Day 14

Trail miles: 10.9

Total: 179.4

I don’t think anyone got a good night sleep, whether it was from the loud wind or the cold. I slept in Krista and Raechel’s three person tent to help with warmth. The wind created a breathing effect with the tent and kept slapping me in the face or back. My sleeping bag kept me warm enough, so it was tough to get up and get started. We kept hiking today with short breaks to try and make it into town earlier. The hills were steep and slow, but I think I kept up pretty well with the group today. We passed through some burned areas with blackened trees. This makes the perfect environment for poodle dog bush growth so we had to keep and eye out for that. There were also so many large downed trees we had to jump over, go around, or tuck under. I smacked my hip off of one of the tree branches on the way over one and reddened my leg. Once we made it to the peak of the mountain and headed down on the other side, we ran into a lot of snow. Nothing dangerous, so we didn’t need our ice spikes yet. We made it to Saddle Junction and turned it the PCT to head into Idyllwild. At the parking lot 2.5 miles down, our hiking friend Violet greeted us and gave us a ride to town. We had sushi at Idy Sushi Rolls. Now we are playing cards at the Bunkhouse where we will stay for Krista’s birthday tomorrow! I also need to do a few town chores. My one charging cable for my inreach, camera, and headlamp stopped working so I hope to get one in town. I was supposed to go pick up a package from the post office with my memory cards, but I think it’s being shipped to my house for some reason. I am pretty upset about that. Maybe I can find one in town. Another thing that has gone wrong today is that the dryers here are awful so nothing is dry. I am sleeping in wet clothes. 

Day 13

Trail miles: 12.6

Total: 168.5

Today was the first day we woke up and everyone was on the same page about making warm coffee. The wind and fog was so bad we didn’t see anyone on trail all day. It got significantly colder after lunch too when a fog cloud engulfed us. I had to get moving to stay warm. The last 2 miles was a 1000 ft incline and the first part was a wind tunnel that pushed me over and made me lose my breath. I got scared and thought this is only going to get worse the further we got up. So Raechel, Krista, and I stayed in the lower area with less wind until we heard from Brad about if the campsite had good enough wind coverage. After that, we decided to make the trek up. The path was fine just after the wind tunnel with no dangerous cliffs to get blown off of. Raechel and Krista offered their tent to add warm and save tent space, because 3 other hikes showed up shortly after us! More crazy hikers in this weather. We did see 2 people walk down the hill at the beginning of the day. We think they were going to town to wait out the storm. The reason we wanted to get to this site was to get as close to town as possible for a short hike into Idyllwild tomorrow! We are taking our first real zero there.

Day 12

Trail miles: 15.8

Total: 155.9

It’s getting a lot windier lately as we head further into the mountains. We are heading for an elevation of 10,000ft in the next few days. Tonight we have a lot of tree coverage which definitely helps, but doesn’t eliminate the wind completely. The day started with a quick paced 6 miles to Marys water source. I felt good so I didn’t need a break. I picked up some cute postcards to send out that are unique to that exact mile marker. I also signed the book with my official new trail name! The next 7 miles were slower because it got harder, but I felt better after some electrolytes. We hitched to Paradise Valley Cafe for lunch! It wasn’t anything special like people say, but the employees were so friendly to us. The owner of the store even gave us a ride back to the trailhead! He had to do two trips to fit all 6 of us. We walked not even 10 steps before we ran into trail magic! They had candy and chips and hot chocolate. One of the other hikers had a hang board as his luxury items, which is used to hang by the fingers to strengthen for climbing. Pretty dedicated climber!!

Day 11

Trail miles: 20.5

Total: 140.1

So everyone kept calling the campsite “Shrek’s Piss” because there was a comment on FarOut that said that’s what the water tastes like. It made me laugh every time someone said that. The comments on the app have been so funny! The morning hill wasn’t too bad first thing in the morning. Then we had 12 miles of downhill so we went for our first 20 mile day! The water cistern was so interesting and gross. It was like a water collection from rain and you had to reach your hand through a hole to get it. And the top where your body had to lay on top of was cracking and sagging so it felt like you might fall in. Koa the Canadian says my trail name is Slalom because he’s never seen anyone go down hill like I do. And Krista says his trail name should be Shaman since he knows all the remedies. Tomorrow we have 12 miles uphill but we have the Paradise Valley Cafe to look forward to for lunch!!

