Nintendo Switch.  Besides really seeing that, it seems my hiking pace is either too fast or too slow for those around me so I spend most of the day by myself listening to music or a podcast. This is definitely not the norm for me, I’ve always hated the thought of listening to something on trail, but there’s really only so much “in your head” you can do for 10 hours a day.  I got to see some blooming cacti and this awesome yucca that wasn’t quite bloomed out but looked like a huge asparagus.

 After that I pushed on and instead of stopping early I ended up hiking all the way to Scissors crossing.  It seemed that the nice breeze most of the day and the legs feeling well pushed me all the way... 21.1 miles!!!  My first 20 mile day in the first 5 days... oops. But as with anything everything happens and works out for a reason. 

I was able to message a couple I’ve met on the trail that was already in Julian, they gave me a number of a guy that would come pick me up off the Highway and to continue the amazing happenstance, one of the hikers that they were hanging out with was renting an Airbnb in Julian and allowed me to take a shower and wash my clothes!!!  I’m a new human!!  After a shower in which I had to sit down in so I could wash off the caked dirt from my feet and legs, we all walked over to the Italian restaurant and had the most wonderful meal. Who know that a salad could taste so good!  I got to meet some pretty amazing people as well: Otter (trail name), Seeke (Germany), Lauren (Canadian), Florian, (Germany),  Korolina (Czech Republic), Joscelyn who oddly enough her and I follow each other on Instagram starting last year because we both had planned on hiking the trail last year and Landon her spouse.

After dinner, now I’m sleeping on the back patio of the Julian Market, which allows PCT hikers to camp and use their back yard/patio to sleep.

Day 4: Jackasses with 4am cellphone conversations

April 23, Day 4: Mile 41.5-56.0

Miles hiked:14.5

Gratitude of the Day: I’m thankful for my health. I’m happy that I have the ability to try to attempt at thru hike of the PCT and don’t take it for granted at all as every day I push my body to the point of mental and physical exhaustion. 

Woke up this morning at 4am to another hiker chatting on his phone, like what the hell!!  Dozed back off and woke up again at 5:45 and decided time to start packing up and mosey on down the trail. Last nights temps got down into the 30s, I stayed warm in my puffy quilt but my tent being a single walled tent had a lot of condensation collecting on it.  Unfortunately, Mr Cellphone was already awake because it would have been nice to stomp around and make a bunch of noise. 

The legs now every start the day off a little rough, definitely a hobble from the starting line until they get warmed up and then it’s just a slow shuffling cadence for hours. Today I stopped about 3 hours in, laid my stuff out in the bushes to dry and had a tidy breakfast of mashed potatoes, pepperoni and some jalapeño ruffle potato chips.  Would definitely eat again! Then I passed a small milestone of getting 50 miles hiked. 

 

The rest of the day was that of expansive views of the desert valley floor and a lot of downhill. Personally I like to go uphill, seems to be better on my knees, not so jarring. But the legs held up fine today, one of my blisters is better the other two are still sore but I’m diligent in stopping and checking on them and at night at camp doing a thorough cleaning of my feet with wet wipes. 

Tonight I’m camped at 5200 feet, nestled behind some granite boulders with expansive views across the valley. Washington state has spoiled me, the desert is beautiful in its own way, but I’ve yet to have a “wow” moment around a turn like you do so many times hiking in the PNW.  A couple more days and I’ll be in my first trail town of Julien for a shower, laundry, resupply and a soft bed.