Category: 2019 Pacific Crest Trail

What? You ask, another double zero? And we answer, we were talked into it against our wills by Warren and Diane and then they took off. Truth of the matter is that there is no hurry. Mt San Jacinto has 3’ of snow on it and more is coming tonight (Monday) so we take the time here in Warner Springs or we pay for a hotel in Idyllwild. Free vs. $$$. 

We have had a very relaxing and enjoyable stay here. Last night there were 9 other thru-hikers here and tonight there are 12 others. We have spent the last two days sitting inside the community center socializing. At least I have been. Bunny has been working on another video installment to our vlog. It’s so refreshing that I’m not the one having to be the productive one.

Tomorrow, we plan to get up early (yes, this IS Bunny’s idea) and try to keep up with Ivy, Wolf, and Cheesy Turtle who are planning on a 17 mile day to make it to Mikes place. If things work as planned, we will make it to a Idyllwild in 5 days, the temperature will rise so we will have dry, pleasant hiking, AND all the snow will melt on San Jacinto so we have an easy crossing early next week. That’s the plan and we are relatively close to Disneyland where dreams come true. 

I spent my time getting to know several hikers in depth and exchanging stories with them. I am working on developing a “2019 PCT Hiker Profile” piece which I will publish on “The Trek” in about a week. Like on the AT (yes, that’s a drink), there are so many interesting people with fascinating stories. I have chosen 6 different people that I will profile and see what the response is like before I’ll decide to do any more. 

Also, speaking of drinking, there are a few new rules that need to be discussed. I discovered that certain readers had already had a drinking game unbeknownst to me. Namely, one Good Chip Norris, who we met and hiked with on the AT last year (everybody drink) had already been drinking when I mentioned poop in a post. He expressed relief to me when I started having people drink on mentioning the AT last year (1/2 shot for the partial reference) because he was having a hard time staying sober through my poop references. We will keep the drinks on reference to last year’s AT, and add double shots on poop references. However, if I mention pooping on the AT last year, a full glass of whatever you’re drink of choice is will be required. Any readers under 21 will be exempt from these rules. Readers over 60 should double the drinking portions (because what have you got to live for if you’re already that old? I will exempt my father from these rules.) 4luvofhiking.com (and any of her affiliates)  is not responsible for any accidents, illness, or deaths as a result of this “game.” As always, read and drive responsibly. 

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Bonus feature: Bunny has finished part 2 of our Pacific Crest Journey. You can see it here first!

I tried something new today that almost worked. When I got up at 6 to pee (there, I said it, I have an old man bladder) and make coffee (for the record, a completely separate water source for the coffee), I told Bunny it was 7. I mainly make coffee so early so I can have a half liter hot water bottle in my sleeping bag. It’s toasty! If I hadn’t fallen back asleep and started snoring, she would have gotten up. As it turns out, we made the trail at 8:40 just as Ivy, Dave (Wolf), and Cheesy Turtle passed our camp.

One advantage to the desert that I haven’t really mentioned is the ease of digging good, deep cat holes. If you’ve got to poop in a hole, this is a good place to practice your technique. I’m getting so good these days that I am intentionally digging narrower and narrower holes every day and I’m still getting “nothing but net.” Who would have thought I’d be the Michael Jordan of desert pooping?

We had intentionally walked further yesterday so we would be able to make it into the Warner Springs Community Center before they closed. Bunny had a new pack cover sent from Amazon to one of the volunteer’s house (they can’t accept packages at the center) and she said she’d bring it into the center today. Because we pushed on yesterday, we only have 4 1/2 miles to go today. We’d like to make it in time to have lunch.

Stich had told us we have to take the short side trail up to “eagle rock.” We weren’t certain what it was until we came over a rise and saw Cheesy Turtle walking towards it. I immediately saw the eagle about to take off (or land—it’s hard to determine rock image intentions). Bunny kept looking at it and couldn’t see it. She was looking for something on a much grander scale. 

We caught up with Ivy, Wolf, and Cheesy Turtle at eagle rock. This was the first time the five of us have talked together. We talked about San Jacinto and the Sierras about possibilities. We’re all in agreement about our approach to the situation. Take our time getting there and hope for the best. Ivy has hiked the Sierra before.  

The remaining 2 miles to town flew by. It was an easy decline into town. We were hoping to be in town by noon if we were lucky but we didn’t make that. We left our camp at 8:45, stopped at eagle rock for quite a bit and talked to a group of Boy Scouts, and then walked to town, all before 11. We averaged over 2.5 miles/hour. On the way into town, I was thinking of Martin Sheen. He’s playing an older gay man, the ex-husband of Jane Fonda in “Grace and Frankie.” I was trying to think of his breakout movie set in Vietnam with Robert Duvall and Marlon Brando. It wasn’t coming to me, so I made the mistake of asking Bunny. 

