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5/21/17: Big Bear Lake to Delamar Mountain Road

We “slept in” today which meant I got up around 7:30 and Wolf Bird got up at 5:45. One of us clearly excels at sleeping in. We got a delicious breakfast at the Teddy Bear restauarant right next to where we were staying. It was just us and the locals eating so early on a weekend. 

After that we hung out enjoying a last shower and having a nice bed and TV. We packed up our stuff and planned to Uber to the grocery store in town, as it was almost two miles from where we were staying. Two miles isn’t very far to walk, but when they are off-trail miles, I refused to walk more than a half mile or so! No use wasting my energy when it’s not even getting me to Canada. There were no Ubers on the road when we checked around 11AM (other hikers told us there’s only one uber driver in town) so we decided to do the only logical thing, which was eat some more. We got food at the restauarant connected to our hotel and by the time we finished eating there was an Uber driving and we requested it right away.

We had a nice ride to the grocery store and then bought food for our next ~100 mile stretch. Once we were all packed we called Kathy, the woman who gave us a hitch yesterday, as she said she would give us a ride back to the trail. About 15 minutes later her and her husband Mike and cute little dog Rosie showed up and drove us up to the trail. They were such a nice couple and we couldn’t believe how kind they were to go out of their way to drive us back! And they were so casual about it too.


We got to the trail and started hiking around 2:15. We planned to hike about 10-15 miles depending how we felt. It was funny because the trail gets fairly close to town, where we just were, and we could see the lake of Big Bear Lake for quite a while. It felt great to be hiking again especially after being rejuvenated in town. All that food and rest really restores the mind and body. We had a really enjoyable afternoon hiking through beautiful trees. We chatted much of the way and time just flew by. We only passed two hikers right after getting on the trail and didn’t see anyone else the rest of the day. 

We got to a campsite at the 12 mile mark around 6 or 630 and debated whether or not to stay. There weren’t marked campsites up ahead so there was no guarantee we’d find a flat place to sleep. But we both felt really good and decided to chance it and hope for the best. We walked another three miles to a forest road and were excited to discover flat ground right next to the dirt road. 


We are sharing a fuel canister for this section so we switched off cooking dinner and setting up our tent and enjoyed a fancy new (and very spicy) ramen brand for dinner. What a great day!

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Want to mail us something?

We have had some friends and family ask us where they can send us packages or letters. Our next planned stop is in Wrightwood. We expect to be there probably Friday (5/26) or so. If you want to mail us anything, the address is below. Priority mail is best!

James Puckett and Julie Blouin
c/o Mountain Hardware
PO Box 398
Wrightwood, CA 92397
Hold for PCT hikers, ETA 5/26

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5/20/2017 Mile 253.6 to Big Bear lake

Today was an easy 12.5 to town. We got up at 5 a.m. and were on our way by 6. The miles went quickly and the terain was very nice and mostly downhill. The most notable part of the hike itself was the massive pine trees we encountered. 

They were so impressive we stopped frequently and we can’t wait to see some redwoods. 

As our hike came to a close we ran into a hiker going south that looked like she may have been running. She stopped and talked to us and let us know that the Make a Wish Foundation was having a race and they had an aid station up ahead where we could get food and drinks for free! We continued to pass more and more hikers reiterating the same thing.  When we finally arrived at our destination we came on a glorious site.  They had so many delicious snacks and were so welcoming. Sherpa and I said hi to a few hikers we knew, Gourmet and Flame. Then we crossed the street to hitch. 

While we were hitching we saw a few of the racers, who were going 26.9 miles, emerged from the woods and were cheered. One woman was met by her husband with a series of honks from his cat and some hugs. Sherpa felt things, I looked on. 

A few mins later a woman in a white car stopped for us and two Swiss hikers.  We crammed into her car and learned her name was Kathy. 

Kathy is a real gem. She gave us her number for when we wanted to go back to the trail. She said she was a CPA retired from the Ford Motor Company on her way back from helping out at a dealership. She was very kind and drove us all the way to the post office and introduced us to one of the town’s oldest members.  

At the post office I shipped Crash’ s sleeping pad and then we went to find a place to stay. We ended up with one of the last available rooms at the Robin Hood hotel. It was great because we had a king size bed. After the hotel we went to get burgers and beer at Fire Rock Burgers and Brews. The burgers were exceptional. Sherpa’s had bbq sauce and Mac and Cheese drizzled on top. 

After burgers, we were pretty spent. We want back to the room and I went to get fuel and a watch for Sherpa.  When I got back, Sherpa took our clothes to the laundry mat. 

When she returned we went to eat Himalayan for dinner. Another delicious meal which Sherpa topped off with some ice cream. We stopped by some shops and went back to the hotel. 

