Into the mountains

Big Bear heal feet wait for boots.

Day 13

“Annn Deen?” -Dude where’s my car. 

Well well well. Getting off the trail most people worry about “getting soft” if they stick around a town to long. My little break definitely brought me back down a peg. But the boots bring me up three pegs. Gonna be able to walk the rest of the way like a normal person. 

My wonderful Angels brought me to a place where I could meet my hiking brethren. McDonalds! Went with my regular( when I do fast food, about once every other month it’s always MckeeDees), 10 nuggets, one small burger, fries, and a drink. Added a scream cone too. Quote fits this ordering style. This along with staying up drinking wine with my Angels and being off the trail made my first day back feel stupendous. Felt like good ol’ day number one except worse cause it was all uphill. Luckily the guys had already done some miles and we were only going in 7 miles to camp.

Despite the heave ho of getting back into the swing of things. Damn it feels good to be back out here on the move. Happy to meet up with the guys. Set camp in a fun little valley. Swarthout Canyon. Chaperalle Yuccas all over in full bloom. Got a nice rattler crossin the path earlier. Yay. Back to it! Sleeping in the desert with nothin but birds and distant planes to fill the earballs. Ready to put some work in again. Even though I thought mac d was gonna go everywhere it was still a beautiful day. 

Day 14

Up up and away we go! Ready or not here we come. Well fuck me. Did I say yesterday was my re integration. Thaaat was nothing compared to today. 20 miles up to Wrightwood. I added water which means I added weight. Also kept a few things from my box in big bear. Woo wee

Definitely lost my mountain crushing skills. Gonna take a few days again. Probably would of been able to hang with Copper 5 days ago, but now I’m dragging a little. Took him 4 hrs to do 10 miles uphill and I rolled in at 51/2 to find his note that he was pushing on in order to get his box in Wrightwood. Anyways. Still a great climb. Lots of different wild flowers out right now. At 10 miles had some tuna and took a 2 hr siesta with Kwame to skip some sun. 

Second part of the day I started moving faster. Higher altitude, more shade, big trees. Had to conserve water though. Next cache was still 8 miles up.

Rolled into a campground at the top! Last .4 miles they made you earn it. Felt like walking up a ladder. Sat down on a bench sweaty sweaty and immediately got hooked up. Thank you trail Angel campers for the coke (so cold. So good), water, and double chili cheese frito hotdogs! Yum. 

Sexy sunset. Soft yellow with a touch of blue. Was going to go directly to sleep...buuut heartburn has me staying up an extra hour. Forgot to take my Prilosec so I’m actually journaling the night I got to camp. Bonus. Wanna know what else is kinda fun right now :). Cramping out of control everywhere. Haha. Lay very very still or else. Ab. Toes. Fingers. Triceps. ( just started using trekking poles so my arms are attacking me ), back, thumbs. I find it hilarious. At least my legs aren’t going. Those muscles are the big battles. Middle of the night probably ;). Okay. Goodnight. Midnight cramp shreeks for everyone.

Replace your electrolytes bro!

Day 15

100% satisfaction- I think there’s only one true sign of perfect sleep. Couuuuld just be me, but I’m pretty damn sure this is universal. What is it? Drool. Drooling lets you know you were out. You all know what Im talking about. This only happens to me when I’m A. Exhausted such as last night. Or B. That perfect lazy day nap, somewhere super comfortable, little bit a warm sun hitting ya. 

Today. Flat lander short walk with a pretty good downhill. Didn’t go to hard today. Still pretty exhausted from yesterday’s climb. Made it to the base of mount Baden-Powell aboot 12 miles. Cherry B and myself decided to hang here before climbing. Oh check it out. We passed up Copper somehow. Ah. He got stuck drinking 5 cent margarita Tuesday in Wrightwood. Makes sense. Reunited!

Well that was short lived. Copper was still going another 16. nope. Not gonna break myself again keepin up. Since I feel like I’m back to the beginning I think 12-18s are my jam for now. Matter of fact. I’m gonna call it and hit the mountain tomorrow. So see ya later Kwame. 

Lots of beautiful purple flowers. Should pick ‘em and give them to all the beautiful people! Nope. Poodle Dog (yep, stellar name) is not a very nice plant to play with apparently. Reminds me of certain poodle dogs I’ve hung out with in my life. Vicious. ...Poodles suck and the person who named the flower knows it. 