She started naming every war movie she could think of, (Saving Private Ryan, Patton, Bridge Over the River Kwai, All Quiet on the Western Front), none of which were set in Vietnam. I stopped a huge group of day hikers and described the movie. I got one nibble with “I love the smell of napalm in the morning” but none of the group of 20 were even alive. After we left them, it finally came to me…Apocalypse Now. Once again, I had to figure it out by myself with absolutely no help from anyone, just like my cooking. I do it all without any help. Woe, woe is me. 

We headed straight for the community center. We asked about Bunny’s rain cover, but the woman had forgotten about it. She offered to go home to get it, but we said it’d be fine if she brought it tomorrow. The set up is nice here. They allow free camping to PCT hikers under a huge oak tree next to the football field. They have bathrooms open 24 hours a day (no Michael Jordan practice tomorrow). And free charging stations and WiFi inside the center. They just ask for donations to help offset the cost. They even have limited resupply on site. 

We decided to set up our tents and then walked up with Cheesy Turtle to the Golf Course Clubhouse Grill for lunch. When we got there, Ivy and Dave has just arrived. Warren and Diane were also in back eating. We talked with everyone we knew as well as a few other hikers and some locals who were interested in our PCT quest. 

After lunch, we went shopping, just because. We think we’ve got enough food to make it to Idyllwild in about 5 or 6 days, but one can never be certain. What if our hiker appetites kick in. Bunny says hers hasn’t, but I had a 1/3 pound cheeseburger, fries, and a 12” pizza for lunch. If my appetite were to stay that way and we get caught in a snow storm on some pass…eating a Bunny wouldn’t necessarily be considered cannibalism. We are nearing the area of the “Donner all you can eat meat buffet.”

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Bunny has worked very hard figuring out the technology of videos. Here is part one of our PCT adventure. I very proud of her effort and perseverance.

It’s comforting to know that the wind is going to find you no matter where you are. We thought we were in a good place completely surrounded by shrubbery (neek, neek). The wind didn’t bring the rain until we had been in bed a few hours—somewhere around 9p. When we got up this morning and looked at the parallel ridge, it had lots of snow about 1000’ higher than us. We made the right decision to leave Julian when we did. 

I heard Warren and Diane scrambling around at about 6:15. I had no intention of getting up that early, but I did want to meet them before they left. Around 7, I couldn’t fall back asleep because I kept dreaming about water falls, my mind’s cue to me to get up before I wet the bag. Since I was up, I introduced myself in the daylight. While we were talking, Ivy and Dave caught up. I know they were 4.6 miles behind us where they camped. They had to be up before light! They told all of us that Cheesy Turtle was just behind them. 

After they all left, Bunny and I started eating our breakfast and packing up. I went off to a quiet place with a trowel to contemplate the higher dimensions of life when I heard voices coming from our tent. I returned to find Bunny talking to Stich who tried hiking the PCT in ‘17, but didn’t complete it because of the heavy snow followed by all the forest fires in the Pacific Northwest. He’s determined to plow on through everything this year. His wife trailer camps near the trail and meets up with him periodically. 

As soon as Stich took off, one more hiker arrived. This had to be Cheesy Turtle. We chatted a bit before he headed on to try to catch up with Ivy and Dave. As usual, we were the last ones on the trail at 9:30, but we didn’t care because we had found a group of hikers out here. For the first week, we only saw Bucky periodically but we couldn’t keep up with him. Since we have taken 3 zeros, we’re pretty sure he’s getting close to Idyllwild. 

I often wonder who is reading this blog. I know of a few people that regularly comment on posts but I wonder if there might be a secret wider audience. I discovered one person is reading along because she decided to f#$& with me today. I’m talking, of course, about Mother Nature. She saw my comment about I can handle any two of the three: high winds, cold temps, and rain, but not all three. She tried pushing my limits today to find my breaking point.

We started hiking in cloud cover with temps never much than 40. First she started throwing high winds at us. Then she tried to throw a little sleet and rain at us, but she let the sun come out and backed the winds off a little. Next she tried massive winds well in excess of 50 mph. We hadn’t walked in winds like this since rounding the backside of Sugarloaf Mountain in Maine last year on the AT (everybody drink). 

It never got warm today in spite of how bright some pictures may look. I wore gloves and a buff over my ears all day. I really thought Bunny would freak out in the high winds, but she maintained herself very well. I was extremely proud of her because I was about to lose my shit. The one thing that kept me going was that I knew there were 6 other hikers in front of us and if they made it, we would too. 

Bunny and I took a couple of breaks when we could find spots out of the wind. I did have a casualty of my own when the bee-atch, Mother F’n Nature, decided to blow my cover off of my pack. Just to drive the point home, she started drizzling again with the high winds but backed off just as she saw I was near breaking. 

We camped near a water cache last night so we wouldn’t have to carry a lot of water out of Julian. The next cache for us today was almost 10 miles. We had about 3 liters between the two of us to make the distance but when it’s this cold, we don’t drink as much. We got to the next source of water to find Ivy, Dave, and Cheesy Turtle already with their tents up. It was only 3p. We did stop and cook our supper and prepare our breakfast, but we wanted to get more miles in so we can nero into Warner Springs tomorrow. 