Day 10

Trail miles: 14.8

Total: 119.6

Hard to leave camp in the morning, but we have to beat the sun. We wake up around 5 and try to get started before the sunrise. It sucks because we can’t relax and eat breakfast or have coffee, but maybe further down the trail. We saw eagle rock today! It was just like in the pictures. The area around it felt like we could be near Stonehenge. So serene and peaceful. We walked 1.2 miles off trail into Warner Springs to get our resupply boxes and send things home or ahead. I got my sleeping bag! Hopefully a good night sleep tonight. A trail angel offered us a ride back to the trailhead where there was more trail magic! Someone’s parents had brought pop, chips, and ice. Then we took a nice long siesta at the creek crossing. The creeks are usually only a couple inches deep but enough to filter water from. We hiked up 7 miles to our campsite with Koa, our new friend from Canada. And we met Taylor who has her husband following her along the trail in an RV. Then I sat in a cactus trying to set up my tent. I spent 20 min picking thorns out of my butt, pants, and underwear. Oh and Brad is back! His new trail name is Leave of Absence or LOH since he likes to disappear. Tomorrow is a long mileage day with some uphill and a lot of downhill. Hopefully Mike’s place will be grilling tomorrow.

Day 9

 Trail Miles: 13.6

Total: 104.8

Happy birthday Kiersten!!

Today we hit 100 miles! Our first milestone. We got up early and hiked 10 miles before 10:30am and was treated to trail magic by a couple of PCT hikers from class of 2019 who had met on trail! They made us eggs, sausage, chorizo, and hash. They also had tons of other stuff to grab like Gatorade, baby wipes, muffins, and oranges. Then we took the free shuttle to Montezuma's Market where we hung out until 3:00 pm meeting other hikers and keeping out of the heat. It really felt like we were a part of the community! I also got some sunscreen and new peanut butter since I didn’t like the ones I brought from home. I needed more hand sanitizer, which I am going through like crazy. Then some honey sticks and strawberry preservatives for my tortilla roll ups at lunch. The sunscreen was much needed because I ran out and had to hike in my rain pants, which has been miserable. We got back and hiked on 4 more miles to a small creek! Only the second natural water source so far. It was nice to dip our feet in. Tomorrow we go into Warner Springs where we pick up resupply boxes, so tonight is my last night in this top quilt. Good thing too because I hear it’s going to get colder.

We found out Brad is waiting for us near Warner Springs so we will find out tomorrow how he is doing.

Day 8

Trail miles: 14.9

Total: 91.2

Krista got her trail name! We walked down to the water cache (thank you generous trail angels) where we met a group of 3 we had never seen before. One asked if we had lost a pair of sunglasses, which happened to be Kristas that had blown off her head in a gust of wind. Then I jokingly asked “did you also find her Kula cloth?” And they did! Another in their group had picked it up not knowing what it was and the others quickly explained what it was and to not touch it! (It’s a women's pee rag) So now they call him PR, short for pee rag. And since they keep finding her stuff along their journey, he saw it fitting to call her…. Breadcrumbs!! Now those two are bonded forever by their trail name stories. 

In sad news, Brad left us in the dust today without warning. He broke 20 miles and was treated to trail magic further down the trail. We are not sure if we will see him again or if he will keep up his mileage high. Anyway, I hope the trail magic is still there tomorrow!

And just a short summary of the rest of the day, we hitched an early ride with some nice workers with a trailer and squeezed 4 in the backseat with our big packs. Then we rose a couple thousand feet over 10 miles before lunch. Then a blazing hot 4 miles to the campsite where there are so many staying tonight! Raechel said it was like summer camp for adults.

Day 7

Trail Miles: 4.3

Total: 76.3

Even though it was a short hike today, we have all officially broken our consecutive backpacking records! We made it to the road by 8:30am and hitched a ride to the RV stagecoach campground pretty quick from a trail angel named Professor. After laundry and a shower, we hitched a ride to Julian by a lovely older couple who drove around hikers for entertainment. There was a lot of free food in Julian for hikers! I got pie, ice cream, apple cider, more apple cider, and gummy worms. I’ve been running around all day trying to charge my external drive as much as possible because it’s taking a long time to charge and I haven’t had the chance to charge it overnight yet. After a quick and unsatisfying resupply, we headed back down the mountain with Cody who was on his way home from work. We are sitting around the pool chatting with other thru hikers and everyone seems to be enjoying themselves. Cowboy camping tonight so we can make a fast getaway tomorrow to hike the first two uphill miles before the heat. Just depends on how lucky we get with a hitch. 

