Slacker

Monday, May 26
Mile 583, Oaks Spring

"Slack packing": a term to describe a thruhiker who caches their backpacking gear down the trail and then hikes back to it. I am one of those today. A slacker!

I ran an 8-mile stretch of trail with Neon this morning and it was marvelous. Such a fun way to experience an otherwise pretty uneventful and waterless section. It was also an interesting look at how my body's changing a month into my hike. Fast twitch muscles are no good-the ones used for charging up hills. But a couple miles in, slow twitch took over and I felt AMAZING. So strong and solid and supported, even on a long downhill and some road. This is the fittest I've ever been.. So weird to think about what's going on in my body as I hike almost a marathon a day.

Natural Resource Tour de California

Saturday, May 24
Mile ??, Tylerhorse Canyon

Today's story in pictures:

Walking the aqueduct. Steppin allllll over LA's water right now.

Katie and Jeff, Trail Angels of the day! Found their oasis by word of mouth and spent a much-needed siesta with them.

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Detour to Hikertown

Friday, May 23
Mile 513, Hiker town

This sums up most of my day as I avoided a fire detour:

And then we arrived at Hikertown. It's owned by an ex-Hollywood hotshot with a lot of land and old western-y movie sets, which makes for a quaint little oasis from the raging desert winds.

Itis managed to charm the Hollywood guy into letting us sleep in the backseat of his old Rolls Royce. Watched meteor showers through the windows where our feet stuck out.

Hang tight!

Well, someone stepped on my phone cable at the Anderson's and I was mostly without battery this weekend. No biggy, just picked up a new one at Kmart, but posts will be behind til I can get enough time/battery/reception. Fear not!

Zero at Party Central

Thursday, May 22
Mile 478, again

Zero at the Anderson's! Highlights include pancakes, rock/body painting, Beerski, beer darts, beer, taco salad, Mohawks, and stories by Terry Anderson. So good.

My forest ecology TA, Molly(Gangsta Rap), hiked the PCT in 2011 and made it into the Anderson's living room. Yo' ass is famous, girl!!

Angels

Tuesday and Wednesday, May 20-21
Mile 478, Casa de Luna (Anderson's)

This stretch of trail has been all about the people. We've been sidling right up next to civilization, so the remote wilderness ideal is a distant dream. But it's been beautiful and unforgettable. I've met some incredible people these past few days; a reminder that there's more to this trail than just hiking.

Music is a great way to hide from the torrentialdownpours. T-Bow, Smooth Operator, Magic Stick, The Zone, and Angry Bird (making a banjo!)

First came the Saufleys at Hiker Heaven, a completely fitting name for the well-oiled machine that caters to pct hikers. Donna and Jeff Saufley are saintly in their generosity to weary, smelly, and battered thruhikers. Within a couple hours of sitting on some cushy couches on the patio, my laundry was done for me, I had a hot shower, my care packages were picked up, and I was thanking every god I knew for the Saufleys.

24 miles of endless, undulating, sanity-testing chapparal, and we were at the Anderson's. A different scene to be sure, with a night of rowdy conversation and taco salad and stumbling through the dark with Itis and laughing when we lost our backpacks down the rabbit hole/manzanita grove.

Cheers to Trail Magic by the Andersons!

We call the generous strangers who help us "Trail Angels". That's a kindness that makes me want to be better, a reminder that we only get by with a little help from our friends.

Hitting stride

Monday, May 19
Mile 450, Vasquez Rocks

 The now-familiar desert flower perfume filled my nose, the now-familiar grasses waved and tickled as I cruised at the now-familiar pace of hiking, with now-familiar friends ahead and behind. It was a beautiful day, and I really feel like I've hit my stride (no pun). 

14 miles of cresting fire-scarred hills, then siesta and ice cream and a SWIMMING POOL at the koa. I really love the bubble of hikers we've fallen in with; Leisure Tour and the Fellowship are so much fun. We all decided to camp at Vasquez Rocks tonight, just outside Agua Dulce, after a breezy ten miles this evening. Walking this much is starting to feel so easy, and the afternoon flew by in a series of stunning cloudscapes and a gorgeous sandstone slot.

Happy under my Jeffrey pine friend tonight. I can't get over how much I love the sound of wind through needles; my lullaby.

Poodle-Dodging

Sunday, May 18
Mile 430, Messenger Flats

Some incredible ridge walking this morning!