It feels comforting to know there are some people behind us. We decided to push on another 4 miles to a creek that should be running. We had enough water to still have coffee in the morning if it wasn’t, but if it is running, we’ll have hot tea tonight as well.

We passed up Warren and Diane already in their tent at 4. Bunny and I kept going until almost 5 when we found a spot right next to a rare running water source. We set up camp and ate as quickly as we could because the temperature is dropping fast. We were both in our bags before 6 but are still hanging on to consciousness here nearly at 7. You can take city folk and put them on the trail, but you can’t take the night owl out of them.

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While waiting to go into our final breakfast at the Julian Hotel, I noticed someone who looked like a thru-hiker. You know…puffy jacket and crocs. I started talking to Jeff and discovered he had started on March 1. Bunny and I invited him to join us at our table. Now come a string of coincidences that surprised even us. Jeff’s trail name is Patches. Last year when we hiked the AT (everybody drink) one of the first people we met on the trail was Patches. 

Patches ‘19 (henceforth Patches) finished the AT in 2017 but did some additional sections in 2018. Namely Maine. Patches was telling us he had met Pappy in Maine which is where Bear, Sassy, Good Chip Norris, Bunny and I met Pappy at Pine Ellis in Maine (on the AT last year—everybody drink). When I said Pine Ellis, Patches started describing Naomi to us. He and his wife were just a week or two ahead of us through Maine. They even stayed at Whitehouse Landing (I may not have said AT, but it was implied—drink). 

He then told us he got a ride to the start of the trail from a guy he met on the AT (drink) that lives in San Diego. We asked who it was and he said “Forager Mike.” We couldn’t believe it. The four of us had met Forager Mike in New Hampshire just before we headed into the AMC Highland Center (yes, drink). He was heading sobo then and we became friends with him on Instagram. It’s a small hiking world and I would like to hike all of the trails. 

We exchanged numbers with Patches and then went to get ready. He’s staying in Julian for another night but we can’t afford to take another zero. He’ll probably catch up and pass us in a few days. It was a miserable, rainy day in Julian with snow predicted for tomorrow. We just didn’t want to risk getting snowed in. We still have nightmares of Gatlinburg where we got snowed in for 5 days last year on the AT (that’s a drink).

Check out time was 11 and we debated staying until then in the hopes that the weather might improve. We just couldn’t wait until then because there’s no water along the trail for another 14 miles. We have to hitch a ride for 12 miles back to the trail and it will probably be difficult to get someone to pick us up in the drizzle. We left at 10 and saw another couple of hikers trying to hitch a ride. This was Ivy and Dave. We didn’t want to spoil their chances so we moved on down the road. Within 10 minutes we had a ride. 

Rosie from Zambia picked us up. She was on her way to work across the valley. Rosie has lived in Julian for about 5 years. Right now she has her own art and video business. She is working on a new craft—chainsaw art. We talked about trails we have done and places we’ve been. Rosie has been to 43 countries so far. Her preferred method of travel is by sea. She has crewed on a sailboat at sea for a few months. When we mentioned the Camino, she said she wants to hike that with her mother who is 81. The 12 miles flew by and Rosie dropped us off right where Mike had picked us up 2 1/2 days ago.

The trail was slow going for us to start. Not because it was hard or steep, but because it was so damn beautiful. Everything we looked at was new to us. The clouds were hanging on the mountain where Julian is, but we had partly cloudy/partly blue skies with mid 50 temperatures. It was an ideal hiking day if a bit windy at times. 

While we were snapping photos of different cacti and looking at all the flowers, we saw a cop car pull up behind us. I wondered what was going on and then I saw Dave and Ivy putting their packs on. They must be bad types If the police drive them 12 miles out of town and drop them off on the side of the road. We ended up leapfrogging with them for a bit. Dave is from Tampa, FL and Ivy is from Alaska. They ended their day around 3 setting camp up after about 9 miles. We needed to keep going because we only had 3 liters of water between us and needed to get to the next water cache. 

The miles continue to fly by in the desert. We spent the first 5 miles today climbing a couple thousand feet up to a ridge overlooking the desert floor. It was windy at the elevation and the skies looked threatening all around us, but not over us. We managed to walk in the only open spot of sky for most of the day. When we left Ivy and Dave, the winds picked up more and the temperature started dropping. We just wanted to make it to the water before dark.  

All day long, Bunny had been a hiking machine. I had to beg her to take breaks. She was determined to set up camp before dark. Finally around 4, she started wearing down. I was glad because my legs felt like lead. We made it to the spot we wanted to camp at just around 5:30. There was already another couple set up. Patches had told us about them—Warren and Diane. He had mentioned an older couple from Idaho. We chatted a bit, but had to get set up and get water before dark. I’m sure we’ll talk more to them tomorrow morning. It just feels nice to finally start seeing more people on the trail. 

