Day 4 5/18
16 miles, total miles 63
It really felt like walking in the desert today, it was hot! I got an early start, around 6:45. My first stop was a water pump about a mile away, I currently had only 1 liter of water left. Once I refilled my bottles I took off. The next section is a little more rugged and has less water, so it took a little planning. The views were spectacular, the trail followed mountain sides all around. It was a little scary at points, because the trail was only a few feet wide, and on one side was the mountain, and the other side was straight down. Did I mention it was windy? One wrong step and I would've went tumbling down the mountain. I went through so much water I had to fill up again, this time at a water tank that poured into a horse trough. Now the water is the trough was gross, but I could stick my bottle under the running faucet and get the clean water. I still filtered it of course. I met one guy today who said he doesn't filter water much. I told him he might regret that decision when he's got the Hershey squirts and nothing but a 6 inch hole in the dirt. When I was filtering water at the horse trough, I saw a coyote saunter on by. He looked at me and just walked on, I didn't phase him at all. He probably thought that I smelled too bad. By the end of the day my feet were killing me. The trail has been covered in these large loose rocks that are just destroying my feet. My last couple miles was basically me hobbling around like an old man. I set up camp in a nice shady spot and cooked my dinner. Instant potatoes and meat sticks, it was delicious! Almost made it to 100 miles!
Day 5 5/19
16 miles 79 total miles
Slept real good last night. When I woke up my feet were still pretty sore. I had about 1 liter of water on me, with 5 miles till the next water source, and it was supposed to be hotter than yesterday so I had to get an early start. I was on trail by 7, and of course had to start my day with an uphill mile on an old dirt road. After that the next 4 miles went pretty quick. Once I hit the junction for the water source, I realized that it was not on trail. I had to hike 1 mile down this old jeep road that was in utter disrepair and went down a very steep hill. Going downhill is not easy or fun as some people think. Going downhill means a lot of weight on your knees and toes, and when your toes have blisters on them it can be very uncomfortable. I make it halfway down this hill and there is this big barb wire gate. It made me stop for a minute because I didn't really want to stumble into some drug house or something. But I eventually decided to take the risk, if I ran into trouble I have 2 hiking poles and I know how to use them. I also run pretty fast. So I crawled under the barn wire fence and continues down the hill. I finally made it to the source, a dirty little pipe with delicious, refreshing water flowing from it. I filtered my 5 liters and started my long ass climb back to the trail. Believe it or not, the uphill was easier than the down hill. It requires more energy, but it hurts less. I had 8 miles until the next water source. It was a hot 8 miles with very little shade. I was trying to keep my neck covered to protect it from sunburn, but my hands ended up getting the most burnt, because they were the only skin exposed since I was holding my trekking poles. The first 5 of those miles were pretty hilly, the last 3 were very flat and very hot. The last 3 miles were a push to route 78, where the trail crossed at a point called scissors crossing. I had different plans however. It was time to change things up a bit. I walked up to route 78 and stuck my thumb out. It was time to hitch a ride into town. Julian, CA was about 12 miles down 78. They were supposed to be really friendly to hikers, a very popular stop. I was looking forward to some hot food and a shower.i wasn't waiting long when a lady pulled to the side of the road and waved for me to get in. She was driving a mini van, and told me I had to sit in the very back, this was more because of my rancid smell than her sense of security. When I crawled in the back I realized she had a baby in the back seat. She told me to not mind him if he started crying because I smelled bad. He only looked at me with a curious look on his face, trying to figure out what the hell I was doing in the back of the van. That or he was pooping, who knows. Real nice lady though. So she dropped me off in this touristy looking town that had some serious hankering for pie. There were pie shops everywhere, or as I like to call it, heaven. Unfortunately most of them were closed by the time I got there. I mostly wanted a bed and a shower. I walked over to a neat looking bed and breakfast and asked the gentleman at the counter if there were any rooms available. Now people in this town are used to hikers, they understand that we smell awful. The guy at the counter handled that very well, the girl that walked in behind the counter a minute later, not so much. She literally gagged at my smell. What a time to be alive. The guy told me the only room available was a king suite and it was kind of expensive. There were only 3 other lodges in Julian, and one was full already. I just said screw it, give me the king suite. Then he proceeded to give me a speel about not using there white towels to wipe down my gear. I get it! Hikers are dirty, jeez all I wanna do is shower. All in all it was a really nice place! I took 2 showers and washed my clothes in the tub. I made sure I cleaned meticulously, to help the reputation of future hikers. I ate dinner at this amazing little Italian joint, after I showered of course, but before I washed my clothes so there was still 50% stink. I sat at the bar, away from most people, so I didn't disturb their dinner. It must have been a funny sight, a stinky homeless looking guy sipping wine with his pinky up at a fancyish restaurant. The food was delicious! I returned to my king sized bed and hit the sack.