At the hotel we turned on the tv and the classic Miss Congeniality was on. I was watching it more than Sherpa and when she was getting really tiered I had to beg her to let me watch at least till they foiled the exploding crown plot. 

After the crescendo, we turned off the tv and slept like little hiker babies. 

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5/19/17: Mile 230.2 to Mile 253.6

We awoke at 5 and set out on a gradual uphill climb all morning. It started out pretty easy and nice, especially while the sun was still below the mountains surrounding us–this meant we were walking in the cool shade. However, soon the grade seemed to increase a bit and we were walking in the sun and it grew hotter. We rose to about 8000 feet by mornings end and we were definitely feeling the elevation. We were breathing more heavily and our leg muscles were burning. At some points I had to stop after each switchback to catch my breath! It wasn’t actually that bad or difficult in the larger scheme of things, but the PCT is such easy and gradual walking that this felt tough in comparison.

We entered the San Bernardino mountains and also entered an area where there had been a wildfire in years past. It was crazy to see some huge trees fallen or charred black.

We finally reached the water source we had been aiming for all morning around 10:15. There were nice picnic tables in the sun and we met Justin, who is from New Zealand and had broken his pinky toe the previous day!!! It sounded super painful to walk on but he was in surprisingly high spirits and also grateful for painkillers. Wolf Bird and I took a longer break than usual to cook up some ramen. I had extra and wanted to get rid of the extra weight and also of course wanted an excuse to pig out. We had a nice long break and filled up on water as well. 

For the next 6.5 miles I listened to music, which I haven’t been doing too much so as to save phone battery. It was a nice change and the miles really flew by. It was really beautiful scenery with some snow covered mountains not too far away and huge trees surrounding us. It is so refreshing to walk amongst trees after long treeless desert sections. We passed the same couple of groups throughout the day–Gourmet and Sonya and Flame and a French guy Protein, as well as a bigger group of about 6, three of whom we later discovered were sisters hiking together. Two of the sisters hiked the AT together as well, same year as we did in 2013!

We took our next break at a forest service cabin. This is a cabin you have to reserve to stay overnight at, so there were a few families there. The cabin had a roof and four walls but open doors and windows (no glass)… But the families were all tenting right next to the cabin and even on the cabin porch, rather than staying on the floor of the cabin which we found a bit strange. We ate some snacks at the picnic tables there and took advantage of the very clean outhouse at the cabin. We ran into a group of four guys who were PCT hikers at the cabin. We’d seen them the last few days, they are younger, probably 22 or so I’d guess. One of them was complaining to Wolf Bird about the lack of trail magic so far and how he’d been hoping there would be some at this cabin. He then said he hoped there was some about 6 miles up the trail as he’d heard sometimes there are sodas there. We were really surprised and put off by such an attitude. To expect people to bring you sodas or snacks on the trail is just ridiculous! The whole reason it is called trail magic is because it feels so magical and unexpected when it happens! It is a humbling experience when someone goes out of their way to help hikers and this hiker’s the entitled attitude really made us sad. I think he is also just setting himself up for disappointment. 

Anyway, we then hiked about 4 more miles to get water at a faucet in the woods. A pct hiker from 2003 owns a ranch and installed a faucet on his property for hikers–so incredibly nice. We chatted with the big group with the three sisters and a few others, Land Mammal, Fat and Sassy, Cedar, and Beave. Right after we got water we passed by a private zoo right next to the trail! They keep animals that are trained and used in movies I guess. We saw a tiger (we think), a bear and a mountain lion in tiny cages. It was crazy and also sad to see them caged up. The mountain lion was pacing frantically which was kind of scary. 

We then walked a nice leisurely three miles (although I was carrying a lot of water so it was heavy) to a random couch in the woods. A hostel puts it there with some pamphlets And info to advertise hikers to stay with them in the upcoming town. The group of four guys we’d seen at the cabin were there and looked sooo dejected and depressed. We later joked that it was probably because they had expected trail magic and there was none. There were remnants of old soda cans and snacks by the couch so they had probably seen those and gotten upset that it was gone by the time they got there. 

We hiked on without a definite plan of where we would camp. Many people were planning on camping about 3 miles up the trail so as to make a shorter day into town tomorrow. If we also headed to that campsite that would be a 26 plus mile day for us, which would be our longest yet. We were both feeling good but I was hesitant about walking so far so soon after having shin splints. They have been feeling so much better lately (only sore in the morning and better the rest of the day, and same for Wolf Bird’s heel) so I didn’t want to risk making them worse. We decided to camp somewhere in the next mile or two. There were any tent sites listed on the PCT app we use to navigate the trail so we just had to hope we’d find a flat spot that wasn’t listed. We found some flattish spots after about 0.6 miles, but they were far from perfect. It’s not much fun sleeping on sloped ground, but we were worried there wouldn’t be anything better further down the trail since it looked to be all downhill from the elevation profile. We went back and forth about whether to stay and then once we decided to camp in that area I was incredibly indecisive about which specific area was least sloped. Wolf Bird helped to convince me it didn’t matter that much and also was very sweet and got out my sleeping bag and pad for me. We cooked some dinner and set up camp and enjoyed a little extra time than usual to lounge before bed. We went to bed excited for town tomorrow!