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• 🎶 Fill my eyes, with that double zero.
• No disguise, with that double zero.
• Ooh, when it’s through to me, it’s always new to me.
• My double zero gets the best of me 🎶

I’m a sucker when a woman laying in bed asks if we can stay in town for another day. Bunny had been reading about San Jacinto snow pack and looking at weather reports and saw it was going to rain on Wednesday. She then pulled out her ace—“I don’t have a pack cover and all my stuff will get wet.” Of course, she waited until Amazon’s shipping hours couldn’t possibly get us a new cover until Thursday when the weather will be nice again. 

I’ve got to admit, she has been working her fear mongering on me. I don’t like to look ahead so I don’t worry uselessly. I believe, we’ll figure out what we’re going to do when we need to do it. I’m not going to do anything stupid or unsafe. Bunny is a worrier by programming. She claims that she’s preparing for all possibilities but what she’s really doing is wasting energy and time thinking about 99.9% of shit that’s never going to happen. We don’t need to work out contingency plans this far in advance. Dammit, Jim, we’re not NASA engineers. We’re hikers!

Julian is a tourist town these days, but it was started out with a lot of help from several former slaves right after the Civil War. One former stablehand and prospector recognized gold flakes in a stream when he was watering his horse and that was the beginning of the short lived gold rush in Southern California. It’s still possible to pan for gold at the end of the gold mine tour, but we opted to devote our free time to eating (even though Bunny says we don’t have our hiker appetites yet).

With rain present all day on Wednesday, I give my wife kudos for electing to stay an additional night at the Julian Gold Rush Hotel rather than spending another day sleeping in the tent. It looks like we really do have some time to kill before San Jacinto will be ready for a safe traverse. We had planned to start with 15 mile days out of here, but we’ll cut back to 12-14 mile days just to allow the weather to warm up for a few days. After today, the forecast looks better until Monday. 

 A big attraction for hikers in Julian is a free slice of pie with ice cream and a cup of coffee from a Mom’s Pies. This is an $8.50 cost to everyone else but with a PCT permit…nada. And it’s damn good pie. I had a slice of Bumbleberry Pie (blackberry, blueberry, and boysenberry) while Bunny chose Apple/Cherry Crumble. There actually is not a wrong decision to be made (other than missing it). 

We have become the old timers at the hotel. Non-hikers have come and gone yet here we remain. It’s tough to leave a place with a 2 course breakfast every morning, late afternoon tea, and our own bathroom, but our per mile cost is currently higher than $10. Some people try to claim that it’s possible to hike for $2/mile, but the deprivation is way below our comfort level. We’ve managed to keep our trail costs at around $2,000/month which is not an outrageous lifestyle but we can stay in towns and hose off weekly. With the cold weather early on, our costs are higher but they will drop with warmer temperatures. 

This has been a slightly extravagant stay in Julian for us, but we got all of our usual town chores completed plus an equipment shakedown, even sending a few pounds back to our ever watchful angel who is now handling gear shipments to/from the trail for us this year. 

Since we used the “Chaunce Approach” to trail preparation (eat everything with lots of calories and try not to exercise) we are sporting more weight than we would like to at the start, but it is already starting to come off. We credit the rapid loss to a tip we picked up from Badger to drink athletic greens every day. (Badger and Chaunce are the hosts of “Backpacker Radio,” a podcast that we started listening to over winter). How are the athletic greens working so quickly? (Gruesome info coming, you might want to stop reading now.) The athletic greens combined with our chia pudding breakfast and the Laird Hamilton coconut oil coffee has really greased our digestive tracks. (I’m proud of myself for not describing our poops…more personal growth for me and it wasn’t gruesome at all since I didn’t mention the smells or consistency as I had planned.)

We’ll take our time packing up and leaving in the morning. Breakfast isn’t served until 8 and there’s a required 12 mile hitch back to the trail. Usually we get tired of towns pretty quickly when hiking, but I guess we haven’t completely settled back into trail life, yet. Possibly, I’m just saying, that the fact that we’ve had 6 zeros since our permitted start date might, in some way, may be a factor. 

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The winds in the desert are baffling to me. Deathly still for 5 minutes and then you can begin to hear a far off locomotive. The locomotive barreled towards us and hit the tent with the force of a 40 mph wind for a full minute and then stopped…deathly still once again. This cycle repeated all night long. 

We set up near some bushes in the hopes of having a wind break, but we chose the wrong side. The gusts were so strong and the soil so sandy that our tent stakes wouldn’t hold. Three times our tent got blown down. Eventually I resorted to tieing off to a cactus like shrub and hoping that its roots didn’t pull out as easily as our tent stakes did. By then, the tent was sagging so bad that everything was loose and it flapped like hell with every gust. Sleep was an unknown commodity last night (even with a Benadrylled Bunny beside me).

I did doze periodically. I woke up fully at 6 when the cycle suddenly stopped. The stillness was too much. After my morning perimeter check (must I spell it out?), I made my lucky wife breakfast in bed for the 8th time in a row. She’s the luckiest woman in the world. Just ask me and I’ll tell you so.

