Pictures

Quasi modo panoramic.

A Big Low to a Big High

We got another late start and then missed the turn off for our first water source. We decided to push on instead of back track to the next, a couple miles up. We didn't realize that this water source would be covered in poodle dog bush(a fluffy, smelly bush that causes a similar rash to poison oak but is harder to get rid of). We managed to get around it but were at a loss for places to take a break. When we finally found a spot clear of PDB, we took a break and heard of an upcoming detour from some other hikers. We had never heard or read anything about this detour so we didn't think too much of it. Pushing on, we ran into Todd and Cara and planned to hike to a campsite 2.7 miles from where we were. When we got there, we found a small flat area at the side of a road that was experiencing 50 mph winds. We decided to push on to another "for sure" campground in 3 miles. Little did we know what we were getting into. As the night became darker, the trail became narrower and much more shrub-filled. We were bush wacking through PDB and massive other plants. The headlamps came out. Mine was dying. We were in trouble. We could no longer see the trail anymore and as we hiked on, the trail began to slant down towards the edge of the ridge. Swearing was plentiful.
Arriving at the camp exhausted and frustrated we searched for the campground. It did not exist. We found a small slated piece of area, clear of PDB, and although we were in for a rough night, we set up camp. The next morning, we woke up sitting in a cloud. Everything was completely drenched and we hadn't slept most of the night. We stuffed our wet gear in our bags and headed out. The terrain the next day was also pretty terrible. Trees had fallen across the trail all over and it made for a slow morning. There was a ranger station at 12 miles so we dried out our gear and ended up falling asleep for three hours. Needing to make it another eight miles that day, we pushed on to a KOA where there were rumors of pizza and Chinese food delivery. We met up with a bunch of people there but were too late for food. It didn't matter. We had dreams of getting to the saufleys (a trail angel's house also called hiker heaven) the next day and knew the trip had to be looking up. A sign the next morning told us they were full and our spirits dropped. We had packages sent there so we had to go in anyways. As we walked in, we were greeted by John Deere,  a volunteer at hiker heaven, he showed us around and we were astounded by what was there for us. Hiker heaven was exactly what it was. Cots everywhere, hot showers, laundry that smelled incredible, bikes for hikers to ride into town, and the most welcoming people at every turn. We took a zero day there and got to recover and resupply, I also got some new socks courtesy of Pinch who ran to Rei. Before heading back out, we received the most loved filled hug from Mrs. Saufleys as she wished us well. We left with a good group of people and had a nice breakfast. I booked it and made it to camp two hours before the rest of the group. We enjoyed a nice dinner surrounding an unlit campfire. The next day it was a short six miles to a water cache called hiker oasis. It was the only shade for miles and under the tree were chairs, water, and a cooler full of beers and soda. To celebrate the memorial day weekend, we felt it was appropriate to shotgun those beers. Seven miles more we hit a road with a van. The woman asked us if we were headed to the Andersons (another trail angel house) and then told us to pile in. Upon arrival we were greeted by a round of applause and told to pick a Hawaiian shirt to wear. The Andersons was a blast, we got to drink beer and eat amazing taco salad. We left the next morning and formulated a plan to hike around the powerhouse fire closure. We picked an aquaduct and began walking. It was hot and there was no shade so halfway through we threw our packs down, ripped off our sweaty clothes and jumped in. It was one of the highlights of the entire trip by far. Early the next morning we made it to hikertown, a property with a facade of an old western town. There were a litter of 11 five day old puppies which took up most of our time. Pinch was waiting for a package that hadn't arrived yet so we decided to stay the night. The next day we woke up late, still waiting for the mail, when my good friend from Chico, Lil, showed up with her husband Justin. There was much hugging and catching up when suddenly our friend Smokey came walking up after taking a few days off to visit his brother. It's been great to be around good friends again. Leaving hikertown tonight to night hike some more miles! Mile 517.