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5/18/2017 Hill Billy’s to mile 230.1

Sherpa and I set my alarm for 5 a.m. the night before but I woke up 10 till and jumped out of bed to catch the bathroom before everyone woke up.  Then I went back to get Sherpa up and found her turning off my alarm. Whoops! 

We got our gear together, I had some coffee and we waited for the rest of the crew to be ready.  I slipped Hillbilly a donation and he thanked me. Soon everyone was loading up in his pickup truck to head to the trailhead.  I snapped a photo of the group and then we took off. 

At the trailhead we said goodbye and headed off in a big column of about 6 or 7 of us.  Sherpa and I were right behind the first person and we couldn’t seem to find a good way to politely pass. I took a video of one of Sherpa’s failed attempts.  It was hilarious, at least for me because when I want to pass someone I am not afraid of speaking up.  Sherpa expects people to be “more aware of their surroundings” and instead is content to just clicking her poles on the rocks, hoping they will get the hint.  She didn’t, but luckily there was someone who stopped to talk to the group and Sherpa and I seized the opportunity!

We accelerated for a bit and then hit our normal rhythm. Flame and Beve were right behind us for a while and eventually Beve passed us. The hiking was very pleasant and to our right was a enormous wind farm.  Before long we entered the wind farm property and section c of the PCT. 

After a few more miles we came across a sign leading hikers to the wind farm office for water and shade.  We wanted to check it out just to see what the setup was like and as we approached a man in a pickup truck said there was water and Gatorade inside. Sherpa almost cried she was so excited and it was worth it. The Gatorade was premixed fruit punch, very strong and delicious!

We helped ourselves and said hi to a few hikers inside and then hit the road. As the day went on the hiking was more and more enjoyable and beautiful. We entered high prairies overlooking vast canyons 

Our next destination was Whitewater Preserve. Our friend Crash left his sleeping pad there and I was going to pick it up for him and mail it.  Sherpa didn’t want to hike the .5 miles in so she hiked on.  

The preserve was on a small river that lay in the bottom of a canyon. The river bed was all white stones and white sand and it stood in contrast to the tan canyon walls and grassy hills above.  It had a very nice layout and I spent a few minutes snapping pictures of a wading pool and a sand shade hut. 

Looking at Mt. San Jacinto through a telescope at Whitewater Preserve

Afterwards I went into The rangers station quickly located Crash’a pad behind the counter, and meandered back to the trailhead passing a few hikers on the way.  

Sherpa was going to wait for me somewhere no further than 7 or 8 miles ahead at a stream.  

Hiking alone for the first time was really enjoyable.  For some reason, I am not as thoughtful when hiking with others around so it was nice to have the solitude. I tend to come up with little snippets of ideas that I like to write down so I don’t forget them. I usually only write down the idea not all that I want to remember, hoping that I will be able to recreate the idea from the captured sentiment.  Here are a few that came to me as I wrote them down:

When I’m walking I feel as if I’m devouring the land. And as I walk ground crunches beneath my feet and moistens my tongue. 

Sometimes I cross very dry land and it leaves me part needing a drink to swallow the next few miles.

I once kicked a tumble weed and set it free sooner then it would have on its own 

And because of me it laid in some stream bed and took root 

far from where it would have, had I not giving it to boot

The mountains rise like breasts from the chested ground. 

I smash them beneath my feet and squeeze there peaks between my toes

and perch like a nipple at their peek

My hike was a lot of elevation gain until the very end when I descended into a valley to meet a stream that flowed along the trail for about 12 miles.  Sherpa was sitting under a very pretty tree with tiny song birds all around.  It was very idyllic and peaceful. She suggested that we shift to another spot along the stream and that’s where we spent the rest of the afternoon. 

I took off all my clothes and washed in the stream while Sherpa shook her head. I also washed the salt from my clothes and hung them to dry. Just as I was putting on my boxers 3 hiker guys passed by and definitely got an eye full. Oh well! I am not ashamed. Though Sherpa I’m sure thinks I should be!

We both tried to nap and then at 6 pm, we got up and hiked another 4.2, set up camp, and slept like little hiker babies. 

 

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5/17/17: Mile 187.8 to Hillbilly’s

It was tough getting out of bed at 5AM this morning with the cold and wind there to greet us. We finally mustered the courage and were up and walking by about 6AM. We had a beautiful walk along Fuller Ridge first thing this morning and it did not disappoint. We had beautiful views into the valley below as the sun rose. It was a truly stunning landscape and helped make the cold windy morning bearable. 