5/20
I am sad to announce that this is the end of my PCT journey for now. While I only completed roughly 1/30th of the entire trail, I am very proud of my accomplishments. The reason is simple. As you can imagine, it gets very lonely on the trail. This was something I thought I was prepared for, but there is a difference between being alone and being isolated. It's not like a vacation where there are a lot of things occupying your mind. You are completely alone with your thoughts as you walk the trail. Sure you meet someone every once in a while, but for the majority of the time you are alone and with no cell service. It's not that I was worried about my safety or anything, it just would have been nice to have someone to share the beauty with.
So instead of talking about what I didn't accomplish, I'd like to talk about what I did. I had an awesome trip with my dad driving across the country. I crossed 2 more states off my list, Nevada and California, bring me to 40 or 41 total states visited. I got to drive through Vegas. I saw the Pacific Ocean for the first time. I got to explore San Diego. I backpacked 80 miles in 5 days through the desert, carrying all my supplies on my back. I hitchhiked for the first time. And finally I will be flying in a plane for the first time on my way home.
That is a pretty good list in my book. I am 100% happy with how this trip turned out. I am not done with the PCT just yet however. Instead of completing it all in one shot, I decided to chip away at it one chunk at a time, and who knows maybe in 26 years I will have completed it! I want to thank everyone who has been following my journey. It has really meant a lot to me. I want to thank Savannah for having patience with me through my journey! I want to thank my mom, who was very supportive of me, and was my supply coordinator. Lastly, I want to thank my dad for instilling in me this sense of adventure that put me on this track in the first place. And let's not forget him driving me all the way to San Diego. Thank you everyone for your support. Stay tuned for more PCT adventures. ( disclaimer it may be over a year)
Cheers!
Saturday, May 20, 2017
Thursday, May 18, 2017
First Stretch!
Day 1 5/15
15 miles
I didn't sleep very well that night so I was pretty tired in the morning. Admittedly, dad and I did a tour of the local breweries on Sunday so I was feeling pretty hungover. Was I starting a 2650 mile trail hungover? Yes. Do I regret anything? Not until about mile 4. Dad and I made it to the trail head around 9:30. It actually rained on our drive to the trail, the car said it was 45 degrees outside! We took a few obligatory picture at the southern terminus and talked to terminus Tom who is a volunteer that stayed at the trailhead to answer anyone's questions and make sure everyone is knowledgeable about LNT (leave no trace). We hit the first official mile marker of the PCT. It was all very surreal, a year's worth of planning and it is finally happening. The trail was so quiet, we were the only people within shouting distance. Dad hiked with me until the 3 mile mark, then we shared some emotional goodbyes and headed our separate ways. Once dad left, this feeling of true isolation and loneliness hit me. The expected thoughts of "holy shit what are you doing?" and "you're never gonna make it" started to hit me. They did not last long, if I don't make it to Canada, bummer, but I damn sure will try my hardest. Anyways, I didn't run into another hiker until afternoon, then I ran into about 6 or 7 more. Passing them all up I might add. The goal for the day was to make it to Lake Morena at mile 20. I started to feel really drained around mile 7, so I sat down and munched on a few things and it perked me right up. I also plugged my headphones into my phone and listened to an audio book. It really helps you take your mind off of the pain. The trail was beautiful, most of the day I walked along the top of the ridges with a grand view all around. I walked through some sections of trail that were recovering from previous forest fires. I saw a few critters, some rabbits, a squirrel, a bunch of lizards, 8.5 million fire ants, but no snakes yet. I ended up stopping at mile 15 to set up camp, my legs were dead and I could make the last 4.5 mile uphill climb to Lake Morena. There was about 5 other people set up in this nice little Grove. I'm going to bed early tonight!
Day 2 5/16
17 miles, total miles 32
Today started out like the day from he'll. First of all, let's not gorges about the four mile climb I have to do right away. I wake up around 5:45 to the sound of rain battering my tent. All I could think of was seriously, this is southern California, I didn't think it rIned here! Anyways, I roll back over and go to sleep, hoping it would quit soon. It didn't. I got up a little after 7 and started packing up. The hill was a pretty intese way to start the day, it wasn't so steep, just long. By this time the rain had turned into a mist, but I was soaked anyways. I met up with my first trail friend, Tim, and we pushed on to the top. I finally got to the top, and just like that there was lake Morena! It was like a beacon of hope. So Tim and I went down to the lake and took a little detour to a small diner just down the road. I had a coffee, OJ, and a big ole breakfast burrito. It was well deserved. After that the day went great, the trail was flat and the rain stopped. My plan was to go 17 miles and camp at a small spot in Fred canyon. I stopped at a campground at mile 26 because they had cell service so I could call home, but I still had 6 miles of ground to cover. Those last 2 miles were beautiful, I spent most of the time walking along a ridge with, what looked like, all of southern California before me. The last 2 miles were tough because I was beat. I hit my camp spot cooked a little dinner, let my tent dry and went to bed. There is a creek a few feet from my tent, I think it's babbling will put me to sleep real quick.
