Photos! A few (lots of hikers eyeing this computer...)

Desert flowers. These are everywhere but I have about 30 photos of the first few that I saw!

Cute tiny desert lizards. This was a baby, they don't bite but I was glad this guy saw it and picked it up for the photo op.

 

 

Day 1! The rest of these guys took off like gazelles, but we had a great first day together for the first mile or so ;)

 

Boulder Campground at mile 53. Everyone who camped on the exposed bald area got one hell of a wind storm but I camped about 1/4 mile away and snored my ass off happily in a wind-less nook. Camping alone ain't that bad ;)

 

Lake Morena. We thought we were going to have a nice easy night but the temps dropped drastically and we all woke up with frozen water bottles and clothes we thought would be fresh and dry in the morning. Oops!

 

Not sure what this sign is for but a lovely start to the day!

We are in legitimate desert. Backed into one of these cactuses as I was putting up my tent- a mistake I will make ONCE.

 

Surprising amount of color in the desert.

 

Salty mix keeps me trucking!

 

Looking back on the day's hike.

 

 

My own little campsite, mile 72.5.

 

Real desert, cacti and all!

 

Developing storm over the mountains as I tried to rally and hike onward with sore feet. This was at Eagle Rock, almost to Warner Springs where I am now at mile 109.5.

 

Thank you Nancy, a trail mom who was following her daughter along the way treating her and all the passing hikers to beer and treats.

 

Boulder Campground, mile 53.

 

Beautiful sunset approaching the Third Gate Cache. Thanks to Jan for keeping that cache stocked with water!

 

A day of walking through forests and fields on the way to Warner Springs.

 

Julian, 77 miles.

I was apprehensive to hitchhike considering I smelled like a dead animal and was covered in dirt but to my surprise the second car that passed pulled over to pick me up and I was even happier to see it was a punky metalhead girl listening to Slayer smoking a cigarette and barking at me to get in. it was exactly the type of person I needed to see. She dropped me in town and sped off, and I quickly walked in to the Julian Hotel and booked their last room. So. In true hiker fashion I am laying in my hotel room naked while my clothes are being washed because I have no clothes to spare. the laundry service was one of many reasons I decided to stay in town tonight (cleaning my blisters being goal one) and I'm glad that I did. the last 30 something miles have been incredibly beautiful but again my feet need a rest.

Where I left off last time I was in Mount Laguna after having hiked the first 40 miles of the trail. After one full week on trail I've learned that the trail is much more then just a walk in the wilderness and I'm realizing in all of the hype leading up to the Sierras being so beautiful I neglected to consider how gorgeous everything around me would be from day one. This has been the best oversight in planning! There's a surprising amount of flowers and the cacti are just starting to bloom. I'm also shocked at the elevation changes that I've been able to charge through.. Climbing 3,000 feet then descending 1,000 is typical in a day and it's not that daunting. I haven't weighed myself but I'd bet I've lost at least 5-7 pounds so far, and I'm eager to lose more so I'm lighter on my feet.

Again the sense of community surrounding the PCT is blowing my mind. when I was in Mount Laguna I had a stranger buy me my lunch just because.. I was fed, transported and housed in San Diego by some of the most generous people I've ever met and all along on the trail I've been given fresh fruit, beer and well wishes from people who have known me for a less than 30 seconds. It's pretty incredible. there seems to be a comraderie between hikers as well in that sense of we're all in this hard thing together. I remember back at mile 22 I passed an illegal immigrant coming up from Mexico who had barely anything with him except a little pile of obvious hiker food like granola bars and energy drinks that people had given him. it really drove home the point that we're all out in the desert just trying to make it somewhere and if we can help anyone out, we will, no questions asked.  I happily gave him my heaviest snack ;)

As far as the hiking goes I've been holding my own surprisingly well. 15 mile days in the hot desert is nothing to laugh at. I wasn't expecting to be outpacing anybody but I wasn't sure where in the pack I would fall and as of now I'm right about average or below by a few miles on the days that I'm hiking. because I've taken a zero already I'm a day or two behind the lot of the people I started with but I am meeting new people everyday. I'm hoping to get back to bigger miles soon. I have a history of overuse injuries which makes me very quick to try and fix problems as soon as they arise. but I think I need to start ignoring the small stuff a little bit more as it will heal in time. Funny to think what is considered "small stuff" right now!