Our walk today would be about 20 miles of relentless downhill. The PCT is crazy about switchbacks, so our climb down the mountain felt extremely drawn out. We had pretty fantastic views all day. The houses and roads in the valley below looked so far down underneath us. It was hard to imagine we’d end up there by day’s end. 


It was warm but not too hot today, mostly because of the intense wind all day. There were some intense gusts, I imagine up to 45 miles per hour, possibly more. At times the wind nearly blew me over–its force was so strong I could lean into it. 

We broke up our day with breaks every 2ish hours or every 6 or so miles, which was nice. We passed mile 200 today!!! And had a photoshoot where it took quite a while to fit both of us and the “200” in the frame. 


About two thirds of the way down the mountain we passed a dad and son hiking the opposite direction, who were on a three week trip. They told us they’d stayed with a Trail Angel named Hillbilly the previous evening and told us he would host us for free or even just give us rides to In N Out Burger if we wanted. Well, after hearing that we were fantasizing about burgers for the next couple hours. We were on the fence about if it’d be a good idea to try to get a ride to In N Out because that meant we’d have a bigger than intended day at about 22ish miles. This wasn’t a huge day but we have been trying to take it easy due to our previous injuries. We decided to stop at our next water source and decide. 


We arrived at the water source, which was actually a water fountain in the middle of the desert, around 1PM. We took a lunch break and ate sitting in the intense sun, as the wind made it too cold to sit in the shade. During our hour break, many other hikers caught up to us and also took a break. There was a group of two guys walking from together and then a group of about five guys and girls walking together. We briefly chatted with them before deciding that we felt good and wanted to head to In N Out! No big surprise there–we like our food. 


I called Hillbilly and he said he could give us a ride no problem, just give him a call when we got to the road 4.8 miles from where we had lunch. He also said we were welcome to stay with him–he’d be cooking spaghetti and sausage for dinner. I told him we’d talk it over and give him a call when we got to the road. 

The walk to the road was a nice change in that it was flat as opposed to the 18 miles of downhill we’d just walked. However, part of the walk to the road was on pavement which was hard on my shin splints. Then after the pavement ended the trail changed to loose sand–it was like walking on a beach for miles! It really gave our calves a workout. To top it all off, the wind was more intense than itd been all day! We later found out that there had been a wind advisory for gusts over 50mph! I was growing extremely frustrated by the time we neared the road, as most of the 4.8 miles had been walking directly into the wind which was a lot of work, especially in loose sand.

We finally reached the road and went under the underpass below the highway. There were some coolers with water bottles and even beer! But we had very little time to check them out because we saw an SUV at the far end of the underpass with a bunch of hikers piling in. We booked it over there to see if we might be able to finagle a ride to In N Out rather than make Hillbilly come get us. 

We met Mama Bear, as she calls herself, who had checked the underpass for hikers to see if anyone needed a ride. Four hikers that we hadn’t met before were piling in the car and she was going to drive them to Hillbilly’s to stay. She asked if we wanted to join. We had planned to just get a burger then come back to the trail and find a camp spot after. We had to discuss it but finally decided that we would just stay with Hillbilly after all, but not without asking Mama Bear if we could stop at In N Out first. She very kindly said yes and we hopped in the car all squeezed in and sitting in each others’ laps. The reason we had to discuss whether to stay at Hillbilly’s was that often it is the case that you get a late start the next day, as you are relying on the trail angel to get you back to the trail and typically that doesn’t happen super early. It was supposed to be really hot the next day so we were concerned we wouldn’t be able to start hiking in time to beat the heat. We ultimately decided to suck it up for the chance to have our burgers!

Mama Bear drove us to In N Out and we ordered our food to go (2 burgers and fries and Dr Pepper for wolf bird and a burger fries and a chocolate milkshake for me). We met the other hikers, Flame, Beav (as in Beaver), Gourmet, and Sonia. Flame and Beav had each hiked the AT before. Beav hiked Southbound like us! He hiked in 2012 but started on the same date (July 1) that we did in 2013!

We got our food to go and were off to Hillbilly’s! Mama Bear started describing Hillbilly to us and said things like “he doesn’t have a lot of teeth” and “he’s different…but harmless” and then finally said “I guess what I’m trying to say is he drinks a lot”. Well this would be interesting. 