Day 3 5/17
16 miles, total miles 46
Woke up at six to a beautiful morning. Took my time getting ready, because I only had to do 15 miles today. I want to take it easy and not over work myself for the first couple days. Not to mention my planned stop for the night was Mt laguna campground, and they have ... wait for it... showers! That's right I said it! My first shower since Monday morning. I gotta be honest with you, I smell like a homeless man holding a used baby diaper. Back to it then, the day did not start out great. I hiked about a half mile down the trail when I ran into a fellow hiker named Jake walking the opposite way, but I had made it farther than Jake yesterday so I was confused why I was crossing paths with him. Yep. I was walking the wrong way like an idiot. I would have found out eventually, but I'm glad I ran into Jake as soon as I did. Now that I was going the right direction, I found out that Jake had hiked the PCT in 2006 and was going for round 2, thus I dubbed him with the trail name of Two Timer. Although it was quickly changed to Old School because he has a bunch of old gear and is always reminiscent of his 06 hike. We hiked about 10 miles to Mt laguna, where I stopped at nice little tavern for lunch. I wandered around the little town for about an hour and then took off. My feet were killing me, I was about ready to call I quits. I hiked another 6 miles, mostly on an exposed ridge and the wind was crazy. 50 to 60 mph gusts. I found a little notch under some trees and anchored my tent down and prayed I didn't blow away. Tim and a guy named Payton caught up and camped with me, so it was nice to know someone will witness me blow away, hopefully they will video it. And I did not make it to the campground with showers.
15 miles
I didn't sleep very well that night so I was pretty tired in the morning. Admittedly, dad and I did a tour of the local breweries on Sunday so I was feeling pretty hungover. Was I starting a 2650 mile trail hungover? Yes. Do I regret anything? Not until about mile 4. Dad and I made it to the trail head around 9:30. It actually rained on our drive to the trail, the car said it was 45 degrees outside! We took a few obligatory picture at the southern terminus and talked to terminus Tom who is a volunteer that stayed at the trailhead to answer anyone's questions and make sure everyone is knowledgeable about LNT (leave no trace). We hit the first official mile marker of the PCT. It was all very surreal, a year's worth of planning and it is finally happening. The trail was so quiet, we were the only people within shouting distance. Dad hiked with me until the 3 mile mark, then we shared some emotional goodbyes and headed our separate ways. Once dad left, this feeling of true isolation and loneliness hit me. The expected thoughts of "holy shit what are you doing?" and "you're never gonna make it" started to hit me. They did not last long, if I don't make it to Canada, bummer, but I damn sure will try my hardest. Anyways, I didn't run into another hiker until afternoon, then I ran into about 6 or 7 more. Passing them all up I might add. The goal for the day was to make it to Lake Morena at mile 20. I started to feel really drained around mile 7, so I sat down and munched on a few things and it perked me right up. I also plugged my headphones into my phone and listened to an audio book. It really helps you take your mind off of the pain. The trail was beautiful, most of the day I walked along the top of the ridges with a grand view all around. I walked through some sections of trail that were recovering from previous forest fires. I saw a few critters, some rabbits, a squirrel, a bunch of lizards, 8.5 million fire ants, but no snakes yet. I ended up stopping at mile 15 to set up camp, my legs were dead and I could make the last 4.5 mile uphill climb to Lake Morena. There was about 5 other people set up in this nice little Grove. I'm going to bed early tonight!
Day 2 5/16
17 miles, total miles 32
Today started out like the day from he'll. First of all, let's not gorges about the four mile climb I have to do right away. I wake up around 5:45 to the sound of rain battering my tent. All I could think of was seriously, this is southern California, I didn't think it rIned here! Anyways, I roll back over and go to sleep, hoping it would quit soon. It didn't. I got up a little after 7 and started packing up. The hill was a pretty intese way to start the day, it wasn't so steep, just long. By this time the rain had turned into a mist, but I was soaked anyways. I met up with my first trail friend, Tim, and we pushed on to the top. I finally got to the top, and just like that there was lake Morena! It was like a beacon of hope. So Tim and I went down to the lake and took a little detour to a small diner just down the road. I had a coffee, OJ, and a big ole breakfast burrito. It was well deserved. After that the day went great, the trail was flat and the rain stopped. My plan was to go 17 miles and camp at a small spot in Fred canyon. I stopped at a campground at mile 26 because they had cell service so I could call home, but I still had 6 miles of ground to cover. Those last 2 miles were beautiful, I spent most of the time walking along a ridge with, what looked like, all of southern California before me. The last 2 miles were tough because I was beat. I hit my camp spot cooked a little dinner, let my tent dry and went to bed. There is a creek a few feet from my tent, I think it's babbling will put me to sleep real quick.
