Category: 2019 Pacific Crest Trail

Today was both an end and a beginning. We are now officially without any tramily around us or without anyone we even know on the trail any longer. We spent the morning with Cliff Hanger and Daniel until they couldn’t put off leaving any longer. They both stuck with us until almost 1p. We will, more than likely, see Daniel again at Trail Days in Cascade Locks. Cliff Hanger didn’t know if she’d make it there, or not. 

We have made a decision on where we are headed next. We are going to Disneyland. Wait a minute, we didn’t win a Super Bowl. I guess that means Disney is out and Old Station is in. We are taking Devil Fish’s advice and jumping just north of Lassen Volcanic National Park in Northern California. 

We have made contact with all the members of our original tramily and are aware of their plans. Each of them will probably pass us somewhere in Washington since they travel so much faster than us old farts. Kevin (Blue’s Clues) has headed to his grandparents place in Pasadena to spend a month with them before resuming the trail north at Walker Pass. Dave (Wolf) has gone back home to Florida for a month and then plans to pick the trail back up at Old Station. I imagine he’ll catch up with us by mid-July since we will have to get off trail for a week to attend Bunny’s son’s graduation from Army Basic Training. 

Ivy was the most interesting. We did talk to her this evening. She has officially parted ways with the Air Force and even returned back to the trail in Beldon, CA where we had all thought of going next. She was completely alone on the trail (as we will probably be) except she was walking in snow with lots of evidence of avalanches having occurred in the area. The snow is melting, but she didn’t feel it was safe or smart to be hiking alone (we agreed on both points). Instead, she has gone back to Alaska and is going to WOOF (Work On an Organic Farm) for 6 weeks to allow the snow to melt. She’s going to check with people then to decide where she’s going to pick back up. 

Also, we have had a brush with trail greatness. Or maybe a sideswipe of being noticed. You make the call. We got a little blurb in Backpacker Magazine about hitting the trails. We owe a big thank you to Patrice and Justin La Vigne for getting us the exposure. I met them at an REI talk about the Te Araroa trail in New Zealand (yes, it’s on our list for probably 2021). They are writers for Backpacker Magazine, former Ambassadors for the magazine, as well as Leave No Trace master educators (for which they spent a year educating visitors to National Parks out west). They gave up the “normal” lives when they were in their late 20s and have been making a living doing what they love for well over a decade now. Luckily, they have coattails which we are trying to grab hold of. 

One of the maintenance workers at the KOA gave us a ride into Acton this evening so we could eat town food. He drove us around town before he dropped us off (literally, a 10 second tour). He showed us where to pick up a ride to hitch back. We hit the spot and got 2 offers for rides, but they had to make a stop first. We didn’t put our thumbs back up but a third car stopped and picked us up before either of the other two returned. Unfortunately, she took us to the wrong campground. Once she realized the mistake, she did drive us to the correct one. 

We have a car reserved for tomorrow and we plan on taking the scenic route through eastern California on our way to Redding to return the car. We haven’t got all the details worked out yet, but we know the trail will put us where we are supposed to be. I’m a little sad. I feel like we are starting all over even though we are over 650 miles into the trail. We’ll go slow until the snow melts and people catch up with us once again. I know the first people we meet up north will all be “redshirts” because they will probably have gone through the Sierra to get there. Or maybe we’ll get stopped by snow until slow movers jump up to where we are. Or maybe Bunny will forget I don’t have life insurance and try to kill me again. Her memory is about as reliable as her hip. 

EFG

Here is episode #10 of our PCT experience. If you haven’t already done so, please subscribe to our YouTube Channel when you watch it. The 1 millionth subscriber will get a $100 prize. Don’t wait too long, we already have almost 200 subscribers. 

Something strange happened over night. I noticed it the first time I got up to pee and confirmed it on the second time I got up. I even got up a third time just to make sure it was true. The sky’s cleared off. After two days of cloudy skies, fog, and drizzle, we have returned to the desert without even getting out of our tents. 

I told Bunny I was going to wear shorts again. Farsighted Bunny said she was cold and was going to stick with long sleeves and long pants. She listens to me as well as I do her when she tells me not to drink a gallon of iced tea before bed. I show her by getting up 3 times in the night to pee. She’ll show me by sweating her ass off. Maybe, just maybe, sometimes our spouses are not the idiots that we give them credit for being. Nah. 

I’d like to say I planned for the extra food stops we made the last couple of days. In fact, I did know ahead of time about Newcomb’s Ranch Cafe and the pizza delivery at the fire station and I ‘hoped’ we’d get both, but I wasn’t counting on it. Maybe subconsciously I planned on hitting both of them because we were pretty much out of food this morning. All we had for breakfast was coffee I had planned on and magic fruit I hadn’t. The pizza delivery guy gave us apples because I tipped him well. Bunny got us a huge naval orange in the parking lot the next morning while I was taking down the tent. Todd, the caretaker, gave us two cuties each. Magic fruit and coffee for breakfast. 

About a mile into our hike today, Bunny became very crabby. Not really that unusual of an event at that point except today it was for a queasy stomach instead of her hip. I had one last trick up my sleeve. I had kept one packet of trail mix hidden for just such an event…a crabby Bunny. Without fat or protein for breakfast, the carbs just don’t last long. Bunny has one of the most sensitive constitutions of anyone I’ve ever met. A few nuts and raisins put her back on the path to the Acton KOA. 

After the stomach issues were resolved, the heat and sweating kicked in. Did I mention that I told her NOT to wear long sleeves and pants? Hell yes! I never learn. Did it help the situation any? Hell no, you’d think I’d learn. Will I do it again in the future, the next time she doesn’t listen to me? Sadly, yes. When will the woman learn?

We stopped at Mattox Canyon Creek to have a drink and cool down in the shade for a few minutes. Cliff Hanger caught up with us here as we were getting ready to leave. We had just made the comment that we were glad to be getting out of the desert with it getting so hot. Not only is water going to become a much bigger issue, but reptilian life is going to become more active and aggressive. 