one of the things that I was nervous about coming into this was camping alone by myself at night. but now I look for places where I can be alone because with me snoring it's the only way to get a good nights rest! I camped in a little nook on the side of a mountain last night and at about 2 a.m. I heard a howling competition between coyotes that sounded pretty close. surprisingly I wasn't afraid like I thought I'd be, though maybe I should have been...perhaps they were actually planning their attack on me.. I've only seen one coyote at a distance standing on the trail a ways back where I had hiked 20 minutes prior but I'm surprised I haven't seen any more considering I'm stepping over their poop every 10 feet. Who knew the PCT was such a popular toilet for the local wildlife! I'm learning so much about coyote duets as I hike ;) I have been first on the trail a couple mornings and I've seen plenty of paw prints fresh in the dirt but I still have yet to see one close up.

I'm all packed up again and ready to take off today with the hopes of making 15 miles since it's a cool day. I'm about two days from Warner Springs, then another 5 or so up to Idlewild. when I have a stronger internet connection I will try to add some pictures. I will probably only be able to upload from my nice camera in big towns where there is an internet cafe. or if anyone has any ideas to use my phone please let me know. ok off I go, wish me luck! :)

The first 40-something miles.

to begin, let me explain that in order to post to this blog I'm using the talk to text option which is going to murder my grammar and probably upset those of you you can't see past the bad punctuation. so sorry in advance! one day in the future I'm going to go back and edit these but for now I'm just going to post them as they come up. So here goes...

the first day on the trail was a little bit tricky and a little bit painful, I'm not going to lie. I started the day knowing that I had 20 miles to go before I would find water so I packed 6 liters into an already full bag and headed off with just a hair under 40 pounds strapped to my back. after a couple nights staying with trail angels in the San Diego area I was well fed and reasonably well rested and I had made several friends who all gather around the monument with me at the Mexican border as we all prepared to hike.

among those I had met I was happy to see there were several girls who were starting solo hikes like I was. It was rare to have such a high ratio of girls in what's usually a male dominated sport such as through hiking. everyone I met was eager to get going and happy to be there and one by one we all filed away from the southern terminus and headed north. it took me about 2 miles to start cussing and talking about throwing away and dumping out part of my 15 pounds of water. the two very patient girls who were with me persuaded me to reconsider with the water and even though in my mind I was determined to pour out the heavy water waiting in my pack I agreed, at least until they were out of sight.

over the course of the next mile I fell behind and had to fight with myself not to pour out the water that was weighing me down with every step. I kept thinking about all the time I've spent at Burning Man drinking nothing but margaritas and beer in the desert and how I didn't really need water so I thought surely I could make this hike without it..

It was about 5 miles before I fell behind the pack. I went to mile 10 and found a good campsite where I would be by myself but after feeling really freaked out by noises I decided to pack up my things and head to mile 15 where I knew people would be sleeping at the bottom of a canyon. the last half mile down into the canyon really did my feet in. I could feel hot spots turning into blisters with every step but there was no stopping once I started the descent and there was certainly no going back up. so I made it to the bottom and set up camp and snored heavily as I'm told all night long. the next morning I thought it would be best to we hiked 6 miles to Lake Morena. once there I set up camp with several people from the night before and had a very relaxed evening. The big excitement came when I saw a mountain lion cross the street in town by the one store the town had. Turns out they've been trying to trap it for a while and the locals all know about it, but it still made the hair stand up on the back of my sunburned neck. the following day I decided to hike another 10 miles to break up the 22 miles it would take to get to Mount Laguna. it was another gorgeous sunny day with breathtaking views and not a cloud in the sky.