Boy Scouts and Bugs

McDonalds was a blur of French fries, burgers, and smelly hikers counting calories. I made it to about 1500 but there were others who were trying to push 7000. Bad idea. We beat most of the heat there that day then spent the rest of the day light hiding under an overpass. It was HOT. We hit the trail again around 5 even though it was still about 90 degrees. We hiked into the night and it seemed as the night got darker, the trail got steeper. In the distance we saw the headlamps of other  up the trail. It was going to be a looong night. Made even more discouraging when we checked the map and read the words "virtually no camping." We hiked late into the night and I was moving at a snails pace. We finally found a road and set up camp on the side of it. Too tired to make dinner, I shoved some chips in my mouth and passed out. The next morning we woke up on a time schedule,  we needed to make it 17 miles into Wrightwood by mid afternoon to get our packages from the post office. Luckily when we hit the deserted highway to hitch in, two really nice gentlemen were just finishing up a nice day hike. They weren't heading in the same direction but they gave us a ride anyway. We got our bounce boxes filled with goodies and notes

And set up outside the local bar to sort through everything. As we waited our friends Todd and Cara joined us and said they were staying overnight and were wondering if we wanted to share a cabin at the local inn. Our plan had been to hit the trail later that night but laundry and a shower were too tempting, we chose to stay. While the laundry was going we were forced to wear makeshift outfits out of what we had. 

This was mine(before shower). We had a blast with them and got a good fill of pizza and beer. We took a long morning getting out of town, enjoying our coffee and finishing up all the last minute tasks. We hitched back up to the trailhead with our new hiking buddies (Todd and Cara). The first few miles were really nice and easy. Until we hit mt. Baden Powell. A 4000 ft elevation gain in 4 miles to get us up to 9000 ft. I was worried because of the quick elevation gain and it would be the highest I had been since the altitude sickness.  We took it slow but made it to the peak! 

The trail down wasn't as enjoyable. It was a steep downhill with many downed trees we had to climb over. We made it to a campsite in the dark and the first thing that hit us was the smell. I asked who was cooking rotten fish while Cara asked who was burning trash. Turns out it was the pit toilets that hadn't been cleaned out in ages. We were also welcomed by 50 other headlamps of boy scout troops we were surrounded by. As I'm sure you could guess, the morning was as enjoyable as the previous evening had been. Boys running everywhere, shouting, breaking things, causing general disarray around the campground. We headed out and took a lot of breaks. We had to take a detour around an endangered species area and ended up road walking for three miles on the asphalt. It was killer on the joints. We made it to a much less crowded boy scout camp and set up for the night. Cara and Todd made us popcorn and we got in bed, but not before I threw a snickers in my mouth. As I lay there watching the stars, I felt a bit of snickers left on upper lip. I tried to pull it into my mouth with my tongue but when that didn't work I used my hand to pull off the rogue piece of chocolate... It was not chocolate. It was a large beetle I had been poking with my tongue for about five minutes. I slept uneasy that night. Mile 400.9.

The Habit

They say if you do anything for 21 days it becomes a habit. Well we have definitely fallen into a routine out here and are getting very comfortable with trail life.
We wake up in the morning usually around 6 am and start packing up our gear and throwing candy bars in our mouths as motivation. Then we hike for a few hours before we take our first short break.

Then we hike for a few more hours into the heat of the day when we get our longer siesta break. This means airing out the feet! 

(Feet day 23)

Then it's trail time again. Sometimes we walk by power plants and under overpasses but mostly we see views like these

And many, many of these. No more rattlers though!

Then we have a short afternoon break. Usually filled with looking at the maps and figuring how much further we actually have to go.

Once we get there, we set up camp and make dinner.

(Falafel mix, beans, cheese, tortilla soup mix and jalapeño potato chips. Delicious)

Then it starts all over again the next day. We usually go around 20 miles a day and hit the sack around 8 when the sun goes down. We've been having a ball and although not every moment is incredible, it's only 2,296 miles to Canada!(less now)