Truer words could not have been spoken. Not 5 minutes down the trail, I saw the fastest snake I had ever seen. I couldn’t even begin to get my camera out. I considered waiting for Bunny in case it made a return appearance, but it was booking so fast downhill, I knew she’d be in the clear. I got to the next shady spot and waited for her to catch up. I asked if she’d seen the snake and she said “thankfully, no.”

We rounded the curve into the full sun and an aggressive rattle started. This one was not backing down or moving. I asked Bunny if she saw this one. She said “You’re walking first the rest of the day.” I took that as a yes. We waited for it to get under a bush before we started going, but each time I moved forward, he started rattling again. We waited 4 or 5 hours (maybe minutes, but it felt longer) and tried again. RATTLE!  I tried tossing some rocks near the bush to convince him to move on (not to hit him and piss him off even more). I finally was able to push some bushes back on the opposite side of the trail to give myself 5-6’ to get by. Bunny was having none of that. The snake had hypnotized and frozen her in place. 

The spell was broken when two mountain bikers came up behind me. Bunny had to feign bravery to get around the turn. We did manage to scare them enough to get them to dismount and run around the curve. After they were out of sight, we both looked at each other and said “Thank god this is our last day in the desert.” The final three miles to the KOA were on high snake alert. Once we crossed the road and were turning on to the trail leading to the KOA, Bunny got brave again and started to lead. I reminded her to watch for snakes in the tall grass. I got the lead back. 

We made it to the camp office and found Daniel and Springsteen already in the hiker lounge watching CNN and snacking like mad. Daniel was perusing the refrigerator and freezer section to decide what to gnaw on next. He found the pizzas which caught Bunny’s eye. I went straight for the Hot Pockets because I love the extensive thought and creativity that went into their jingle—🎶 Hot Pockets 🎶. Pure marketing genius. 

After 5 pints of ice cream, Springsteen decided it was time to move on. He’s definitely ready the AT half gallon challenge. Cliff Hanger registered for a campsite and rented a towel, but discovered the KOA was out of conditioner. She took it in stride, but I was frantic. How will I ever comb out my hair without conditioner? Luckily, a young lady staying in the campground heard and brought us a bottle of conditioner and a couple disposable razors. She told us she had hiked a section of the AT a few years back and understood. She also asked if we needed a ride into town to resupply. I offered to buy her diner if she would take us into town later. That’s how we met Megan. 

Megan took Daniel, Cliff Hanger, Bunny, and me into Santa Clarita for supper. She is originally from Maine but studied acting in a bi-coastal program 2here she spent 2 years in Hollywood and 2 years in New York. She’s now a full time RVer. She and her mother drove cross country last October in 11 days and Megan has been living here at the KOA ever since. She works as a special events bartender while she’s trying to get a break in acting. I called her Penny but she pointed out she doesn’t work at the Cheesecake Factory. 

We spent a couple of hours at an upscale burger joint talking about trail life, college, politics, healthcare, and insurance. We were all flying free and loose after exposure to CNN this afternoon. I tried to switch to Fox to get the alternate opinions on today’s hearings but couldn’t locate it. The cable package doesn’t include Fox News. I’m liking California more every day. The time flew as I downed a gallon of iced tea which my wife warned me about. What does she know? She wore long sleeves and pants today. I’ll sleep fine tonight. 

EFG

Some late arrivers didn’t show up until almost 8. If they had been relatively quiet, I might have shared the knowledge that they could still get pizza delivery up until 9, but they weren’t, so I kept my mouth shut. A Herculean task for me. I’ve given up on the “I’ll get even in the morning when we get up early” scenario since it never happens that way. Sure enough, everyone else was gone (except for Cliff Hanger) when we started to emerge from our tent. 

It rained most of the night. Some desert! When our alarm went off at 6:30, I looked out and saw nothing but fog. It wasn’t raining, at least. I made the coffee like a good husband does and then went back to sleep until my dearest started stirring. She had her choice of protein bars or leftover pizza for breakfast. She chose the bars. I complied with her wishes and then ate some of my pizza for breakfast desert. Yes, there is such a thing—now. 

Cliff Hanger is almost as slow as us, both getting ready and hiking. Even though we’ve only been hiking together a couple of days, she’s a good fit for us. Were going to miss her when we jump north…wherever that may be. Daniel is another one that likes to enjoy the trail. He left us last night with the intention of hiking another 12 miles to Messenger Flat Campground. It was drizzly and miserable when he left and we were worried about him. We were relieved when we started hiking and saw that he had only made it a mile before he gave up and camped. 

Where were all the hikers today? We only saw 4 people total all day long—just Cliff Hanger, Springsteen, Daniel and Kevin (not that Kevin). This was another Kevin that we just met today. He hasn’t gotten a trail name yet. We offered “Home Alone” as that is the most obvious choice. He declined saying we weren’t the first to offer that suggestion. He didn’t understand the reference being too young. 

As predicted, pizza carried us through the day. Bunny ate all of hers at our first stop about 6 miles in. I tried to get her to pace herself and savor the leftovers, but she had no self control. She had not partaken of breakfast dessert and was too hungry. I only ate half of mine fully intending to savor the other half in front of her, later, when she wouldn’t have any of hers left. Much like my youngest dog, Ilana (who we just killed in February of this year) used to do to her older sister, Nutiket, with pigs ears. Ilana loved to tease Nutiket with her pigs ear after Nutiket wolfed it down. Bunny won’t be able to not drool at second break. 

Bunny’s hip was acting up again this afternoon. It worked pretty well all morning, but when we were almost through our second big climb, the old gray mare just gave out. She applied some k-tape and about 20 minutes later, she was contemplating doing a 20 today. Cliff Hanger had passed us at our last water stop and said she was feeling so good, she might go another 3 miles further than we planned if there wasn’t water at the ranger station. 