Day 3 5/17
16 miles, total miles 46
Woke up at six to a beautiful morning. Took my time getting ready, because I only had to do 15 miles today. I want to take it easy and not over work myself for the first couple days. Not to mention my planned stop for the night was Mt laguna campground, and they have ... wait for it... showers! That's right I said it! My first shower since Monday morning. I gotta be honest with you, I smell like a homeless man holding a used baby diaper. Back to it then, the day did not start out great. I hiked about a half mile down the trail when I ran into a fellow hiker named Jake walking the opposite way, but I had made it farther than Jake yesterday so I was confused why I was crossing paths with him. Yep. I was walking the wrong way like an idiot. I would have found out eventually, but I'm glad I ran into Jake as soon as I did. Now that I was going the right direction, I found out that Jake had hiked the PCT in 2006 and was going for round 2, thus I dubbed him with the trail name of Two Timer. Although it was quickly changed to Old School because he has a bunch of old gear and is always reminiscent of his 06 hike. We hiked about 10 miles to Mt laguna, where I stopped at nice little tavern for lunch. I wandered around the little town for about an hour and then took off. My feet were killing me, I was about ready to call I quits. I hiked another 6 miles, mostly on an exposed ridge and the wind was crazy. 50 to 60 mph gusts. I found a little notch under some trees and anchored my tent down and prayed I didn't blow away. Tim and a guy named Payton caught up and camped with me, so it was nice to know someone will witness me blow away, hopefully they will video it. And I did not make it to the campground with showers.
Saturday, May 13, 2017
Final Thoughts
The time has come. As I type this, I am on my way to San Diego to start the Pacific Crest Trail. I want to give a big thank you to my dad for taking the time to drive me out to California and to eventually pick me up when I am finished.
I am not really nervous to start, just feeling a little antsy and ready to get moving. It has been an amazing drive so far. Driving is the way to go, it is the only true was to get to see the country.
That is the bridge over the Mississippi River.
This is a wind farm on the Plains of Kansas.
My pack base weight ended up being around 23 pounds. The means 23 pounds without including food or water. When I added my food bag, it weighed 36 pounds. Once I add on 6 liters of water my final pack weight will be about 50 pounds. I went for a 3 mile walk with my pack at home, just to make sure everything felt comfortable. The first half mile was a bit of an adjustment period, but after that I fell into a groove.
My starting body weight is about 215 pounds. I'm hoping to get down to about 190 ish by the end of the trail.
Dad and I took route 70 west, and it was one of the most scenic drives I have ever been on. A lot of people found it hard to believe that we were driving across country instead of flying. Driving is the way to go, it is the only true way to see our beautiful country. I highly recommend everybody add a road trip down route 70 to their bucket list, it is a truly amazing experience.
My pack base weight ended up being around 23 pounds. The means 23 pounds without including food or water. When I added my food bag, it weighed 36 pounds. Once I add on 6 liters of water my final pack weight will be about 50 pounds. I went for a 3 mile walk with my pack at home, just to make sure everything felt comfortable. The first half mile was a bit of an adjustment period, but after that I fell into a groove.
My starting body weight is about 215 pounds. I'm hoping to get down to about 190 ish by the end of the trail.
Dad and I took route 70 west, and it was one of the most scenic drives I have ever been on. A lot of people found it hard to believe that we were driving across country instead of flying. Driving is the way to go, it is the only true way to see our beautiful country. I highly recommend everybody add a road trip down route 70 to their bucket list, it is a truly amazing experience.
Day 1 of driving we drove for 13 hours and stopped just shy of Kansas city. The second day we drove a whopping 15 hours through Kansas, Colorado, and stopped about halfway through Utah. On day three we drove from Utah to San Diego in about 12 hours. We will spend tomorrow exploring the city, and on Monday morning I start my journey! Wish me luck!
Saturday, April 15, 2017
4 weeks left!!
It's getting down to crunch time! Four weeks from today dad and I will be driving out to San Diego. May 15th is my official start date of the trail! These past few weeks have been going by so slow, graduating college in 3 weeks and starting a 2,650 mile hike the next week.
A lot of people have been asking me what I am doing to prepare for this journey. Honestly, aside from soaking in as much information as I can, I haven't been doing much in terms of physically preparing. This will probably make the first few weeks on the trail suck, because it will take my body a little longer to adjust to the daily exertion.
I had to add a few new items to my gear list. The main 2 are microspikes and an ice axe. There has been huge amounts of snow in the Sierras this year. It was very close to becoming a record year for snow fall! A lot of hikers are freaking out about it, I say bring on the challenge! Plus I will be starting later than most so it will give the snow more of a chance to melt.
Now that the weather is getting a little nicer maybe I will get out and go for a run and try to get in a little better shape. A lot of people are starting the trail in April, so I have been keeping up with a lot of blogs to see what to expect. The anticipation is growing!