Day 16

“Kinda makes you feel like a stupid dummy.”- 

Sooo didn’t go very far. Basically just up Baden-Powell. Switchback city. Woohoo! That kind of concludes hot hill climbing. Been a while since I’ve been at 9200 feet. Last month has reminded me how much better living at altitude is IMHO. For one, it really dries out the boogs for powerful snot rockets. Don’t think I’ll live below 4000 ft ever again. 

Yea...that was a pretty short day but whateves. I did come down the other side of z mountain. The trail is going up and over the mounds while highway 2 is just curving around and meeting us on the other side. Makes you feel like a stupid dummy when there’s a large path going around these mountains and we’ve decided to walk over them. 

Decided to hitch back to town to get a few more meals and check it out. Had dinner with the 50ish/60ish yr old twins Gary and Larry (I know that’s hilarious). Couple nice guys just retiring from grocery up in Oregon. Stayed in town for super cheap. Ate more pizza.

Day 17

Got up pretty early ready to go! But I turned on the TV. I dont really care about missing shows or movies. This kind of trip is obviously supposed to remind us that we have to lesson our daily screen time. However, I’m really bummed Im missing the World Cup. I’ve always followed it. It’s fun. It’s awesome. It’s once every four years. GO SWEDEN!!!!!! Way to beat Italy to get in!! Win the damn thing! So yea….. kinda just decided to hang around for the Portugal Spain game. Juuust a couple highlights.

Now I’m off. Caught a ride back to where I left off. Up a couple miles up mt Williams. Then it was a down day pretty much. Gotta walk highway 2 for three miles too. PCT detour to protect dem yello legged frogs. Save the frogs!! Hmmm. Still have never eaten frog legs. I wonder...Anyways, for all my motorcycle/sports car lovin friends. This is your highway! Saw some crazy test Audi’s and bmws flying by and every different type of motorcycle. Bring your toys here. Come enjoy yourself or kill yourself. It’ll be great times. 

Got off the road and cruised through a big weekend car camp site (little jelly of fires and hammocks and chillaxon, but onwards) and rejoined the trail a mile down the hill. Good little stream to get water. Set camp and eat dinner. Fuuuuug. thousands of mosquitoes! . Eat dinner in my tent and bitch and moan to you guys because I don’t have bug spray and I can’t buy a second to relax after hiking. 

Day 18

Not a bad day. 15 miles. Passed mile marker 400. That was coo. Really enjoyed this camp site. Tucked in by some trees on top of a ridge. Listened to a little of my book and passed out after a delicious pad Thai camper meal. These things are getting really good!

Day 19

Felt pretty strong today. I hope this feeling sticks around. 20 miles with some good hills mixed in. I still think 20 is my max for now. At around 17-18 I don’t get sore or cramp, my feet start to ache letting me know it’s time to stop using them. 

My stove ran outta gas at lunch so dinner wasn’t that great. Thought the rice would hydrate….but it’s still pretty pretty crunchy. 

Excited for my first buddy guest appearance in the next couple days. 

Got service tonight so I made a few call to see what’s happening in the world. A hurricane named Bud is cute. Sweden is gonna crush Korea tomorrow most likely. And the guys are all still doing thing. Movin and a shakin. And I think mom and dad have gone to Russia. Have fun! Just don’t do any emailing with them cause I’ll deny that shit until the next World Cup!

Day 20

Slept in a little bit. Left myself a big downhill for 15 miles. Little toe nails eventually got sore from squishin in my boots. Scenery hasn’t changed to much lately. Lots of desert bushes. Still plenty of sun. 4 miles left I started to burn out for the day. Took another rest, boots off, layed in the sun. Eventually made it to the Acton KOA. Here I ran into a new group of peeps I have not yet met. Boy Scout, Littlefoot, Quick Start, Nick and Luna, Yard Sale, Blue, Balloons, Nolan and Michelle again. Yellow Toe caught back up as well. Fun group to join and eventually integrate with.

We Watched The Lorax. I’m also listening to Grapes of Wrath at this time. Sooo If you want to have a fuck the machine/system/money-grubbing entities pitty party, join me and my fellow lifers out here on the trail. 

Day 21

The temps are rising. Strategies for walking are headed to early early mornings and late nights. Left with Balloons, Littlefoot and Quick Start. All former cross country runners of course. This subset of people are ridiculous! They were basically jogging uphill and sprinting down! Anyways, it was a quick 15 miles into the night to say the least. Caught up with some others and all crashed in a cave in Vasquez rocks. Awesomeness! Finally getting a little better with my night photos too.