When we saw the North Fork Ranger Station ahead of us, we also saw a duplex tent set up by the outhouse. We took this as a good sign that there was plenty of water and Cliff Hanger had decided to stop. When we got there, we found out it was Kevin’s tent but Cliff Hanger had decided to stop and was set up in a horse corral on the back side of the hill. We headed that way to scout out the camping. It looked wide open and windy, but she came up and told us that it was actually pretty calm. We went down and set up in the stall next to her. It hasn’t been used by horses for a few years so no horse hockey pucks were around. 

I went up to get water and met Todd, the caretaker. Todd gave me 2 cuties each for the three of us. He then told me we could get sodas if we were interested. I went and took orders from Bunny and Cliff. Of course, Bunny had to be difficult and ask for root beer. Surprisingly, Todd had it. I talked with him about how he got the job of caretaker. He gets use of a house with a small monthly stipend. In my opinion, he has an ideal gig. He told me he was a thru-hiker in 1998 and met a ranger on the trail who tried to offer him the position when he found out he was a carpenter. He said no. A few days later, he met the ranger again at which time he said he’d try it for a year. He’s been here 20 years, now. 

There is the sound of rain on our tent once again tonight. The big difference tonight is that it’s just the sound of electricity coursing through the high energy lines above our heads. I did hear Daniel come in to camp, between crackles, right at dark. Hopefully we’ve oriented ourselves properly this time so that our electronics are fully charged in the morning. Was that parallel or perpendicular to get a full charge?

EFG

People were already leaving the campground before 6. That’s before 6 am! So that’s how they cheat and get in 25+ miles a day. They don’t even sleep 12 hours a night. I must not let Bunny know these dark secrets of the trail. She says she wants to put in longer days, but I don’t know if she wants them bad enough to give up sleep. 

As it was, we were near to, if not, the absolute last to leave. We had already agreed with Cliff Hanger to meet at the fire station and order pizza together. When you’re working full time and you decide you’re going to have pizza in the evening, it’s just pizza. When you’re hiking and discover you can order pizza on the trail, it’s PIZZA! I don’t care what Bunny says, food is a huge motivator to a thru-hiker. If you get a chance to have food that doesn’t require adding boiling water, it is of orgasmic proportions. 

Bunny tried to pull the ol’ “let’s take our time getting ready today.” Oh, hell no! We’ve got PIZZA waiting at the other end of the trail. I’m going to the privy and when I get back you’d better be packed.” I’m the man. I put my foot down. I have spoken. I just hope the pizza motivated her because I know my “I’m the man” routine is about as effective as peeing on a forest fire—absolutely no impact (except in the opposite direction intended. But, if she is motivated by pizza (which I think she is) she might just let me have this small victory. As I said, we were near the last to leave. My “Man Card” holds no sway here. 

Yesterday, Bunny had tried using K-tape on her hip and it seemed to work quite well. She was hiking with almost no pain and keeping up all day. Today, the tape lost its placebo effect. She was back to normal. When we got to the top of our big climb, she decided to drop her drawers and remove the tape. She even asked me to pull it off. Quick and painless has always been our motto when clothes are off. 

After removing the tape, she was walking like she did yesterday. Bunny started explaining how K-tape works by rerouting your bodies pain response. As we were talking, it became apparent to us that she has to remove the tape every day at the end of hiking for it to work. Even with a hobbled Bunny going uphill, we still averaged right at 2 mph. On the downhill side without tape and feeling better, we made a good enough rate to make up for our break times and still make it to the fire station by 2. 

This was another schizo weather day. We were walking in a cloud all the way uphill this morning. It just kept rising with us as we climbed, always blocking out the sun. The sun tried to break through the clouds, but every time it nearly did, the conditions got much worse. After we crossed our high point for the day, the sun just quit trying. We were walking in wind with intermittent drizzle. We had to put on our raincoats just to stay warm. We’re almost done with the desert and I’m glad. I’m looking forward to finally getting some warm weather. 

We took a wrong turn (meaning we stayed on the trail and missed the turn to the fire station) so Cliff Hanger made it to the fire station before us. We took the long way around and caught up with her. She found a menu for the pizza place. I scouted out some tent spots while the women decided what they wanted to order. I took my time. When I came back even indecisive Bunny had narrowed her choice down to two. This is progress. I got a final answer and then tried to call. The signal was so weak, we kept getting disconnected. Every time I lost the call, I climbed higher on the ridge. After 4 or 5 attempts, I gave up.

I got Bunny to come with me to the station to try and borrow a phone. Women always have better luck than men yogi-ing anything. One of the firemen told us to get signal we’d have to walk about a mile down the road. Bunny asked if they had a land line we might be able to use. Bunny, female; fire fighter, male; land line yogi-ed. I called back the pizza place and they had already started cooking the pizzas figuring that we’d eventually get in contact with them. The first thing I had said the first call was that we were PCT thru-hikers. They knew the sale was good. 

We decided to set up our tents while we waited for the delivery. We found a couple of passable spots and went to work. The biggest fear is that we aren’t 100% sure what poodle dog bush looks like so we tried to avoid touching any plants (impossible). The next fear is trying not to puncture our tents setting them up since the desert is just like a fraternity, full of pricks. 

The minute our tents were up, it started raining. I filtered water while Bunny did her work. Before I could even get the water up to the tent, the pizza delivery guy showed up with our order. He even brought us some apples from his house. I had already added a $10 tip to the order so this was a win for whatever driver got it. I worked pizza delivery for a couple years in college so I always tip drivers well. I used to hate going to fraternities on a delivery. They’d give me a $10 bill for a $9.90 pizza and say “keep the change.” Desert house. 

Daniel showed up while we were holed up in our tents eating. Bunny and I had just finished our salad but Cliff Hanger had already eaten her fill of her carnivore pizza. She offered Daniel a couple of slices while Bunny and I remained quiet as church mice. We’re going to hell for our pizza greed. 

Bunny fell asleep by 4:30. Maybe this means we’ll be able to get an early start tomorrow. The fog was still thick but the rain did stop by 5. It’s been almost 2 hours since I ate half of MY pizza but I’m afraid to get another slice because it might wake Bunny up. She was quite gaseous before the pizza and now I have major fear of lighting the stove for coffee in the morning. How ironic, I ordered my pizza without mushrooms and now I’m going to die in a mushroom cloud. I guess it’s a good thing we’re so close to a fire station.