With slightly less than 9 miles to go today, and the vast majority of that downhill, we were hoping to be done hiking by 2p even though we didn’t start hiking until 9. We were to the road by 12:30 hitching a ride. We are beginning to believe as we get a little stronger and the days get a little longer, we might actually be able to get in a few 20 mile days. 

The hike was easy and beautiful. We dropped over 2000’ to the desert floor and had stunning view after stunning view the entire way. The miles go so much faster with the wide open expanses. The road looked like it was just a mile away until you saw a car driving down it looking smaller than a matchbox car I had as a kid. (Actually, I never had matchbox cars when I was a kid, but I had friends that did. Actually, I didn’t have friends as a kid, just some playmates that wouldn’t beat me up on a regular basis. In fact, I didn’t have toys as a kid, just sticks and a coke bottle to entertain myself with.)

Some comments on Guthook mention taking up to 40 minutes to snag a ride into Julian. We got on the road and put our thumbs out, the second car slowed down and then sped back up…psyche! Bunny saw a bicyclist coming down a side road that started motioning for us, but, hey, a ride is a ride. If he’s willing to peddle the two of us with packs, I’m willing. 

Mike was just finishing up his ride and motioned to a parked SUV just behind us off the road. We weren’t even 2 minutes on the road trying to hitch a ride. What was even more amazing is that he lived less than halfway to town yet he drove us directly to the hotel we wanted to stay at. He even drove us around town and recommended dining options for us, one of which we chose tonight. Mike is retired and has lived in lots of places: Oregon, Hawaii, the Adirondacks in NY, San Francisco, San Diego, Utah, and for the last 6 years, Julian. 

After Mike dropped us off, we went in and got a room for tonight and tomorrow night. The Julian Hotel was started by a former slave from the state of MO (according to a historical marker out front) so we felt an immediate kinship with a former Missourian that also had good reason to leave the state. It was not even 2p before we had a room and we didn’t even think we’d be done hiking by then. 

The rest of the afternoon revolved around food with an occasional chore thrown in. We have been craving salads ever since we thought we were going to get one in Mt Laguna but had a Hot Pocket instead. We finally got our salads at Julian Cafe and Bakery. After lunch we headed to the Post Office to get a couple of packages with more food and gear. We were afraid our packs were getting too light and comfortable so we wanted to nip pleasant hiking in the bud.

After showering, we headed down to “high tea” in the parlor. Yes, this is a classy place, but with it being midweek they drop their standards and rates so lowlifes, such as myself, (Bunny only gets dragged down to my level through association) can spend a night or two. We met a lovely couple, whom I correctly identified as English before I even heard them talk because they asked for cream with their tea. Bunny devoured the pastries while I, uncharacteristically, spent the next hour and a half talking with the couple. They were intrigued (and probably bored) by our lifestyle choices. 

All that was left after tea was to have a quiet supper (yes, we are thru-hikers and are trying to prevent early onset of hiker hunger) followed by a late bed time. It was already 6:30 before we even headed to the restaurant—scandalously way past hiker midnight. What can I say, we’re rebels. 

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I can tolerate hiking in 40 mph winds. I can tolerate hiking in 40 deg F temperatures (and even a lot lower if the sun is out). I can tolerate hiking in the rain (I even kind of like it). I can tolerate hiking in TWO of the previous three conditions, but if I have all three, I have heroin flashbacks to Katahdin last October. I need to be sedated. We made the right decision staying put yesterday. Conditions were ripe for hypothermia. 

Not that today was a whole hell of a lot better. I woke up at 6 for…hell, you do the math; I’m 55 years old and sleeping on the ground. It was still gusting up to 40 mph and drizzling, no sun, and cold as hell. This was our coldest night so far at pretty close to freezing. I started boiling water for coffee when I got back in the tent. Not because I wanted coffee, but because I wanted a hot water bottle that I could eventually drink. 

At 7 Bunny rolled over and said we should go ahead and eat. She who must not be denied has spoken. We ate and listened to the rain and decided we needed a nap before doing anything too reckless like getting up. By 8, the clouds were thinning a bit and bright spots in the sky could be seen. We weren’t sure, it might have been alien spacecraft, but we were putting our money on the sun. Around 8:30 our hunch proved correct and we saw some sun and blue skies. We agreed we’d get up as soon as the sun stayed visible for 10 minutes. At 9, it was close enough for me and I could hear the sirens calling from the outhouse.

There was water standing in our tent, but we fared pretty well. Just the tent was packed up wet along with the bottoms of our sleeping pads. We were hiking by 10. Not as bad as it seems since 10 used to be our historical start time. 

Have you ever watched rabbits in nature? At least on National Geographic programs? They are timid and move around so calmly until something frightens them and then BAM…bat out of hell. They move fast! Pumas have to give up the chase if they make their appearance known too soon. Why do I mention this? My wife is named Bunny Tracks. When she gets scared and she’s in front of me on the trail I can forget about catching up to her any time soon. What frightens my sweet little Bunny? It’s a long list but we’ll settle on a few highlights: stranger’s following us on the trail (as in two days ago), lightening or any kind of storm, and high winds. 