On the PCT there lurks a plant that is rumored to have stingers and oil that causes brilliant rashes. It smells conspicuously like marijuana and looks like a poodle's tail. It's name: poodle-dog bush.

Today was spent avoiding this plant, using various strategies. This morning, I danced and sashayed my way around it for five miles. This afternoon, I walked on an old road to bypass a reportedly horrible section of it on trail. The road walking was actually kind of fun; I was averaging 4 miles an hour and had Animal Collective and Radiolab podcasts to keep me occupied.

Poodle-dog LOVES burned areas

12 miles were a breeze, and I got to hike with Leisure Tour for a while; three cool guys called The Byrd, Sideshow, and That Guy. Sideshow has an amazing foam roller that does wonders for sore muscles, so hopefully I'll keep leapfrogging with him. Also I like them, which is important too, I suppose.

Graduation Day

Saturday, May 17
Mile 407, Sulphur Springs Campground

Graduation day! If I wasn't on an epic aadventure today, I'd be donning a cap and gown and accepting my bachelor's deploma with all my friends. Haha, suckas!

Laugh Track and I both graduated from UM today! She's been carrying the tassel this whole hike, just for this momentous day.

I did walk. 24 miles of hot uphill slogs, but a lovely descending afternoon. Spent the whole day with Magic Stick and Laugh Track, who I was grateful to have during some confusing rerouting for an endangered frog. I was chatting with Special Sauce when we discovered my favorite kind of trail magic: a box full of fruit! Snagged an orange, and it was the best. Thing. Ever. I wish I could just eat oranges for the next 3 days.

Tall, Lost, and Grateful

Friday, May 16
Mile 384, Pleasant Ridge Wilderness

There aren't really any "good" days or "bad" days out here. Every day on the trail is a series of highs and lows and boredom and awe and elation and stress. It makes the morning and afternoon feel like separate days.

Summiting Mt Baden-Powell!

Today, the morning (day one) was  high-fiving scout troops and asian tourists on my way to the first (and one of the only) summits on the actual PCT. It was a steep slog with our newly-filled food bags, but Gypsy Town made it to the top of Baden-Powell in good time. 360 views; I love it!

I spent the ridge walk after the peak giddy with altitude and ssummiting, and made up new words to "This Lil' Light of Mine". Twenty minutes later I was in an angry haze as the trail climbed, AGAIN. Doesn't it realize that we've already summited today? At a fuzzy trail junction, I was so happy to see a nice trail going downhill that I took it without a second thought.

A couple hours later, the pseudo-pct trail spat me out onto highway 2, which parallels the pct this stretch. I found a note under a rock that read, "you are off trail. Turn left on the road to eventually meet back up with the PCT."

Well, "eventually" is a pretty ambiguous direction, but I decided to just start walking. What else can we do out here, ever? I was a little freaked out at first, and kept checking and rechecking my maps and Half mile app on my phone for coordinates. The topo maps and compass were indispensable; SO glad I carry em.

I was a lot closer to our agreed meeting spot than I first realized, and only had to road walk for 4 miles before I came to a gully that had footprints leading up the steep scree slope. The Halfmile app said that I was only .12 miles from the PCT, and I knew the trail was up there somewhere. So I trusted my gut and scurried up the goat trail.

Sure enough, it popped me right in front of a major trail junction on the PCT, right before the campground I told Gypsy Town I'd meet them at. Giddy with relief, I kissed the PCT sign and maybe cried a little bit. My first off trail experience, and I kept my cool and made it! The whole experience was like a trust fall with myself and the universe catching, and we both came through. I will try not to be angry with you again, PCT, I promise!

Nearo in Wrightwood

Thursday, May 15
Mile 369, Wrightwood, CA

I sat up in my sleeping bag this morning and took this picture. Seriously!

The nearo (nearly zero; we hiked just 7 miles into town) I took in Wrightwood was easygoing and left me all charged up for another four days of hiking. Grams even helped me go through my pack and pull out a few things to lighten it up just a little... A Tupperware container, a pair of gloves I don't like much, and casualties from a trimmed-down first aid kit were among the forsaken items.

Care package from Grammy.. So sweet!

 Tenacious Rainbow, who's taking a few days off to heal her gnarly, infected feet, got a cute little motel-cabin in town and I got to sleep on a cot! It was so luxurious. Even the deep crater in the middle seemed to perfectly cradle my body. We attempted to watch Remember the Titens, but we were all asleep twenty minutes in. Hiker midnight: nine o clock.