EFG

We made a rookie mistake last night. When we got to camp, we saw a Nemo tent but didn’t see the people it belonged to. We ass-u-me-d that they were thru-hikers. They were not. They were townies out for a Saturday night. They had no concept of hiker midnight. They built a raging fire close to our tent. The woman had the voice of a twelve year old girl, and, like a twelve year old girl, she never shut it all night. We stayed up until 9 and they were still going strong. I’ll bet they stayed up until after 10:30!

Bunny and I decided, while we were laying wide awake even after popping Benadryl, that we would get even in the morning. When our alarm goes off at 6, I’m going to snooze a couple of times and we weren’t going to be quiet getting ready. We’ll teach them to mess with thru-hikers. 

Problem is, they (by they, I mean she) woke up at 5 and had to pee. Of course, she was too afraid to go by herself, so she started talking in a non-library voice.  Since he had to get up to escort her to the privy (which from her squeals, she did not approve of), he decided to go ahead and build a fire. They were making so much noise, I’m sure they never even heard our alarm or snooze. 

We did our usual morning routine which includes me making breakfast in bed for my bride. I start the coffee first and allow it to cool to the proper drinking temperature before I start to serenade her awake. I also made her favorite breakfast of blueberry granola (actually, second favorite behind biscuits and gravy—that’ll be tomorrow). When we emerged from the tent, the two were sitting at a picnic table eating breakfast and talking. I noticed she was dressed in a one piece chipmunk sleeping outfit (including feet). I now understood. This must be Strange’s sister (Strange from Mike’s Place who was sporting a 4’ tail when we met him).

They disappeared as soon as we started packing up. We managed to pull everything together and leave in short order. While Bunny was performing her final weight drop prior to departure, I went over to another thru-hiker I thought I might recognize. I’m pretty sure we had seen her in Wrightwood, but we didn’t know her name. It was Cliff Hanger. I told her about Newcomb’s Cafe where Bunny and I were headed for lunch. 

The hiking day ahead of us was relatively easy. We only had a total of 1200’ gain all day with most of that happening first thing. Then it was all downhill from there to the cafe and then to our camping spot. We had less than 8 miles to go before we planned to leave the trail for a food stop. Bunny told me she didn’t want to plan our whole itinerary around food. Apparently, she has forgotten the two previous years of our life where all we plan for is what to eat, when to eat, and where are we going to eat it. It’s called thru-hiking. I calmly ignored my natural instinct to say any of this out loud and simply said “yes dear.” She loves it when I agree with her. I also forgot to tell her that I was only planning on hiking 12 miles tomorrow so we can order pizza on the trail. 

A few miles in we saw a group of people hanging around a picnic table. We also noticed a pit latrine about 50 yards further, so we just figured a line was forming. We were wrong. This was Camp Glenwood, a Boy Scout Camp adjacent to the trail. As a form of magic, they have provided post cards and postage for thru-hikers to send messages home that: all is ok; or that minimal damage has occurred but we’re pushing on; or that a member of the party has died but they would have wanted us to soldier on…we’ll tell you who died when we get home, but until then, we’re hiking to Canada, still. 

We told several more hikers about the Newcomb Cafe and even called to verify that it was open. (Side note to my dad: I know I usually call when I get a signal, but some things trump a call home, greasy food being one of them. I’m sure we’ll have talked before you actually read this…I know my dad is one of my regular readers and you’ve got to play to your audience). It was open. 

When we got to the road crossing, all we had to do was hitch a ride for the short 2 miles down to it. Problem, no traffic. We started walking. A motorcycle passed us. Then some really nice cars passed—a Mercedes, an Audi, a Corvette. Very well off people are not as likely to help strangers. The first thought popping into their minds is along the lines “get a job, you hobos. I worked hard for my $50K car and I’m not letting the likes of you soil it’s leather seats.” What we needed was an older car. Then a single mom with her daughter in the back seat stopped to pick us up. It was not a fancy car. It was not a rich driver. It was a waitress who just got off work and picked up her daughter. She was a waitress at Newcomb’s Cafe who knows about PCT hikers and hiker hunger. It was an angel sent from heaven. 

Brianne and her daughter took us right to the door. She told us that the restaurant is a big biker and classic car hangout. She also told us Jay Leno comes up here quite often (we are only 50 miles from LA). We went in and no one batted an eye with two hikers carrying packs walking through the place. We found a table and ordered our drinks and burgers. There was even an outlet by our table for us to charge our electronics. There were hundreds of bikers (the old men trying to recapture their youth type, not the gang type). The only thing we didn’t see was another hiker: inside or out. 

As we were leaving, trying to hitch a ride back up the mountain, we finally saw another hiker. Cliff Hanger was walking down the road. We just talked briefly in passing because we already knew we were all heading to the same camping spot tonight. We waited for an easy hitch. It didn’t come. We tried to yogi a ride from a guy with an Hummer. Big Surprise, “I’m going the other way. 2 miles will make me late,” followed by a 10 minute conversation in the lot.  We saw nice car after nice car pull out. We started walking, uphill, in the snow, both ways. 

About a mile later with only motorcycles having passed us, Bunny gave up and put her head down, and walked with a purpose. I’m a little more stubborn. I still put my thumb up with every vehicle. Finally, an older car with a dog in the backseat (our target audience) pulled over and offered us a ride. Bunny’s opening remark was “Its only a mile. We can walk if it’s too much trouble.” Which, quick on his feet Easy followed up with “But thank you for saving us a mile of road walking which kills my feet.” Bunny needs some hitch hiking training. I was doing this for 3 weeks before she started last year, but I gained several experience years in those 3 weeks. 

All together, we had only walked a little over a mile off trail to cover the 4 mile round trip to the cafe. It had only cost us an hour and a half to get burgers and fries. With any luck, we’ll get to a full camp and ask everyone coming in if they had the greatest burger on the trail today. (It wasn’t, but they won’t know since they didn’t put up the time or effort—I won’t even wipe the mustard off of my face for a day or two to drive home the point.)