We got to Hillbilly’s and discovered six other hikers already there, so that made 11 of us with us five joining. Hillbilly was quite a character right off the bat. He is in his 60s with white hair and off color jokes. Wolf bird and I were sitting eating our burgers when Hillbilly came up behind wolf bird and tickled his ribs and yelled “gotcha! I knew you were ticklish” and then told me he’d get me too later. His house was full of knickknacks with a lot of tiger things–rugs and paintings and statues.., even a panther table! Hillbilly had clearly been drinking all day and offered everyone beers and shots. We did not partake. All this being said, he was incredibly generous. He allowed us all to take showers and do laundry and then made us all dinner as well. It felt so nice to shower even though I almost felt guilty showering the day after I was in town!

We met and chatted with some of the other hikers but were already getting tired by 7ish! We usually go to bed by 8! The atmosphere was pretty loud and chaotic and social. Wolf bird and I hadn’t noticed that many of the others had already claimed floor space to sleep on so we got stuck with space right in front of the loud tv in the living room while everyone else were more tucked away. 

A group of hikers called Hillbilly asking for a ride so a whole new group of four hikers arrived around 830 or so. We had turned down the lights but couldn’t figure out how to turn off the volume on the tv so we were just laying on our pads frustrated. Then when this new group of hikers came in, they were very loud and moving all over the place and turning on lights etc. I was really frustrated as I am a light sleeper and knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep until everyone was quiet and it was dark. Wolf bird was frustrated too but not nearly as much as I was. Finally everyone calmed down and the lights were out, but then hillbilly turned on the tv in his bedroom. His bedroom was right beside the living room and he left his door open so the Noise from his tv was pretty loud where we were laying–I could hear even through earplugs. Wolf bird luckily fell asleep but I didn’t fall asleep until hillbilly turned off his tv at midnight. I was very grateful for a place to sleep and food and shower and laundry… But it did come at a price. Sometimes sleeping out in the woods is just easier and more simple! Nonetheless it was a strange yet memorable experience… And we did get our In N Out after all so all was good in the world. 

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5/16/2017 Idyllwild to Fuller Ridge Tent Site 187.8

Today was an amazing day. I woke up around 6 a.m. and Sherpa was still sound asleep so I got dressed and headed to the coffee shop to grab my morning joe. When I got back she was still sleeping so I started consolidating my gear and cleaning the apartment. Before long she was up and I made eggs and beets for us. We did the dishes, finished packing, dropped the key off, and we were on our way. It has been tough resting while all the people we started with were out hiking and now days ahead.  

Our plan was to climb Mt San Jacinto, a 10,833 ft snowcapped mountain. We hitched from just outside the inn to the trailhead of Devil’s Slide, an alternate but more direct approach to the summit trailhead. We were picked up almost immediately by a climber couple on their way to hike another trail.  At first they hesitated and said they could only take us a mile but then said they would take us the whole way.  

The trail to the summit was beautiful and covered with large twisted pines. It felt like walking through the pages of a Dr. Seuss book. Some of the trees had large trunks and a common Christmas tree like shape a the bottom only to stop abruptly and turned horizontally, as if they were growing against an imaginary celing. 

Sherpa led the way and tempered our pace so as to not worsen our injuries. This was a really pleasant change for me and a significant milestone.  If I told AT Sherpa that she would one day let me hike behind her, she would have slapped me. 

On the ascent we passed a couple people along the way, Mom, Rebecca from the UK, and a local. Other than that the hike was fairly uneventful.  We filled our water bottles from a spring about 2 miles from the summit and made the final push through patchy snow. 

When we had nearly reached the summit, the trail split off to the summit trail, and the trail that headed back to the PCT.  We met a few folks and dropped our bags because the last bit was an out and back. Within a few minutes we were passing an emergency shelter and nearing the top.  The last few hundred feet was covered in snow and boulders.

The summit was spectacular and there were lots of hikers enjoying the view.  On the northern side you could see the wind farms below that we would approach in the coming days. On the southern side, the valley was covered in clouds far below.  It didn’t feel like that we hiked up a 10,000 foot mountain, but now that we were at the top the views did not disappoint. 

We didn’t doddle long and soon we were heading back to our bags for lunch.  I stopped off at the shelter and stepped inside. It was a small stone cabin with a heavy wooden door, and an iron, sliding, latch. Inside there were four wooden bunk beds, a few wooden litters, and an emergency supply box. I imagine the whole cabin gets pretty well covered with snow in the winter. I also noticed a lot book so I signed in and saw a few other hikers we knew had signed in. Notably Honey Buns, and Knock on Wood came though on the 14th.  After I drew my signature Wolf Bird with a Gatorade and a hiking pole in his talons, I headed down to the junction to meet Sherpa.  We ate lunch in the sun which I was super excited about because I had packed hummus, garlic naan, and pesto.  It was delicious! Sherpa had cream cheese and bagel thins, gross! She likes nasty things precious. 

When we finished we started the trek down. It was a bit difficult to follow the trail because of the patchy snow. Sherpa was in the lead and I started getting annoyed that she kept leading us off the trail.  Then I finally took the lead and sure enough we got off trail in only a few minutes.  