Here is a link to my pack list:
https://lighterpack.com/r/1ianga
A lot of people have been asking me what I am doing to prepare for this journey. Honestly, aside from soaking in as much information as I can, I haven't been doing much in terms of physically preparing. This will probably make the first few weeks on the trail suck, because it will take my body a little longer to adjust to the daily exertion.
I had to add a few new items to my gear list. The main 2 are microspikes and an ice axe. There has been huge amounts of snow in the Sierras this year. It was very close to becoming a record year for snow fall! A lot of hikers are freaking out about it, I say bring on the challenge! Plus I will be starting later than most so it will give the snow more of a chance to melt.
Now that the weather is getting a little nicer maybe I will get out and go for a run and try to get in a little better shape. A lot of people are starting the trail in April, so I have been keeping up with a lot of blogs to see what to expect. The anticipation is growing!
Here is a link to my pack list:
https://lighterpack.com/r/1ianga
Tuesday, December 27, 2016
Knobstone Trail Hike
The Knobstone Trail is a 48-58 mile backpacking trail that is located in southern Indiana. One end of the trail has a figure 8 style loop which adds the extra 10 miles to bring it to a 58 total mile trail. Savannah and I decided to forgo the extra loops and just hike straight out to the end, 48 miles. The trail runs along the Knobstone escarpment, which basically means that it is 48 miles of evil hills. I know what you are thinking, hills in Indiana? Well its true, over the course of the trail you will climb a steep 400 foot hill only to go right down the other side, and then another hill and another. The trail has often been described as rugged and very difficult, and I can confirm this. Many hikers use this trail to train for thru-hiking the Appalachian trail.
This little adventure took a little planning. First of all, it is a one way trail and not a loop, this means I have to park my car at one end, hike the trail, and then figure out how to get back to my car. Luckily, there are a couple shuttle services that are offered to transport backpackers to and from the trail. I used the shuttle provided by Go Deep Adventures (http://www.go-deepadventures.com/). The plan was to park my car at the north side of the trail at Delaney State Park, then take the shuttle to the southern trail-head at Deam Lake. Another logistical issue was water, according to all reports the trail was bone dry. Fortunately, the gentleman driving the shuttle also helped you drop off water caches as well. There are several different trail-heads all along the trail that divide it into sections. This makes it easy to section hike, as well as cache water. I dropped three water caches, one at New Chapel trail-head (mile 17), Leota trail-head (mile 26), and Oxley Memorial trail-head (mile 38).
Day 1
So the plan was to leave bright and early Saturday morning so Savannah and I could make the 5 hour drive to the trail-head to park the car before noon, drop off our water, and take the shuttle to the other end by 1. That way we could get a good start on the trail for our first half day and we would only have to hike a couple miles on the last day. We managed to get up and hit the road by 7, so the day started out according to plan. Then traffic happened. We got stuck in traffic for an hour and a half, so that 5 hour drive turned into nearly 7 hours. The worst part about this was that I told the shuttle driver to meet me at the trail-head at noon, but didn't show up until 1:30. I felt really bad for wasting the guys time, but he didn't seem to mind. He was a really nice guy, and knew everything there was about the trail and the surrounding area.
The process of dropping off 3 water caches and getting to the other side of the trail took longer than we expected, about 2 hours. So we didn't start the trail until 3:30, two and a half hours later than we had planned. So much for hiking 10 miles on day one. Luckily, the first few miles of the trail were pretty easy, so we made pretty good time. The first mile or so of the trail was shared with a horse trail, so it was nice and wide and pretty flat. Our first encounter with wild life came shortly after the first mile when I almost stepped on a little green snake. I thought it was just a plant at first, but then I caught it wiggle out of the corner of my eye.
After the trail separated from the horse trail, it started to get a little more intense. The hills started rolling and the trail got pretty steep at times, but I wasn't convinced of the so-called "ruggedness" of this trail yet. No, that would come on day 2. We hit mile marker 4 around 5:30ish and decided to take a quick water break. We decided to stop and make camp at the next good spot we came across, since it was October, the sun was starting to set earlier and we wanted to set up camp before dark. We made it about another mile before finding a nice little established campsite on the top of a ridge. There we set up camp and cooked some noodles and tuna on my little pocket rocket stove. We both slept pretty good despite neither of us having a sleeping pad.
After the trail separated from the horse trail, it started to get a little more intense. The hills started rolling and the trail got pretty steep at times, but I wasn't convinced of the so-called "ruggedness" of this trail yet. No, that would come on day 2. We hit mile marker 4 around 5:30ish and decided to take a quick water break. We decided to stop and make camp at the next good spot we came across, since it was October, the sun was starting to set earlier and we wanted to set up camp before dark. We made it about another mile before finding a nice little established campsite on the top of a ridge. There we set up camp and cooked some noodles and tuna on my little pocket rocket stove. We both slept pretty good despite neither of us having a sleeping pad.