We made the final 3.6 miles to camp only to discover we had it all to ourselves. We were pretty sure Cliff Hanger was coming so we picked a preferred spot with enough room for her to camp close by. Barely had we set up before she showed up. She had gotten  a ride back right away. She went to set up her tent. Another guy walked up and asked if there was a privy. We pointed to it but he stopped dead. He said “I can’t believe it. I know you, Bunny Tracks, from the AT last year.” How could he remember Bunny Tracks yet forget me, Easily Forgotten?

It was Devin who we had hiked with for a while after Duncannon, PA. It didn’t take long to jog our memories. I think he remembered Bunny so well because he was impressed to be hiking with someone his grandmother’s age. He forgot me, initially, because hiking with someone your dad’s age is pretty common on long trails. 

Eventually, several more people did show up. Cliff Hanger joined us for a cup of tea. I learned my lesson from my whiney ass niece who wouldn’t even try the tea that I bought for her when she found out what it was. I told Cliff Hanger I’d give her tea, but she couldn’t ask what it was until AFTER she tasted and told me if she liked it or not. Like a grown up, she agreed (quite unlike Ferball). She took a couple of sips and said she loved it, what was it, and where can she get it. The answers: Egyptian Licorice Tea, most big grocery stores, or there’s an extra box in my niece’s cabinet in Chicago. 

EFG

The alarm went off at 6:30. I promptly shut it off and hoped Bunny hadn’t heard it. I know she wants, nay, demands her coffee be ready when she first wakes up, but I just didn’t feel like getting up yet. We had agreed we were only going 9 miles today, so what’s the rush? 

While we were finishing up our packing, two hikers we had met yesterday going up Baden Powell showed up at our camp. We asked about Blue’s and they said he was right behind them. We figured this might be the last chance we get to see him, so we waited. I looked up and saw him running down the trail. When he got to us, he dropped his pack and told us he wanted to get in 24 miles today. We don’t understand him or Wolf. They are both getting off trail for a month because of all the snow. There is absolutely no reason to hurry. That’s why we’re only going 9 miles today. We’re trying to give Mother Nature the time she needs to get off her ass and melt the snow. 

LA Route 2 is to the PCT just like the Blue Ridge Parkway is to the AT. The trails keep crossing them so many times, you wonder why aren’t we just walking the road. The difference is the Blue Ridge Parkway is built for great views while LA Route 2 is built to get through the San Bernardinos as quickly as possible. This is a favorite route for motorcyclists and car enthusiasts because of all the winding curves. 

We were forced to walk another 3-4 mile section of Rt 2 today because the PCT crosses through an area where an endangered species of frog has been discovered. We walked an extra mile so the Mountain Yellow-Legged Frog could fornicate in peace. I wonder what their favorite after sex snack might be. The flies were swarming me all day. My presence on the trail might have provided a feeding opportunity allowing the yellow-legged guy to gather enough energy to get it up one more time. 

Bugs can ruin the fun on a trail. For instance, midges in Scotland lead to a couple of terrible days of hiking without rest. Whenever we stopped or slowed down, they would swarm all over us. We caught a break with them, though, because it only takes a 1 1/2 mph breeze to keep them at bay which just happens to be our primary cruising speed. 

The flies in the Pyrenees in France were extremely thick because of all the livestock and associated excrement which the flies found appealing. It seems like every restaurant we went to in the mountains had a fully occupied fly strip hanging over our heads while we ate. The sight of the flies still squirming above our heads as we ate did help to curb our appetites. 

Last year, on the AT, we nearly went crazy from gnats and mosquitoes through New Jersey and New York. I associated those two states with absolute misery until we entered New Hampshire and started dealing with the Appalachian Money Club and learned that parasites are worse than flying insects. 

The flies of today were reminiscent of our worst experiences with bugs during the last few years of hiking. We stopped in a picnic ground for lunch and the only place I could find peace from the flies was in the privy. I don’t know why they haven’t figured out the poop connection yet, or, maybe our thru-hiker funk is at its peak as well. If these flies are indicative of hiking in the desert in April/May, I am so happy we started in February. We’ve only got a few days of this to put up before we finish this section. 

The detour turned out to be a very pleasant walk just like what Bunny had been expecting on the PCT. We were hiking in a pine forest next to a strong flowing creek. We were out of the sun so we weren’t over heating. There was a pleasant breeze that kept the flies out of our faces. We need about 2000 more miles of this. 

During our final mile of the day, we met a couple from Vermont that we’re doing a flip/flop. They started at Walker Pass heading to Mexico and are going to head back to Walker when they reach Campo. Although he has lived his whole life in VT with the AT literally out his back door, he has never gone backpacking until they started the PCT this year. With long distance thru-hikes, it usually 1 or 3. I can tell they are going for all three because she’s already hiked the AT and they were talking about starting a sobo AT hike later this year after finishing the PCT. 

Something unusual happened this afternoon. We completed what we wanted to hike today by 3:30 and set up camp. We got to lay around and have a leisurely, early supper. Bunny even washed her hiking clothes out in a stream hoping to get rid of some of the funk. I can tell already, it didn’t work. We are wearing shirts made out of polyester which we had swore off a couple years ago because of the chemical reactions our bodies have with polyester and the smell it creates. Bunny’s reacting at full force. I still smell neutral (if gaseous emissions aren’t included). 

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We met Wolf and Blue’s for breakfast at Evergreen Cafe at 7:30. I was injured leaving the hotel room on the way to the restaurant. I got a fairly large splinter/thorn/tigers tooth wedged in the bottom of my foot. I was hobbled. Did Bunny show concern? Did Bunny care? Did Bunny have any compassion for me? It should be obvious to everyone that the answers to the last 3 questions are all the same and all a resounding “hell no.” She half heartedly looked at my foot without bothering to put on her glasses. She couldn’t see it so she just wanted to scrape my foot to get it out. 