Day 22

Got up early and followed Balloons into Hiker Heaven hoping to grab a warm breakfast. Of course the simple 2 miles turned into a thing. The trail split a few times. Wasn’t clearly marked….made it 4 miles for myself. Hiker Heaven is a gated property where a lovely lady just takes care of everyone. There’s a trailer house to get your shower. They do your laundry. All wonderful things. The previous group of hikers I mentioned were all there along with even more folks. Mini party. They had befriended another trail angel that stopped by with a massive chicken dinner. So delicious. 

Buddy from LA made the trek up to do a little walking. Double edged sword. Had to go back out for more even though I definitely could of used the day to rest. On the flip side. Got me to leave and keep walking. Way to easy to stop everywhere and not get back out there.

It was a great evening walk. Perfect way to squeeze in a few more miles and slowly knock out a 8miler up hill. Kris had packed all the light stuff. Champagne, beers. (Actually aside from that he had top notch light weight gear borrowed from his brother. I was jealous.) great to see him and spend the night chatting up in the hills. 

Day 23

Well the problem with drinking into the night makes for a few challenges the next day. Not as hydrated, very little sleep, and a twinge of a hangover. What can we do but walk it out. Ate a quick breakfast with Kris then said our goodbyes. Back down into the desert bushes for me. 

Made about 10 miles of my 16 and set up the tent for a Manzanita tree nap. Temps have really gone up so it’s nasty hiking. Drenched in sweat all the time. Even when I nap. Dan and Bumble Bee the Belgian passed me up from Hiker Heaven. Talk about getting some miles in. They’re flying. Slow walked the last six up and around another desert hill and came down into another little valley. Some of the peeps were ranting and raving about Casa De Luna in Green Valley so I caught a ride down two miles to the hang out.

Casa De Luna Hang

Definitely not as put together as Hiker Heaven but free coffee, pancakes, and vegan taco dinners. Another fun little back channel town with amazing milkshakes. 

Torn between a couple decisions. Stick it out for a few more weeks or jump. Here, there are people doing all sorts of different things. Jumping to walker pass, jumping to Kennedy Meadows, powering through, Littlefoot just came back with a knee injury so he’s going to tehaxhapi for a doctor visit. The band is breaking up again but will most likely cross paths again in the Sierras! And that’s where I’m headed. Hit 400 miles of desert walking. Time to start my playing in the mountains. Want to make sure I spend the time I would like in the mountains instead of heat stoking down here. Terry is bringing myself and a crew out of the heat and to the base of the big ass play ground! Can not wait to jump in some mountain lakes! Mary, our ride changed it one day so one last day at Casa De Luna.

Day 24

Soooooo happy to be at the base of the mountains!! I think everyone around my start date or later have jumped some of that southern Cali. 110 degees and water caches being picked up has beat most everyone. There are a couple crazies we left behind. Quick Start was hoping to do 45 miles yesterday. Gotta love dumb stubborn indistrctable 18 year olds. It was fun in an entirely different way then the next section is gonna be. Challenge to survive the heat. But now I’m sitting at Kennedy Meadows with a bunch of hikers getting ready to get our Sierras in. I had Littlefoot shake me down (go through your bag and make you get rid of shit), and I realized I’m still stubbornly carrying unnecessary weight. Cut another couple pounds. I think I’m going have to get a light weight tent here in the Meadows as well to drop another 5 maybe 6 pounds in tent weight. Now, finally, I’ll be at an acceptable base weight. I’ll finally be able to move with speed and comfort. Already after the shakedown the pack feels like a feather. 

Anyways all is well and all is about to get much much betta!! Love you all long time. Also, there are apparently a decent amount of people reading this. Feet are much better! Mom sent my boots and I’m ready to rock and roll. Waiting at Grumpy bears for a few people to roll in. Big breakfast and of course a little Swedish soccer.