I rolled into Cibbets flat campground just as the Sun was setting. it was another night in a pampered camping environment which I'm sure is about to change. there were about 15 of us spread out in the campground that night and about midnight the wind kicked up and started beating all of our tents around something fierce. there were a few moments when I panicked wondering if there was some sort of tornado or strange cell moving through. the sand from the desert floor was being blown up and into my tent through the mesh on the sides and soon everything I own was covered in a layer of dust. I was happy to have my free standing tent and I felt bad for all the people who had the little flimsy tarp tents. in the morning when we all woke up around six in the morning (which is about 45 minutes after the first person starts clanking their gear together and about 2 hours after we've all been laying in bed really needing to go pee but not wanting to get up) everyone compared notes on how the evening had gone and how their gear had withheld the wind. of course everyone with the tarps had to tell us that they worked just fine though we had heard them in the middle of the night scrambling to pitch them again and again. after trying to eat breakfast with a mouth full of sand I hit the trail hard and made pretty good mileage. The wind was kicking up still so I had to leave the umbrella down which meant I was putting sunblock on every 20 minutes, and still I was getting a sunburn. the hike climbed 3000 feet over the next several miles and by the time I got to the Burnt Rancheria campground I already had a pretty firm idea that I was going to take my first "zero day" which is when a hiker hikes zero miles in a day... So. Here I am in my tent about to go to sleep after a day of rest and a much-needed cheeseburger.

what's going through my mind as I lay in bed and think about the last 4 days is not the heat of the Desert Sun or the blisters on my aching feet, what I am remembering the most is the genuine friendships and generosity I've seen from everyone I've met. I knew I was in for a treat when I met the trail angels in San Diego and ever since leaving for the trail I've had nothing but good interactions with fellow hikers and those around us who are cheering us on. I promise to cuss and moan more in my next post. Goodnight for now, hope to update again soon!

OH! Forgot to mention this.. Coolest thing in nature I have seen yet: woodpeckers drilling holes in trees and filling them with acorns...thousands of acorns! Incredible! Mire nature shots and shots from my real camera down the road when I have a computer to use :)

Go Time.

24 hours from now, with trembling feet and a bag full of carefully planned gear, I'll finally be setting foot on the two-foot-wide dirt path that will lead me from Mexico to Canada; the Pacific Crest Trail.

Feels like I have been planning this for years yet I still look at my pack and doubt what I've brought. Do I really need a compass/thermometer keychain? What about that 12oz bottle of sunblock? Yes, for now, for comfort's sake, I do need these things.

Weighing in at 16.5 pounds (before adding food and water which will vary) it's a relatively lightweight load so for now I am satisfied, but I'm not too proud to admit I'm wrong and send back a box of stuff which will likely happen eventually. Compass, you've been warned.

So it begins. 

After a good few days with family and friends in Atlanta I flew to San Diego and met with Girlscout, a well-respected and immediately friendly trail angel I found through the PCT group on Facebook. it's a lot like couchsurfing in this hiking community, and I'm very optimistic after meeting Girl Scout that I am going to meet some incredible people over the next few months. Even the dog I met at breakfast was friendly...

 I'll be leaving tonight to go stay with another trail angel at a different house where there are a dozen other hikers planning to start the trip tomorrow. I've done all the preparing I can for this first stretch which will be 43 miles. I'm sure I will change some gear but it's time to just start and stop worrying about everything!

The first stretch of trail will start at the Mexican border and wind its way 43 miles north to mount Laguna stopping along the way to break the trip up into roughly 10 mile days. I've been training to do more miles but with my pack on and having just started the trail I'm going to limit myself to 10 miles each day. I'm not sure if I'll be camping by myself or with other people but I know I will see plenty of people along the trail and I will rarely feel like I am alone even though I will spend a lot of my time by myself while hiking.

The drought in California has made it necessary to carry most of your water with you along the way. I'll be carrying 3-5 litres and stopping at various water sources (like horse troughs, springs, etc.) which have been documented in the PCT water report to refill from time to time.

I will try and update regularly but who knows when I will have signal or when I will have good stories to tell ...so I will try to update soon and if I don't, please assume I am so immersed in fun I just didn't have time ;)