I lost close to a pint of blood under the table at breakfast. I hobbled back to the hotel to keep from driving the nail all the way down to the bone. I asked Bunny to get me the clippers or a pair of pliers so I could pull the damn thing out myself. She wanted me to wait until she went to the bathroom first. Such compassion! I grabbed a limb out of a tree to bite down on while I performed the extraction. I finished off the procedure by tying a tourniquet around my ankle. The blood eventually clotted up to the point that I could safely remove the tourniquet and put on my wicking socks. I was ready to go a full 20 minutes before Bunny. 

Although I was potentially, mortally wounded, I took a package to the post office to bounce forward to us in Acton. I didn’t want to rush Bunny. She still had to apply lotion and brush her hair her 200 strokes before she could finish packing. I also mailed another card to Sam in army basic training. Even after this side trip, I gathered all the trash in the hotel (including the other 5 guest rooms) and ran it all to the dumpster. Bunny was almost ready now. 

We headed out to the main drag to try and flag down a ride back to the trail head. The plan was that we would try to hitch for 10 minutes and if we couldn’t get a ride by then, we’d head to the hardware store to consult the town angel list to get someone to drive us back to the trail. After all, Route 2 is still closed to thru-traffic so getting a ride might be tough. The first 4 cars passed us by without even slowing down. Bunny pushed her way in front of me and said “this is woman’s work, just like cleaning the house” and stuck out her thumb. The first car stopped. I’ll never do housework again because she knows what she’s talking about. 

I looked in the passenger window and recognized the driver. It was Devil Fish who we met at Bird Spring Pass before Tehachapi. We had heard he was in the area still doing trail magic. He maintains several water caches as well as giving hikers rides. In fact, he had picked up Wolf and Blue’s and ran them down to REI on Tuesday. He told us to rearrange the water bottles if we needed to and hop on in. 

Devil Fish dropped us off at Inspiration Point trailhead at 10:15. We were only about an hour behind Wolf and Blue’s but we knew we wouldn’t see them. We had a short 5 mile trail walk before we got to Vincent Gap. It was at Vincent Gap where we had to make our decision—hike over Baden Powell, or take the road walk bypass. We kept eyeing the mountain as we were hiking towards it. There was a lot of snow even on the sunny side. We’ve studied the map a lot the last couple of days and saw that a lot of the trail is actually on the shady side of the mountain, meaning even more snow. 

Blue’s had already decided he was going over. Wolf had decided to road walk. After our snow experience getting into Wrightwood, I was leaning toward the road walk, but if it looked like a lot of snow had melted, I might be persuaded to go over instead. Bunny’s hip was bothering her still so she was inclined to road walk. There hasn’t been a rescue off of the mountain for almost 5 days. The last few rescues weren’t even thru-hikers. They were unprepared day hikers. I’m sure we could handle going up and over, but, this is the most important point I can make, we don’t want to. 

It’s about an 11 mile road walk and we climb to 7900’ versus a 12 mile trail walk in snow where we would climb to 8900’. We’ll make up the difference tomorrow when we are forced to detour around a 4 mile section of trail for the endangered Mountain Yellow Frog. We get to walk an additional 3 miles that we won’t get trail credit for so we’ll call it a wash. 

The road walk started out okay. Actually, it stayed okay the entire way, but it was obvious to us that the road is not going to be opened up to traffic any time soon. There were still huge snow fields stretching down to the road for several miles of the walk. The entire up-Mountain side of the road is a wash. Crews have been working on cleaning off all the land slides, but there are going to be plenty more as the snow continues to melt. We could hear slides in the distance, but never witnessed more than a few small rocks tumbling down.

Walking on concrete took its toll on our bodies. My feet were really aching bad. It’s much worse than trail walking. Although it’s harder on our feet, the road is a consistently flat surface which saves wear and tear on Bunny’s hip—the old gal just ain’t what she used to be. Once we get her oil level (CBD) back up to full, she’ll be good as new as long as the standard of “new” is a bit rusty and creaky. 

We took a few breaks along the road and filtered water from snow melt. We maintained a rate of better than 2 mph the entire way. As we got closer to Islip Saddle, we knew we’d have to carry water the last half mile. We filled up 7 liters to have plenty for supper, breakfast, and to filter for tomorrow. We were hoping to have the parking lot to ourselves (which we almost did). 

There are no other hikers around, but this is the other end of the road closure. Cars kept coming up and turning around until almost dark. Just at dark, three vehicles came up and parked. The people inside went for a night hike up the back side of Baden Powell. I’m sure they’ll wake us up in the middle of the night when they come back to their cars. 

Bunny and I set up our tent next to a couple of picnic tables. There is a trash can and privy in the parking area, so we are as set as we can be. I made supper while Bunny did the usual housekeeping chores. When she came out to eat, she refused to eat more than a few bites because the rice was not completely cooked. She made such a fuss about it that I threatened to not let her have any dessert. I caved though, if she goes to bed without her sugar fix, I won’t get any peace. 

One thing we weren’t expecting tonight was the abundance of owls in the area. By owls, I don’t mean “Old White Ladies” as Bunny is the only one here. I mean the birds that our bothered by our presence and keep asking who is here. They won’t shut up. “Who? Who? Who?” I yelled Bunny Tracks but that only got them excited thinking they might get a free meal.

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Bunny is very efficient. For the two previous days, she has been preparing a list of tasks for me to accomplish on our off days. She has one item on her list; work on the video. I have to prepare the food, repair gear, write reviews, update the blog, contact people about our potential jump to Oregon, do laundry, contact manufacturers about defective equipment, and pay bills. Sounds fair to me. I’m growing as a person—never question my wife. 

We are nearing the end of the desert section and we really don’t have anywhere to go that isn’t under snow at present. We have decided that we are just going to kick it into a lower gear (if that is possible) and stretch out the 75 miles of desert we have left before jumping up to Ashland, OR. Once we get up there, we might rent an AirBnB for a week or go do some other trails in the area to kill time until middle to late May when we’ll, hopefully, be able to make some northern progress. 