Shower, laundry, ship a package home, get a no weight tent and off into the mountains for a couple months tonight or tomorrow morning! Woooooohooooooooo

Big Bear

Shout out to the Parkers for trail Angeling for me! Food, rest, bed, and a ride. Well, this was much needed. I thrashed my feet the first two weeks and it was time to let them fully recover. Luckily I live on the west coast and there are friends along the way that are able to help out. I’d imagine some people from out east or further away might just call it and fly home. But not me. Feet are lookin greaaaatish and most importantly mother bear sent my “apple bottom jeaaans, booooots with the fuuur” (just my hiking boots). Feeling waaay more confident in foot sustainability in my boots. Shouldn’t have to come off trail again for health maintenance hopefully. Plus I’m now over supplied in the Foot care department. Mister Krister Blister care.  As great as that time-out was and very much needed, could of quite possibly been the hardest part for me so far. All the people hiking on and passing through, not logging miles, still not feeling like I’ve earned that big break, gaining weight vs.losing it (if I end this endeavor bigger than I started I’m gonna punchasize everyone in the face!) etc. couldn’t of been more antcy to get back out here in other words. 

I was able to day hike with my sister for three days and it’s good to be outside getting some fresh air with some fam. I think/hope it was a  reminder to bounce outta the city every once in awhile for a little slower pace, less people, fun exercise. 

Hitting that unexpected stop has definitely got me new new game planning! Now into sectional planning. Skip some sections of heat, slow down in the sections of beauty I want to be in longer.....who the hell knows. 

I got ferried up the road a bit to rejoin a couple fools. Feet back in the dirt finally! Leeez do thisss! 

Blister in the Sun

Day 6

“Yippee Kiyay Mother Fuckers!” Die Hard

Tough to leave a town with food and nice people. Had an offer for free breakfast but I was ready to get back to the trail since I’ve only just begun and not feelin like I’ve earned the in town day yet. Goofy rational I know. Thanks to Keith at the store in town along with Jim and Julie. All great people in Julian!! Walked the road a mile until John finally picked me up. Gave me a ride back to the trail. Discussed crazy prices of cities these days. Found out he goes back and forth between Julian and Pagosa Springs. Not sure how he pulled that off but fookin awesome! And yes John, I’ve heard of the best kept secret Wolf Creek. Just never skied there.One of these winters. really want to go there.

Look who we have here!! Just walking up to the road is Kwame and a new dude Luke or trail name Copper. I was excited to see them and hike, but they were lookin to hitch up to Warner Springs 30 miles. 

Today is a heat check day!! Hot. Switchbacks on the side of a desert mt. Hiked a ridge line in and out pretty much all the way up to mile 92. Gradual up, in and out, twist and turn. Well heeey, look who decided to hike instead. Kwame and Copper caught me around noon since I’m breaking every four miles to air out feet and change socks now. Good to have some fools to walk with. Got pretty quite and slow around 4pm, but we finally made it to the water cache at mile 92. Spirits are up. Water is glugged. I’m going for my third Ramen lunch in a row. Should be fun to cruise with these guys. We’re not short on jokes. Just shade. Copper is another youngster just graduated from CU. Go buffs! Lookin to move out to Oregon. Grab a masters in natural resource management. Work on sustainability of some sort and save our planet hopefully. And of course drink beer! Glad he joined up with Kwame. I wanted to hang with Kwame but I knew he was going to be to easy to convince to stop, maybe set camp early. It was going to be a touch to slow. We would of played negatively on each other as far as movement, and I was very aware of that becoming a thing. Now there’s Copper who is a hell raiser and wants to go go! Matter of fact we’re just beating the heat for a few hours and it’s NO STOP TILL Warner Springs! That’s another 20 to tack on through the night. Saweet. Was going to slow test the blisters. Instead it’s Yippee Kiyay motherfuckers. Also thought of this movie because my feet are starting to look like his at the end of the movie. I’ll give the blisters a C, they pass for walkable but by no means is it comfortable.

Night hike was awesome! I love getting out there at night. It was nice and cool and I’m very glad we did that section at night instead of the day. Had another decent ridge to climb. Sunset and moonrise was definitely one on the best things seen so far. 

The night ridge hike was fun especially with a full moon. As far as making Warner Springs…not even close. Started slowing waaay down at 10 pm. First night electing to go no tent. Nice to sleep under the stars! 

Things are heating up!!

