Day 105 to 106 - Etna

August 8 - 9

Day 105 to 106

Miles:  5+12 (my best guess)

Total Miles:  1618

After a short hike to the road, Fall Risk and I caught a ride from someone from town who was dropping other thru-hikers back onto the trail.  We asked that he take us directly to Bob's Restaurant where we walked in, dirty and smelling of trail funk, and had breakfast.  The server, a middle-aged woman, did not look so pleased to be serving a couple of stinky hikers but she did all the same.  

Day 99 to 100 - Zero in Shasta

August 2
Day 99 to 100
Miles:  0 + 7
Total Miles:  1512

words to live by

Shasta is a fun little town on the I-5 corridor, saddled up next to Mt. Shasta.  Black Bear Diner was excellent for breakfast.  Yak's Cafe was a cool place to hang out and have coffee.  Burger King was Jubel's choice with $3/900 calorie milk-shakes and free wi-fi.

That afternoon we climbed into the truck of a friend of Action Pack and headed to Lake Siskiyou for some sunbathing, rope swinging and relaxation.  Mellow, Action and Smiles arrived at Shasta later that day and setup at the KOA campground, where we cooked chicken and burgers and corn-on-the-cobb.

The next day was full of good intentions to hike out of town and get back to the trail.  However, resupplying and hitching out of town took the majority of the day.  After trying to hitch near the Burger King for about an hour, we decided to walk across the freeway near the on ramp.  After another 45 minutes we secured a ride from a young man who looked like Albert Einstein (with crazy blonde hair and bad teeth).  This kid worked seasonally clipping and processing weed (an occupation that I learned occupy's more than one thru-hiker during the fall season!).  After generously supplying a small bag of weed to Jubel, we hiked seven miles to...I don't remember where!

the wrong way to hitch

that's better

Day 88 to 89 - Belden

July 22-23

Day 88 to 89

MIles:  25+0

Total Miles:  1290

Deer stuck on a steep trail looking for an exit

After a great breakfast at Buck Lake Resort where we once again met Jubel (he had abandoned his attempt to reach Belden by Saturday after he was invited to join in on someone's camp at Buck Lake.)  We hitched the short mile to the trail and then headed toward Belden - a 5000 foot descent over seven miles.  Belden is a very small community

Day 82 to 84 - Sierra City

July 16 - July 18
Day 82 to 84
Miles:  25+10+0
Total Miles:  1197

The Sierra City general store

My feet are still hurting after a week off and with the new Brook's Cascadia 7's that I picked up in Reno, but they are improving.  On July 16th I hiked solo all day, passing Fall Risk a couple of times but not catching the others who left the P. Grubb hut early the prior day.  I camped alone just pas Jackson Meadows Reservoir that night, just ten miles shy of Sierra City!

Day 73 to 77 - Time Off

July 7 - July 11
Day 73 to 77
Miles:  N/A
Total Miles:  1094

Spur of the moment - I booked a flight to Tucson from Reno.  I am already resupplied and ready to hike, and back in Tahoe close to the trail after a long bus ride, but a phone call to Des convinced me that I needed to see her now.

Day 71 to 72 - Reno!

July 5-6
Day 71 to 72
Miles:  10
Total Miles:  1094

View of Lake Tahoe from the PCT

Zero Day in Reno!!  I heard about Harrah's Hotel and Casino via world of mouth on the trail - at $39/night, Harrahs is cheaper than staying at South Lake Tahoe - even with transportation factored in.  So, after a quick ten mile hike into Echo Lake with Yankee Son and Hallmark, I caught a ride to South Lake Tahoe and then took a four hour bus ride with two transfers to reach Reno.

Walking into Harrah's,  I immediately felt out of place.

Day 67 - Sonora Pass and Bridgeport

July 1
Day 67
Miles:  6
Total Miles:  1018

I hiked the remaining miles to Sonora Pass this morning (a road pass) and made it to The Owl's trail magic by 10 AM!  After some amazing (i.e.: real) coffee and fruit, a nice couple out for a day hike offered to give a few of us a ride into Bridgeport.  Last on the Bus, Power Nap and I made it into Bridgeport and joined Quest and Rapunzel in a room at the Bridgeport Inn.  I slept on the floor but didn't mind because it was cheap!

Food was great in Bridgeport - lunch at the Sportsman's Bar and Grill, Dinner at Rhinos and Breakfast at a great little cafe down the street.  We also hooked up with Yankee Son, Hallmark and Just Retired.  All-in-all this was a great Nero - I feel totally refreshed for the next 3-4 day section to Echo Lake.