After a while we got the hang of it and wandered through a funny campground where all the campsites had oddly sexual names. Our favorite was Owl’s Hooch!

Soon after we hit the PCT junction and decided to fill up at the next river ford, then camp just before or on Fuller Ridge. 

The ford was very cool as it flowed over steps carved for the trail. We filled up a solid 3 liters and I decided not to treat mine since the water seemed so fresh. Then we hiked the last couple miles to a campsite at mile 187.8. It was a beautiful spot but the wind had picked up so we hurried through dinner as fast as possible. As we were wrapping up a guy that was camping on the opposite side of the trail came over and said we needed to go look at the view before crashing.  So just before shivering our way into the tent we made a quick visit to the other side of the narrow ridge and it was remarkable. We also noticed that the three tents there were in the worst slopey sites you can imagine.  Good luck sleeping in those fellas!

We scampered back to our tents jumped inside and cuddled til we warmed up. As soon as we were laying on our own pads our feet were cold again. It was of because my torso and head was hot but my feet were cold. I am not sure how but I fell asleep in spite of the odd temperature distribution. When I woke up a couple hours later my body had found equilibrium and after a quick windy per, we slept like little hiker babies.  

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5/13/2017 Hurkey Creek Park Campground to Idyllwild, CA

Idyllwild has been a bittersweet stop for us. We are currently on our third zero in a row due to some painful injuries. Sherpa has some nasty shin splints and I have a little plantar fasciitis. I noticed mine in long runs before the trail and expect to have to manage it throughout our hike. Hopefully Sherpa’s shins will be in good shape tomorrow as we plan to hike our first thing in the morning or, less likely, take her to a Sports Medicine doctor. That is the bitter.  The only thing harder than hiking with injuries is making yourself rest. Especially when your new friends are hiking on.  

The sweet has been undoubtedly spending time with our wonderful and talented new friends. The first day and night we shared a cabin with 2.toe (Nicole), Coyote, Amelia, and Louie. We also got to spend the morning with the amazing and insta-famous, Crash. 

We arrived in town first because we had to hitch to town passed the detour due to Sherpa’s shins. Had breakfast at The Red Kettle.  Soon after the crew rolled up in a posse and we hung out with them while they ate. Afterwords we all meandered gr8 a while. Crash was waiting on a package at the post office, which opened at 1:30 pm. So we hung out with him for a few minutes and ate more food from the grocery store.

When 1 rolled around we said goodbye to Crash and went into the Library and worked on our blog.  It was sad to see him hike on but he’s a pro and it might be a while before we see him again.  

After we finished our internet chores we went back to the cabin and hung out with the crew for the rest of the evening.  We drank beers, cooked dinner, chatted, and had a fire. It was very plesant with such good company. 

Amelia and Louie in the Cabin

The next day the crew hung around till around noon at the coffee shop, Higher Grounds, then we went back.  They packed up and took off for the hills.  It was a little sad to stay behind but we want to stay healthy and finish strong. 

Notes from Friends

Sherpa and I went to the movies at 2 to see Gardians of The Galaxy 2.  It was ok, though I am starting to be shocked how action movies have so much wholesale, glorified, mass murder. There was a seen where the “good guys” were laughing and blasting music while killing what seemed to be hundreds of “bad guys”. It disturbed me. Afterwords we got some food and propped up our feet, I made a fire, and we watched 2 episodes of Fargo. Oh!! And I almost forgot. When we got our of the movie we met the Mayor! 

We got in bed and hopped to decide whether to hike in the morning.  We slept like little hiker babies. 

In the morning we waffled in indecision for a few hours than finally decided to try and rest one final day.  We miss the trail and it feels really hard to stay! 

We will relax again today and hopefully we will be in good shape for tomorrow!

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5/12/17: Mile 155 Tentsite to Hurkey Creek Park Campground

We woke up at 5:00AM and got going about 30 minutes after Yote and Nicole. The walking all morning was incredibly beautiful! It was such a different landscape than what we’ve been walking in. Rather than it feeling like desert, it felt like we were in the mountains! I loved seeing some big trees and big mountains surrounding us. An hour or so into our day, I heard Wolf Bird, who was walking behind me (a very rare occurrence that I only allowed because my shin hurt and I wanted to set the pace) shout “There he is!”. I turned around to discover Crash! He had made up the miles and finally caught us! I shouldn’t say ‘finally’ because he caught us quite quickly.  It was great to see him again. We even found out that the trail angels had dropped him off at the wrong road crossing (he said they were arguing when they passed the correct crossing and didn’t hear him say ‘here!’) so he had to re-walk about 8 or so miles he’d already done!