Day 7

“Did you hear that!??”- Elf

Still enjoying the mind fuckery of every little noise. What was that? Gotta be a Cougar. Definitely hot wired, pre conditioned to come to the scariest conclusions. Guess that’s part of the problem. Negative/scary/dangerous topics are what’s worth talking about and better for gossip so the most irrational conclusions are what we come up with. But it’s not a Cougar obviously. What is it? My scruff rubbing on the sleeping bag, a bird, a branch against Lukes tent, etc etc. I do really love these brain games. Crazy irrational brain vs. rational/what the hell is really going on brain. Was doing this the first day as well thinking about snakes. Read to much snake crap. So every bush that rustled I did a double hop. What was it actually? Wind. A Lizard(50 billion of these fools. Some big doggs too!), me actually hitting the brush with my bag, etc etc. Common sense came back day two. I’ll see or hear the damn thing on this huge trail. I did hear one once, decent way off trail.

Got hiking at 6. Dropped down off the ridge and hit some flat desert trail. Mile 8 ran across the famous Eagle Rock. Pretty cool rock sitting in the middle of nowhere fo sho. 

Downgrading these blisters to a D. I’m at the slow waddle pace. Besides the pain, I can’t stand this pace. I’m a fast walker damnit. I don’t want to waddle for hours!! Also changed my socks in a pile of ant. It waaas exciting!

Happy to roll into Warner Springs. Rec Center provides a spot to camp, resupply, foot baths. Nice spot to stop. We decided to stay through to tomorrow night and hit up some more evening/night hiking. Sun is crushing everyone. Ran into a decent amount of hikers with similar start dates that are reassessing their hiking strategies. Chub, Yellow Toe, Britta ( 18 year old girl crushin it. Good on her! Also provided me with some blister help!), the Czech ladies, Emily, both Canadians in da house. So we’re definitely not the only crew fighting the good fight. 

Made double mac and went to bed at 8.

Day 8

“No Jump Tonight!” Band of Brothers.

11 hours of sleep. Noice. Today we’ve just been laying low getting ready for the night. Kwame found a new bag in the hiker box, which is a very good thing for him. His awkward loose fitting bag looked like a constant struggle. New bag looks way better. 

Got some breakfast at the one restaurant. Then destroyed everyone at scrabble. 

Now, looking for all the blister help I can get. Hiking guide Emily is going to doctor me up when she gets back from lunch. Crossing my fingers that we can get these grades up. B- maybe…, that’d be awesome. Otherwise the next 3 days to Idyllwild will once again have to much focus on pain tolerance vs. the fun hiking…..…..

……. Boooooo!!! No jump tonight for me. Tried to hike off into the sunset with Kwame, better known as Cherry B out here and Copper. Mind so ready to go. 95% of my body so ready to go. But, I’ve done a serious number on my feet. Feels like I’ve almost got stone bruises on my heels as well as the blisters. It would of been foolish and more importantly no fun if I tried to power through it. 

So I’ve got to hang back another night. Might try to head out with Emily and Britta tomorrow. I highly doubt that’s going to work, sooo the PCT probably just turned into a sectional hike for me. Bounce ahead a ways. Let the feet fully heel. Get my real hiking boots (wish I would of just done that in the first place), join back up with the guys, and come down to finish whatever I skipped Thanksgiving/Christmas time……..or something like that. 

I guess that’s why they trail named me New New Game Plan. Made me laugh. I guess that’s pretty on par with my type b, adjustable, go with the flow, change course daily attitude. So...if you’re feet are fuuucked up its time for a new new game plan. Guess I’ll figure that out in the morning.

Goodnight!

Day 9

“Game on”-Wayne’s World

There goes Emily and Britta bright and early. Not a chance I’m gonna be a go. What a bummer. Just me and yellow toe chillin at a random red center with ailments. He’s got a balloon finger that he’s already been to the hospital for. But still waiting for it to go down after getting some drugs. Smart man…..if it was my finger I bet I would of ran outta there to eager to keep hiking. 

Well…..what to do what to do. I’ve used up a lot of every bodies blister care stuff including mine. Now I’m super gluing everything which helps a little. Since I’m the bike...I’ve now decided to cement glue some rubber patches on top of the super glue! Yes….I read the warning. I’ll call my doctor later. Feeling pretty good, pretty good! Wrap it up and stuff it into my shoe. Nope nope nope. Way to many points of contact and to much rubbing. Hmmmm. Oh Boy….you know….they felt pretty good in my Crocs. Oh yea. Oh yea! Perfect hiking shoe. Squishy. Breathable. People are doing it in their Sandles and now I get why. Oh the game is back on!