As soon as we hit the trail, the winds picked up and Bunny was off. God help us if there’s a turn in the trail because she’s not slowing down for anything like checking a map. I had no chance of catching her until she got behind some boulders that blocked the wind. My only hope of keeping her in check was to walk in front of her and not let her pass. We had intermittent drizzle throughout the day, occasional patches of sun, but nearly constant wind. How else are we going to make nearly 16 miles starting out at 10 and getting done in time to set up camp when it gets dark at 6?

We were forced to stop when Bunny was moving so fast that water was literally pouring down her backside (not one of the periods of rain). It was obvious she had blown out one of her bladders. I was just hoping it was her drinking water bladder and not an overactive, nervous, urinary one. It turned out that her cap had unscrewed and she poured a liter of water down her back and butt. 

When we stopped for a snack break about 7 miles in, we refilled her drinking bladder but she couldn’t find her pack cover. The best way to stop the rain is to get out your pack covers at the first sign of dark clouds. Nature abhors a prepared hiker. Somewhere in the last 4 miles, Bunny lost her pack cover and we have our first trail gear casualty. 

It was really good for us that we didn’t hike yesterday because we would have missed amazing views of the stage route which we had seen a couple days ago. Upon further reading of signs where we were staying the last couple of days, it was the first transcontinental mail route. It had actually been completed before the mid 19th century. I’m pretty sure we actually walked a bit of the route dropping down off of the ridge this afternoon.

It’s really amazing to think what our forefathers had to endure to build such a route. There weren’t any aircraft to do aerial surveys of the land; no satellites. They had to get out on horse and foot to find the routes and then lay the beds by hand. There wasn’t any earth moving equipment. Plus, all this had to be done in hostile lands because they had chosen to ignore indigenous peoples in the process (but morality aside—it was an amazing accomplishment).

As we were nearing our stopping point for the night, Bunny spied 3 vehicles in the valley below us. One of them turned out to be the donut vehicle, at least it looked like it to me. As soon as I told Bunny this, it started doing donuts again. The biggest concern for us, though, was that we had been hearing gunfire coming from their direction. Rednecks with guns and 4 wheelers, no big deal. As we got to where we wanted to camp, the vehicles were there. Bunny, assuming the alternate rabbit stance of utter stillness when danger might be at hand, wouldn’t come around the turn until I assured her they were gone. Sure enough, the camping area was a mass of circles. We opted to set up off road and hope they don’t come back. 

The only real problem I had today involved chafing. The rain of this morning got my pants wet and it continued to worsen throughout the day. Because of the weather conditions, I didn’t want to take the time to do anything about it. Not to worry, I’m a real man and real men aren’t afraid to carry their own vagisil. 

EFG

I got up twice in the night to perform…perimeter checks. The second time, there were still stars visible in the sky, but the clouds were definitely rolling in. Sure enough, the winds really picked up and it started pouring right around 6—the usual time we roll over and say “oh hell no, we’re not getting up yet.” 

Unlike us, the other 3 more dedicated thru-hikers did get up and start packing in the rain. I heard a lot of laughing or crying, it’s hard to tell from deep inside a warm sleeping bag. Unfortunately, I did have to get up for reasons of urgency, so I got a chance to see how miserable it really was outside. Superman’s tent was a wet piece of nylon. Alley was still inside hers packing things up. Only Daniel seemed to be making real progress on getting ready. Bunny had followed me out for her own water emergency and she made the declaration “we aren’t hiking in this!”

Who am I, a humble man without a job or home, to argue with his wife. We went back inside into our warm bags to wait the rain out. It’s supposed to be over by early morning…tomorrow. This gave me time to do some ciphering. At our current rate of progress with an occasional weather induced zero, such as today, we should be done with the PCT by late April/early May…2020. No rush. 

Once the three first time thru-hikers, who still find joy in whatever nature throws their way, finished packing up in the outhouse across the park and headed up the trail, I started the morning coffee. Somewhat anticipating my wife’s attitude about today, I had stocked up on plenty of water to get us through the rain without being required to venture out, much. There’s still the privy across the way beckoning with her covered roof, dry walls, and unlocked door. 

We aren’t as remote as we thought we were going to be on the PCT. Around 11, we heard a car pull up followed by a “woo, woo.” Bunny immediately stiffened up since is the known MO of serial killers about to strike in the backwoods. A nice young man came up to the tent and introduced himself as a section hiker that decided to get off today and he was just driving back to check on where he thought other hikers might be. His trail name is Spoon and he works at the outfitter in Idyllwild. He offered us a ride or food, whatever we needed. We said we were good and thanked him for his offer. 

After Spoon left, another car pulled up, but this one was not the benevolent hiker coming to check on us. It was a couple of teens who had their weekend ruined by the rain and wanted to do some damage to their dad’s car and the parking lot. They did donuts in the lot for a solid 15 minutes. I kept hoping to hear the front end slam into a post. Between Bunny and I peering out through the tent doors, we managed to pull the tent down. 