Itis came into our room at 6am, and then proceeded to bulldoze us in our beds, go into the bathroom, and take a very long dump in our toilet. Not a choice way to start the day, especially holding my morning pee while we all took turns after Itis. But that was quickly remedied by some coffee and a lazy morning start.

Full Moonshadow

Wednesday, May 14
Mile 355, near Mt Baldy (elev. ~8660)

The sun and the moon are in perfect synchronicity right now, with the milky light replacing the golden seamlessly. The full moon cast intense shadows as I climbed into the hills surrounding Mount Baldy. It was a perfect opportunity to practice wolf-howling at the headlamps bouncing across the shadowy draws and step carefully; more mindfully than if I could see what my feet were contacting. Leaving my headlamp off turned my walking into a tactile activity. It felt deeply meditative and rhythmic.

We hiked deep into the night, climbing for fourteen miles before settling on a rare flat spot with a sweeping view of Mount Baldy and the cities below. My calves are aching, my shoulders feel used, and I couldn't be more grateful for the loveliness of night.

Sunset over sandstone

The Longest Day

Tuesday, May 13
Mile 335, in some shrubbery on a hill somewhere

Twenty miles by lunch? We got this. I felt reborn this morning; no pain! Anywhere! The morning flew by as Magic Stick, Tuneboost, Laugh Track and I rocked it in our freshly-recharged bods.

Rainbow bridge with Tuneboost!

The beautiful Deep Creek Canyon was a stark contrast to a weird traverse of a hydro-power plant, huge concrete tunnels, chain link fences, piles of dirt... It was a reminder of how the human-wilderness interface is so well represented on this trail.

Our lunch spot was absolutely epic; a huge reservoir that sparkled an inviting, crystalline blue as we crested the hill above it. I dove in as soon as we reached the picnic area, of course, and then spent a leisurely three hours eating, yoga-ing, blogging, and gazing into the miracle that is a huge body of water in the desert.

Now, a nighthawk is cooing me to sleep. After my longest day yet, 28 miles, being horizontal seems like a gift from God.

Zeroing at Deep Creek

Sunday & Monday, May 11-12
Mile 307, Deep Creek Hotsprings

Rowdy red poppy!

"Zero" Day in hiker slang is a loaded phrase. It's a simple concept: don't hike. In fact, do everything that involves little movement, like eating, sleeping, soaking your bod in some delicious mineral hot springs.

Tuneboost went to school in SoCal and has been talking up Deep Creek for weeks. It did not disappoint—six pools of varying degrees, all overlooking a wide, gentle creek with a slackline pitched over a section of it... Totally surreal to hike into, all delirious and bone-tired. Got used to the nudists and eventually joined them, of course.

My lungs have healed, too! Those antibiotics did the trick and that cough is done-zo. I broke out my flute again during a pre-dinner soak with Moxa and Laugh Track and it felt so perfect.

Monday was my first zero of the hike, and it was actually a bit of a struggle to convince myself to not walk on later in the day. The trail has such a pull for me now; it's magnetic! But the healing soaks in the hot springs were so essential, and I'm going to bed with a happy heart and gelatinous muscles. Heal up, buddies! Tomorrow we hit the trail again!

Goodbye, beautiful Deep Creek!

Feelin' breezy

Saturday, May 10
Mile 285, Humbolt Creek

Big Bear Lake, where we stayed last night. Totally digging these sweet little mountain towns!

The day went our way: glorious views of Big Bear Lake, long trail conversations, a billowing breeze to take some of the heat out of our climbs. Just lovely!

Laugh Track nails the uber-gnarly ford!!

The Gypsy Town reunion in the evening was so energizing. We've formed our own mutating bands within the larger group, and I'm loving getting to see everyone here and there. We decided to call it a day at twenty miles and ducked into some willows to ward off the wind. It's only 8:00 and the sound of their boughs rustling is putting me right to sleep.

The Simplest Things

Friday, May 9
Mile 266, Big Bear City

Hiking into Big Bear Lake and peering into the great Mojave

After hiking in six miles and getting shuttled from trail to hostel in Big Bear City, we had breakfast with Sarge, an ex-military sniper with some incredible stories. One thing I want to keep in my memory forever is Smooth Operator's totally blissed-out face as he demolished massive chicken fried steak burger. His hands were literally shaking with happiness. Sarge chimed in with "THIS is why I love hikers. You guys appreciate basic things so much more." It's true. The scrubby I used in the shower? Rocked my world.