Left at 1 ready to cover some ground! Thought about doing an all nighter to catch up with some peeps but that didn’t happen. Because this next 20 miles from Warner Springs was a gradual uphill back to 6000 feet. Proud of myself though. Definitely went beast mode on that hill. Probably because I had two days rest. And, I was cookin’ do to the power of music. First day I plugged into listen to something and maaan oh man was I feeling that hike. Another incredible sunset. Matched the Starbursts I was eating. Ooo. Red. Oooo. Orange. Oooo. Red. Most Incredible. Pink!!

Darkness was super fun. Bats would land/or be laying on the trail and my head lamp would hit their orange eyes. Took them awhile to finally take off. Mile 17 came to a dead stop. Face to face with Mrs. Skunk and a fresh baby pup (no idea what skunk young are called). Well. The child was not moving from the trail any time soon. Mama circled for a while, then slinked off the trail behind a rock. Nooot exactly sure how far away. Shit. Well. Here we go!! Sprint!!! Hop the pup. I smell skunk! Gotta be babies first release. To quick for you guys!! Muhaha. Maybe, we’ll see what the next person says that I run into. Water refill mile 18. Then I decided to chug up to the top of the hill. I can barely comprehend the beauty of that moonrise. Dark mountains, clouds zippin by. Wow! So fun. Spent hours trying to get some good pics. Camp at 1130. Slight breeze. And snore.

Day 10

“Some people just weren’t cut out for life on the road”- Dumb and Dumber

Gooodmorning! Time to climb down the mountain in order to climb back up that next one over dere.

Don’t forget toothpaste. Definitely the least I’ve ever brushed my teeth. But at least I’m savin weight brah.

Uh. Gotta say. I was not feeling today...reason for that quote. Rewrapped a bunch of blisters. Preventative measures on a couple new ones. Went back down into a valley. Starting today temp was suppose to go back up into the 90s from mid 70s and I feel it. Nothin really to new scenery wise. Same desert scene. Below is my bush of shade for lunch and siesta. Emily and Britta caught me since I was fooling with my feet so much. I passed them somewhere late in the night. Instead of pushing on I was easily convinced to hit the breaks and camp with them. Not the biggest fan of this spot. The creek was mud water that we had to treat and the second I layed down I was covered in tiny ants again!! Tonight has got me thinking about yo-yoing (term for bouncing around and section hiking) again. Not sure why do the extreme heat down here and then maybe muck up WA cause of cold and snow. We shaallll seeeee!

Day 11

“It’s already been brought!”- Bring it on

Had another 15 mile sluggeroonie to the Paradise Cafe cutoff. Time to bring it on! Kind of annoyed that I let myself stop yesterday and left so much for my feet today. Got to an unmarked water cache early which was a wonderful thing! Started listening to a book. Hillbilly Elegy. Pretty crazy story. Kept my mind off my feet. There was some cool cliff and desert sections I liked in here. Dipped off the trail down to the highway. Gotta eat at Paradise Cafe. Best burgers off the trail they say! Loaded up on allll the good stuff. Food comma time. Hiked a few more miles. There’s a fire diversion where you could go walk random dirt roads for “true mileage” or hitch the 10 miles to Idyllwild. Pretty sure everyone was hitchin and so am I. Not out here to walk roads and plus… my feet. Just a couple balls of tape and pads at this point. Draaaggging ass in town. Slow slow slow walk to the campsite. Another interesting brain game. Was able to tune out my hurting feet for 15 miles cause I essentially had to walk it. Then the minute you get to your destination, the Adrenalin or mind function that blocks that shit out disappears annnd I can barely walk again! happy to get off my feet...even though I’d love to shower and go grab a beeer! Tomorrow. Sleeep

Day 12

“ Stand me up today and tomorrow I’ll walk you to the front door of the school in my robe and pajamas.” -Uncle Buck

No connection with that quote...except robe and PJs sound pretty good.

Idyllwild is another awesome mountain town! Could definitely hang out here for a while. Got breakfast with a couple new hikers. Eric (Indiana Jones- got a high awareness of snakes) and Adam. The girls elected to get a room but I decided to camp the next couple nights. Taking another couple days I think for the feet. There’s a few other broken down peeps here. Eric doesn’t have blisters but his feet are not letting him go. Scout just came off the mountain with some Rangers. Knee says he can’t go. Not an easy adventure to stay in the game. Idyllwild is bigger than Julian with some more shops and stores annnd wiinne. Loaded up on blister care supplies and bought a new sock wardrobe!! So happy to find legit hikers gear. This new new set up should prevent the extreme blistering. (You’d be happy to know I now have the toe socks mom.) Just gotta repair the old damage and vunderbar! As fun as those 45 miles in Crocs. Super Fun! But Meh. Supportive shoes are cool too. Gonna go watch Solo tonight with Indiana. Hope they didn’t ruin Han Solo for me. We’ll try to get back out there tomorrow but who knows, could just end up moving here and serving popcorn at the theatre.