Bye Bye Big Bear

The day we left the big bear hostel, we were at it again with a lot of ambition for the days progress. Until about six miles in when Pinch didn't feel so good and our friend Sad Fish was still struggling from the night before. We made if to a small bridge about ten miles in when we decided to take a break with Smokey and Sad Fish. We ended up sitting there for over 2 hours. We didn't make it too much further that day... Pinch and I got up the next day and planned out our 20 mile day. At mile 12, we decided we could go further. We ended up making it 23 miles to a bridge with nice beachy campsites down below. My knees and feet were aching but it was nice to know that the next day we would be crossing mile 300. We slept in for a bit this morning and got a nice start. Ten miles in we happened upon some clothing optional hot springs. Pinch and I were apprehensive at first but sitting in hot water sounded like heaven.  We were met first by Guino,  a pct hiker that never seems to actually be hiking, he had a bottle of rum which helped to prepare us for what was about to happen. The first sight was of a man in only a white t-shirt, that is it. He was working on the hot springs (clearly a regular) next to us which involved a lot of bending over. Thank god for the rum. There seemed to only be naked middle aged men until Pinch realized her underwear would be see through anyways and ditched them. Thank god for black underwear. It was really relaxing and disturbing all at the same time. But things were going well, until I realized I was out of fuel with no town for another 62 miles. Luckily, an incredible stranger had a fuel canister and gave me what was left of his. Thank you weird stranger! When the rum wore off and the weirdness grew, we got out of there quick. A long, hot and dry ten miles followed the hot springs and I couldn't help thinking we should have stayed longer. Which brings us here, to mile 328.5, under a large tree, sitting beside a lake. We've gone about ten miles today but they have been incredibly unappealing. Tomorrow we pass a famous through hiker McDonalds and milkshakes are on our minds. 
From the words of my good friend, Ursa (Trevor), I'll see you at the next water source!
-Goosebumps

Pizza, Puzzles, and my Mama Pinch

We left Ziggy and the Bear's late the next day after some pouty faces and hugs. We headed into one of the least scenic days we had seen by far. Through a wind farm and many, many switchbacks, I started to feel like I was getting a cold. We did only ten miles that day so I could get some good sleep before heading out the next morning. Luckily I felt a little better and we headed out for another 20 mile day. It was the first day we encountered poodle dog bush, a plant that causes a painful rash that's hard to get rid of. We steered cleared, mostly because of the horrendous smell. I also walked right past a large rattlesnake without noticing until I heard curse words coming from behind. That night we walked into a campsite and ran into our pal, Smokey, who we figured was up ahead.  After a cold night and some bad dreams, my cold had come back full force. We headed up the entire morning till we reached 8500 feet. This is when I knew something was wrong. It was very difficult to breathe and I suddenly became light headed and nauseous. It was altitude sickness and I needed to get down of the mountain. We got to a road and sat down to check the maps. The trail only went up from here and wouldn't be going down for another five miles. I made the decision to call for help from a local trail angel who arrived within half an hour to take me to
the big bear hostel. Checking in with Sarge, the innkeeper,  was a blur but he made sure I was alright and walked me back to my room. Now at 2000 less elevation I felt much better, and I'm sure the shower helped too.  There were tons of hikers at the hostel and we had all been leap frogging (on the trail) each other for a while now so it was nice to be with familiar faces. We watched star wars on vhs at the hostel and then it was time for dinner. Pinch had just arrived at the trail head after hiking a whopping 26 miles to get there that night. I sent someone from the hostel to pick her up ( usually you can hitch hike but she's a girl alone at night). Then Smokey and I grabbed a bunch of pizza and some wine to bring back for her. We had a blast that night getting to know each other better, sharing trail stories, and talking about the plans for our first zero day (day when you hike no miles) since the border. You'd think through hikers would like their sleep, this us not the case. I woke up at 6:45 to everyone making pancakes and cofffee, the hikers who had zero'd the day before getting ready to take off. It was nice to drink a cup of coffee and watch them leave, wondering if we'd ever catch up to them. Our zero day was filled with food, more star wars, and an 1000 piece puzzle that took about 8 hours (except for the 5 missing pieces, we called it a win)

We also got to grab lunch with Godzilla, a 20 year old from Japan, who barely speaks English and came out here when he saw the sierras in a magazine! One of the sweetest people we have met so far. He says he is looking forward to his first big American steak. The people at Big Bear hostel and the town of big bear lake were incredible to all of us dirty through hikers. Big shout out to them and if you're ever in the area definitely check it out!