Day 2
We woke up at about 8ish, got everything packed up and were ready to go at 9. Today was our first real day of hiking. We had 12 miles to go until our first water drop, and we still had about 2 liters of water. Since we had camped at the top of one of the knobs (get it... knobstone?) the trail immediately descended in a rather steep fashion. Within a couple minutes we hit mile marker 5, this began the section of the trail that went through a tornado damage area. It lasted a couple miles and may have been one of the prettiest parts of the trail, only because it was clear of all trees and once you got to the top of whats called the round knob, you could see all around for miles.
This was a tough part of the trail though, since there were no trees in the area, there were no places to put the white blazes that marked the trail. This wasn't an issue until mile 7. At this point we were hiking up a pretty steep hill, and had missed the small trail sign, that was mostly covered up by brush, that told us to go right. Instead, we continued to climb to the top of the hill. When we got to the top of the hill we were pretty confused because there was no obvious sign of the trail. Eventually we found a small logging road (that was not on the map) and decided to follow it and hope that we were on the right path. At the time it seemed like the only viable option. After walking for a while with no sign of the trail, we decided to retrace our steps until we found the last blaze we had past. We headed all the way back down the hill, this was when we finally found the small hidden sign pointing us in the right direction. While we were relieved to be back on the trail, we had wasted about an hour in this little turnaround. We knew we still had 10 miles to go before new water, and we were starting to get a little nervous.
The hills in this section of the trail seemed particularly intense. I think that was mostly because we were starting to get dehydrated. We would stop every 2 miles to take a quick water break, in an attempt to stay hydrated and conserve water. Despite running dangerously low on water, we had a bigger fear other than dehydration. ACORNS! I'm not talking about your run of the mill acorns, these bad boys were monstrous! We had to stay constantly vigilant because at any moment a golf ball sized acorn would come crashing through the trees. I got hit in the head once and had many other close calls. Not only were they a falling hazard, but they littered the trail and made it extremely dangerous to climb and descend all of the steep hills. Imagine trying to climb a steep staircase with no handrails, and is covered in marbles! That was basically what it was like.
So we hit mile twelve and at this point I was pretty sure that we would end up face down in a ditch somewhere. We were both so dehydrated and only had a few sips of water left with 5 miles to go until the first water cache. If there is anything you need to know about me, its that I sweat a lot! I am not terribly out of shape, but I just sweat like crazy, so needless to say I was losing a lot of sweat on this hike. I was starting to feel pretty lightheaded and dizzy, you know basically heading into the danger-zone of dehydration. Then a miracle happened. We found a small creek bed that was not completely dry! Never have I been so happy to see a muddy little puddle before. What I said before was totally true, there was hardly a drop of water on this trail. There was a creek bed at the bottom of every hill, and every one of them was dry. So when we found this small puddle of water, we dropped to our knees. I used my Sawyer mini to filter some the water into our bottles and we decided to stop and have lunch. That muddy water was, hands down, the best water I have ever had in my life! We refueled with some bagels and peanut butter and a granola bar, filled all our water bottles up and were ready to move on.
After eating lunch, our next goal was to hit the New Chapel trail-head in 5 miles, which was our first water drop. We were making good time now that we were hydrated and refueled. Then we hit our first trail reroute. There were several sections of the trail that were rerouted due to logging activity, and they turned out to be a major pain in the ass. The first one was around mile 14, there was a sign in the middle of the trail with a very vague map that did not match up with the map that I had. So we followed the new trail and it lead us to a dirt road. As we followed the dirt road we saw several white blazes on telephone poles, so we knew we were going in the right direction. Somewhere along this road we missed the part where the trail left the road and went back into the woods, none of this was well marked at all. We took out our map and tried to figure out what the hell to do. The dirt road ended on a pretty busy county road just ahead, so instead of wasting our time backtracking we just walked up to the paved road and decided to follow it. According to the map, about 2 miles up this road was the road to the New Chapel trail-head. Lucky for us, the map was actually right! After a few miles of dodging cars on this busy road we finally made it to the New Chapel trail-head. We enjoyed our fresh water, had a few snacks, and decided to push on.
We made it about 2 more miles before finding a nice little campsite at mile 19. The sun was starting to go down and we had a pretty long day, so we decided to stop here for the night and make some dinner. Finding a campsite on this trail turned out to be a little stressful. The park officials request that you camp at existing campsites, in order to preserve the integrity of the trail. Well we didn't have much of an option with this trail. Aside from the preexisting campsites, there was really no good spot to camp. The terrain was either too steep or covered in pricker bushes. Each night we had to make a decision when we passed a campsite whether or not to stop there or to take the risk and hope we found another spot before dark. It never turned out to be an issue, we seemed to find a spot right when we needed to, but it was pretty stressful at the time.