Cheers

Gotta Gotta Get Up

Days 3 

“I’m dying”

“You’re not dying, you just can’t think of anything better to do.” -Ferris Buellers day off.  

Been doing a lot of movie quotes in my head the past few days. I refer to this one because that’s how the ol’ legs made me feel when I woke up.. Laying there like a stiff staring at the top of my tent. I know it was only day three but I played my first mental game. “You lose already. Go home. Move to lake Morena and work at the malt shop.” 

Sat up. Saw a rabbit and a hummingbird right outside my tent window. Got out of the tent. Moved around for a few minutes to loosen the legs. Packed up the bag. Was super stoked for day three. Crazy what subtle differences can make. Laying down comfortable- this is crazy, silly, stupid. Standing with the bag on my back-this is awesome, go get some!

Felt greaaat today. Gotta say, being fully hydrated and getting 10 hours of sleep does help in the most common knowledge kind of way. 

Had a cool little desert section in the morning followed by a 6000 ft slope up to Mt. Laguna. Ran into a cool chick only going halfway up to Cibbets Flat instead of previous planned top of the mountain. Nice to know that there are others out there with crazy goals achangin right out of the gate. Good thing about that is everything is out the window and you get to strive for more realistic daily goals. I look at what I thought my schedule was going to be and I laugh and laugh and poop myself from laughing at it! Nahgonna NahGonna happen. Anyways. Emily from Tasmania you seem like a rad chick out here to enjoy. Hope we run into each other down the path and we can crush some 20s together. 

I managed to get to the top of the mountain and found myself a nice little pine meadow to set up in. Reminded me a lot of home forests. Longest day. Was a great hot climb. Went to bed as the sun was setting and the fog was rollin’ in.

Day 4

“Is the bear…...is the guy…”- Super Troopers

I have the potential to see a bear out here right?!?!! Why not!

Next early morning mental game! It’s foooking cooold outside. I’ll just stay in the tent till it warms up. I’ll hike the half mile and get a room at Mt. Laguna. 

Zip zip roll pack, bag on the back, let’s doooo this!

Walked ½ mile and ran into Shawn Hemmingway out car camping with his daughter. Hung out sippin some coffee. Thank you kind sir. Very fun morning walk. Foggy misty iry forest walk with a glimpse of sun here and there. Mile five for me, ran into Kwame from Phili packing up his bag gettin ready for the day. Outta the forest into the wind. Beautiful views but all in all the day never really got warm so you had to be moving. Kwame caught me at breakfast and we hiked out till lunch. Cool young dude with a ton of ambition.He’ll take over the world soon enough! I had to let him go ahead after lunch because it was time to assess my blister situation. It was nice to have a partner through that wind.

Day 5.

“Riiiight now”- Barry last Episode

If you’re watching my dot. Which I realize I haven’t had on for a bit. No I did not sprint to Julian in the middle of the night. I had to magically hitch this morning. Thought I’d make it here on my own for 3 20s in a row!..but no. It may or may not be 12 miles I’ll never get back. I’ll try not to stress to much about ‘em. Had to happen.

Let’s talk blisters shall we! I have one on both heel pads. Couple other randos and my toenails are already coming off. Yeeehaww! Yesterday I decided to leave the blisters and keep trucking. This was a smart decision. Annoying but could be thought of as walking with air Jordan’s, a little extra cushion for maximum dunk! Then, things changed. I decided to pop them. Usually not a big deal. Done this before….but not on the bottom of my foot. If I was biking I would say I just got two flat tires. Kick ass mph to FML mph. Had tape not mole skin. could not walk this out. So I had to hitch it on up here and take the rest of the day to figure out me feet.

In another good decision I dropped a ton of weight day two.( I was carrying enough food to get to Canada along with a bunch of other stoof that I mentioned I knew was dumb in post one. Sure Simko, I’ll let you have a little I told ya so.) However, I dropped a rolled up bundle of extra clothes. Annnd what was rolled up in that?!?? Extra pair of socks!!! I did not mean to let those go. So… large miles, wet dirty socks, shoes probably not as broken in as I should of made them lead to blister sisters. 