It was a typical town day, complete with showering most of the grime off, real laundry (as opposed to stream laundry), and a grocery run. We finished the day off with a marvelous grill feast on the hostel's back deck overlooking the lake, and I proceeded to down a burger and a hotdog and beer and cookies and some salad. Then we watched a terrible horror flick and rolled ourselves to bed. Such a good day!



Th

e Zone, Tenacious Rainbow, and Smooth Operator feelin fresh and fancy in their loaner clothes at Big Bear Hostel

Magic Couch

Thursday, May 8
Mile 360, 6 miles southeast of Big Bear City

Quote of the day, from Itis (Liam), as written in a trail register: "why did I stop for lunch a quarter mile back? I had itis in the dirt instead of on this couch."

Another gorgeous day, though it dawned VERY chilly. I performed almost all of my morning packing ritual from inside my sleeping bag, which, it turns out, is a great way to never leave camp. We got rolling late, around 8, for a 12-mile morning climb to Onyx Point, the next water source. Most of the trail was forested, and the parts that weren't leant stunning views of the surrounding peaks, including Mt Baden-Powell, which I believe the PCT summits pretty soon.. So cool!

After a few of us stopped for lunch at the onyx point water cache, we only made it a half-mile or so before stumbling upon THIS glorious sight:

I'm sorry, WHAT?! A couch in the woods, a bin stuffed with fruit, cookies, fig newtons, canned soup, wet wipes, and sodas. Trail magic at its finest, left by Big Bear Hostel, presumably to persuade us grimy hikers to rest our sore bodies at their establishment. Smart business strategy!

Parkin it tonight six miles from town, so we'll hitch in around 9 for a huge breakfast. So stoked! My metabolism has really kicked in this stretch, maybe from all the climbing. But man, am I ravenous! Constantly! I may have challenged Wizard Stick and Wreckin to an eating contest. Which I may actually win.

Serendipity

Wednesday, May 7
Mile 239, San Bernardino National Forest

One of the coolest parts of being on this trail is how many different landscapes it covers in 20 miles. We started down in Whitewater valley this morning, with Smooth Operator pointing out tanagers and goldfinches for us in the willows that rustled in the wide, silty valley. The rain yesterday replenished the thirsty riverbeds and made for a beautiful, mellow morning of babbling stream and rolling clouds crowning the distant ridges we came from a couple days ago.

Tuneboost up high

This afternoon was hot and a little tough as we moved up the valley and Mission Creek petered out. Tuneboost and I traded music players for the afternoon, which made all the difference for me. We have the same ear and completely different sets of music, and I loved every song! I also chatted with another hiker called Just Tim, who's a doctor, which turned out to be pretty serendipitous. I've had this flemmy, deep-chest cough for over a week now that reminds me of the couple times I had pneumonia. Tim told me that if it wasn't gone by the time we reached Big Bear City in a couple days, then he would write me a prescription for some antibiotics. Seriously, serendipity!

Our forest grove sleep spot

Now I'm cuddled up all cozy in my tent, which has sat abandoned and unused at the bottom of my pack since day 2 of the trail. The rumor maybe snow tonight? We're high in a cloud forest, with huge ancient Jeffrey pine and redwoods watching over us and a nearby stream tumbling. Seeing bright stars out of my vestibule, so all is peace for now.

Trout pond at the end of the rainbow

Tuesday, May 6
Mile 219, Whitewater Preserve

High on Fuller Ridge

Yesterday: absolutely high mountainous GORGEOUS morning—definitely a euphoric feeling cresting fuller ridge and its pines and alpine meadows. But I have this thing where when I have high mornings, I deflate by afternoon. I'm not entirely sure why this happens... But yesterday was definitely one of those times. Luckily I had Laugh Track with me, who is such a positive beam of light that I was able to stay mostly sane on our 20-mile downhill descent of Fuller Ridge. It was one of the only times I've felt actually pissed at the trail as it wound unnecessarily (I thought) all over the hot, exposed face.

By the bottom both Laugh Track and I were loopy with dehydration, but we filled up at a spigot and managed to strugglefest our way across the windy valley to Ziggy and the Bear, another trail angel hiker oasis. Gypsy town reunion, huge bowls of ice cream, and the best company.