So we hit mile twelve and at this point I was pretty sure that we would end up face down in a ditch somewhere. We were both so dehydrated and only had a few sips of water left with 5 miles to go until the first water cache. If there is anything you need to know about me, its that I sweat a lot! I am not terribly out of shape, but I just sweat like crazy, so needless to say I was losing a lot of sweat on this hike. I was starting to feel pretty lightheaded and dizzy, you know basically heading into the danger-zone of dehydration. Then a miracle happened. We found a small creek bed that was not completely dry! Never have I been so happy to see a muddy little puddle before. What I said before was totally true, there was hardly a drop of water on this trail. There was a creek bed at the bottom of every hill, and every one of them was dry. So when we found this small puddle of water, we dropped to our knees. I used my Sawyer mini to filter some the water into our bottles and we decided to stop and have lunch. That muddy water was, hands down, the best water I have ever had in my life! We refueled with some bagels and peanut butter and a granola bar, filled all our water bottles up and were ready to move on.
After eating lunch, our next goal was to hit the New Chapel trail-head in 5 miles, which was our first water drop. We were making good time now that we were hydrated and refueled. Then we hit our first trail reroute. There were several sections of the trail that were rerouted due to logging activity, and they turned out to be a major pain in the ass. The first one was around mile 14, there was a sign in the middle of the trail with a very vague map that did not match up with the map that I had. So we followed the new trail and it lead us to a dirt road. As we followed the dirt road we saw several white blazes on telephone poles, so we knew we were going in the right direction. Somewhere along this road we missed the part where the trail left the road and went back into the woods, none of this was well marked at all. We took out our map and tried to figure out what the hell to do. The dirt road ended on a pretty busy county road just ahead, so instead of wasting our time backtracking we just walked up to the paved road and decided to follow it. According to the map, about 2 miles up this road was the road to the New Chapel trail-head. Lucky for us, the map was actually right! After a few miles of dodging cars on this busy road we finally made it to the New Chapel trail-head. We enjoyed our fresh water, had a few snacks, and decided to push on.
We made it about 2 more miles before finding a nice little campsite at mile 19. The sun was starting to go down and we had a pretty long day, so we decided to stop here for the night and make some dinner. Finding a campsite on this trail turned out to be a little stressful. The park officials request that you camp at existing campsites, in order to preserve the integrity of the trail. Well we didn't have much of an option with this trail. Aside from the preexisting campsites, there was really no good spot to camp. The terrain was either too steep or covered in pricker bushes. Each night we had to make a decision when we passed a campsite whether or not to stop there or to take the risk and hope we found another spot before dark. It never turned out to be an issue, we seemed to find a spot right when we needed to, but it was pretty stressful at the time.
Day 3
There is something about waking up in the woods on a beautiful Monday morning, not having to go to work that is so relaxing. It was a little on the chilly side to start the day out, but we quickly warmed up after walking for a few minutes. Our next goal was to make it to our next water drop at the Leota trail-head at mile 26. The first mile or so turned out to be pretty flat, which was a nice way to start the morning. I let Savannah lead the way, I told her it was because I wanted her to set the pace, but the real reason was so she would walk through all the spider webs that went across the trail so I didn't have to! (hehe) She turned out to be one hell of a fast walker though, I had a hard time keeping up with her most of the time!
The last mile before Leota was a killer. By the time we hit mile 25 we were ready for a break, but we decided to push on and take our lunch break at Leota. After mile 25 the trail started a steep climb, no switchbacks, just straight up the hill. There were some wooden planks that were meant to act as stairs, but they were almost completely worn out. All that was left of them was the big metal stake sticking out of the ground. This was about par for the course for this trail, it was not well maintained at all. By the time we made it to the top of the hill we were ready to collapse. We reached the trail head and I hobbled through the prickers to retrieve our fresh water stash, and we both sprawled out on the ground cloth and took a nice long lunch break.
Our next stop that day was at a lake by Elk Creek trail-head at mile 32. By the time we got to the lake we were pretty whooped, but we knew we needed to push on so that we didn't have to hike all day tomorrow. We took a quick break at the lake to refill our water bottles, and I got to use my sawyer filter for the first time. The lake water tasted like dirt, but it was damn good dirt.
When we left the lake, the sun was slowly making its way down the horizon. We made it another two miles before we decided to camp. They were the longest two miles of the trip. We were so tired, I was literally dragging my feet. We crawled to the top of the last knob of the day and found the perfect camp spot for the night. It was a nice little grassy knoll just big enough for the tent. I set up the tent as Savannah cooked our noodles. We enjoyed our Knorr Alfredo on a cozy little log. Did I mention that we forgot to bring utensils? I totally forgot to pack a fork or spoon, so the whole trip we ended up using a ziplok bag like a glove and just eating noodles and rice out of our hands. Pretty savage. After a quick dinner we got in the tent and fell fast asleep. I think we both slept pretty well that night, despite being on the cold hard ground.