The donut kids had left by the time I got out of the tent to reset it only to be replaced by another 4 wheeler. Since I was up, I fell prey to the siren call emanating from the privy across the way. I met the guy in the 4 wheeler who had succumbed to the same call of the sirens. I was too late. He had already been turned into a toad. 

The rest of the afternoon saw a parade of evangelists coming through and knocking on our tent. First up was Jehovah’s Witness’ who offered to leave us with about 10# of literature which I was only able to decline through my persistence that weight was a huge factor for us and they would each loose their slots in heaven if God found out they had burdened a thru-hiker (yes, it’s true, thru-hikers are favorites in multiple hierarchies). I did agree to take a flyer as a compromise which turned out to be very handy when the Mormons showed up. “Too late! Jehovah’s have already gotten our souls…unless you can teach me how to play a mean guitar, there’s nothing left for you here.” They replied “that’s really more of a Methodist thing” and went away dejected. 

A trail angel, Fruitbowl, dropped by the place later in the afternoon. She was impressed that we threw caution to the wind and set up in the middle of the trail. She gave us a tall boy “Weekend Vibes” IPA to help us sleep the afternoon off. She’s from Alpine and does trail magic all the way up to Mike’s Place so we’ll, hopefully, get to see her again in better conditions. 

One benefit of laying up today was that we were able to reduce our pack weight by one less day of food. On the down side, our gear soaked up more water weight that we lost in food weight. We’ve still got 2 days to Julian and only 4 days of food left. 

EFG

I heard Jeff again this morning, but there was no way I was going to get up that early when we paid for a place to sleep. As it was, with the comfortable air temperature, the soft bed, the convenient toilet, and my wife next to me, I had a very hard time falling asleep. It was too much comfort for only the fourth night on the trail. I had to resort to drugs to fall asleep to assuage my guilt. 

Jeff quietly exited the cabin well before 7. We rolled out of bed around 8. We showered again…because we could. The cabin was rented until noon and the store didn’t open until 9. We watched a little TV while we ate our breakfast. We tried to take our time, but we were still ready to go by 9. 

I dreaded the half mile road walk back to the park. We had to snow-bushwhack to get back on the trail. It was 9:30 before we were actually making trail miles again. The trail was exactly as we had left it—snow packed. It would have been much easier going if we had some snowshoes but I just didn’t think to bring any since we were going to spend the first 700 miles of the trail in a Southern California desert. 

Fortunately, the snow didn’t last. What I mean is that it was reduced to extended patches of snow which we had to trudge through. It still took extra effort to walk because we have to lift our feet so much higher between steps. I was doing alright until Bunny shoestringed me. I went head first into a drift and desert plant (not a cactus). I was picking grass, leaves, and sticks out of my teeth, ears, and hair for the rest of the day. The second shower didn’t take. 

The grade for today was never worse than 250’ per mile. If we got a grade on the AT of less than 500’ per mile, we considered it to be a level section. The snow slowed us down a little, but there is really little cause to complain, so I won’t. More evidence of personal growth on my part. 

We walked on a ridge line overlooking what turned out to be the Great Southern Overland Stage Route. I’m not sure of the entire significance of the route, but I’m sure it was one of the routes of the Pony Express for bringing the mail out in winter time. Prior to that, I’m sure it was a major route for settlers coming into Southern California. 

We did have one exciting encounter today which was a cross between paranoia and wall hysteria. San Diego county, where we are currently hiking, is 60% Hispanic meaning English speakers are in a slight minority (most Hispanics tend to be bilingual). We were standing on the trail looking (unknowingly) at the stage route when two guys walked on to the trail in front of us. They turned around when they saw us. At first, I’ll admit that I though it was suspicious that they backtracked to us. They were both carrying day packs and neither one spoke English. The guy could only say “cell phone” to which I replied “no service.” I never got a danger feeling from the guys. 

We walked on and they dropped back to give us space but they walked along behind us, the same direction they were going when we first encountered them. It was here that Bunny got scared because they were following us. All the “wall furor” that we have been subjected to on the evening news was bubbling over. The trail was running close to a road and they got off the trail and on to the road. We never saw them again. 

I do think we are starting feel better physically today, but I’m still having some foot issues. Really, ankle weakness. I had to stop a couple of times in the final couple of miles to rest. The wind was terrible the second half of the day for us. It was easily blowing 20 mph continuous. I’ve heard the wind can be bad in this section but I’m concerned because of the forecast for tomorrow—90% chance of rain. 

It wasn’t until we got to the picnic area where we had planned to stop that we actually ran into some other thru-hikers. There were 3 people here: Daniel, Alley, and Superman. Apparently Superman hasn’t gotten a trail name yet. Alley and Daniel said we were welcome to set up our tent with theirs and invited us to have supper with them. We were just relieved to finally run into a few more thru-hikers. They said 6 people had started on the same day they did (the day we were supposed to but couldn’t get a bus) but 3 have already gotten off trail because of the snow. This brings the known total of hikers to 8. By this time last year, we knew probably 30 people hiking the AT. Where is everyone?