I also had another reason to take a double zero in Wrightwood. 4/25 is my sister’s birthday. She died over 27 years ago. Hardly a day goes by that I still don’t think about her. She was 10 1/2 years older than me. If she we’re alive, she’d be 66 today. She was only 38 when she died leaving behind 2 little girls (Jill and Jennifer) and her husband, George. 

It’s so strange to me to be almost 20 years older than my big sister. She was the cornerstone of our family, the oldest child, first grandchild, and only female offspring. Everyone liked Beth. I remember her funeral. Originally, they had placed her body in a smaller side room at the funeral home but they had to move her into the large chapel because so many people showed up to pay their respects. Beth was a nurse that touched so many people’s lives. It was comforting that so many people came. 

It wasn’t/isn’t fair that a happy person like my sister died so young. She had fought liver cancer for nearly 2 years before she couldn’t fight any more. I avoided coming to see her at the end knowing that she wanted to see me again. I figured if she didn’t see me, she wouldn’t die. I finally did go see her and she died the next day. She was on a self injecting Demerol pump. When the medicine wore off, she’d wake up enough to say “Kritus, Kritus,…” until the timer would allow her another injection. Kritus was her pet name for me because of one of my classmates in second grade couldn’t pronounce my name. 

Beth got a double helping of happiness when she was born. I guess she took my share. She was a compassionate care giver to her patients. She was probably a little hard on her daughters, expecting perfection from them at times, but they both turned out great, thanks to George raising them as a single dad, after their mother died when they were so young. I rarely do well on Beth’s birthday or the anniversary of her death. I still get depressed. I suppose it will be this way until I die. Old habits are hard to break. 

We did do the usual town things that we always do. Our Angel Alice sent us another food shipment which will carry us through the end of this section of trail. When we finish, we will have passed a significant milestone. For the first time this year, we will have less than 2000 miles to hike to finish up.

Our motel doesn’t have washing machines and there’s no laundromat in town. When we went up to the office to ask, a woman working in a shop offered to take us to her house to do laundry when she got off work. Diana has been an active trail angel for the last three years.

Wrightwood rolls out the red carpet for PCT hikers. Almost every business offers hiker discounts and people are generous with rides to the point we don’t even have to stick out a thumb to get a ride. It’s enough to wear the hiker town uniform—crocs and a puffy jacket. 

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Welcome to Episode #9

Never plan for an easy day. It’s just 12 miles. It’s all downhill (except for the 2000’ we have to climb first), but then it’s just a level walk at 8400’ for a couple of miles. Level and downhill. What can be easier than that? What else is at 8400’ on the shady side of a mountain? Snow, that’s what. 

Of course, we started with the usual rusty mechanical walk that robots have after being left outside to rust for 40 years. Except I’m not talking about 40 years of being left outside. I’m talking about lying down in a tent overnight. And I’m not talking about a robot. I’m talking about a Bunny without her CBD oil. Either way, the end result is the same—a lot of creaking, the sound of gears grinding, and the incessant whine. No matter what else happens in Wrightwood, we have to find CBD oil!

We didn’t set an alarm last night because we have such an easy day. I woke up at 6:50 and started the coffee with the salvaged cooler water. It’s a good thing it was being used for coffee so we can’t see all the floating (yet sterilized) particles that were in the water. We had to settle for protein bars and jerky bacon with the coffee. No cold soak oatmeal or chia because we don’t have enough water for such luxuries. Plus, I think I am seeing Bunny sprouting quite a bit of fine green hair like a chia-pet. Maybe we’ll cut back for a few days. 

Whoever camped next to us, we’ll never know. They were up and gone before I started the coffee. I think it might have been the sound of their footsteps that woke me up. A couple of hikers did pass by our tent while we were eating. I looked out to watch each of them go through the garbage that used to be trail magic. It had been weighted down with rocks to keep it from blowing away, but this also gives the feel that there might just be something good left which requires a thorough search before passing hikers’ hopes are dashed. 

In spite of our late start, we were still on the trail by 8:15. This would have been one of our earlier starts on the AT last year. I let Bunny lead knowing that no matter how far ahead she managed to get in the first two hours, I’d be able to catch her with a 10 minute brisk walk. If she took a wrong turn, I’d be able to hear her joint sounds and be able to retrieve her before she got too far off track.

With the defective, slow moving, nearly broken down Bunny, we still made it to the top (7 miles in) by 12:30. That’s not too bad considering. But then the fun began. We found the trail leading directly to Wrightwood which we had been warned to avoid because it was an ice track. What no one had told us was to take the road at this point. The road that parallels the trail. The road that is on the south, sunny side of the mountain and not the trail which is on the north shaded side of the mountain. It took us over 2 hours to go 1.7 miles to rejoin the same road. 

Admittedly, we don’t have a lot of snow hiking experience. We actually have more now than we want. There weren’t a lot of tracks in the snow (for good reason since most people were smart enough to stay on the sunny road). At very few points were our lives actually in danger. I say few because there were a couple. I did start to slide down a steep slope and was able to catch myself on a tree. Bunny remained surprisingly calm. I’m assuming she has, once again, forgotten that we don’t carry life insurance on each other—part of my design to make sure she has incentive to keep me alive. Or possibly, she was still mad at me because we had been arguing about the hotel reservation yesterday and she does carry grudges. Either way, she stayed calm as I slid away. Once I recovered, she just made sure to not follow my tracks. 

Baden Powell is almost 700’ higher than where we were through all the snow. Once we made it to the road, I checked the map to see how much of the trail on Baden Powell was on the north side of the mountain. Enough that I’m willing to skip it if I can talk Bunny into a road walk. While I was looking at the map, I said “Bunny, what do you think of…” I didn’t have to finish the sentence before she said “skipping Baden Powell, I’m all for it. I’ve been worried about it ever since we crossed San Jacinto.” Purity be damned. I want fun, not a life and death experience. 