I’ve decided it’s probably mile 100ish that’s gotta be the toughest for people to get to. I’ve also heard this a few times already in this town. I’m sure they just get a summer full of dumb dumbs. But it takes a while to get all the right adjustments in. I was so excited to hit cruise control with my legs feeling fine I stubbornly ignored the wheels that actually take me places. 

On another note. Julian! There’s a free slice of pie and ice cream for pct hikers. Score! This town is awesome. Love small towns off the beaten path. Well...kind of off the beaten path. If this is the Memorial Day crowd I can only imagine what summers are like here. Book now everyone! 

So let’s try this out. Nothing is going to go wrong startinggg right now. Close scene. 

P.S. pie is bombdiggity!

Killa Beez Gonna Swarm

Day 1 and 2

Pretty surreal to get dropped off in the middle of nowhere on the Mexican border. It’s great to finally be movin along. Day one was packed with entertainment. First I got a bit of a late start. I decided that last sleep in bed was more important and I’m always down to hang out a little later when I’m with good friends. Thanks JB for the hospitality. Got an even later start cause my Uber driver got pulled over on the border about two miles from the start. Took ‘em a good chunck of time to believe a young 28 year old black man was driving a 34 year old white dude with half his head shaved in a ‘90’s beat up Mercedes. Finallly I had to get my wallet out of my bag in the trunk and they let us move on. 

On z trail! All went pretty well. Mile five had a hip flexor give me a little trouble. Tried to do it again around mile 10. Was able to stretch it out. One could say I was a little dehydrated...drinking wine into the night and pounding coffee in the morning has nothing to do with water. I was planning on only going ten since I left so late but I was still having fun and kept movin on.

Mile eleven was a hooot!! Johnny Boy-you totally jinxed me by saying I was guaranteed to trip. Beez got all up in my hat and gave me a couple love taps. Made me run like a wild child flingin my hat around and low and behold I hit the deck. Got a good chuckle out of it. Nothing like sweating all day and rolling through all the dirt. No longer beautiful. Oh well. Got to mile 15 and posted up. Dehydrated legs were very uncomfortable and that damn night bird made for a terrible second nights sleep. (First was due to over anticipation). 

Day numero dos I woke up later then I wanted. Set it for the wrong AM/PM. Two nights bad sleep and legs still a touch tired I made the awesome decision to not move on once I got to Morena Lake. Loading up on water and doing a little swimming. This first 10 days are gonna go a little slower than planned but that’s okaaay maaan. I’ll turn into a beast soon enough once I get a nice elephant tight ass #oldinstaname. Lookin to start the routine I’m actually wanting to do as far as hiking schedule tomorrow. 

Up up that mountain tomorrow. Switch switch switch back. Most all my photos are on my camera sooooo I’ve got these two.

Pack. Unpack. PACK. Unpack. PAAACK. Unpack

Well.  I have mastered the art of shuffling gear around in my bag. It looks so good!! Can't wait to tear it all apart tomorrow at lunch because I can't find a lighter. The good thing is I've definitely shed a ton of weight since the first time I filled her up. Definitely still heavier than the internet people suggest but I'm fine with lugging a little extra weight for now to get my bearings on must haves vs. extraneous materials. I'm pretty sure I know what some of the extraneous things are buuuut I'm not giving them up yet.  I'm sure I'll have it dialed in a few weeks............

Anyways. Stoked to finally get out there tomorrow! Ready to be doing the damn thing and no longer thinking/talking about it.

This blog has been created mainly to update my mother with a little more substance than following my Spot device. Here's the link to that if you care to watch me walk at a slow slow pace. http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0W601dNhrSTegbAZrHhqjRzAd3on2XfRZ

If you feel so inclined to follow along with her in the blogosphero, I'd love to have ya. I wouldn't have huge expectations as far as quantity of posts go. I certainly don't have any. Same goes for the dot Spot watching. Nobody know's how many miles I'll be doing a day. Even if I mentioned an idea to some of you of what I would like to be doing it could be waaaaaaay off base. But keep calm and...chive on...errr...just occasionally check in and maybe I'll have begrudgingly typed out a post on my phone with some photos.

Love you all so very very much and I look forward to seeing everyone out there!

Cheers,

Looks like some pretty peachy weather to start this shindig as long as I've got some sunscreen.