Until next time,
Goosebumps

Snow, Snakes, and that Damn Wind

Today we are at mile 210 at another trail angel's house. The last hundred miles were definitely a whirlwind compared to the first.
I finally received my trail name from Warner Springs monty.  As we left Warner Springs, Pockets comes walking in at the exact same time. It was magical because we weren't sure if her leg had gotten better or worse. It's amazing coincidences like this that happen on trail often that give me goosebumps.  So Monty named me Goosebumps. It's been fun to relay my new name and become a part of this incredible group of people.
I saw my first rattlesnake of the trip, though many have yet to see any. This one was about a foot and a half long crossing the trail in front of me. He only rattled a bit as he passed by. Pinch says I handled it well but I think it's just because my whole body was frozen.
We spent an awesome nero (day where you only hike a little) in Idyllwild with some friends we've been leap frogging with for the past week. I also hitchhiked for the first time with mark, a retired firefighter in the area who had some friends hiking, and his adorable boxer, Bob, who I fell in love with on the 15 minute ride. Then it was back to the trail around the fire closure. We got up to 9000 feet and suddenly it was no longer warm and sunny. We were hit by the wind all day long. We took a break and ended up falling asleep for a few hours. When we woke up it was 5:30 and we still needed to travel about 8 miles to get below 6500 feet and out of the snow storm that was brewing. We ran into the guys and ended up following them to mile 190.5 where there was a campsite. We were still at almost 8000 feet so we knew the weather was going to hit us. My tent only collapsed once but it struggled to stay up the rest of the night. We woke up to extreme wind, some snow, and a very cold morning. We booked it down those first few miles and the layers started to come off as we descended.  In total we came down 8000 feet to hit the desert floor, which was no picnic to walk through either. After going under an overpass, a torrential downpour occurred and with the high wind we were soaked in a matter of minutes. It was heaven when we got to Ziggy and the Bear's and were greeted with warm water, chairs, and cover from the elements. We also scored some ice cream after dinner. Now we head to big bear city!
- Goosebumps

Pics

 Feet day 4

Feet day 1

100 miles

As I type this I'm sitting in Warner Spring Monty's(another wonderful trail angel) living room soaking my feet in Epsom salt and water trying to get rid of the blisters that have plagued me for the last week.
We are here. We've made it 100 miles from the border and the thought of doing that 26 more times comes every once in a while but this is our first great milestone.
Kelley and I left kick off after dinner on Saturday after a huge rain and wind storm had hit the night before. We were trying to beat the massive group that planned to leave early Sunday morning. It was the first time hiking the PCT at night and it was incredible though we had a minor navigation error. I thought as I fell asleep that night, that this is really it, we've started this major journey. We woke up to the sunrise the next morning and busted out 22 miles to a campsite where we found a note marked "aviator girl and girl from Seekonk, I'm at site 25." Our friend, Ray, had showed up earlier and was hoping we'd make it that far.  We showed up to find many familiar faces, and eventually worked out names. As we chatted and made dinner another 8 hikers trickled in and set up camp. The following morning we woke up to an almost bare campsite, (those Damn early birds) but we weren't the last ones. We packed up and headed out. One thing about the desert I've learned is that it is NOT flat. This day we spent most of on the side of a cliff till we caught up with Ray and got to the next water source. A tank in a field with a sign that read "not potable water. For horse consumption only." I only got two flies in my water bottles. After that we met up with our friend , Pockets, and headed down to an awesome sandy wash to sleep. I took off my socks that night to realize my pinky toe had grown a blister the size of my pinky toe. I almost got the trail name 6 toe. After some foot surgery it was time to start the next day . Pockets pulled something in her leg and was out for the day so Kelley, now "in a pinch", and I headed out to one of the hottest and most windy days we had seen yet. We also were on a 24 mile waterless stretch and had to carry over 6 liters(12lbs). We finally found sanctuary under an overpass with about 20 other hikers trying to beat the heat of the day. We stayed there till the sun went down then headed out from there. Along the way we met Bipolar, the pct trail nurse, and he was looking for a girl all day that had 12 blisters. Unfortunately he had found her. He gave me a ton of tips for treating my blisters and then sent us on our way. We set out the next day and were almost blown off the mountain by 80 mph winds that stayed with us till the afternoon. We took a small siesta to get out of the sun then finished hiking in an oasis of trees and cool sand. We had hit 100 miles that day and my reward was the last jolly rancher in my pack (thanks aunt julie! ). It only lasted about 5 minutes but it was one of the most satisfying things I had experienced. Today we rolled in to Warner Springs, the first major trail town (with a population of 203), and headed to the post office for our first resupply packages. Then it was off to the community center where we got to see a ton of friends who we had met along the way, including Ray, Emylee, and Phil. Our amazing trail angel picked us up from there and let us shower, do laundry and is now cooking us dinner!