The Owl's Trail Magic at Sonora Pass

Masa lifting his 70 lbs pack!

Days 51-52 - Zero in Bishop

June 15-16, 2012

Days 51-52

Miles: 0

Total Miles: 790

Siddhartha, Threshold and Highlife enjoying a zero day

We finished out hike out over Kearsarge Pass today, from the Kearsarge Lake campsite to the trail head  where a parking lot beckoned us from below with trail magic - through word of mouth passed along from hikers coming back up the trail from town.  I almost ran down the last two miles of trail with visions of soda and brownies and fruit in my nutrition-starved head!

When I got to the trail-head and parking lot, I made my way to the neighboring campsites and found what I was looking for - Uber-Bitch had a table with cookies and M&M's and fruit and she offered a beer as well!  After relaxing and eating half of her bowl of M&M's we thanked her profusely and got a ride down into Independence from Sleeping Bear - another trail angel running hikers back and forth to town from the trail.  We hitched from Independence - a small one-street town - to the town of Bishop 50 miles away and booked a room at the Motel 6.  Threshold, Siddhartha and I shared a room and we proceeded to shower and launder our clothes.  What a feeling a hot shower is after seven days on the trail!

The next couple of days were spent eating and drinking - at the Whiskey Creek restaurant where we had steak and asparagus and at the famous Schat's Bakery where I enjoyed breakfast and coffee and pastries, and then back to Whiskey Creek the next day for happy hour, and then back to Schat's the next morning for another breakfast!  I did actually get a few things accomplished besides filling my belly with food and beer.  At the local outfitter, Wilsons, I replaced my gaiters with a pair of Mountain Hardware gaiters and purchased a new ultra-light wool blue long-sleeve shirt to replace my synthetic shirt which was at the end of it's dirty life.

Siddhartha at Motel 6

Finally - a proper steak dinner

Day 42 - Kennedy Meadows At Last

June 6-8, 2012

Day 42-44
Miles: 21
Total Miles: 702

Chilling in front of Tom's "Internet Cafe"

Kennedy Meadows!  After 702 miles of Southern California desert hiking, I have finally arrived at the "Gateway to the Sierra's".  This marks the entrance to the Southern Sierra Wilderness and the end of hot deserts, cactus and carrying liters of water.  In the desert we often carried four or more liters of water to get us through long dry stretches.  In the Sierra's, I will rarely carry more than 1.5 liters, and often less!  The weight I save in water (2 lbs per liter) will be replaced with extra food (longer stretches between resupply) and a bear canister which is a required food storage container that is bear-proof. (well...some brainy bears have learned to break into these canisters but the majority can not.)  Bear canisters are required until we exit the Yosemite Wilderness, 400 miles north.

But first - some well deserved R&R...and some beer and ice-cream...

Siddartha and Ben at the KM General Store & Cafe

Hiker Trash enjoying coffee at Tom's Place

My heaviest pack yet - 43 lbs!

Day 35 - A Wind Swept Town: Mojave

May 30-31, 2012

Day 35-36
Miles: 24 (over 2 days)
Total Miles: 565

I hitched for the first time on the trail into the town of Mojave.  The nice guy below (forgot his name) gave me a lift and took me on a tour of the desert town.

Thanks for the Ride!!

Wind Turbines are big business here in the desert

The most memorable thing about my stay at Mojave - the Roadhouse Cafe and Primo Burgers.  The mile walk to The Roadhouse Cafe was either leaning into the wind or being pushed along by the wind - I am guessing sustained 30 mph winds!  I went to both places twice to load up on calories.  The Motel 6 was descent and I was able to run a load of laundry and walk across the street to resupply with food to get me to Kennedy Meadows.  All in all, I was happy to leave Mojave the next day and I don't plan on returning anytime soon.

Cowboy Camping with Iceman in a wash near Hwy 58

After getting a ride from Jayne, who works in Mojave and offered to provide a ride after she left work, Iceman and I climbed just seven miles from the Tehachapi road to Highway 58 in preparation for a grueling climb into the Tehachapi Mountains the next day.  We cowboy camped in a wash (no tent) along with Garden Nome.  The Tehachapi Mountains are technically the beginning of the Sierras - some call them the tail - but they are hot and dry and have little in common with the grand mountains we will be seeing in the coming weeks past KM.