This morning dawned lazy and blustery, and I took some true relaxation- not the kind where I'm running around town doing random errands, but the kind where my world shrinks to a fifty-square-foot backyard stocked with fruit, coffee, warmish showers, and carpets EVERYWHERE for our poor abused feet. And Ewok was there with his steel drum (which he packs around, an extra 25 pounds!), which was just magic. Moxa and I had a little duetting thing going on for a while where we faced each other and worked out rhythms together. Love!

Just a selfie with my idol. Nbd

And here's where I start to believe in the (sometimes eerily incredible) magic of this trail. I'm organizing my pack and a couple rolls in midmorning, calling themselves "Scott and Jenny —well, actually, El Vorado and Raven." After ten minutes of the kind of sideways conversation you have with someone while you're both half-occupied with something else, it suddenly clicked that I was talking to Scott Jurek, a vegan ultramarathoner whose book I devoured last year and found incredibly inspiring. This just added to my super blissed-out morning, and by the time Tuneboost, Magic Stick and Smooth Operator rolled in midday I was a happy puddle swaddled in my sleeping bag.

Gypsy town by the ornamental trout pond: Laugh Track, Tenacious Rainbow, Tuneboost, Magic Stick, Smooth Operator, Happy Pants, The Zone, and Itis.

And more eerily incredible magic: as we were pelted with rain on our hike out of the valley, just as I was feeling annoyed and down about the cold and damp, Smooth-O and I crested a ridge to see a full rainbow over the distant sun-dappled mountains. It was a beautiful bandaid to our cold hike. Now, we are nestled into a campground we're calling Narnia, because it has a trout pond, gazebo and inspirational quotes on boulders. Cuddle puddle in afore-mentioned gazebo now, with Ewok playing us to sleep with his dreamy drums. Pure perfect bliss.

Up x5600'

Sunday, May 4
Mile 185, Mt. San Jacinto State Park

Shoes! Brand new shoes! The rumors are true; always go up at least one size from your normal shoe. My toes started snugging up to the ends of my shoes round day two, and blisters followed soon after, as they do. The heat and strain just puff up my feet, apparently, so now I'm a size nine. So far, no more pain. Yes!!

Ice cream cones in hand and a day of rest under our belts, Laugh Track and I walked straight out of town and up, up, up into the San Jacinto Wilderness. Gypsy Town is still divided—the guys who road walked into Idyllwild yesterday are taking a "zero" today and are heading out tomorrow. Patches, Grams, Berkeley, and the Zone decided to hitch closer to the trail, so hopefully we'll catch em tomorrow. Til then, me and Laugh Track are rockin it. It's awesome to have such a positive and sensible lady to share the joys and pains of the day with.

We climbed a total of 5600 feet today and my skinning legs are feeling it! The scenery is just incredible, with that delicious California granite looming above and below and all around us. Our campsite tonight overlooks the hills we'll hit in a few days, with city lights fanning out and sparkling below. It's reassuring, in a way, and I'm feeling more at home out here every day.

Paradise and Purity

Saturday, May 3
Mile 179, Town of Idyllwild

Paradise in sight! A little café nestled into a gorgeous mountain valley in the San jacinto mountains was my morning destination. I hiked 10 miles without stopping; that is trail hunger. It's unreal. An omelette, biscuits, iced coffee, and a chocolate milkshake later I finally felt satisfied.

Over breakfast, gypsy town weighed our options about dealing with a fire closure that made getting to the town of idyllwild tricky. I decided to hitch the 17 miles into town after brunch because I had a package to pick up before the post office closed tomorrow, and because walking a winding mountain highway seemed very sketchy. A few of the guys from my group--magic stick, tuneboost, and smooth operator—decided to walk to maintain trail "purity". I understand, but.. Yeah. My parents instilled a healthy fear of roads in me and I'm taking enough risks out here as is.

The better half of gypsy town kickin it at our campsite in Idyllwild: patches, grams, Berkeley, strawberry, and laugh track

So, to Idyllwild! We got a ride with a local we met at Paradise Café and did a GORGEOUS drive through paradise valley. I hope i can come back one day and spend some time taking in the peaceful air and high desert landscapes. Errands all afternoon in the quaint little mountain town, followed by a potluck dinner and beers at the campground. Talking about bouncing out tomorrow afternoon to get a start on a vicious-looking climb out of idyllwild. Mmmhmm, good life!