EFG

I heard Jeff rummaging around at about 6:15 so I thought I’d go ahead and get the coffee going. At 6:20 I had the water going strong and the rest of breakfast laid out. I was proud of my early start until Jeff walked by our tent and said goodbye. What I had heard was him finishing up packing and not the early waking up. Even so, we were still on an early trajectory for us and actually hit the trail before 8 (7:57), a fete we managed less than a dozen times on the AT last year. 

Whether it was the 4th day on the trail for us, or the change in trail diet (athletic greens and coconut oil enhanced coffee), or the overcast day with drizzle in the air, or the lack of sunshine, or the fact that we are overweight and carrying too much weight, or that we are just frigging old (older than I ever thought I’d see when I was 12 years old), or some combination of the above, Bunny and I were both dragging something terrible this morning. I think Bunny zeroed in on her malaise when she dropped her pack, grabbed the trowel, and ran into the shrubs. She didn’t even consider that one of the 6000 mountain lions might be lying in wait. I suppose she was expecting professional courtesy—one cougar to another. 

This did lead to a surprisingly pleasant conversation concerning trail bowel movements. We compared consistencies and frequencies in a very tasteful manner. Nonetheless, I think this might be a sign that our honeymoon is over and we are connected for life in a comfortable yet twisted way. I didn’t even bother to bring up my anal die inserts and stool coloring food additives out of respect for the solemnity of the conversation. More personal growth for me!

This is not our first rodeo (the PCT I mean). From experience, we tend to bottom out physically on day 3 or 4. It’s after this that our bodies accept the fact that this walking and carrying a lot of shit is not going to stop anytime soon, so it’s time to adapt. By day 6, we should start feeling a little bit better. For us, we don’t see noticeable improvements until about the 6th week of our hike. Yes, Virginia, there are old people on the trail. 

On the AT, we didn’t climb above 6000’ until we had been on the trail nearly a month. In spite of the heading listing this as day 7, this is really only our 4th day hiking and we are already above 6000’. And like our Appalachian Trail experience, we hit snow. Massive amounts of snow. Actually way more snow in the desert than we did in the Smokies. A big difference, though, was the temperature. We ended up trudging through over 2 miles of foot deep snow with an air temperature of over 50 deg F. 

We had received a heads up from a couple we met heading south on the trail. This was Andy and Jayne who live in San Diego and are starting to section hike the PCT. In fact, this was their first 4 day outing. They had started on Monday, the same day we did, but they were always ahead of us so we hadn’t met them until they turned back about 3 miles shy of Mt Laguna. Andy wasn’t certain, but he thought the elevation change might be getting to them so they turned back to known trail rather than continuing on into unknown trail. They had run across Jeff and he had told them to keep an eye out for us. 

We met Andy and Jayne during the crappy part of our day when visibility was low and it was rainy with strong winds. Bunny had already exorcised her morning demons but I was still dragging. I thought I was slightly dehydrated. I hadn’t really drank anything from our last water spot yesterday afternoon until my cup of coffee this morning and I had a strong headache. We had a 5 mile walk from our camp to the first water source this morning. Not too long after we passed Andy and Jane, we stopped for water. 

When we stopped, it was foggy, cold, no sun, and a little drizzly. I filled our water bag, filtered the first liter of water, and added Mio flavoring. As we drank that first liter, the sun started to break through the clouds. I filtered another liter and we drank it. The clouds dissipated more. We drank one more liter of water, my headache disappeared and the sky completely cleared off. We have found the secret to creating great trail days…drink lots of Mio.

We have made the same mistake we make at the start of every hike, we overpacked. Ridiculously overpacked. We had close to two weeks of food and too many clothes. We did send about 8 pounds of food ahead to Julián, CA, but that probably wasn’t far enough with the amount of food we still have. We’ll be there in another 3 days and I’ve still got 15 pounds of food on me now. What makes it worse is that there are lots of resupply options early on in this trail. From Campo to Lake Mareno is only 20 miles. Worst case, carry 4 meals to get there, grab a pizza, and grab 4 more meals to Mt Laguna. Look at the maps and don’t make the same mistakes we’ve made. Scout and Frodo have great information on their trail angel page. 

The final 4 miles today were total snow walking. However, it wasn’t bad because the temperature was so warm and we knew we had a place to stay inside tonight. Even if we didn’t have a cabin waiting, I’d still take the bit of snow and lots of water to the popular starting times in April and May when water is scarce and temperatures are way too hot. 

The one disappointment we had was getting into Mt Laguna and seeing that the restaurant is closed today and tomorrow. Bunny and I had been talking all day about how good a salad was going to be for supper tonight. Instead, we headed to the Lodge where Jeff had already gotten us a cabin. The store was open, so we were able to get some much needed junk food to supplement our healthy trail diet. I supped on Chili Cheese Fritos, a ham and cheese Hot Pocket, a half a package of Oreos, and a Coke. The benefit of thru-hiking is the guilt free food options.

EFG