Day 29 - Trail Angels - Part 1 (The Saufleys)

May 24, 2012
Day 29
Miles: 10
Total Miles: 454

hikers invade the mexican restaurant in Agua Dulce

If you've never hiked a long-distance trail, you may not have heard of Trail Angels.  I had no idea how generous people could be in this hiker community before this trail.  The Saufley's at "Hiker Haven" in the town of Agua Dulce are the best example of the trail angel community.  They started hosting hikers in 1993 and since then have developed a system that allows them to host up to 50 hikers per day at the peak of hiking season - and they have it down!

They have an amazing setup with a dozen or so large tents on their property with cots.  There are bicycles available to hikers for rides into town.  There is a fire pit, a trailer with full kitchen and a selection of movies.  There is a shower and laundry and rides into town to the closest REI for resupplying gear.  They also receive and send packages.  In short - they have everything a hiker needs for a day off the trail!

I spent a couple of days here relaxing with several groups that I had been hiking with - as hikers seem to converge at these stops in what's often called a vortex.  It's sometimes hard to break free of the vortex after you've been sucked in, but at some point you decide that you need to move on and hesitantly begin the next section of your hike and leave behind the comforts of town and trail angels.

Pop Star, Gecko, Matt, Alisdair and Sarah all came in on my second day here and they kept us all up drinking wine by the fire pit.  I also met Oasis and Honey Bear here, two girls from either Portland or Seattle (seems like a disproportionate number of hikers come from one of these two places!).  Ron, another trail angel, took several of us in his van to REI and In-n-Out Burger and I was able to replace the insoles of my Cascadia 7's with new SOLE brand insoles from REI.

But the best part  - FOOD!  I ate at the mexican restaurant twice, the breakfast cafe once, and trips to the market for ice cream.  I typically share a large meal or have food left for a take-home box, but on these trips to the mexican restaurant I ate a full meal with a large bowl of fried ice cream, and I still did not fill this hole in my stomach.  I'll keep trying!

The Saufley's Fire Pit

Day 24 - The Big "D"! - Part 2

May 19, 2012

Day 24

Miles: 2

Total Miles: 365

Soon after the sun came up I realized that regardless of these episodes of explosive diarrhea, there was a more insidious and sly process occurring.  Slowly and as I hiked, the brown excretion was dripping out even as I did everything in my power to regulate an impenetrable barrier.  Before I realized it my base layer was soiled and stinking and a slick slimy fluid had soaked in and I had no choice but to remove it and stuff it into my Sea-To-Summit dry bag alongside the ziplock containing my underwear from camp that morning.  I continued hiking with nothing between my zip-off hiking shorts and my dirty ass.  Things went downhill fast after this:  my precious TP was quickly depleted, the water I had been careful to conserve now had to be used to rinse my backside after every nasty episode, was running low.  This was doubly disheartening as I was quickly becoming dangerously dehydrated now that the blazing sun was mercilessly beaming down on me in the late morning heat of the high desert.  The hotter it got, the more I realized that I smelled...really bad.  There was no way to stay completely clean without water and TP, and my sleeping bag was not contained in a dry bag but merely rolled up and stuff into my backpack.  The air about me was rank as I approached a couple of hikers a few miles from the Acorn Trail that lead down into Wrightwood.  I maintained a safe distance from the two German girls, Repunzel and XXX as I described my condition, down-playing how serious things were, and then quickly passed them.  I must have had a ghostly look on my face because a mile later they found me passed out beneath a big tree, unable to continue for the time being, and offered to carry my pack down to Wrightwood, "or anything in your pack.  We can carry your tent and your sleeping bag to lighten your load?"  "Nah, you don't want to do that, I'll be fine." I told them and then encouraged them to move on.   I had hiked almost 17 miles that morning and had skipped breakfast and dinner the night before.  I knew the down-hill side trail would be no problem - I was almost home.

I managed the last couple miles to the Acorn trail and made my way down two and half more miles, descending 2,500 feet, to the town of Wrightwood.  A last humiliation almost befell me in Wrightwood as I searched desperately for a hotel with an available room.  Checking on the Pines Motel, one of the few motels in this small town, I found they were booked!  I was panicking as it was a Friday and hotels book up on weekends.  Across the street I found the small - 4 room - Canyon Creek Inn and praying desperately to the trail gods I called the number posted on the door to the office and spoke to a genial woman who advised me that YES, there is a room available, the price is $79 per night (almost twice the rate of the hiker friendly Pines Motel), and YES it has a private bathroom with shower and tub!  "I'll take it!" trying to disguise the simultaneous desperation and relief in my voice.  "Use this code to access the key inside the lockbox and go ahead and check yourself in" she told me as I impatiently relayed her the details of my Visa Credit Card.