Day 4
The final day. We had roughly 14 miles to go. We woke up at 7:00 so we could get an earlier start. Originally, we only wanted to do 4 or 5 miles on our last day, but due to our late start we had some serious miles to cover our last day. Luckily for us they turned out to be pretty easy, for the most part. The first few miles were pretty hilly. We made it to our final water drop at Oxley Memorial trail-head (mile 38) around lunchtime, so we had a quick lunch. The final 8 miles of the trail were pretty relaxing and flat. It would have been pretty enjoyable if not for the annoying blisters forming on my feet.
The final trail-head was at Delaney Park, which is where my car was parked. The last section of trail was a series of loops, which gave you the opportunity to add up to 10 miles to the trail. We chose to take the most direct route to the car, ending our journey at 48 miles. We knew we were close when we saw Delaney Lake. Then just like that we saw my red car shining through the trees like a great victorious beacon. We couldn't help hobbling/jogging the final 100 meters to the car, but in our minds we were sprinting across the finish line.
After taking a nice break, and spending some quality time on a real toilet, we decided it was time to head back to reality. So we went directly to the nearest McDonald's and smashed some quarter pounders and large fries. Then we went home. It was a long, hard trail, but it was so worth it. The only casualty was Savannah's toenail. RIP Savannah's toenail.
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| Delaney Lake |
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| One of the only non dry creek beds on the trail. |
Tuesday, November 1, 2016
Pacific Crest Trail Preparations
Alright, this is my very first blog so bear with me, I am still figuring all this out. So I am planning on attempting to thru-hike the Pacific Crest trail starting in mid May of 2017. For those of you who do not know what this means, it basically means I will be walking a lot. For months on end. Through the wilderness. And I could not be more excited!
The Pacific Crest Trail is a nice little 2,650 mile stroll through California, Oregon, and Washington. It starts at the U.S./Mexico border at a little town called Campo, which is about 61 miles east of San Diego, and it ends a couple miles past the Canadian border in Manning Provincial Park, British Columbia. So maybe it is less of a stroll and more of a jaunt.
This trail has so much to offer, from the desert in southern California, the high sierras, Crater Lake in Oregon, and the northern Cascades in Washington, and that is just the tip of the iceberg!
So why am I taking this little adventure you may ask? Because why the hell not! I have always been an outdoorsy type of guy. I grew up hiking and camping all over the U.S., from the Grand Canyon to Mt. Katahdin in Maine. I will be graduating college this May and I figured that if there was any time to take 4-5 months off of my life then that would be the time! I've got 6 months until my student loans kick in and no other real responsibilities, so good bye real world! Hello great outdoors!
Gear
One thing that I am learning as I prepare for the PCT is that the gear I need is expensive! So I am just buying one thing at a time, as much as my college budget will allow me. So here is my list:
Big Three
- Backpack - Osprey Aether 70L
- Tent - REI Passage 2 tent
- Sleeping Bag - REI Radiant down sleeping bag
Clothes
- Baseball hat
- Bandanna/Buff
- Columbia Silver Ridge long sleeve shirt
- Columbia Silver Ridge convertible pants
- Darn Tough Socks
- Merrell Grassbow shoes
- Columbia rain jacket
- Mountain Hardware Ghost Whisperer Down Jecked
- Sunglasses
- Bug head net
- North Face Beanie
- Gloves
- Patagonia Long Underwear
- Nike running shorts
- REI Tshirt
Water
- Smartwater bottles
- Sawyer Squeeze water filter
- 1L and 2L Platy soft bottles
- 3L Platypus Big Zip
Cookware
- MSR Titan 0.8L titanium pot
- MSR Pocket Rocket stove
- Fuel
- Lighter/matches
- Long handle spoon
- Bear vault (for High Sierras)
Personal
- First aid kit
- Wet wipes
- Toilet paper
- Trowel
- Hand sanitizer
- Toothpaste/brush
Other
- Phone
- Portable charger
- Tent footprint
- Compass
- Multi tool
- Pack Cover
- Maps/guidebook
- Trekking Poles
This is not a complete list because I have not bought everything yet, but I will update the list as I acquire more gear.
Resupply Strategy
How will I be getting food? I will be using a hybrid resupply strategy. So what the hell does that mean? It means I will be doing a combination of mail drops and resupplying along the way. Basically I will be mailing myself big boxes of food at several points on the trail, and in between those points I will be restocking my food supply at local stores along the trail.
Snow
This year is shaping up to be a big year for snow! California is getting absolutely hammered with snow, especially in the Sierras. I will have to add some microspikes and possibly an ice ax to my gear list to compensate. Luckily for me I am getting a little later start, so hopefully the snow will have melted a bit by the time I make it to the Sierras.
I applied for my PCT long distance permit with a starting date of May 15th! Only a couple more months to go!
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