Day 6

 Miles: 15.8

Total: 72

The best part about being a thru hiker so far is that every time you see someone with a big pack, we all wave at each other like we are long time friends! Good to be apart of this community finally.

Lots of downhill today which is hard on the knees. We have been able to point out the trail ahead of us all day long. Pretty cool to see people walking in the distance, too, with their sun umbrellas. Places to find shade are common but usually the trail is on a slope which makes for an uncomfortable siesta. Some of the trail was surprisingly exposed which made me think through the  steps of stop the bleed and monitor for shock in case of a fall. We saw our first rattle snake on trail and it seemed full because it was quiet. We passed a few campsites because they were either too small or full. That made today a 16 mile day which puts us 4.4 miles away from Scissors Crossing where we will hitch to the RV park for laundry and showers.

Day 5

 Miles: 10.9

Total: 56.2

There are campsites along the way in the trail app we all use, but you never know what you’ll find or if the spots will all be taken. Thru hikers have been courteous so far in always making room for more hikers that come by! We scooted in with 3 more hikers and shared a nice dinner circle. The terrain for the hiking was pretty easy today. The only issue I had was the bottom of my calf started hurting, so I might need to start doing calf raises. There was a trail running group on a 20 mile loop we were sharing, so a lot of moving out of the way for people. But it was made up for when they offered us beer and snacks! The day ended with watching the fog roll over the mountains with our new friend Pancho.

Day 4

Miles: 9.2

Total: 45.3

Well, our Nero turned into a 9 mile hike after figuring out the campground in Mount Laguna doesn’t open until April 15. This was after we stopped in to resupply and eat lunch at the café in town. We left around four to hike four more miles to the camp spot we are at now which has the most gorgeous views so far. I’m happy to have successfully resupplied for the first time in town. I picked up some more small bandaids for my blisters and body glide for my thigh chafe. The town was right off the trail but the next one is Julian and it is 4 miles up the road so it will be our first hitch in the town.

Day 3

Miles: 13.8

Total: 36.1

The heat almost killed me today. Well not really but I felt malnourished walking up the hill today in the heat.  Very different feeling than the freezing cold night I had. I really need to get a better sleeping bag. The best part of today was our lunch stop at Kitchen Creek. I got to soak my feet to help some of the swelling in my ankle, and was even visited by a small water snake. The wind was so bad though it blew away someone’s sleeping pad halfway up the hill (1,800 ft in elevation gain). I found 4 holes in my tent that I needed to patch before leaving. We pushed through 14 miles today so we could stay 6 miles from Mt Laguna and spend a Nero there.

Day 2

 Miles: 10.9

Total: 22.3

Woke up to a damp sleeping bag! But I stayed warm through the night. We were the last to leave camp, so we will have to work on packing up quicker. The temperature never heated up today which was lucky because of a steep 1,200 ft incline. More climbing tomorrow! By noon, we made it to Lake Morena, in time for lunch at the Malt shop. The owners kicked us out for sitting down inside before ordering, but the fries were good and I charged my phone up a bit. Our side trips in town totaled an extra 3 miles. We couldn’t swim in the lake because of the algae toxins. Instead, we took a nap while waiting for Nicholas to drop off my Altras. I have developed about 5 blister in my hiking boots so those are headed home. Thanks Nicholas! Good to see you and Maple. We pushed on for 3 more miles so a large campsite and beautiful sunset views. We are alone tonight so hopefully we will camp with more hikers tomorrow.

Day 1!

Miles: 11.4

Total: 11.4

Finally on the PCT! We got stopped less than a mile in for Legend to let us use the hostel to use the restroom and give us a tour. Probably not worth the delay on trail, but a fun story to tell. My camera mic mount already broke after the first hour of using it. I chose to wear my hiking boots to help support my ankle, but they are very hot and I got a hot spot on my heel so I may switch to trail runners after tomorrow. We made it to the campsite first so we had a ton of spots to choose from, but backpackers quickly filled in the rest, so a lot of neighbors tonight! With my luck that I’ll stay warm tonight.

Out of State

 

After 2 extra years of preparation, I have finally left Pennsylvania with all of my gear and am ready to start again at the end of this month! Now I hope all my gear choices and meal preparation was enough to get me through. See you next on trail!