I took the most glorious, long shower that day in the Canyon Creek Inn motel room.  I washed everything that could be washed and slept on a comfortable mattress until dinner time.  I managed to meet other hikers at a mexican restaurant that night but could only stomach a couple bites of my carne asada dinner.    I was happy to shower again before bed and pass out watching tv content to have a toilet a few feet away.

The next day, May 19th, I took some Immodium A.D. and it worked like a charm to kill worst of the diarrhea.  I hung out as long as possible at the hotel and then crossed the street to the Pine Hotel's common picnic area and lounged for most of the afternoon with other hikers.  The PO was right down the street so I spent a couple hours updating blogs and emails.  At breakfast that morning I was able to stomach a full meal for the first time in several days at the Evergreen Cafe.  At 4 I prepared for the long hike back up the Acorn Trail and made camp just a couple miles past the trailhead at the Guffy Campground - needing a slow start back on the trail.

Day 19 - A Little Civility

May 13, 2012
Day 19
Miles:  0
Total Miles:  266

Taking a zero day today at Big Bear Hostel to let my Achilles Tendon heal.  I went to the theatre near the hostel to watch The Avengers, with Pop Star (Carl).  It is very strange to be in these two worlds - the trail world of dirt, dark sun-burned skin and dehydrated meals; and the normal world of clean, shaved, white-skinned and jeans-wearing tourists and week-enders going about their lives.  Sitting in the theatre with Pop Star I started looking around at the audience and everybody seemed so clean and smelled of cologne and shampoo.  Even after a shower and laundry I know I still smelled like the trail. I certainly felt like the trail in my cut-off shorts and sweat-stained hiking shirt and puffy down jacket.  I pulled out the trail mix I had snuck in the theatre in my puffy jacket and enjoyed a little civility, for tomorrow I knew I would be huffing and puffing up or down another mountain.

View of Big Bear Lake from the trail

Day 18 - Big Bear Lake!

May 12, 2012
Day 18
Miles:  14
Total Miles:  266

Big Bear Lake!  I arrived at Highway 18 at noon after punching out 14 miles before lunch.  As I write this, I am sitting at Saucy Mama's Italian Restaurant where I am enjoying a pizza and salad with beer!  I am staying at the Big Bear Hostel for at least two nights to let my right Achilles Tendon heal up.  The hostel is very nice with common rooms, multiple showers, washer and dryer, outdoor seating areas and a full kitchen - everything a dirty hiker needs.

I had a vivid dream this morning before waking up to the sunrise at 5:30.  The dream was about Des, my ex-wife.  Our divorce was finalized in January of this year.  It was a long emotional 9 months leading up to the divorce and I am still second-guessing it.  She died in the dream and I opened my eyes with tears streaming down my face.  I continued to be emotional for another 30 minutes after getting up.  I'm not sure what this means, but I do miss her a lot and hope we can find a future together at some point in the future.  We are still friends but I feel like our relationship is not over - time will tell.  It's not often I have dreams I can remember more than just a few minutes after waking, especially emotional dreams.

Almost to Big Bear



Day 13 - Idylwild

Day 13
May 8, 2012
Miles:  0
Total Miles:  179

Breakfast demolished at Red Kettle

I did the final four miles to Saddle Junction yesterday and took the Devil's Slide Trail down to Idylwild - a 2.5 mile side trail.  Idylwild is a very nice, walkable town and  I split a two-bedroom cabin with another hiker.  First stop in town - Red Kettle Cafe for a breakfast of pancakes, eggs and bacon - and hot coffee.



After picking up my resupply package today, I have more food than I can carry for the next section of the hike.  I unfortunately had to ditch a bag of snickers and half a package of dark chocolate covered mint espresso beans...shame!

I am going to catch a ride to the trail parking lot today at two and then hike up to the junction to find a place to camp for the night before tackling the peak of Jacinto tomorrow.

Day 8 - Nero in Warner Springs

Day 8
May 3, 2012
Miles:  12
Total Miles:  113

Posing in front of Eagle Rock at mile 106

Took a "Nero Day" today in Warner Springs.  The community center here really set us up:  bathrooms, burgers for $5, internet, coffee, a small supply room and a hiker box.  I was able to resupply for the next few days to Idylwild using the small supply store and hiker boxes.  Unfortunately, no camping or showers here tonight so I hiked up the trail a few miles to camp.  I'm hoping my feet are less sore tomorrow after a half day off the trail. 

More angels came up the trail today bringing gatorade and lunch to Eagle Rock back at mile 106.  I missed lunch but they filled my mug with lemonade!