Supposedly, 20 people a day have been going over Baden Powell. When we made it to the road, we discovered Rt. 2 is still closed because of snow. I’m willing to bet a large portion of those 20 people a day are road walking around Baden Powell. When we did make it to town, we ran into Sun Bear and he said they were hiking the road. We eventually caught up with Wolf in town, and he said he was going to walk the road. Only Blue’s said he was going over the mountain. He’s young. His body heals quickly. He’ll be fine in the long run. 

You can see route 2 for a couple of miles as you’re hiking down to it. One thing popped out to me in my observation. There weren’t any cars on it. At this point, we had been told the road was open. When we got down to it, there was one other hiker (who had passed us on the mountain because she hiked the road in the sun while we hiked the trail in the shade). We started talking to her when we saw a car coming towards us. We immediately put up our thumbs and he stopped. 

Matthew had been snowboarding down Baden Powell. He said there wasn’t much of a trail, but it was radical snow boarding (the surfer accent is a real thing in CA). He said all three of us could fit in and he would take us to town. He also told us that Mammoth Ski Area in the Sierra has extended its season to August confirming we are in no hurry to enter the Sierra. 

When we got to town, he didn’t know where the Post Office was and he took a wrong turn which actually took us right to our hotel. He dropped us off at the door to our room. It turned out we had literally walked up to the highway, gotten a ride in less than 30 seconds that took us directly to our hotel. The trail does provide, and rather well. It was already 3:30 in the afternoon when we arrived. If we are going to get two town meals in before bed tonight, we’d better start eating and fast. Needless to say, we were successful in our food goal. 

EFG

First off, we must deal with some serious business today. An important milestone has been crossed and there can be no turning back. Bunny’s favorite daughter has joined the “quarter century club.” Yes, Miss Sarah has finished her youth. She is currently enrolled in a nursing program well on her way to following in Bunny’s footsteps. I think she might even carry one of her mother’s feet on a keychain (at least that would explain Bunny’s trail pace). We are very proud of Sarah and wish her many more happy birthdays. 

We are embarking on the longest dry stretch of trail we have encountered so far—27 miles to Wrightwood with no streams or reliable water sources. There might be a few water caches, but it is risky to count on them as part of your planning. We tend to carry the minimum we need to make such a crossing, and if we run into a full water cache, we might add in an extra like coffee in the morning or hot tea at night. Today, I thought I might try something different. In addition to the 5.5 liters of water Bunny and I were carrying, I wanted to carry an additional gallon of iced tea from McDonalds. To save pack weight, I tried carrying it internally. Things didn’t go according to plan. 

In the first 4 miles of trail, I helped to create at least a dozen clear water streams. Since this is the desert, the water was quite warm, but, crystal clear. I wanted to fill the CNOC bag, but Bunny had mixed feelings and tried to persuade me not to. I think her exact words were “put that damn thing away.” I’m not sure which “thing” she meant but this did lead to an uncomfortable 20 minutes of walking with wet shorts for me. 

McDonalds was a low point for us. Not the food or iced tea, I loved those. I’m talking about elevation. Our walk for today was almost 5000’ up and 1000’ down for us to end up at about 6500’ above sea level. Tomorrow, we’ll finish the climb into Wrightwood reaching a height of 8400’ before dropping into town for “Mile High Pizza.”

By the time we had breakfast, packed, checked out, went to McDonalds for my tea trial, and got reservations a place in Wrightwood, it was past 10 before we even began the walk back to the trail. With our plans of making it more than halfway today, an all uphill trail, and Bunny’s lack of herbal remedies (she ran out of CBD oil in Big Bear and every step is painful for her bad hip), it’s going to be a late day or possibly dark before we stop. 

It didn’t seem like we were making much headway on the climb. The grade for the day is just a little over 300’/mile, so it takes a lot of walking to notice big elevation changes. We had to go up and over one ridge before we could get to the massive ridge we were going to be spending the rest of today and all of tomorrow on.  Once we got on the big ridge, we could see back in time for a few  days. We could see all of Cajon Pass in its glory. This is a major transportation intersection with multiple rail lines, and I-15 passing through. You won’t see a train less than a couple miles long sporting any less than 6 locomotives. This area is the easiest access to the high desert from LA. 

We didn’t see very many people today even though we know they are out here. We were hiking in the middle of about 30 people. Eventually, 3 nobos did pass us in the late afternoon and we did pass a sobo couple out doing a training hike. The husband is starting his thru-hike in a few weeks and is doing his conditioning hikes on the trail so he can skip these sections when he gets to them. I noticed, from his descriptions, that he is doing southbound sections that are downhill which means he will be skipping large uphill sections as a nobo. In the past, I probably would have considered this cheating, but all my notions of purity are right out the window this year. 

I did post a comment on the “PCT class of 19” page asking for suggestions of where to jump to next. The results were not what I was hoping for. The consensus seems to be either take 6 weeks off or go hike another 1000 mile long trail for 6 weeks. IF we were capable of hiking 1000 miles in 6 weeks, we wouldn’t have started so early or be worried about finishing in a single season. We’re just going to slow down even more and go with our most recent plan of jumping to Southern Oregon. We may just camp on the trail for extended periods or take some side trips or visit some friends living near the trail.

We chose our spot for the night for two reasons: 1) it was a half mile further than a campsite which will make tomorrow shorter for us, and 2) there was a small water cache at the road crossing a couple days ago. When we got there just before dark, we saw the water cache was empty but there was a cooler that had melted ice water and dirt in it. I decided I could salvage enough water out of it so that we can have coffee in the morning. We already had enough water for supper with hot tea because I hadn’t drank anything all day. After I had peed so much early on, I just didn’t feel like repeating the cycle. I was slightly dehydrated by supper. 

There was one other tent by the road, but we couldn’t tell who it was. We set up our tent and both of us crawled inside. Normally, I let Bunny have the first half hour of tent time to herself, but it was getting cold and dark and I was completely beat. We unpacked and organized our beds before cooking supper. The wind was blowing pretty hard, but, for once, we had chosen a fairly open spot with just a few bushes to one side that actually protected us. With the extra effort we put in today, we should have an easy stroll into Wrightwood tomorrow. 

EFG