We walked with Crash for the rest of the day. Him and Wolf Bird mostly walked together talking and I lagged a bit behind because my shin was bothering me. However, it was a beautiful day, amazing scenery, and also not too hot, so I was pretty happy. I was SO glad we didn’t skip this section due to believing other people’s fear mongering. This was probably my favorite section of trail so far! The desert is beautiful and different, but I think mountain landscapes are what really capture my heart.

We had 10 miles to hike until we reached the part of the trail that is closed due to the wildfire damage. We started seeing charred trees about a couple of miles before the closure. It was pretty incredible to see the shiny black coating on tree trunks, but also impressive to see all the new growth that has occurred since the fire–there were flowers and grasses all around. We reached the closure around 10:30AM or so and also caught Nicole and Yote right around then. The five of us took a break together in some shade–it was actually a bit chilly in the shade with the wind blowing, as we were up around 7,000 feet!


From this point, we started the alternate section of the PCT that follows a side trail down to some forest service roads. This was the part we’d heard so many negative things about and were curious to see what it was actually like. We’d heard the 1.9 mile trail down to the forest service road was overgrown and hard to follow. Not true at all! It was a very clear trail and quite nice and went by super quickly. It even had a nice stream running alongside it. Next came the forest service roads, where we heard poisonous poodle dog bush was unavoidable. Also not true at all!!! We only saw 4 poodle dog bush all right near each other, two on each side of the road. But they were off the road and completely avoidable. It was hilarious to think someone would describe them as unavoidable. We later found out half the people hiking behind us didn’t even notice them!

We enjoyed walking the forest road downhill–it was easy and quick hiking, although Wolf Bird’s heel and my shin were both aching. We soon came across White Spot. He was slack packing (hiking without his full pack, just supplies for the day) the 30 mile alternate in the opposite direction. We’d joked yesterday that he should bring us trail magic so when we pass him he could bring us goodies from town, since he’d gone into town the previous day. Come to find out, he took that joke seriously!! He pulled out mini snickers bars, clementines, and Coke!!! We were so excited and grateful. How hilarious to be given trail magic by a fellow thru hiker. We enjoyed our delicious treats and continued down the trail after wishing him good luck.

We passed some cows in a pasture which made me very nervous (if you’re wondering why, read about my Cow Incident of 2k13), but luckily Crash and Wolf Bird protected me, although Wolf Bird was whistling to them in a way that sounded like he was trying to call them over…

Scary and ‘unavoidable’ poodle dog bush

Scary cows

As we were walking Wolf Bird also said “I would love to have a camper like that one day” to which Crash and I responded…. “uhhh that is a horse trailer” and laughed and made fun of Wolf Bird incessantly for wanting a horse trailer as his camper. He later claimed that he was talking about a camper he saw drive by on the main road up ahead, but we all know it was pretty clear he was referring to the trailer right in front of us at the time.

Wolf Bird’s ideal camper

We got down to the main highway into town and crossed over to a dirt path that then parallelled the highway for about 4 miles. After a bit more walking we finally arrived at Lake Hemet market, where Wolf Bird, Crash, and I stocked up on snacks and beer (the most expensive 6 pack we’ve ever bought, at $19.71!!!!!). We wandered into the campground that we weren’t even staying at (the market was at the entrance to this campground) and found a picnic table in the shade by the lake and drank our beers and hung out for a couple hours.

Eventually Yote and Nicole, as well as Amelia and Louie, arrived at the market and we all sat around on the porch of the market for a while eating more snacks and drinking more beer. We finally decided we should stop loitering and head the to actual campsite we were planning to stay at, 0.7 miles up the road. I hobbled there with the group and we all got to camp for free at site 18–a site they reserve for PCT hikers. We were grateful for the free site and also took advantage of the campground showers. I had to have Wolf Bird help me with the shower, as I have really huge blisters on the soles of my feet and was trying to hop around and avoid my raw skin touching the shower floor. It was as graceful as it sounds. We had a late bedtime for us, around 830 or 9.

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5/11/2017 Tule Spring to Paradise Valley Cafe

Our hike to Paradise Valley Cafe ended with in an oasis of delicious beer, salad, burgers, and shade. We started out our hike early around 5:45 a.m. and we felt rusty but the miles started trickling by even though we were climbing a couple of thousand feet. Before we knew it we were halfway to our siesta spot, Paradise Valley Cafe.

When we left in the morning Coyote, Nicole, and Patrick all had already left and White Spot was packing his bag. When we reached our halfway mark to the siesta point, also the only point with reliable water, they were all there. The spot, known as Walden, was really pretty neat and cozy. There was a water cache, a water tank, a mini library with printed poems, and some good shade. Patrick, thanks to my poor information, took off because I told him that I heard that there wasn’t reliable water. Oops… Sorry Patrick! Sherpa said she wanted to stop and of course it was amazing. Coyote and Nicole were propped up under the shade reading to each other and we sat down next to them for a minute.


After chatting them up we hit the road again and killed the next 6 or 7 miles to the road, where we planned to hitch to Paradise Valley Cafe.  About 2.5 miles to go I stumbled on a large bag of food that, in retrospect, I think someone ditched on the trail because of how extremely heavy it was.
I felt bad knowing that if it wasn’t an accident, someone might have to buy a whole new resupply, so I picked up the bag and strapped it to my back and carried it all the way to the road. I asked everyone I saw if it was their bag and everyone said no. When we arrived at the road, my feet were really hurting and I could tell I was getting the beginnings of Plantar Fasciitis. The bag moving side to side really added to the bruising of my right foot tendons. Poor Sherpa was also developing some serious blisters along the way so reaching the road was a welcome site.


I dropped off the bag at the trail head, hoping that it’s owner would go there first if they were looking for it. Later I found on Facebook that a lot of people were mad that someone left a bag at the trail head. I only recently added myself to the Facebook group and it is hilarious at times but probably not worth the time of day. It’s just more hiker babble which is often wrong and sometimes ridiculous. I include my own hiker babble in that.

We were tired of walking and are not fans of walking off trail miles when we can help it, we attempted to hitch. Within minutes we were picked up by a lovely couple. The guy in the passenger’s seat jumped out and he surprisingly resembled a hiker. Once we got in we realized why when he told us he had just finished the AZT.

They dropped us off and wished us well and we entered Paradise. This place was amazing. It had all you could ever want, burgers, beer, power, shade, and bathrooms. So exciting! The food was outstanding and all of our hiker friends started trickling in. We sat at the table with Patrick, Coyote, Nicole, and White Spot. We only had one beer but we were laughing a lot. Sherpa and I got burgers and fries, and we shared a large salad.

We finished eating and promptly sprawled our pads and gear out under the shade of a beautiful pine tree with soft bark. A few of us napped, including myself, and then we started talking about what to do next. Originally Sherpa and I planned on taking the PCT alternate to avoid a trail closure due to a fire. We were discussing it with Coyote and Nicole and we stated hearing roomers of poodle dog bush covering the alternate and we began thinking we were making a mistake. Soon we were planning all kinds of different paths around the infamous bush that can inflict pain and blisters more severe than Poison Oak, or Poison Ivy. We heard from one of the hikers, who said he hiked the AT, that his friend and fellow experienced AT hiker told him: “don’t go on the alternate, you will run into a wall to poodle dog bush”.  That almsot had us all convinced. We were going to hitch to a campground 7 miles away that would take us 24 miles on the PCT and the PCT alternate.

We know better than to listen to hiker hype. Hikers, myself sometimes included, often inflate the danger or intensity of their experiences. I have learned this lesson time and time again that the only person that can tell you what you will face is you, when you face it. We finally started to doubt the roomers when Sherpa read some blogs of people that did it only a few days ago and there was no mention of a lack of water or excessive poodle dog bush. Coyote, Nicole, Amelia, and Luis all decided that we were going to see it for ourselves.

When we finally got the motivation to get moving, Coyote, Nicole, Sherpa, and I went to get a hitch. Within moments Cayote and Nicole were able to get picked up and were whisked away. We stayed for another 20 minutes with no luck so we began walking. Sherpa was in a lot of pain because her blisters were very large now, but we didn’t have much of a choice.

By the time we hit the trail head it was probably 6:30 p.m. and we started a mad dash to hit a campsite 4 miles today to make the next day an easy 17… or so we thought. It turned out be 20. A story for another post. The hike turned out to be pretty breathtaking. We were immediately so glad that we didn’t give into the fear mongering. This was some of the most gorgeous hiking on the trail thus far. Rolling hills, beautiful pines, granite boulders, the sunset. Priceless. Sherpa and I got in a bit of a spat over having to walk instead of waiting for a hitch but we soon made up in the presence of all this beautiful hiking.



We hit 4 miles and Coyote, and Nicole were there and already had their tent set up. We pitched our tent, ate dinner together family style, and went to bed on the forest floor.

Before we could slide into our sleeping bags, Sherpa took off her socks to reveal the most gruesome blisters I have ever seen. Half her foot was now a giant flapper and she also had some serious shin splints developing. She was in tears from pain and fearing walking on them tomorrow. She did her best to patch them up and I offered to do whatever I could to make it easier on her. She is so strong and I am so proud of her. She endures tough situations with determination like I have never witnessed.

Inside our tent, the moon looked like a spotlight and Sherpa woke me up just as I was falling asleep and said “what is that flashlight?” LOL. To be fair, it did look like someone had a floodlight pointed at our tent. It was that bright.

We finally fell asleep and slept like little injured hiker babies.